"It's Working" is the third single released from the album ''

Congratulations Congratulations may refer to: Film and television * Congratulations (2010 film), an Egyptian film * Congratulations (2023 film), a Gujarati drama film *'' Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest'', 2005 television programme ...

'' by

MGMT MGMT () is an American rock band formed in 2002 in Middletown, Connecticut. It was founded by singers and multi-instrumentalists Andrew VanWyngarden and Benjamin Goldwasser, Ben Goldwasser. Originally signed to Cantora Records by the nascent ...

. The album covers were made by So Me.

Sonic Boom A sonic boom is a sound associated with shock waves created when an object travels through the air faster than the speed of sound. Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding similar to an explosion or a thunderclap to ...

's commentary on the track, before the ''Congratulations'' sessions at the Blanker Unsinn Studio on 2010, is "Love? Or Confusion? Reality? Contusion? Subterranea or Sub-fusion. The Quest begins."

History

The single was added to

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

's C-Playlist in May 2010 and later upgraded to the B-Playlist. On June 29, the single was released as a digital download on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

, with the name of "It's Working Digital 45" and contains the

Air An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

and Violens remix. On June 30, the remix by

was given as a free download on RCRD LBL.

Music video

MGMT said in an interview for

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

about the song, "We just shot the coolest video in Paris with director So Me ustice's "D.A.N.C.E."">D.A.N.C.E..html" ;"title="ustice's "D.A.N.C.E.">ustice's "D.A.N.C.E."for 'It's Working'. In it, Ben and I find this box and these instructions to put together a machine that's constantly changing, and we end up losing control over it. Saying this now, it sounds so metaphorical for our musical career, which is really funny." The video was premiered on June 15 on their website. The video has Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser finding a box that contains a giant machine. They find a booklet with the title "Construction Manual" on it. They look through it and push different buttons on the machine. While VanWyngarden and Goldwasser push the buttons a woman walks past but they do not take any notice of her and the machine takes photos of her that MGMT show to a photo booth. While the song keeps playing, VanWyngarden and Goldwasser do various things with the machine such as pour ice cream all over a sombrero on Will Berman's head and locking Matthew Asti in with a giant gopher. Near the end of the video, the machine starts shrinking VanWyngarden tries looking for Goldwasser and finds him in bed with the woman from before as the song starts fading. He wakes Goldwasser up and try getting out of the machine. VanWyngarden, Richardson and Asti escape but VanWyngarden goes back for Goldwasser who gets stuck in the machine along with VanWyngarden. The video ends with the box closing itself and a man (played by the video's director, So Me), picking up the box.

Track listing

Personnel

* Andrew VanWyngarden – Singing, vocals, guitar, bass guitar * Ben Goldwasser – Synthesizer, synthesizer and samples, omnichord * James Richardson – guitar * Matt Asti – guitar * Will Berman –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Britta Phillips Britta Phillips (born June 11, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and actress. Phillips' music career spans more than 30 years. She came to prominence in the mid-1980s as the singing voice of the title character ...

– additional vocals * Gillian Rivers – strings

References

{{authority control 2010 singles MGMT songs 2010 songs Columbia Records singles Songs written by Andrew VanWyngarden Songs written by Benjamin Goldwasser