Electric Feel

“Electric Feel“ is a song by the American rock band MGMT, released as the second single from their debut studio album Oracular Spectacular on June 23, 2008. The single was released as a 7" and CD single, and later on 12" vinyl. The song was released to the radio on July 29, 2008. The song became MGMT's first Australian ARIA Top 50 hit as well as their first New Zealand RIANZ Top 40 hit. The song has also been remixed by the French electronic duo, Justice.

In the United States, the song originally peaked at number 20 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, but reached a new peak of number 14 almost three years after the original peak, due to a resurgence in sales from exposure on The Voice. (The version of “Electric Feel“ covered by The Voice contestant, Preston Pohl also debuted at number 21 in the same week) The song was ranked at number five on NME's list of the Best Singles of 2008 and came in at number two on Australia's Triple J Hottest 100 countdown for 2008.

This classic by MGMT is centered on a certain female who has the titular “electric feel”, so to speak. Said attribute is tantamount to a superpower or special ability. And what it seems to amount to is she being able to “shock” the world, as in injecting a certain amount of energy into it. Moreover, this is a sensation that we can deduce if nothing else, that the singer thoroughly enjoys.

But the aforementioned description of this lady, as you probably already guessed, is more symbolic than literal. So for a listener to conclude that the singer is actually referring to, say a romantic interest is erroneous. In fact, he is not actually referring to a person at all. Rather as Andrew VanWyngarden has stately bluntly in front of the entire world, this song is actually substances that intoxicate.

And as such, the “electric” feeling being described throughout would be an allusion to what a person experiences when intoxicated. And the aforementioned female character would actually be a personification of the intoxicating substance itself.