Over the weekend, AJR officially announced their fourth album, OK ORCHESTRA, and on Tuesday (December) shared its third single, "My Play."
The band admitted on social media that they "put a lot of emotion" into the new track, and it shows. The vulnerable track explores divorce through the eyes of a child that "just really, really, really, really" wants to show his parents a play he created, but doesn't want to do two different performances at his mom and dad's separate houses. The pre-chorus comes from a more adult perspective, as Jack Metzger questions why he'd ever get into a relationship after seeing his parents' marriage fail. "If you both out-grew one another/ I could start now, lookin' for a lover/ But if love dies, do I f**kin' bother?" he sings.
"My Play" follows the album's lead single "Bang!," which ended up being one of iHeartRadio's most-played alternative songs of the year, and "Bummerland," which came out over the summer.
“In the most uncertain year of our lives, making OK ORCHESTRA was the one certain thing we had to hold on to,” AJR said in a statement. “We ended up with the most sonically experimental and emotionally raw album we’ve ever made.”
The brothers plan to play new material for the first time during their One Spectacular Night livestream event on December 26. OK ORCHESTRA is slated for a March 26, 2021 release and can be pre-ordered here. Listen to "My Play" above.
Photo: Courtesy of AJR