"Sober Up" is the third single from AJR's second studio album ''

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'' and features

Weezer Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Scott Shriner (bass guitar, keyboards, backin ...

frontman

Rivers Cuomo Rivers Cuomo ( ; born June 13, 1970) is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist, guitarist, pianist, and songwriter of the rock band Weezer. Cuomo was raised in a number of Buddhist communities in the Northeast U.S. until the age of 10, wh ...

, although some radio stations play a version with AJR's Ryan singing Cuomo's part. "Sober Up" became the first number one song for AJR when it peaked at number one on the ''

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Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

chart in March 2018. Similarly, Cuomo had his first number one on the alternative ''Billboard'' chart as a solo artist.

Background

AJR had written most of "Sober Up" before reaching out to

. After following AJR on Twitter, the band as well as Cuomo expressed admiration for each other's work, in which they later asked if he wanted to collaborate with them. Cuomo was sent an unfinished version of the song that was missing a bridge. To complete "Sober Up", Cuomo wrote and sang the bridge. Cuomo had 3 versions: one in Spanish, one that was nonsensical, and the one that was eventually accepted into the final track.

Composition

In an interview with ''Billboard'', Jack and Ryan Met revealed the inspiration to "Sober Up" came to them during their time at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

. While at Columbia, the Met brothers felt that they were missing their childhood. Using their feelings of loneliness, the Mets were compelled to pen a song about Jack phoning up his crush he had in the second grade of elementary school.

Live performances

In January 2018, AJR performed "Sober Up" on ''

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'' alongside their previous hit " Weak". Cuomo later joined the band for shows in March and April in Los Angeles and has also covered it for a couple solo shows including one in San Francisco.

Chart performance

In March 2018, "Sober Up" peaked at number one on the ''

chart and was the first number one song for AJR. For Rivers Cuomo, "Sober Up" was his first song to reach number one on ''Billboard''s Alternative chart as a solo artist outside of Weezer.

Reception

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbrella brand for iHear ...

said "Sober Up" was a positive song despite the difficult lyrics.

Music video

On January 31, 2018, a music video for "Sober Up" was released. In the music video, the band is walking through

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

while singer Jack Met meets a younger version of himself.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2017 singles 2017 songs AJR (band) songs Black Butter Records singles Rivers Cuomo songs Songs written by Rivers Cuomo