"Spring Break Anthem" is a song written and recorded by American

comedy hip hop Comedy hip-hop or comedy rap is a subgenre of Hip-hop, hip-hop music designed to be amusing or comedic, compared to artists who incorporate humor into their more serious, purist hip-hop styles. Satirical hip-hop is a variant of comedy hip-hop d ...

group

The Lonely Island The Lonely Island is an American comedy trio, formed by Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer in Berkeley, California, in 2001. They have written for and starred in the American TV program ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). The th ...

for their third studio album ''

The Wack Album ''The Wack Album'' is the third studio album by American comedy hip hop group The Lonely Island. Recorded in Los Angeles and New York City with producers including TODAY, DJ Nu-Mark and Asa Taccone, it was released on June 7, 2013 by Republic Rec ...

''. The song was released as the second single from the album on May 5, 2013. The song satirizes American

spring break Spring break is a vacation period at universities and schools that includes the Easter holiday, and takes place in early Northern Hemisphere spring. Introduced in the U.S. during the 1930s, spring break has been observed in Europe since t ...

culture, which is illustrated as uproarious and irresponsible, juxtaposing it with the concept of

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

Background

"Spring Break Anthem" was first conceived during the 2010 sessions that produced the trio's second album, '' Turtleneck & Chain'' (2011), but it was not developed fully until they began recording ''The Wack Album'' in late 2012. The original intention was to juxtapose raucous and irresponsible spring break behavior with descriptions of

. "We wanted to show just how ridiculous it is that spring break behavior is considered normal and gay marriage is insane when it's actually the opposite," said Schaffer. Samberg further stated that, upon viewing the music video, the song takes on another level of satire, illustrating that careless, "macho" young men that typically detest the idea of same-sex marriage, have no problem taking advantage of women while on spring break and "acting like animals," in stark contrast to the reality of same-sex marriage, which Samberg describes as "people who just want to be civilized and have rights and care for each other." The trio performed the song live for YouTube Comedy Week, which required four takes, after which the troupe were losing their voices.

Music video

Same-sex wedding planning and marriage scenes are interspersed throughout stereotypical spring break party scenes.

Zach Galifianakis Zachary Knight Galifianakis (; born October 1, 1969) is an American actor, comedian and writer. The accolades he has received include two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Critics' Choice Movie Award. Galifianakis ...

, Ed Norton, and

James Franco James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has starred in numerous films, including Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002 film series), ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007), ''Milk (2008 American film), Milk'' (200 ...

cameo as the husbands to bandmembers Samberg,

Jorma Taccone Jorma Christopher Taccone ( ; born March 19, 1977) is an American writer, producer, director, comedian, actor, and musician. He is a member of the comedy music group The Lonely Island with his childhood friends Andy Samberg and Akiva Schaffer. I ...

, and

Akiva Schaeffer Akiva Daniel Shebar Schaffer (; born December 1, 1977) is an American writer, producer, director, comedian, actor, and musician. He is a member of the comedy music group The Lonely Island, along with childhood friends Andy Samberg and Jorma Tacc ...

, respectively.

Reception

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

'' considered it, alongside the eight other "Wack Wednesdays" singles, as among the best on ''

''.

Track listing

Chart performance

References

{{Authority control Songs about parties Songs about marriage The Lonely Island songs 2013 singles 2013 songs LGBTQ-related songs