Getdown Services just get it. They get that music can be funny and sad. It can be a way to vent about your shitty pub job or the latest depressive episode, or how you love crisps, quiche and a good night's rest. "Cha Cha Slide," the latest single from their forthcoming album Massive Champion, might be one of their strongest songs yet. Not only does the accompanying visual embrace the Minions revolution and nod to the artistic genius of WordArt fonts from the '90s, but the song itself captures the scary isolation and routine of the child mind that never leaves us.
"I'm six, it's 4 p.m., time to P-A-R-T-Y," the track opens, as we enter the youthful psyche of Josh Law and Ben Sadler. "I don't know what good is, but I know I'm not looking it/ I thought 9/11 happened to Big Ben," the lyrics continue over a shuffling synthy new wave background. Although there's mention of Dennis The Menace, party games, and the glory of blue drinks, the song is riddled with the social anxiety and longing. "I want the teacher to hold my hand I think I might pretend I need the toilet," goes an incredible line.
In a press release Law explained that the song's earnest nature reveals a deeper hunger for human connection that never goes away:
This song is about the feeling of everyone else somehow knowing what to do. It’s about a feeling I’d get as a child that has never quite left me; that I just don’t really know what to do at social occasions. It’s about realising that trying to connect with and understand people is a lifetime of trial and error. It’s probably the saddest song we’ve ever written.
Watch the video for "Cha Cha Slide" below and revisit our interview with Getdown Services here.
Massive Champion is out 8/14 via Breakfast Records. Pre-order it here.
