Cafuné stopped by the Genius office to discuss their song “Tek It,” which has been streamed over 241 million times. The song is a global hit off their debut album Running, Lil Uzi Vert even sampled the record in his song Red Moon. On today’s episode of Verified, find out the inspiration behind the pop duo’s enticing lyrics.
“We’ve always wanted to be a band that might be sampled by other artist one day. I think sampling is so cool because it is a reminder music is a conversion, it’s thrilling.”
“We’ve always wanted to be a band that might be sampled by other artist one day. I think sampling is so cool because it is a reminder music is a conversion, it’s thrilling.”
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MusicTranscript
00:00 It's kind of scary.
00:01 It is scary.
00:01 You know?
00:02 Love is scary.
00:03 Love is scary, but also like the idea of holding someone's beating heart in your hand as an image is really scary.
00:09 The first time I heard Lil Uzi Vert sampling our song, I felt tripped out.
00:21 I was just like, I can't believe that's Uzi's voice and my voice together.
00:26 That made me feel good.
00:28 We've always wanted to be a band that might be sampled by other artists one day.
00:32 I think sampling is so cool because it's a reminder that music is a conversation.
00:36 It's thrilling.
00:36 "Where did you learn what it means to reciprocate?
00:42 And how much can I be expected to tolerate?
00:46 So I started to think 'bout the plans I've made, the debt, unpaid,
00:54 and you just can't call a spade a spade."
00:58 Really what inspired the first verse was just essentially a situationship I was in at the time.
01:05 I was basically looking for something from them that I couldn't give to myself.
01:10 "I watch the moon, let it run my mood.
01:18 Can't stop thinking of you.
01:23 I watch you.
01:28 So long, nice to know you.
01:33 I'll be moving on."
01:35 If you think that the moon is not affecting you, you're wrong.
01:39 Emergency healthcare workers will talk about on a full moon, there's lots of stuff happening.
01:44 You know what I mean?
01:45 So whether we are noticing it or not, the moon is very powerful.
01:49 There's not necessarily a lot of stuff that everyone on the planet shares,
01:54 but everyone on the planet shares the moon.
01:56 "We started off in such a nice place.
02:00 We were talking the same language.
02:03 I open and I'm closing.
02:07 You can't stand the thought of a real beating heart.
02:11 You'd be holding, having trouble owning and admit that I am hoping."
02:20 The beating heart line is one of my favorites for sure.
02:23 It's kind of scary.
02:24 It is scary.
02:25 It is scary.
02:26 You know?
02:26 Love is scary.
02:27 Love is scary, but also like the idea of holding someone's beating heart in your hand as an
02:32 image is really scary.
02:33 Relationships are about knowing that you can never repay the other person for the good
02:38 that they have done, but it's also hopefully vice versa.
02:41 You're holding each other.
02:42 That's the idea.
02:43 Yeah.
02:44 I watch the moon, let it run my mood.
02:53 Can't stop thinking of you.
02:56 Now I let it go and I watch as things play out like so long.
03:05 Nice to know you.
03:07 I'll be moving on, moving on.
03:13 I love to make heavily layered vocal arrangements and background vocals are very important
03:21 to me.
03:21 And so when I do it live, I sing the background part in the second chorus because to me, those
03:27 lyrics are important.
03:28 I honestly just remember listening to it back and then knowing the chorus by the time the
03:34 second chorus came around.
03:35 Because of that, I was like, "Oh, this is solid.
03:37 Like we're onto something."
03:38 You, yeah, always know the truth.
03:44 But I can't just say it to you.
03:48 Yeah, I know the truth.
03:53 I knew, yeah, I always know the truth.
03:58 But I can't just say it to you.
04:02 Yeah, I know the truth.
04:05 I really was thinking about it like, "I'm giving you this and you're not giving it back
04:12 to me.
04:12 What's that about?"
04:14 Whereas now I know that you can't be waiting around for someone to discover that they want
04:19 to give that energy to you.
04:21 I was less emotionally mature.
04:50 And I was infatuated with people without really receiving that energy back.
04:54 And that's definitely what the song is mostly about.
04:57 I think when it initially had its TikTok moment, we were more taken aback than anything
05:05 because it felt like it came fully out of nowhere.
05:09 But shout out to all the gay anime TikTokers who really took that and ran with it because