“No Idea” by MUNA, Saturday, August 17, 2024
Max Martin is one of the go-to big-budget record producers when a pop star needs a breakthrough or a comeback hit. His production style shaped the pop music in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s with his use of explosive synthesizers, vocal layering and often nonsensical lyricism. Martin’s work with Ace of Base and Backstreet Boys paved the way for his first U.S. number 1, which hit came from Britney Spears’ “….Baby One More Time.” His production style has been imitated by many other producers to varying success, and because of his multiple collaborations, producers he has worked with have also imitated the Max-Martin sound. Martin’s production style has developed over the decades to incorporate rock, hip-hop, and ‘80s synth pop.
I THINK YOU THINK I’M LIKE A VIRGIN. Many millennials are particularly fond of the late ‘90s/ early ‘00s sound of Max Martin productions because it reminds them of their childhood and teenage years. Indie band MUNA experimented with the Max Martin sound on their latest album. The group had explored pop sounds before, but from the huge pop chorus of the MUNA’s second track “What I Want,” listeners hear a celebration of nostalgic tones. Another song on the album, “No Idea,” was a thought experiment: what if MUNA were a ‘90s boy band about to head into the studio with Max Martin behind the boards? Lead singer Katie Gavin penned the first verse and the chorus and set the song aside until MUNA was jamming one evening with Mitski after meeting her at a festival. Mitski wrote the song’s second verse, and MUNA self-produced the track in a Max Martin style.
I KEEP IT SO CLEAN. Similar to the musical nostalgia of “No Idea,” the song’s lyrics also deal with a kind of sexual nativity. The song is written from the perspective of a girl who has a crush on someone. The speaker has sexual fantasies about the other person, assuming that the other person has “no idea” about. The speaker implies that the subject of the song is much more sexually experienced than the speaker, but the speaker thinks that she is only seen as a nice girl with a pure mind. The song opens with the line: “I think you think I’m like a virgin /Not in a Biblical sense.” The catchy line immediately draws in listeners as they think of Madonna’s 1984 hit. Perhaps listeners think of “the Biblical sense” of virginity and the religious weight that line can carry, whether of Catholic or evangelical purity culture, also popular in the ‘90s and ‘00s. Then, back to the comparison “like a virgin / not in a Biblical sense.” Perhaps, the speaker is saying that the presumably more sexually experienced subject views the speaker as traditional, prudish, or just scared to try new things, to the point that the subject overlooks the speaker as a potential partner. The sexual inexperience and the longing in the lyrics are nostalgic of teens and early 20s. For a band that is outspoken about their queer sexuality, “No Idea” is nostalgic for the awkwardness and the naivety of figuring things out. It begs the question, would you go back and do it again?
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