American Beauty/American Psycho (song)

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
"American Beauty/American Psycho"
Single by Fall Out Boy
from the album American Beauty/American Psycho
Released December 15, 2014 (2014-12-15)
Recorded 2014
Genre Pop punk[1][2]
Length 3:13
Label
Writer(s) Fall Out Boy
Producer(s) SebastiAn
Fall Out Boy singles chronology
"Immortals"
(2014)
"American Beauty/American Psycho"
(2014)
"Uma Thurman"
(2015)

"American Beauty/American Psycho" is a song by the American rock band Fall Out Boy. It was released on December 15, 2014, as the second UK radio single from their sixth studio album, American Beauty/American Psycho (2015). An accompanying music video was released. It was no. 15 on the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart. A remix of the song features vocals by ASAP Ferg which was included in the remixed album Make America Psycho Again.

Recording

"American Beauty/American Psycho" was written by Fall Out Boy and produced by SebastiAn. Bassist Pete Wentz commented, "It's a little bit wrong but it's the right thing for us to do. Once we got that song and a few others, it really felt like the [album] came together as a body of work."[3] It samples Motley Crüe's song "Too Fast for Love".[4] The song is vocalist and guitarist Patrick Stump's favorite track from American Beauty/American Psycho; he stated, "It's the right level of artistically interesting, but also just fun."[5]

Release

While receiving a radio premiere in the UK a month earlier, the track was officially released worldwide on the same day as the promotional single "The Kids Aren't Alright", to coincide with the release of the album preorder, track listing and album cover. Only in the UK, it was commissioned to radio as the album's second single.[6]

Music video

The song's accompanying music video was released on the same day, featuring a ballerina and a peculiar child Jake Karlen (who is on the album cover) with his face with American flag painted in black. Filmed with a gritty, shaky cinematography, the ballerina represents the "American Beauty" but is really the "American Psycho" and the boy represents the "Psycho" but is really the "Beauty". In the beginning the boy tries to destroy a music box with a ballerina in it, but he is unable to break it. The ballerina dances for a while before a group of men appear (the men possibly representing the boy's trouble (e.g. depression, anxiety, etc.) and issues). The ballerina gracefully takes down each man, hurting the boy who eventually starts spitting up blood. In the end the members of the band come in to remove the bodies. Before the screen fades, another boy can be seen coming to the same music box, representing a repeated cycle.[7][8]

Commercial performance

The song debuted at No. 147 on the UK Singles Chart,[9] reached No. 89 in its third chart week (week ending January 24, 2015)[10] and peaked at No. 61 the week after. It also debuted at No. 15 on US Hot Rock Songs on the strength of digital downloads.

Charts

Chart (2014) Peak
position
Belgium (Ultratip Flanders)[11] 83
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[12] 61
US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard)[13] 15

References

  1. Fall Out Boy Announce New Album ‘American Beauty/American Psycho’, Premiere Title Track Music Feeds. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  2. Beats: “American Beauty/American Psycho”. ntdaily.com. Retrieved June 7, 2015.
  3. Fall Out Boy's New Album Zeroes In On Rock's Cultural Relevance Fuse. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
  4. Fall Out Boy Talk New Album, Motley Crue & Grateful Dead Billboard. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. Fall Out Boy Announces ‘American Beauty/American Psycho’ Album, Shares Title Track. Billboard. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  7. Watch Fall Out Boy's Ass-Kicking "American Beauty/American Psycho" Fuse. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  8. Fall Out Boy's "American Beauty/American Psycho" Music Video is Creepy, Nonsensical and Cinematic Music Times. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  9. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. "Fall Out Boy – Chart history" Billboard Hot Rock Songs for Fall Out Boy. Retrieved November 26, 2014.