While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets (2006–2007)
Cobra Starship was formed in 2005 after Midtown bassist Gabe Saporta took a trip to the deserts of Arizona. During this time, Saporta went on a "vision quest", spending time with Native American tribes and smoking peyote. He began to create his vision for a new band, a melodic style of music heavily influenced by synthpop and hip-hop. Upon returning home, Saporta rented a house in the Catskill Mountains and began writing what would become the band's debut album, While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets. He posted a parody response to Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl" titled "Hollaback Boy" on Myspace. The song gained Saporta notoriety on the internet and he eventually signed to Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz's label, Decaydance Records.
Midtown's management company soon set Saporta up with an opportunity to record a song for the soundtrack to the 2006 Snakes on a Plane. Along with members of The Academy Is..., Gym Class Heroes, and The Sounds, Saporta recorded "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)", which became a minor hit. During the recording of While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets, Saporta began recruiting new members to complete the group's lineup. He first enlisted drummer Nate Navarro, whom he met on tour while Navarro sold merchandise for fellow touring act Hidden In Plain View. After seeing Saporta in Entertainment Weekly, guitarist Ryland Blackinton and bassist Alex Suarez, who lived in the same apartment building as Midtown drummer Rob Hitt, emailed Saporta asking to join the group. The lineup was completed by keytarist Elisa Schwartz, who was later replaced by Victoria Asher.
While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets, was released October 10, 2006. It featured the single "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)", of which a video had been featured during the closing credits of the film Snakes on a Plane earlier that summer.
¡Viva La Cobra! (2007–2008)
Cobra Starship released their second album, ¡Viva La Cobra!, on October 23, 2007. It was produced by Patrick Stump, who was also credited as singing some backup vocals.
The album has been toured heavily worldwide. Cobra headlined the Really Really Ridiculously Good Looking Tour with guests Metro Station, The Cab, and We The Kings from January to March, 2008. They also played on Warped Tour 2008 and headlined the SassyBack tour, which toured from October 7 through November 30, 2008, with guests Forever the Sickest Kids, Hit the Lights, and Sing It Loud.
The album art for the ¡Viva La Cobra! album was used to promote the fourth generation Apple iPod nano in purple.
Hot Mess (2009–2010)
Following the success of Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl", Cobra Starship recorded their own cover version, "I Kissed a Boy", in summer 2008. The song was released on August 25, 2008, on Fall Out Boy's Citizens For Our Betterment mixtape Welcome To The New Administration. Cobra Starship is one of 9 artists who participated in thetruth.com’s Remix Project, where they remixed the Sunny Side song "Magical Amount".
Cobra Starship also began the Believers Never Die Tour Part Deux tour in the beginning of April, opening for Fall Out Boy, with other bands All Time Low, Metro Station, and Hey Monday. They spent time performing many shows in the US mostly all in April and the beginning of May, however they also played a few shows in the UK at the end of May 2009, supported by Sing It Loud, Cash Cash, and UK band Mimi Soya.
In 2009, the band went to a cabin in Pennsylvania, in an attempt to produce new material. They broadcasted live throughout their stay on the live camera feed site Stickam, thus creating the Shelf Kids. After their stay, a new album was announced with a tentative release in the summer. The band worked with Kara DioGuardi, Kevin Rudolf, KarateE! Mouse, S*A*M, Sluggo, and song-writers Benny Blanco and Patrick Stump on Hot Mess. Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester is featured on the song "Good Girls Go Bad (feat. Leighton Meester)", which is produced by Kevin Rudolf and co-written by Rudolf and Kara DioGuardi.The song is the album's first single, and was added on iTunes on May 11 and available to listen to on the band's official MySpace page. Other songs include "Pete Wentz Is the Only Reason We're Famous", which has been released on their YouTube channel and Vevo page. On May 8, the album title was confirmed as Hot Mess, with a release date of August 11. It debuted on the US Billboard 200 at number four, becoming the band's highest charting album. Guitarist Ryland Blackinton said of Hot Mess, "We just wanted to make music that was fun and kinda make people just forget about whatever shitty problem they might be having during the week."
The band began its tour to promote the new album on August 3. The tour, called Hot Mess Across The US Tour, has 21 stops and features guests such as Friday Night Boys and DJ Skeet Skeet. After The Plasticines dropped off the tour, Cobra Starship listed a number of candidate bands for the fans to vote for online in a blog; The Audition won. On their official video podcast (CobraCam.tv), the band released humorous tentative titles for the album (which parodies several other notable albums) "Griller", "Tha Ryland III", and variations of their ¡Viva La Cobra! album.
They made a stop on the Warped Tour in 2009, playing in Salt Lake City, on August 8, 2009. In Fall 2009, they were signed on to Boys Like Girls' "Love Drunk Tour" along with The Maine and A Rocket to the Moon.
Cobra Starship played at a September 11, 2009 MTV Video Music Awards weekend competition and pre-party at The Fillmore at Irving Plaza. The competition was for The MTV "VMA Best Breakout New York City Artist Award", and took place before MTV Video Music Awards performers and in between performances from MTV Video Music Awards artists.
On October 13, 2009, the band performed on Jimmy Kimmel's outdoor stage.
Cobra Starship appeared at "Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica 2009" along with Mexican star Paulina Rubio performing "Good Girls Go Bad (feat. Leighton Meester)" and "Ni Rosas Ni Juguetes". Cobra Starship and Paulina won an MTV Award for "Best Performance", for "Good Girls Go Bad (feat. Leighton Meester)" and "Ni Rosas Ni Juguetes" at the Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica 2009, voted by the public, beating other artist such as Shakira, Nelly Furtado, and Wisin y Yandel.
