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The song was written in 2011 by Fun’s founding members Jack Antonoff and Andrew Dost, and was originally planned for Fun’s debut album titled Aim and Ignite. The original version was much different than what ultimately made it to the commercial release. Andrew Dost told MTV News, “It was substantially different. We had totally different parts for whole sections; the lyrics were different. We recorded a demo of that version, but at the end of the day we decided to rearrange it and try something new.”
The track took off after the band performed We Are Young on an episode of Saturday Night Live during the premier of Glee’s 2011–2012 season. From there on, the band’s career was forever changed. Soon after performing on SNL, the band decided to include the track on their album as the lead single, and contacted singer-songwriter and singer Janelle Monáe to perform a duet with lead singer Nate Ruess.
Monáe had become an in-demand artist following the massive success of her 2010 album The ArchAndroid. She had been considering Fun’s offer for some time before finally deciding to collaborate. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Monáe talked about her hesitation about the collaboration: “I thought it was time for me to step out of my box, and I wanted to try something a little different… it was a calculated risk, but I knew it was going to be special.”
We Are Young became a phenomenon, topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks, becoming the runaway number one single of 2011 by a male band. The track also won the Song of the Year prize at the Grammy Awards, beating out competitors like Mumford and Sons’ Little Lion Man and Adele’s Rolling in the Deep. Along with the success of the song, Monáe became a star in her own right.
Although separate entities at the time of recording, the success of We Are Young and Fun’s collaboration on the track proved fortuitous for both artists, and it is seen as a defining moment in both of their careers. Following the success of the song, the band and singer went on to collaborate again on The ArchAndroid’s follow-up The Electric Lady, and Monáe will appear on Fun’s upcoming album.
It’s clear that the success of We Are Young not only changed the direction of the band’s career but provided a platform for Monáe to break out into the mainstream. The track will forever remain as a milestone in modern music history for both artists.
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