ABC/Fred LeeFall Out Boy's currently touring the U.S. in support of their forthcoming album, Mania, which features the single "Young and Menace." Along with its EDM-inspired sound, the track raised a few eyebrows when Patrick Stump referenced Britney Spears by singing the line "Oops, I did it again." Bassist Pete Wentz tells ABC Radio the reference was very purposeful.
"It kind of to me always has felt like Britney has been a mirror for our culture itself," Wentz explains. "We really treat her like we're looking in the mirror, we raise her up and break her down. And it all happens so publicly."
In fact, "Young and Menace" originally included a much larger reference to the pop star and her personal struggles, but the band decided to take it out.
"At some point it felt like maybe someone else's mental health is not super appropriate for us to be talking about," Wentz says. "So we kind of just pulled that all out, even though it was supposed to be a larger reference."
In addition to referencing Spears, the line "Oops, I did it again" is also a wink at Fall Out Boy's habit of changing their sound.
"There's a danger in becoming a parody of yourself if you keep kind of recreating similar work, and I think that we kind of wanted to try to avoid that as best we could," Wentz explains.
Along with "Young and Menace," Fall Out Boy has also shared the Mania songs "Champion" and "The Last of the Real Ones." Wentz calls "Young and Menace" the album's "farthest extreme left song," while "Champion" is the "safest" song.
"'The Last of the Real Ones' is...right down the middle as far as what the album would sound like," he says.
Mania arrives January 19.
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