"Your Life Is a Lie" is the second single released from the

third album ''Third Album'' is the third studio album released by the Jackson 5 on Motown Records, and the group's second LP released in 1970, on September 18. ''Third Album'' featured the group's fourth consecutive No. 1 single on the US pop charts, " I' ...

MGMT MGMT () is an American indie rock band formed in 2002 in Middletown, Connecticut. It was founded by multi-instrumentalists Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser. Alongside VanWyngarden and Goldwasser, MGMT's live lineup currently consists of ...

, which was released as an instant download with the album pre-order on August 6, 2013. It is also the first time that the band has used a

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to promote any single; in recent posts on their

social networks A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for an ...

, the hashtag "#YLIAL" can be seen, acronym for the title of the song. In an interview with

XFM Radio X is a British National commercial radio station focused on alternative music, primarily indie rock, and owned by Global. Radio X launched in 1989 as a pirate radio station, a licensed London-wide station in 1997 and nationally in 2015 ...

, VanWyngarden explained the meaning behind of this song: "''Your Life Is a Lie in particular was never meant to be directed at our fans or anybody in particular. What it's meant for more is to be utilized as a kind of weapon that you can direct towards whoever you want and it's supposed to be an empowering song.''"

History

The band first premiered the song live at the

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State Theater on April 30, and was later performed on following shows through

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as their spring 2013 tour. In the July 2013 issue of ''

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'' magazine, the song is explained as "a burst of clattering, misanthropic buzz-pop vitriol"; while ''Relix'' Magazine explains it as a "lyrically dark song". In this same interview, VanWyngarden explains that he wrote the song "while tripping hard on acid by a fire". On August 5, the band premiered the music video for this song, which was directed by

Tom Kuntz Tom Kuntz (born July 7, 1972) is an American director and filmmaker who is most known for his unique television commercials and music videos, which either have colorful settings, time-lapse photography or wildly eccentric humans. He has enjoy ...

; the promotion of the video it's accompanied with an interactive kaleidoscopic video embedded on their official website. A day after, the single was given as a

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with the album pre-order on

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. On the August 22 episode of ''

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

'', the band appeared and performed the song. On August 28,

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premiered a 'Sunroof Remix' of the song made by

Mute Records Mute Records is a British independent record label owned and founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller. It has featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Einstürzende Neubauten, Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, Grinderm ...

founder Daniel Miller, alongside producer Gareth Jones.

Reception

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'' listed "Your Life is a Lie" as the 98th-best song of the year, calling it, "a two-minute skull-boring pop nugget that makes the title's argument with such ear-wormy power."

Track listing

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control MGMT songs 2013 singles 2013 songs Columbia Records singles Songs written by Andrew VanWyngarden Songs written by Benjamin Goldwasser