"Follow Me Around" | ||||
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Single by Radiohead | ||||
from the album Kid A Mnesia | ||||
Released | 1 November 2021 | |||
Recorded | January 1999 – April 2000 | |||
Genre | Acoustic rock | |||
Length | 5:19 | |||
Label | XL | |||
Songwriter(s) | Radiohead | |||
Producer(s) |
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Radiohead singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Follow Me Around" on YouTube |
"Follow Me Around" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 1 November 2021 as the second single from their compilation album Kid A Mnesia . It features the singer, Thom Yorke, on acoustic guitar, with lyrics expressing paranoia and dread.
Radiohead recorded "Follow Me Around" during the joint sessions for Radiohead's fourth and fifth studio albums, Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001), but went unreleased until 2021. It was accompanied by a music video starring Guy Pearce.
"Follow Me Around" features a solo performance by Thom Yorke on acoustic guitar, with a "soaring" chorus. [1] The lyrics express paranoia and dread, and reference Margaret Thatcher. [1] [2] Earlier versions instead referenced Tony Blair. [1] The A.V. Club described "Follow Me Around" as perhaps the simplest pop song Radiohead had ever released, likening it to Eddie Vedder. [3] Rolling Stone said it was one of Yorke's darkest songs. [4]
"Follow Me Around" first appeared in the 1998 documentary Meeting People Is Easy , which includes a performance recorded during a soundcheck. [5] After Radiohead performed it at a Toronto show in 2000, fans created a website demanding its release. [5] Bootleg recordings circulated online and the song became a fan favourite. [6] [7]
Radiohead recorded "Follow Me Around" during the sessions for their albums Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001). [6] In an online diary written during the sessions, the guitarist Ed O'Brien wrote that the band wanted to approach it in a new way rather than "fall into old habits". [4] Critics surmised that it went unreleased as it was too conventional and did not fit the albums' experimental style. [1] [3] [6] In the following years, Yorke performed it occasionally with Radiohead, in solo performances, and with his side project Atoms for Peace. [7] He and the Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood performed a rearranged version in 2017. [8]
The latest live performance of "Follow Me Around" was during Thom Yorke's Everything solo 2024 tour in Tokyo, Japan on Sunday, November 24th. [9] [10]
Radiohead released "Follow Me Around" on the 2021 compilation album Kid A Mnesia . It was released as the second single on 1 November. [6] The day before the release, Radiohead uploaded a full-quality clip of the performance from Meeting People is Easy to their YouTube channel. [7]
The "Follow Me Around" music video features the actor Guy Pearce being chased by a drone camera. [11] [12] It was directed by Us, a directing duo consisting of Chris Barrett and Luke Taylor. [13] Pearce said the video was recorded a few weeks before the release. [11]
Several publications celebrated the release of a long-awaited fan favourite, including Rolling Stone, [11] The Fader , [2] Spin , [14] Uproxx [5] and NME . [7] The Times wrote that it was the best of the bonus content on Kid A Mnesia and described it as "a brilliant song made at the wrong time, by a band who had moved on and who, eventually, moved a lot of fans with them too. Because Kid A was not just pop music; it was about educating fans in what pop music could be." [1]
Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. They comprise Thom Yorke ; brothers Jonny Greenwood and Colin Greenwood (bass); Ed O'Brien ; and Philip Selway. They have worked with the producer Nigel Godrich and the cover artist Stanley Donwood since 1994. Radiohead's experimental approach is credited with advancing the sound of alternative rock.
Kid A is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 2 October 2000 by Parlophone. It was recorded with their producer, Nigel Godrich, in Paris, Copenhagen, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. Departing from their earlier sound, Radiohead incorporated influences from electronic music, krautrock, jazz and 20th-century classical music, with a wider range of instruments and effects. The singer, Thom Yorke, wrote impersonal and abstract lyrics, cutting up phrases and assembling them at random.
Amnesiac is the fifth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 30 May 2001 by EMI. It was recorded with the producer Nigel Godrich in the same sessions as Radiohead's previous album Kid A (2000). Radiohead split the work in two as they felt it was too dense for a double album. As with Kid A, Amnesiac incorporates influences from electronic music, 20th-century classical music, jazz and krautrock. The final track, "Life in a Glasshouse", is a collaboration with the jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton and his band.
Hail to the Thief is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead. It was released on 9 June 2003 through Parlophone internationally, and through Capitol Records in the United States on 10 June. It was the last album released under Radiohead's record contract with EMI, the parent company of Parlophone and Capitol.
Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood is an English musician. He is the lead guitarist and keyboardist of the rock band Radiohead, and has composed numerous film scores. He has been named one of the greatest guitarists by numerous publications, including Rolling Stone.
Thomas Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. He plays guitar, bass, keyboards and other instruments, and is noted for his falsetto. Rolling Stone described Yorke as one of the greatest and most influential singers of his generation.
Nigel Timothy Godrich is an English record producer, recording engineer and musician. He has worked with acts including Radiohead, Travis, Beck, Air, Paul McCartney, U2, R.E.M., Pavement, Roger Waters, Arcade Fire and Idles.
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"Pyramid Song" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released as the lead single from their fifth studio album, Amnesiac (2001), in May 2001. It features piano, strings, an unusual "shuffling" rhythm and lyrics inspired by the Egyptian underworld and ideas of cyclical time.
"Pop Is Dead" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released as a non-album single on 10 May 1993, several months after their debut album, Pablo Honey. It features a chromatic guitar riff and lyrics criticising the music industry. The music video features the singer, Thom Yorke, in a coffin.
"Everything in Its Right Place" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released as the opening track of their fourth studio album, Kid A (2000). It features synthesiser, digitally manipulated vocals and unusual time signatures. The lyrics were inspired by the stress felt by the singer, Thom Yorke, while promoting Radiohead's album OK Computer (1997).
"How to Disappear Completely" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead from their fourth studio album, Kid A (2000). It was produced by the band with their producer, Nigel Godrich, and was released as a promotional single in the US, Poland and Belgium.
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"True Love Waits" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead. Radiohead worked on it for over two decades before releasing it on their ninth album, A Moon Shaped Pool (2016).
The Smile are an English rock band comprising Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Tom Skinner (drums). Critics likened them to Yorke and Greenwood's band Radiohead, with more jazz, krautrock and progressive rock influences and a looser, wilder sound.
Kid A Mnesia is a reissue compiling the albums Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001) by the English rock band Radiohead. It also includes a bonus disc, Kid Amnesiae, comprising previously unreleased material. It was released on 5 November 2021 on XL Recordings.
"If You Say the Word" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 7 September 2021 as the first single from the compilation Kid A Mnesia. It was recorded during the joint sessions for Radiohead's albums Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001), but remained unreleased until 2021.
Kid A Mnesia Exhibition is a 2021 exploration game published by Epic Games for macOS, Windows and PlayStation 5. It serves as a digital exhibition of music and artwork created for the Radiohead albums Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001). It was developed by Namethemachine, Arbitrarily Good Productions and Epic Games in collaboration with the Radiohead singer Thom Yorke, Radiohead's producer Nigel Godrich and the Radiohead cover artist Stanley Donwood.