“Chaise Longue” is a single released in 2021 by an English female rock duo from their first album. The composition has an interesting history, because after the release, the musical composition quickly became “viral” on the Internet, collected millions of views on YouTube. To date, the song is included in the list of nominees for the annual Grammy Music Awards.
History of the song
The song and music video were released in the summer of 2021. The girls in an interview talked about the fact that the text and music were written literally in one day, sitting on real sun loungers on the veranda of the grandfather of one of the group members. They wanted to create a driving and humorous song that would resemble the post-punk style. This fact is emphasized by ambiguous allusions, irony and references to some works. For example, the phrase: “Is your muffin buttered? Would you like us to get someone to butter your muffin?” is nothing more than a direct reference to the movie Mean Girls. The melody in the song is simple and not intrusive. The girls invented the drum, bass and guitar parts together while sitting on the same deck chair.
What is the song “Chaise Longue” about?
This song belongs to those in which you should not look for a deep meaning. The Wet Leg girls just took a set of compromising, ambiguous phrases and put them on driving music. The actualization of attention on the word “Chaise Longue” is associated with the brightest point of the story – a symbol of rest, relaxation and fun. No matter what situations are sung in the composition, it all boils down to the fact that you need to relax on a deck chair all day. It doesn’t matter whether it’s relaxing in the open air or in a cozy dressing room with a can of warm beer.
The girls from “Wet Leg” position themselves as a rock band, and therefore, in their texts, they are repelled from concepts that are considered acceptable for this direction of music. She is devoid of excessive sentimentality or restraint and focuses her attention on protesting society and physical pleasures.
The main idea that the vocalist tried to convey to the listener fits into the chorus:
Hey you, over there On the chaise longue
in your underwear You should be horizontal nowOn the chaise longue, on the chaise longue, on the chaise longue
All day long, on the chaise longue
Looking at the composition from a philosophical point of view, we can perceive the lyrics of the song as a call not to forget about the necessary rest, regardless of the situation.
Interesting facts about the song
Despite the Grammy nomination, this musical group is little known in Russia and the post-Soviet space. After the release of the single and debut album, the girls were able to achieve the greatest popularity in the United States, Great Britain, Germany and New Zealand.
Music video for the song
The official video for the song was released on the group’s YouTube channel and immediately hit the list of the most popular. To date, more than 9,000,000 people have watched it. It is interesting that he was filmed by the members of the group together with director Fred Rawson and this tandem turned out to be very fruitful.
The video begins with an unobtrusive drum rhythm and bass line, the band members appear before the audience dressed in traditional outfits for the south of England (straw hats, long dresses with a color pattern). Restrained hairstyles in the form of braided hair. It would seem that the characters of Louisa May Alcott appear before us. But it all ends when the members of the group begin to sing.
The text of their song, in tandem with the chosen style of clothing and images of the heroines, produce a provocative effect. They defiantly eat apples and look at the viewer with voluptuousness, singing:
Hey you, in the front row
Are you coming backstage after the show?
Because I’ve got a chaise longue in my dressing room
And a pack of warm beer that we can consume
The song was created by a duet as a joke, which is typical for the post-punk genre, and the huge interest in the video and composition is the best confirmation of this.
Future Hits
The girls do not stop at the achieved success and are actively working on new hits. So, in 2022 they were able to release a second album and organized a tour. Despite the restrictions due to the pandemic, all the concerts took place and the girls were able to please the audience with old and new hits. In addition, in 2022 they were able to shoot as many as three music videos (“Oh No”, “Angelica”, “Ur Mum”), which were received no less warmly than the legendary “Chaise Longue”. Let’s pay attention that in the new compositions there is also a playful mood and a slight veil of sexualization of everything about anything, the vocalist sings. Such a business card to the taste of English and American fans.
