When You Die
"When You Die" is a song by American rock band MGMT, and the second single from the band's fourth studio album Little Dark Age. It was released worldwide on December 12, 2017, through Columbia Records.
| "When You Die" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by MGMT | ||||
| from the album Little Dark Age | ||||
| Released | December 12, 2017 | |||
| Recorded | 2017 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Composer(s) | ||||
| Lyricist(s) |
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| Producer(s) | ||||
| MGMT singles chronology | ||||
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Recording
The song was recorded in 2017. It was co-written by Ariel Pink, who also plays guitar on the song.[1]
Artwork
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The song's artwork is based on an illustration in The Heart of Man; Either a Temple of God, or a Habitation of Satan; Represented in Ten Emblematical Figures, an 1851 book by German religious figure Johannes Evangelista Gossner.
Music video
The music video was directed by Mike Burakoff and Hallie Cooper-Novack, and was released on December 12, 2017 through The New Yorker along with the audio release. The video stars Alex Karpovsky and Lucy Kaminsky, with Karpovsky playing a failing magician that appears to die and watch his death through a psychedelic trip presumably in purgatory.
The video has been viewed 21 million times through the band's official Vevo account on YouTube.[3]
Track listing
All lyrics are written by Andrew VanWyngarden and Ariel Pink; all music is composed by VanWyngarden, Ben Goldwasser and Pink.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "When You Die" | 4:23 |
Charts
| Chart (2017) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard)[4] | 35 |
References
- MGMT – When You Die. Genius. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
- https://archive.org/details/heartofmaneither00goss/page/38
- MGMT – When You Die. YouTube. Retrieved November 09, 2020.
- "MGMT Chart History (Hot Rock & Alternative Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
