"3 O'Clock Things" is a song by American

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

band

AJR is an American pop band founded by brothers Met (), collectively a trio of vocalists, , and songwriters. The brothers grew up in New York City, primarily focused on busking, singing covers and street tap dancing until shifting to songwriting ...

from their fourth studio album ''

OK Orchestra ''OK Orchestra'' (stylized in all uppercase), often abbreviated as ''OKO'', is the fourth studio album by American pop band AJR. It was released on March 26, 2021, by the band's own label AJR Productions. The album was supported by five singles ...

'', appearing as the third track. It is the most popular non-

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from the album, amassing over 43 million streams as of October 2023.

Background and composition

AJR began writing the song with the intent of creating a "stream of consciousness" song, grabbing thoughts that would be had at 3 AM and weighing if others would have an instant feeling from it. Each line is taken from different one-sided perspectives, with the song's final line "if you're fuckin' racist, then don't come to my show" tying in as one thought given as a fact rather than an uncertainty. During live performances, the line is often shouted by the audience. "3 O'Clock Things" is composed in time signature in the key of

B major B major is a major scale based on B. The pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A are all part of the B major scale. Its key signature has five sharps. Its relative minor is G-sharp minor, its parallel minor is B minor, and its enharmonic equi ...

and follows a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of 94 beats per minute (bpm). The song's intro and bridge vocal melodies were inspired by close-harmony choirs featured in the 1940s jump blues song "

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" is a World War II jump blues song written by Don Raye and Hughie Prince which was introduced by The Andrews Sisters in the Abbott and Costello comedy film '' Buck Privates'' (1941). The Andrews Sisters' Decca recording r ...

", similarly to the band's previous album, ''

Neotheater ''Neotheater'' is the third studio album by American pop band AJR. It was released on April 26, 2019 by the band's label AJR Productions. The album was self-produced by the trio. It is a follow-up to the trio's 2017 album '' The Click ''(2017). ...

'', which took inspiration from 1930s

barbershop quartet A barbershop quartet is a group of four singers who sing music in the barbershop style, characterized by four-part harmony without instrumental accompaniment (a cappella). The four voices are: the lead, the vocal part which typically carries t ...

The Beu Sisters The Beu Sisters are a pop-rock girl group from New Smyrna Beach, Florida, consisting of sisters Candice Beu (born 1975), Christie Beu (born 1978), Jiliane (born 1983), and Danielle Beu (born 1987). Originally from New York City, the sisters were ...

perform these vocal sections in "3 O'Clock Things".

Music video

On June 23, 2021, a video directed by Jack Met and Edoardo Ranaboldo was released. The music video features AJR absent of Jack, with the band's lighting designer Ezra Donellan taking his place. Donellan recreates scenes from previous AJR music videos with the other members, including " I'm Not Famous", " Dear Winter", " Sober Up", " Bang!", " My Play", " Bummerland", " Way Less Sad", "OK Overture", "Come Hang Out", and "

Weak Weak may refer to: Songs * Weak (AJR song), "Weak" (AJR song), 2016 * Weak (Melanie C song), "Weak" (Melanie C song), 2011 * Weak (SWV song), "Weak" (SWV song), 1993 * Weak (Skunk Anansie song), "Weak" (Skunk Anansie song), 1995 * "Weak", a son ...

", while additionally recreating a ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', sometimes shortened to ''JKL'', is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show tapes and is based out of the Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywo ...

'' performance of "Way Less Sad" and an interview with

Zach Sang Zach Sang is an American radio personality, podcaster, and media producer, best known for his work as the host of ''The Zach Sang Show''. He began his broadcasting career at the age of 14 from his parents' home in Wayne, New Jersey, where he dev ...

. The music video's audio was mixed with 360 Reality Audio, which was released onto streaming services the next day.

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal. *Adam Met – vocals, instruments, composer *Jack Met – lead vocals, instruments, composer *Ryan Met – vocals, instruments, composer, producer *

– vocals *

Chris Gehringer Chris Gehringer (born May 27, 1962) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound in New Jersey. Gehringer is known for having mastered recordings by popular artists such as AJR, Dua Lipa, Drake, Ed Sheeran, Gwen Stefani, Harry Styles, ...

–

mastering engineer Mastering is a form of audio post production which is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the Audio mixing (recorded music), final mix to a data storage device called a master recording, the source ...

*Joe Zook –

mixing engineer A mixing engineer (or simply mix engineer) is responsible for combining ("mixing") different sonic elements of an auditory piece into a complete rendition (also known as "final mix" or "mixdown"), whether in music, film, or any other content of a ...

*Chris Berry - drums *Arnetta Johnson - trumpet *Josh Plotner - flute *Danny Ferenbach -

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

*Emelia Suljic - violin *Ruth Kornblatt-Stier -

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

*Alba Avoricani - backing vocals

Charts

References

{{authority control AJR songs 2021 songs