Portugal. The Man is Back with New Single ‘What, Me Worry?’: ‘It Feels Good to Have Fun’
[People]
“Here is the doorway into our record,” the band wrote on Instagram as they debuted the track
Portugal. The Man is back!
Wednesday marked the return of Portugal. The Man with their new single, “What, Me Worry?” and an accompanying trippy music video.
The music video, directed by Los Güeyes (Aaron Brown and Josué Rivas) mirrors the alternative, psychedelic rock sounds we all know and love from the band as they party it up in the middle of a burning room. Meanwhile, lead singer John Gourley goes through trippy facial transformations.
Thinking back to the song’s inspiration, Gourley, 40, ties it to his happy childhood memories.
Portugal. The Man | CREDIT: HENRY RAMSEY
“While recording this album and hanging in LA, we got into a conversation with Jeff Bhasker and Ryan Tedder [the producers on the track] about how much we missed laughter,” he said in a press release. “The last few years it’s been so easy to forget the fun in what we do. We talked about childhood memories of laughing at the world and ourselves while flipping through Mad Magazine.”
He continued, “We missed those days and remembered that we all make music. So we took that afternoon to make a song about it.”
The single also marks the first release from their ninth studio album, set to drop in June.
The new release also comes ahead of the Portland-based rockers’ North American tour alongside alternative band alt-J — set to kick off on Feb. 25.