"Everything Is Awesome" is the theme song to the 2014 Warner Bros. Pictures film The Lego Movie. It was written by Shawn Patterson,[1] Jo Li,[2][3] and The Lonely Island. The single and pop version featured in the end credits of the movie was produced by Mark Mothersbaugh[4] and performed by Tegan and Sara in collaboration with The Lonely Island. The version of "Everything Is Awesome" featured in The Lego Movie scene, official trailer,[5] TV spots,[6][7][8] video game, and featurette[9] was produced by Bartholomew[10] and performed by Bartholomew and Lisa Harriton under the name Jo Li. A third version appears in The Lego Batman Movie, performed by Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine. On January 26, 2014, the song received its first US radio airplay via Anything Anything with Rich Russo on WXPK-FM, WRAT-FM and WDHA-FM.[11] Sara Quin of Tegan and Sara said in a Billboard interview: We want to be a "serious" musical band, while also being humorous people, 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. In an interview to Fox News, Mark Mothersbaugh says the song "was supposed to be like mind control early in the film. It's totally irritating, this kind of mindless mantra to get people up and working." The music video features Lego versions of Tegan and Sara as well as The Lonely Island's Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone. Parts of the video were made using brickfilming. "Everything is Awesome" debuted at No. 7 on the Dance/Electronic Songs chart, with 34,000 downloads in its first week (Nielsen SoundScan) and 11 on the Irish Charts. It also charted 35 on the Canadian Hot 100. The song charted 17 on the UK Charts and charted 3 on the UK Indie. In the US Billboard Hot 100, the song charted 57.[15] As of June 2014, the single had sold 418,000 copies in the United States. International Business Times described the song as a parody of creeping fascism, saying that the song "seems little more than an infectiously catchy parody of watered-down radio pop, right down to the faux-dubstep breakdown.
There’s a lot more happening under the surface, however." As one of the songs nominated for Best Original Song at the 2015 Oscars, "Everything is Awesome" was performed as a large-scale musical number featuring not only Tegan and Sara and The Lonely Island, but also on-stage appearances by Mothersbaugh (paying homage to his 1970s group Devo by wearing a LEGO version of the distinctive Devo energy dome), DJ Questlove, and comic actor Will Arnett dressed as Batman (in the film, Arnett provides the voice of Batman and sings the mocking heavy metal composition "Untitled Self Portrait", an excerpt of which was incorporated into the "Everything Is Awesome" performance).[18] According to LEGO Movie co-director Christopher Miller, for this on-stage appearance, Arnett wore the Batman costume originally worn by Val Kilmer in the 1995 film Batman Forever.[19] Arnett also lip-synced to the song on the Reality TV Show Lip Sync Battle, while dressed as Emmet, the character voiced by Chris Pratt in The Lego Movie.
^ [1] "Playlists for 1/26/14" ^ a b 'The Lego Movie': Why Tegan & Sara Went Chirpy for 'Everything Is Awesome' (Video). ^ Devo lead singer dishes on creating catchy 'Lego' song. ^ How 'The Lego Movie' And 'Everything Is Awesome' Parody Creeping Everyday Fascism. ^ WATCH: ‘Everything is Awesome’ at the Oscars Thanks to Will Arnett’s Batman and Oprah, Variety. accessed February 25, 2015 ^ Nick Romano, Will Arnett Wore A Piece Of Batman History At The Oscars. ^ ARIA Australian Top 40 Digital Tracks | Australia's Official Top 40 Digital Downloads. ^ "Tegan and Sara – Chart history" Canadian Hot 100 for Tegan and Sara. Retrieved February 23, 2014. ^ "Chart Track: Week 09, 2014". Retrieved February 24, 2014. ^ ".nz – Tegan And Sara feat. The Lonely Island – Everything Is Awesome". ^ "Archive Chart: March 1, 2014". Scottish Singles Top 40. ^ "1, 2014/ Archive Chart: March 1, 2014" UK Singles Chart. ^ "1, 2014/ Archive Chart: March 1, 2014" UK Indie Chart.
^ "Tegan and Sara – Chart history" Billboard Hot 100 for Tegan and Sara. ^ Comedy Digital Tracks : Feb 15, 2014. ^ Hot Dance/Electronic Songs : Mar 1, 2014. ^ Tegan and Sara - Chart history for Heatseekers Songs. . Retrieved February 23, 2014. ^ If necessary, click, then click, then select, then clickLego told 'everything is not awesome' in viral Greenpeace video. Retrieved January 28, 2015.The Utterly Depressing Story Of Why Lego Movie's 'Everything Is Awesome' Was Written If you've seen The Lego Movie, starring Chris Pratt (voice), Elizabeth Banks (voice) and Will Ferrell then chances are you know the song "Everything Is Awesome." While you may remember it as being an ultra-upbeat pop track with nothing but lyrics about "blue skies, bouncy springs" and endless partying, you may be surprised to learn that writing the tune was anything but. In theory, the songwriting process for The Lego Movie's theme song seems like it would have been a blast. Well I hate to burst bubbles but it turns out everything was NOT awesome for one of the track's songwriters, Mr. Shawn Patterson, who co-wrote the now-infamous tune with Joshua Bartholomew, Lisa Harriton and The Lonely Island.
Patterson explained what made the process of writing "Everything Is Awesome" so excruciatingly painful for him in an interview with THR: I was going through a very ugly divorce when I wrote that song. All of us, I'm assuming, have gone through horrible breakups at some point. So part of what we do, I guess, with our tools and what we feel and have studied, is we create. I wrote pages and pages and pages of lyrics, trying different concepts. There were definitely elements of darkness seeping into my lyrics — sarcasm, heavy f—ing sarcasm. And I'm like, 'Hold on. Don't get too sarcastic in this part.' That's why I had pages and pages. It was very therapeutic, in many ways. "Pages and pages of lyrics" is the last thing I would have been expecting to hear when discussing The Lego Movie's "Everything Is Awesome." But being a writer myself, it makes complete sense when you think about it. The song only appears to be simple, when in all actuality it's pretty complex. It's just one of those songs that grabs you with its hook (love it or hate it) and that's all you remember.