Fun.’s ‘Some Nights’ Album Turns 10: Remembering the Recording Sessions That Yielded ‘We Are Young’

variety.com:

Alex Gonzalez Coming of age is a perennial theme in music, be it Billie Eilish singing about the joys and woes of growing up on “My Future,” or Olivia Rodrigo baring her soul on “Brutal.” For the band Fun., which released its seminal second album “Some Nights” 10 years ago today (Feb.

21), that moment came as its frontman, Nate Ruess, was nearing 30.Joined by multi-instrumentalists Jack Antonoff and Andrew Dost, Reuss wanted to create a work that pivoted from the highly arranged sound of their debut album “Aim and Ignite” to more of a pop and hip-hop influence.It’s little wonder since, at the time “Some Nights” was conceived, Fun.

had Kanye West, Alicia Keys, Beyoncé and Drake in high rotation. Seeing producer Jeff Bhasker’s name pop up in the credits of several of songs they were listening to, the band set out to enlist his talents.

Bhasker was initially reluctant to work with Fun. — his dance card was full producing hip-hop and R&B at the time — but Ruess convinced him to meet up over drinks at a New York hotel, in between Bhasker’s sessions with Beyoncé.“I had said to myself, ‘Why am I going to meet with some indie band from Brooklyn?,’” Bhasker recalls. “‘I do Urban music.