"Hey Now" is a song written and recorded by the American rock band Tantric. It was released as the lead single from their 2004 second studio album '' After We Go'' on December 9, 2003.

Background and release

In an April 2002 interview with

MTV News MTV News was the news production division of MTV. The service was available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network and an online news team. In 2016, MTV refreshed the MTV News brand to compete with the likes of BuzzFeed and ...

the band announced they would be returning to the studio after wrapping up their headlining tour on April 7 in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

to begin writing and recording new music for their second album. The song's lyrics were co-written by lead singer

Hugo Ferreira Hugo Fernando da Silva Ferreira (born March 7, 1974) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer of the rock band Tantric. Early years, Merge and formation of Tantric Ferreira was born on March 7, 1974, in Luanda, Angola, which at t ...

with guitarist

Nuno Bettencourt Nuno Duarte Gil Mendes Bettencourt (born September 20, 1966) is a Portuguese-American guitarist. He became known as the lead guitarist of the Boston rock band Extreme. Bettencourt has recorded a solo album and has founded rock bands including ...

from the band Extreme with Todd Whitener,

Jesse Vest Jesse Vest (born May 10, 1977) is an American rock musician and bassist for the bands The Crashers and the supergroup, Blisskrieg. Vest was one of the three original instrumental members and founders of the post-grunge band, Days of the New and th ...

, and Matt Taul writing and composing their respected instrumentals parts. Ferreira revealed that his collaboration with Bettencourt was a result of their shared upbringing in

Hudson, Massachusetts Hudson is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, with a total population of 20,092 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Before its incorporation as a town in 1866, Hudson was a ne ...

. The two grew up in the same small town, their mothers were friends, and Ferreira would often visit Bettencourt's house, where he was allowed to play his guitars. During various different interviews the band participated in to promote the single's release and the upcoming new album, the band members stated the track was written during a tumultuous period in the

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

of ''After We Go''. Tantric had already completed two extensive

recording sessions A studio recording, or a recording session is any recording made in a studio, as opposed to a live recording, which is usually made in a concert venue or a theatre, with an audience attending the performance. Studio cast recordings In the case o ...

when their label insisted they return to the

studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

for additional material. Frustrated by the pressure from their

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affix ...

, the band went back and wrote three new songs—one of which was "Hey Now". Despite being conceived under duress, the song became the album's

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

and one of its most aggressive and emotionally charged tracks.

Content

Musically, "Hey Now" follows Tantric's signature blend of layered vocal harmonies, folk-influenced acoustic

strumming In music, strumming is a way of playing a stringed instrument such as a guitar, ukulele, or mandolin. A strum or stroke is a sweeping action where a finger or plectrum brushes over several strings to generate sound. On most stringed instrume ...

, and distorted

guitar riffs A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based on ...

, but with an added intensity. Ferreira described the song's

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, ...

as an expression of

anger Anger, also known as wrath ( ; ) or rage (emotion), rage, is an intense emotional state involving a strong, uncomfortable and non-cooperative response to a perceived provocation, hurt, or threat. A person experiencing anger will often experie ...

and

betrayal Betrayal is the breaking or violation of a presumptive contract, trust, or confidence that produces moral and psychological conflict within a relationship amongst individuals, between organizations or between individuals and organizations. Of ...

, directed at someone within the band's inner circle, stating in an interview with

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

that "Hey Now is kind of a ‘You did me wrong, so f--- you’ song." The lyrics reflect

frustration In psychology, frustration is a common emotional response to opposition, related to anger, annoyance and disappointment. Frustration arises from the perceived resistance to the fulfillment of an individual's Will (philosophy), will or goal and ...

toward a person who had broken

promise A promise is a commitment by someone to do or not do something. As a noun ''promise'' means a declaration assuring that one will or will not do something. As a verb it means to commit oneself by a promise to do or give. It can also mean a capacity ...

s and proven themselves to be untrustworthy, leaving the narrator questioning whether to maintain a connection with them. Ferreira also noted that "Hey Now" and the whole '' After We Go'' was deeply shaped by the

sociopolitical Political sociology is an interdisciplinary field of study concerned with exploring how governance and society interact and influence one another at the micro to macro levels of analysis. Interested in the social causes and consequences of how p ...

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

at the time, particularly the 2003 invasion of Iraq and

economic An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

struggles in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He emphasized how these external events contributed to the album’s heavier and more mature tone:

"I think the record is more mature and it's definitely heavier. We're all older, and we're a product of our environment. And there was crazy sh-- going on around us every day, whether it was another U.S. soldier getting shot or another disease that's killing people. Whenever you turn on the news, there's never anything good on there. People are pissed, everyone's broke, and we're invading other countries. There's no way you can be unaffected by it, and that struggle definitely helps give this record its own soul."

Charts

"Hey Now" peaked at number 8 on the US

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" ...

chart. Its performance contributed to the initial momentum of '' After We Go'', which debuted at number 56 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart.

Track listing

Music video

The official "Hey Now"

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

premiered on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

and

in February 2004 and was uploaded to

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

for free on October 26, 2009, via Warner Records Vault.

Personnel

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

, co-producer * Todd Whitener -

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

, songwriter,

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

, songwriter *Matt Taul -

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, songwriter *

- co-writer Technical personnel *

Toby Wright Toby Wright is an American record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with artists such as Alice in Chains, Metallica, KISS, Sevendust and Korn. Credits Producer * 3rd Strike - '' Lost Angel'' * 8stops7 - ''In Moderation'' *Alice in Ch ...

– producer,

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 ...

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproducti ...

* Elliott Blakey – additional engineer * Mike Eleopolis – assistant mixing engineer * Leslie Richter – assistant engineer

References

{{authority control 2003 singles 2003 songs Tantric (band) songs Songs written by Nuno Bettencourt Songs written by Matt Taul Songs written by Hugo Ferreira Songs written by Jesse Vest Songs written by Todd Whitener Maverick Records singles American alternative rock songs American folk rock songs