"Sober Up" is a song by American
alternative pop band
AJR, from their second studio album, The Click. Released as the album's third single, it features
Rivers Cuomo, lead singer and frontman of American
rock band
Weezer, although certain radio stations instead play a version with band member Ryan singing Cuomo's verse. "Sober Up" became the first number one song for AJR on the BillboardAlternative Songs, when it peaked at number one on the chart in March 2018. Similarly, Cuomo had his first number one on the alternative Billboard chart as a solo artist.
Background
The inspiration for "Sober Up" came to Jack and Ryan Met during their time at
Columbia University, the brothers missing their childhood. Taking inspiration from their feelings of loneliness, they wrote about Jack calling his
second grade crush from elementary school.[1]iHeartRadio describes "Sober Up" as a positive song despite its difficult lyrics.[2]
Near the end of writing,
Rivers Cuomo of
Weezer followed AJR on
Twitter. The two bands expressed admiration for each other's work, with AJR asking if Cuomo wanted to collaborate with them. Cuomo was sent an unfinished version of the song, to which he wrote and sang the bridge.[3] Cuomo recorded several versions, including one in Spanish, one that was nonsensical, and the one that was eventually accepted into the final track.[4]
Music video
On January 31, 2018, a music video for "Sober Up" was released. In the music video, the band is walking through
New York City while singer
Jack Met meets a younger version of himself.[5]
Chart performance
In March 2018, "Sober Up" peaked at number one on the BillboardAlternative Songs chart and was the first number one song for AJR. For Rivers Cuomo, "Sober Up" was his first song to reach number one on Billboard's Alternative chart as a solo artist outside of Weezer.[6] The song was additionally picked as
iHeartRadio's digital song for October.[7]
Live performances
In January 2018, AJR performed "Sober Up" on Jimmy Kimmel Live! alongside their previous hit "
Weak".[8] Cuomo has performed the song with AJR for select shows, additionally covering it for some solo shows.