Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner has spoken about his band’s new single ‘R U Mine?’ and has revealed that he was inspired by Drake and Lil Wayne when it came to the track’s lyrics.
The band release the track tomorrow (April 21) for Record Store Day, with new track ‘Electricity’ as the B-side. You can hear ‘Electricity’ and watch the video for ‘R U Mine?’ by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking.
Speaking to NME about the track’s lyrics, Turner said: “There’s a few references for people to pick up on in there – ‘Some Velvet Morning’, Tracy Island. Those references are just me being a smartarse. The song, not to get too heavy, is about that uncertainty that comes with love sometimes. Wondering where you are with it all. That’s the undertone for the tune, but I threw in a Thunderbirds reference too. Just because.”
Turner added that he’d been listening to both Drake and Lil Wayne recently and had tried to incorporate some of their lyrical techniques into ‘R U Mine?’.
He added: “That particular bit is like the thing Lil Wayne and Drake do. We’ve been listening to a lot of their stuff recently. I like that thing they do where they talk about something backwards, so they talk about it but then say what it actually is on the next line. It’s hard to explain but I guess it’s a little nod to that idea. So I say, ‘I’m a puppet on a string’, just before mentioning Tracy Island. That’s what it’s about – uncertainty.”
The band are in the midst of a lengthy jaunt across the USA and Canada as support to The Black Keys on their US arena tour and will make their second appearance at Coachella Festival this weekend.
Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner and Matt Helders are among the artists who’ve revealed the records that changed their life in this week’s issue of NME.
In the special Record Store Day preview issue, which is on UK newsstands and available digitally now, both Turner and Helders pick out the releases that changed everything for them.