If you can believe it, “Supermodel” just celebrated its tenth anniversary on the 14th of March. This of course is the sophomore album by none other than Foster The People. Although this was considered a period of calm after the shitstorm, otherwise known as “Torches”, it evoked anything but a yawn. The boys touched on a number of topics such as aging in the superficial era of Narcissism as well as the effects social media has on modern society.
On March 14, 2014, exactly one decade ago to the tee, Foster The People released their second album “Supermodel” on Columbia Records. It spawned hits “Coming Of Age”, “Best Friend”, and “Pseudologia Fantastica”. One thing about this record is the blatant lack of love songs, which I think is pretty amazing since nearly every artist NEEDS to sing about love in order to release music these days, but of course, that's not the case with Foster The People.
In an interview with Clash Magazine, Mark Foster was asked to explain what exactly “Pseudologia Fantastica” was about, aside from compulsive lying.
“That song is a narrative inspired by a fictional story about a husband and a wife, written from the perspective of the female. She's married to a soldier who comes back from the war, and has severe PTSD. And it's about the aftermath and what it's like to live with someone with PTSD.”
Besides the obvious influence of Unknown Mortal Orchestra's second album and “Sandinista” by the Clash, it was launching into superstardom that really got Foster's gears going for material to vent about in regards to a second record.
“Making and touring ‘Torches’ gave me the gift of insight. I kept traveling after touring that record because there were things I was trying to make sense of," he says. "I went to some obscure places to be alone with my thoughts and came back with a lot of questions - questions that I'm asking myself and everybody else, on this new LP.”
That seeped through into the tracklist with titles “Are You What You Want To Be?”, “Ask Yourself”, “Goats In Trees”, and “Nevermind.” I absolutely love every single FTP track, but I must say “Supermodel” turned me into a fan while “SHC” solidified them as my favorite band.
So, have you ever wondered what the album title “Supermodel” even means?
“The album title is ironic. Andy Warhol's quote about everyone being famous for fifteen minutes - I feel like we're living in a time right now, with Twitter, with Instagram, with the selfies that people are constantly taking. We are all our own products, and we are in the business of selling ourselves. One hundred years ago I know we weren't this self-absorbed - we're now living in the age of supermodels.”