Sober Up

"Sober Up"
Single by AJR
Album	The Click
Released	September 2017
Length	3:38
Label	AJR Productions, Black Butter
Writer(s)	Adam Met, Jack Met, Ryan Met, Rivers Cuomo
Producer(s)	AJR
Status	Officially released
Stream	Spotify
The Click track listing
"Weak" (3) "Sober Up" (feat. Rivers Cuomo) (4) "Drama" (5)
Alternate covers
Cover of the Deluxe version

"Sober Up" is the fourth track and third single from the album The Click by American pop band AJR.

Overview

According to a Billboard.com article [1], AJR had most of the song written when they contacted Rivers Cuomo for assistance via a private Twitter conversation:

Although Weezer has several years on the sibling trio, it turns out that Cuomo is fan of AJR as well. In fact, he showed his fandom by following Ryan on Twitter without ever having any contact with the guys, which sparked an idea within Ryan. "I wrote to him in a private Twitter message saying, ‘We’re seriously big fans -- if you ever want to write together or collab, let me know,’” he recalls. “And he wrote back immediately like, ‘Oh dude I love “Weak," lets jam and write a song together.’”

AJR happened to have a skeleton of a song titled “Sober Up" at the time that they felt was very Weezer-esque, but weren’t quite sure of what it was. But once this Twitter interaction with Cuomo occurred, it all clicked.

"We were a little bit discouraged, and then it was kind of like a godsend that Rivers Cuomo descended upon us and said ‘I will sing the bridge,’” Ryan jokes. “I’m so proud of how it turned out.”

In March 2018, "Sober Up" peaked at number one on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart and was the first number one song for AJR. For Rivers Cuomo, "Sober Up" was his first song to reach number one on Billboard's Alternative chart as a solo artist outside of Weezer.[2]

The song's bridge is derived from a demo by Cuomo likely titled "My Favorite Color Is You". In October of 2020, demo recordings of this song were listed on the demo storefront on riverscuomo.com. The Radio edit of the song features Ryan providing the vocals for the bridge instead of Rivers. [3]

Lyrics

Hello, hello
I'm not where I'm supposed to be
I hope that you're missing me
'Cause it makes me feel young
Hello, hello
Last time that I saw your face
Was recess in second grade
And it made me feel young

Won't you help me sober up?
Growing up, it made me numb
And I want to feel something again
Won't you help me sober up?
All the big kids, they got drunk
And I want to feel something again
Won't you help me feel something again?
How's it go again?

"Goodbye, goodbye,"
I said to my bestest buds
We said that we'd keep in touch
And we did our best
All my new friends
We smile at party time
But soon we forget to smile
At anything else

Won't you help me sober up?
Growing up, it made me numb
And I want to feel something again
Won't you help me sober up?
All the big kids, they got drunk
And I want to feel something again
Won't you help me feel something again?
How's it go again?
How's it go again?

My favorite color is you
You're vibrating out my frequency
My favorite color is you
You keep me young and that's how I wanna be
My favorite color is you
You're vibrating out my frequency
My favorite color is you
You keep me young and that's how I wanna be

Hello, hello
I'm not where I'm supposed to be
I hope that you're missing me
'Cause it makes me feel young
Hello, hello
Last time that I saw your face
Was recess in second grade
And it made me feel young

And I want to feel something again
I just want to feel something again
How's it go again?

Won't you help me sober up?
Growing up, it made me numb
And I want to feel something again (my favorite color is you)
Won't you help me sober up?
All the big kids, they got drunk
And I want to feel something again (my favorite color is you)
Won't you help me feel something again? (my favorite color is you)
Can I finally feel something again?
How's it go again?

External links

• Sober Up on Wikipedia