Due to the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut back in December of 2012, the song was pulled from the airwaves in order to be respectful to the lives lost. In another interview, Foster was quoted saying that he enjoyed writing songs with deeper meanings to “mess with hipsters.” The premise was that he would create a very heavy song, with a catchy beat so people would dance to it and not realize. But not everyone immediately noticed the cautionary tale about gun violence. Looking back, the lyrics are pretty straightforward, with lines such as “better run, better run, outrun my gun” and “better run, better run, faster than my bullet.” However, the idea that a song blatantly about killing one’s fellow classmates was very controversial. 'Pumped Up Kicks' is an indie pop song by Foster the People which was originally released as the bands debut single in September 2010. When Foster the People’ s anti-gun violence anthem, Pumped Up Kicks, was released in 2010, it quickly went viral. And by plotting his revenge, I mean killing them all in a mass school shooting. The lead singer of the band explained the motivation behind writing the song by saying it was about an outcast who plotted his revenge against students who made him feel inadequate.

While the music video for the song provides no context, fans of the songs did not need it to understand the true meaning. Similarly to my previous post about Hailee Steinfeld’s “Love Myself,” it wasn’t long until people started figuring out what the song was actually about. Pumped Up Kicks by Foster The People skyrocketed to the top of the charts and have everyone singing along to the catchy tune. It was released as the bands debut single in September 2010, and the following. Back in 2011, a song came out that had people really starting to get into alternative music. Pumped Up Kicks is a song by American indie pop band Foster the People.

Up kicks