Taylor Swift is famously a fan of Jimmy Eat World, who returned the favor with a cover of “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” in 2013. Speaking with ABC Audio, frontman Jim Adkins recalls how he and his bandmates put their version of the song together.
“There’s two ways you can approach doing a cover, I think,” Adkins says. “There’s one where it’s just the karaoke version, which is fun because you get to pretend that you’re in that group.”
“And then there is the, like, complete disregard for the original material and make it yours,” he laughs.
Sonically, Jimmy’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” falls in the latter category — “They made it sound like a B-side from Clarity,” quips one YouTube commenter — but its heavier guitar sound reflects Adkins’ interpretation of the original’s lyrics.
“I think it’s really a song about enforcing boundaries,” Adkins says. “That takes a certain amount of fortitude, I suppose, or courage, maybe, in some way.”
“Those aren’t comfortable feelings to have,” he continues. “So I think that’s why we might’ve chosen to lean into maybe a little bit more brooding kind of vibe instead of a bouncy vibe.”
Jimmy Eat World hasn’t performed “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” live since 2013, and as for whether they’ll ever ever put it back in the set list, Adkins offers a “maybe.” He does say he had fun playing it.
“It took, like, halfway through the first chorus for anyone to recognize what was happening,” Adkins recalls. “But once they did, it was, like, ‘Oh!’ You could just watch the entire crowd do that at about the same time. It was pretty funny.”
Jimmy Eat World is currently on tour with Fall Out Boy.
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