"Two Weeks" is a song by the American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band

Grizzly Bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horr ...

, and the first single from the band's third studio album, '' Veckatimest''. Featuring backing vocals from

Victoria Legrand Victoria Garance Alixe Legrand (born May 28, 1981) is a French-American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter and keyboardist of the dream pop band Beach House. Early life Legrand was born in Paris, France, the daughter of paint ...

, singer and organist for the

dream pop Dream pop (also typeset as dreampop) is a subgenre of alternative rock and neo-psychedelia that emphasizes atmosphere and sonic texture as much as pop melody. Common characteristics include breathy vocals, dense productions, and effects such ...

duo

Beach House Beach House is an American indie music, indie band formed in Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore in 2004 by current members Victoria Legrand (vocals, keyboards) and Alex Scally (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals, drum programming). Their work is char ...

, it was released as a single on June 1, 2009. The song's debut live performance was on the ''

Late Show with David Letterman ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production com ...

'' in July 2008.

Music video

The video for "Two Weeks" was directed by

Patrick Daughters Patrick Daughters (born 1976 in Berkeley, California) is an American music videomaker and commercial director currently signed to Anonymous Content. Daughters is a graduate of Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland. While still in colle ...

. It features the band members sitting on an altar at an empty church, singing along to the song as slowly their heads and faces start to glow, then sparks fly from their heads and ultimately their heads catch fire as the video ends. When interviewed by Amanda Petrusich, band singer

Ed Droste Edward Droste (born October 22, 1978) is an American singer-songwriter, licensed therapist, and musician, formerly of the rock band Grizzly Bear. The group began as the solo effort of Droste with the release of 2004's '' Horn of Plenty'', origin ...

explained:

Reception

Upon its release, "Two Weeks" was acclaimed by music critics, and many regarded it as a highlight of ''Veckatimest''. ''

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music magazine founded in 1996 by Ryan Schreiber in Minneapolis. It originally covered Alternative rock, alternative and independent music, and expanded to cover genres includin ...

'' ranked the song at No. 162 in its "Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s" list. It was voted at No. 61 on Triple J's Hottest 100 for 2009. ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...

'' cited it as the sixth best song of the group. "Two Weeks" has gained popularity in YouTube, where its video clip (uploaded by the verified channel of the original group) has over 14 million views.

Das Racist Das Racist was an American alternative hip hop group based in Brooklyn, composed of MCs Heems and Kool A.D. and hype man Ashok Kondabolu (a.k.a. Dapwell or Dap). Known for their use of humor, academic references, foreign allusions, and unconv ...

refers to the song in the track "Free Jazzmatazz." They claim about their own song: "this is the best song ever. Better than ' Juicy'... better than "Two Weeks" by Grizzly Bear. That's a pretty good song, right?"

Childish Gambino Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his musical stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American actor, comedian, musician, and filmmaker. While he studied at New York University and after working in Derrick ...

also sampled and rapped over the song, now called "Bitch Look At Me Now", on his 2010 mixtape ''I am Just a Rapper''. The song was featured in the 2012 movie ''The Dictator'', an episode of the television series ''

How I Met Your Mother ''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom created by Craig Thomas (screenwriter), Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005, to March 31, 2014, follows main char ...

'', and a

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

commercial aired during

Super Bowl XLIV Super Bowl XLIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champions New Orleans Saints and the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Indianapolis Colts to decide the National Football League (NFL) c ...

Track listing

Certifications

References

External links

Single synopsis at Warp Records
{{Authority control 2009 singles Grizzly Bear (band) songs 2009 songs Warp Records singles