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Landon Barker, son of Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, embraces the mess and the consequences on his debut single, “Friends With Your Ex.”
The song exists on the opposite end of the semantics spectrum as Olivia Rodrigo’s “Bad Idea Right?” — it’s not about tricking yourself into staying “friends” with an ex, but starting to date someone while being friends with their ex. As the chorus goes: “I was friends with your ex/You were with him when we met/Guеss he hasn’t found out yet/But I know he’s gonna kill mе when he sees me with you.”
“Friends With Your Ex” also arrives with a music video directed by Chris Villa that not-so-subtly nods to the real-life drama that ostensibly inspired the song by co-starring Barker’s girlfriend Charlie D’Amelio (our thoughts are with Chase Hudson today). The clip — which features scenes of turbulent young love, house parties, a near-fatal car accident, and a backyard fistfight — includes additional appearances from Joe Chavez, Michael Tua, Chazdon Jeffery, Carl Dawson, and Zack Lugo.
In an interview with Variety about the new song, Barker kinda sorta touched on how it came about, saying, “I originally got the idea to write the song just based on life and what I was going through… I mean, take it how you want it, you know?”
Barker co-wrote “Friends With Your Ex” with singer-songwriter Nick Long, who’s worked extensively with Machine Gun Kelly (Barker also featured on MGK’s 2022 Mainstream Sellout song “Die in California). Additionally, Travis Barker produced “Friends With Your Ex” and played drums on the song. The younger Barker’s debut single was also accompanied by the news that he’d signed with to his dad’s Elektra imprint, DTA Records.
Addressing the positives and negatives of working closely with his famous father, Barker said, “I mean, if the song’s incredible, everyone’s going to be like, ‘It’s because he got help from his dad.’ If the song’s horrible, everybody’s going to be like, ‘He’s not as good as his dad.’ So I just take the internet with a grain of salt, try not to look too far into the comments, and look for the people who are really moved by my music and interested in it, and want to see what I can do for myself, as myself.”
