Happy 10th Birthday To Everybody Talks
The hit song from the Neon Trees turns ten years old in 2022.
Happy tenth birthday to the Neon Trees hit song Everybody Talks. The three minute pop song technically released in late December of 2011 as a digital download, but didn’t begin to make waves until it was released on April 17, 2012 on the Mainstream and Top 40 charts.
Everybody talks is the third song on the bands album Picture Show which released on April 17th ten years ago today. The song became a sleeper hit as it became the bands first top ten song and sold over two million copies by October of 2012.
The meaning of the song was a bit muddied before the bands lead vocalist Tyler Glenn stated what the real meaning of it was. Initially the band noted that the inspiration came from the 1950’s-1960’s style of pop music. Glenn noted how the band fell in love with an artist like Roy Orbison and Motown music that Glenns father listened to.
In 2020 on National Coming Out Day, Glenn who is gay, revealed in a tweet that he actually wrote Everybody Talks when he was closeted about an ex-girlfriend who began spreading rumors that he was gay. The title of the song is self explanatory, everyone talks when a rumor begins to spread.
A small aspect of the song that I am a huge fan of is the very beginning. It sounds like an acappella group getting ready to start when you hear “ah, Ah, AH”. And then the beat starts following a throat clearing from Glenn.
On the weekly charts, Everybody Talks really took off. I reached number one on the US Adult Top 40 Chart, three on the US Mainstream Top 40 Chart, six on the US Billboard 100, ten on the Australian Chart, and fifteen on the Canada Hot AC Chart. At the years end, Everybody Talks was number five on the US Mainstream Top 40 Chart.
With over five million sales and streams in America, Everybody Talks went Platinum five times. In Australia it went Platinum twice and in the UK the hit song went Gold.
A part of the song writing that I enjoy is the chorus and how the idea of this rumor builds up. “It started with a whisper, And that was when I kissed her, And then she made my lips hurt, I could hear the chit chat”. The whispers quickly turn into chit chat and then evolve into a full blown rumor that everyone knows about because Everybody Talks.
An overall awesome song that is an easy and fun listen. Happy tenth birthday to Everybody Talks.