The Kia Sorento commercial that premiered during this year’s Super Bowl is memorable for a number of reasons, the least of which being the advertisement for a crossover sport utility vehicle.
A button-eyed sock monkey rides a mechanical bull and gets a tattoo that reads “Mom.” A teddy bear splashes in a hot tub with a bikini-clad woman. A Sorento full of life-size toys rolls into Las Vegas. A robot takes the dance floor at a nightclub and busts out his go-to move: naturally, the robot.
The whole toy adventure turns out to be the sock monkey’s dream or possibly its imagination, but the lasting impression is not the product of a Korean car company.
It’s that dang song that provided the soundtrack for the commercial.
Featuring nifty horns, catchy riffs, driving drums and keys, and a can’t-forget chorus, “How You Like Me Now?” entered the national consciousness on that fateful evening in early February. When the advertisement went into heavy rotation, the Heavy’s breakout hit became unavoidable.
“You don’t get that sense of the kind of impact that it’s having,” the Heavy lead guitarist Dan Taylor said during a recent phone interview from Brooklyn, N.Y. The British band is on a two-month U.S. tour, which brings it to the Black Cat on Thursday.
Living in England and working in Europe, Taylor admits he only has a partial grasp of the saturation “How You Like Me Now?” has had in the States. Music writers asking about the impact of the song clue him in.
Taylor admits he’s conflicted about the success of “How You Like Me Now?” On one hand, the popularity of the song has given the band much-welcomed press and attention. On the other, the Heavy have released two full-length albums in the past three years, a catalog worthy of deeper exploration.
“I’m of a mixed opinion,” Taylor said. “It’s difficult. It’s not my favorite song. I remember working on it. I could sense it had something. I never imagined for a moment that it would be as successful as it has become. I guess it’s good in the fact that it might introduce people to the rest of our stuff. There’s that hook. I would hope that would therefore lead to them looking into the band more.
“But then sometimes it can be like that weight around your neck that’s just going to stay with you,” he continued. “If we never have anything as successful, that would always be that one song that people want to hear.”
On Tuesday, the band dropped a new “How You Like Me Now?” EP. The release includes a new version of the title track featuring the horns of Brooklyn-based Dap-Kings. The EP also includes two new songs, and a funk-and-soul-filled re-release of “That Kind of Man.” The group is writing new material and hopes to have a new album out some time next year.
But unless something like “That Kind of Man” catches on, or until the new stuff comes out, “How You Like Me Now?” is the song the Heavy will be known for. For good and bad.
“It’s just one of those things,” Taylor said. “I really rather hope that we don’t become a one-hit wonder. That’s not the intention at all. I think there’s better material to come. But whether that translates into what people think is different. I feel we definitely learned what can make a hit song, the ingredients that you need. I think that’s an interesting thing to take forward.”
