When the musical comedy trio the Lonely Island reached out to Tegan and Sara with the prospect of recording a song for The Lego Movie, Tegan Quin remembers their reaction was, "Legos, cool!" The indie-pop sister duo worked on a demo and within two weeks, found themselves recording "Everything Is Awesome" with Devo frontman Mark Mothersbaugh. "Two hours later, we watched the video and voila," Quin says. The ebullient hit single debuted at Number 11 on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Songs chart. M.I.A., Tegan and Sara Set for Canadian Music Week The Lonely Island and Tegan and Sara Declare 'Everything Is Awesome' Song Premiere: Tegan and Sara Embrace 1980s on 'Shudder to Think' Go Inside Andy Samberg's Mind Squad, The Lonely Island Quin says they spent all of a couple of hours working on the song, futzing around with its tempo and its key to get it just right. She was happy with the result. "Obviously we got to end up as Legos," she says. "We saw a couple of scenes from the movie and I thought it was really smart and funny."
Rolling Stone caught up with Quin to put together (har har) how the song was recorded. Did you think you'd get the gig when you recorded your demo? I thought we did a terrible job. I think it was in a different key. Then we stepped it down because I was just shrieking. Mark, the technician, was like, "It sounds like you're screaming," I said, "I am!" We were like, "There's no way we'll get it." So we were really thrilled to hear our version got in the credits. And I love the Lonely Island, so I was pretty excited that they picked us because they were like, "Oh, we're throwing it out to a bunch of different people." It was, like, big rappers, and I'm like, "There's no way." So how hard was it to sing the word "awesome" and convey its sentiment at the same time? The only vocal suggestion that they made was that we should sing it with as much excitement and jubilation as possible. Even though the movie ends in sort of a strange way, the lyrics are very, "Even though things are going badly, I'm still excited, I'm still happy," and I kind of love that.
When I recorded the demo, I was in a basement in Croatia or something and it was extremely cold and I was cracking vocals in that room, trying to imagine the "awesome" I'd sing if we actually got the song. Are you surprised that people like the song so much? I'm kind of surprised and not surprised. First of all, I thought the movie was really cool based on the two clips we've seen. It seems really smart, really well written. Sara and I really like to do things that we feel are credible and also it feels like they were within the brand of Tegan and Sara. We're trying to move into this more upbeat sound. Sometimes the content is pretty sad, but we try to find things within the realm of Tegan and Sara and this felt like it really fit. Since it came out, it seems like the average person who likes it is pretty young, which is pretty cool, too. I love the idea of like, an 8-year-old going to the movie and some of those kids ending up liking Tegan and Sara. But in the end, we didn't do it to become a bigger band;
we did it because we thought the movie was really cool and we just loved the idea of contributing to something that would bring people happiness. Who would've thought 10 years later you'd have a hit song with The Lego Movie? Who would've thought we'd be playing music 10 years later, the way the industry is?"Whether you think it's funny or annoying, there's no denying that it's a ridiculously hooky thing," said Sara Quin of her band's Lonely Island collaboration. Although diehard fans of The Lego Movie are disappointed that the animated comedy didn't make the best animated film category during this morning's Academy Awards nominations announcement, the film did score a best original song nod for its chirpy anthem "Everything Is Awesome." Performed by Tegan and Sara featuring the Lonely Island, the song was co-produced by Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh and written by Shawn Patterson, the latter of whom will compete for the gold at the Feb. 22 ceremony. The insanely upbeat track does not exactly fit into the nuanced indie-pop catalogue of Tegan & Sara, but that's what attracted the veteran sister duo toward the project, the group's Sara Quin told Billboard when the song debuted on Billboard's Hot 100 chart last February.2015 Oscar Nominations: Nods for Common & John Legend, But Nothing for Lorde"We want to be a 'serious' musical band
, while also being funny people," said Quin. "But this was so adorable, and the movie looked great, and the opportunity to do something with Mark Mothersbaugh and the Lonely Island... it was sort of a no-brainer, and it's turned out to be this really cool moment. We feel like it was a win-win."Tegan & Sara signed on to record "Everything Is Awesome" after hearing an early version of Patterson's song, which didn't yet have the Lonely Island delivering the rap breakdown. Although the duo typically writes its lyrics, the song's cleverness and catchiness pushed Tegan & Sara to cut vocals for a new version of the "Awesome" song. "It's a crazy earworm," said Quin. "As someone who prides myself on being able to write things that are memorable and hooky, the second that we heard this song, I was astounded. Whether you like the song or not, whether you think it's funny or annoying, there's no denying that it's a ridiculously hooky thing. As soon as you hear it, it never leaves your brain." Quin said that her sister Tegan went into the studio with Mothersbaugh -- the leader of Devo who composed music for films like 21 Jump Street and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs -- to record the song's main vocals, while Sara sent in backing vocals from her apartment.
Although the pair was never in the studio with the Lonely Island, Quin said that the final product is a "fun, spontaneous" combination of their pop stylings and the Andy Samberg troupe's off-the-wall antics. Tegan & Sara recently released a 10th anniversary deluxe edition of their 2004 breakout album So Jealous, and Tegan Quin recently told Billboard that the duo is "absolutely gonna write and record a record" in 2015. Meanwhile, "Everything Is Awesome" will compete against "Glory" from Selma, "Grateful" from Beyond the Lights, "Lost Stars" from Begin Again and "I'm Not Gonna Miss You" from Glen Campbell... I'll Be Me at next months' Oscars.MetalBeard's Sea Cow53 ReviewsFIND MORE PRODUCTS LIKE THISTHE LEGO® MOVIE™Help our heroes escape the Micro Managers on MetalBeard’s Sea Cow!Comedy trio The Lonely Island joined Tegan and Sara at the Oscars on Sunday for a performance of their hit "Everything Is Awesome" from "The LEGO Movie." But awesome doesn't even begin to describe it. The performance included dancing cowboys ...