#genius annotations indeed 😂

[benotafraiid]

I wanted to cap these lyrics for a.... passion project. I see they're annotated...

[lunar-years]

So I have to show you guys the current genius annotations under the Robin lyrics. “If this song is indeed about her cats” please 😭😂

[birdsy-purplefishes]

I love the internet! 😂

I came to you guys after googling around with stuff like “Skarsgard swagger” and I knew you’d have a better idea. Full disclosure: I’m editing the Genius lyrics page for the song & if you want credit you submit your suggestions. One person has already started the annotation for that line but it needs work.

They did indeed write “Matilda” about Leon: The Professional, and actually another one that only ever made it to their early demos and they were happy to get to meet Natalie Portman on Stephen Colbert a few years ago. I also seem to recall Joe (frontman & lyricist) saying a few years ago in an interview that he was looking forward to seeing Black Panther. It’s not a huge stretch to think there’s a connection there with Natalie Portman and Thor and Marvel in general. Plus, the MCU is huge.

The other, stretchier connection is that Thor star Chris Hemsworth is from Melbourne, which is where the song is sort of set. (Joe’s girlfriend is also a Melburnian.)

The Aberdeen reference seems fairly likely too: verse is “Round of Kiminos for my girls in the sun / Sending videos to friends in London / Strut like Stellan Skarsgård to and from the bar / Playing my / candied tangerine Telecaster”. From what we’ve figured out, Kimino is a fancy sparkling water company. I’ve been wondering why you’d be getting a non-alcoholic drink at a bar but that reference would explain it.

I’m not able to pin it to any one thing either so I think you guys are probably right, it’s probably any or all of those things and probably he just likes Stellan Skarsgard too.

Hi there! I see you're a Skarsgard expert. I have a question! One of my favorite bands, alt-J, have a new song out (U&ME) where one of the lyrics is "Strut like Stellan Skarsgard to and from the bar". They're huge film buffs and I'm not all that familiar with Father Skarsgard's work. Which role is this most likely a reference to? Thank you.

omg thank you for this ask because i love alt-j and didn't know they were coming out with new stuff so i'm doubly happy today that they not only have new stuff but also stellan's referenced in it. :')

off the bat though i'm hardly an expert because i've only just started digging into his filmography at this point but of the stuff that i've seen (and heard of), no ~iconic ~cinematic moment comes to mind if we take the line literally. although...

alt-j's referenced LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL before, right, but if they're likely to reference a marvel movie too, stellan's character (erik selvig) and thor amble drunkenly out of a bar in a deleted scene in THOR (2011). i haven't seen the entirety of ABERDEEN (2000) but it's a small independent film starring lena headey and stellan as father and daughter where stellan plays an alcoholic. from clips i've seen, it explores the unsavory and dark moments of alcoholism so i don't know if it fits the tone of the song (or what i take to be the celebratory meaning of that line).

alternatively, alt-j might've just seen enough films with stellan in it that they noticed he has this swagger especially when he plays characters in moments of confidence or authority.

maybe others who've seen more of stellan's films can help though! @alyeen1 and @stellan-pip-69, does anything come to mind?

PS: great song, i've been listening to it on loop the entire afternoon lmao and i never knew stellan's name would sound so good as a lyric especially in an indie pop (? is that their genre, sometimes i can't tell) track by alt-j.