Cobra Starship comes dancing back with Icona Pop in ‘Never Been In Love’

I love music, but there’s probably no section of music I nerd out about more than pop punk bands who rose to prominence in the mid-2000s. Well, maybe steampunk and retrofuturistic bands, but I’ve loved the dorks who made up Decaydance Records much longer. One of my favorite bands from that era is Cobra Starship, the band created by Gabe Saporta of Midtown after a spirit journey into the desert lead him to meeting a cobra who told him he needed to help hipsters stop taking themselves so seriously.

…To this day, I still do not know how true that story is.

Still, I would say that Gabe has succeeded in that mission. With the humble beginnings of ‘Hollaback Boy’ and  ‘Snakes on a Plane (Bring It!)’ to the hit songs of ‘Good Girls Go Bad’ and ‘You Make Me Feel…,’ Cobra Starship has succeeded in making ridiculous and fun party music for hipsters to dance to. They also put on an amazingly fun live show to the point I’m sad that they didn’t tour with Night Shades, their previous and critically underrated album.

After a two year hiatus, Cobra Starship is finally back with their newest single ‘Never Been In Love’ and I’ve never been happier to throw my fangs up.

I know that no one likes a happy musician or comedian, but I have to admit, being happily married suits Gabe very well. While Night Shades chronicled the build up and dissolution of a relationship, ‘Never Been In Love’ is a bouncy and happy piano based dance song that brings back memories of ‘Praise You’ by Fatboy Slim. It’s a little different than I usually expect from them, since their music tends to be a little more 80s synth based, but this is a good direction for them. It allows expansion for the other members of the band to show off their talents. Plus, I bet it’s going to be a rager live with how sing-songy the chorus and bridge are.

The only complaint I have about the song is that Icona Pop feels kind of superfluous on the track. I know there’s something of a tradition of having female singers on the first single of a Cobra Starship album since Hot Mess, but they lack the dynamic between Gabe and Sabi or the playfulness of Leighton Meester. Not to mention that keytarist Victoria Asher is an extremely talented singer and I feel like she could have easily have been the voice on that track much like she was on ‘Disaster Boy’ from Night Shades. She’ll probably end up doing it live though, so I guess that balances it out.

Still, if unironically happy dance music for hipsters is your thing, you definitely want to give ‘Never Been In Love’ a listen. It’s a fun and gorgeous tune that makes you want to fall in love for the first time. It might just help me fall in love with Cobra Starship all over again.

Check out the lyric video above or buy the track on iTunes. No word yet on when Cobra Starship’s fifth studio album will release, but in the mean time, you can also check out the band’s video teaser for the song.