On February 4, 2010, Cobra Starship embarked on their first ever European tour named 'Hot Mess Across The EU-Niverse', which included the UK, Ireland, Germany, France and the Netherlands. When the tour ended on February 21, the band then travelled to Japan for a few shows, then onto Australia and New Zealand for the 'Wet Hot Australian Summer' Tour. The group also toured in Germany with I Heart Sharks and One Night Stand!.
On February 5, 2010 it was announced that Cobra Starship and 3OH!3 would be embarking on a co-headlining tour called The Too Fast For Love Tour with opening acts Travis McCoy, The Lazarus Project and I Fight Dragons. The tour ran from April 28 in Milwaukee, WI, until June 13 in Asbury Park, NJ.
In November 2010, Cobra Starship played in Argentina (November 20) and São Paulo, Brazil (November 21). The latter as a part of the Yes! Rock Fest, which also promotes a variety Brazilian bands.
Along 2010 the band collaborated with the UK singer Alexandra Burke in one of the songs of her debut album's Deluxe Edition, "Overcome". The song is called "What Happens On The Dancefloor", and keeps the vibe of their previous single "Good Girls Go Bad (feat. Leighton Meester)".
Night Shades (2010–2015)
Cobra Starship cancelled their 2011 Australian tour to finish up their fourth album, which they have been working on with Ryan Tedder and Kara DioGuardi. Gabe Saporta released a song off of the album, "Don't Blame the World, It's the DJ's Fault", on his Tumblr. A video was released of an eggplant with sunglasses and headphones getting made into eggplant Parmesan. The video is supposed to represent the album title. Gabe later announced via Twitter that the new album will be called Night Shades. The first single, " You Make Me Feel...", was released on May 10, 2011. The song features American singer/songwriter and rapper Sabi. The music video premiered on Tuesday, June 28 on MTV. The band's official Twitter and Tumblr announced that the album will be out on August 30, 2011.
Cobra Starship has recently contributed a cover of Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue" for the Buddy Holly tribute album, Listen to Me: Buddy Holly (2011).
On September 9th 2011, Cobra Starship headlined the Fueled by Ramen 15th Anniversary show in New York's Terminal 5, with VersaEmerge, The Academy Is... and A Rocket to the Moon in support.
Night Shades was released on August 29, 2011 with the lead single "You Make Me Feel..." and also the three promotional singles. The first promotional single "#1Nite (One Night)" was released on July 26 2011, The second promotional single "Fool Like Me (Feat. Plastiscines)" was released on August 09 2011 and the third and final promotional single "Middle Finger (feat. Mac Miller)" was released on August 23, 2011.
The group released Itunes Session - EP on August 23, containing 4 acoustic songs and an alternative version of "Fold Your Hands Child".
In promotion of the album, the band performed "You Make Me Feel... (feat. Sabi)" on the MTV Video Music Awards pre-show with Sabi on August 28th 2011.
Cobra Starship officially announced its dissolution on November 10, 2015.
Hot Mess
Cobra Starship Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Been grounded your whole life
So now you running wild
Playing with them good girls
No that ain't your style
You think your hot shit
I love it, I love it, yeah, yeah
Keep doing what you're doing and I'm a make you mine
Well, you're a hot mess and I'm falling for you
And I'm like hot damn let me make you my boo
Cause you can shake it shake it shake it
Yeah you know what to do
You're a hot mess, I'm loving it, hell yes
I've been hypnotized
The city's your playground,
I watch you take a bite
At five am roaming in the streets
Drunk all night
You think your hot shit
I love it, I love it, yeah, yeah
Stumbling but yeah, you're still looking hella fine
Keep doing what you're doing and I'm a make you mine
Well, you're a hot mess and I'm falling for you
And I'm like hot damn, let me make you my boo
Cause you can shake it shake it shake it
Yeah you know what to do
You're a hot mess, I'm loving it, hell yes
You're a hot mess and I'm falling for you
And I'm like hot damn let me make you my boo
Cause you can shake it shake it shake it
Yeah you know what to do
You're a hot mess, I'm loving it, hell yes
If you're dancing up on tables
You go you go, you got it girl
Say that you're unstable
You go coco, you got it girl
Dancing up on tables
Say that you're unstable
You're a ha ha ha ha ha yeah you're a hot mess
Ha ha ha ha ha we're singing hell yes
Well, you're a hot mess and I'm falling for you
And I'm like hot damn let me make you my boo
Cause you can shake it shake it shake it
Yeah you know what to do
You're a hot mess
I'm loving it, hell yes
You're a hot mess and I'm falling for you
And I'm like hot damn let me make you my boo
Cause you can shake it shake it shake it
Yeah you know what to do
You're a hot mess
I'm loving it, hell yes (hell yes)
Hot mess, I'm loving it, hell yes (hell yes)
Hot mess, I'm loving it, hell yes
The song "Hot Mess" by Cobra Starship talks about a person who has always been the "problem child" and has been grounded their whole life. Now, they are running wild and living life on their own terms, which means playing with the "good girls" is not their style. The singer finds this attractive and calls the person a "hot mess." They stumble around but still look good, and the singer is falling for them.
The chorus reinforces the idea that the person is a hot mess, but the singer cannot help but be drawn to them. They want to make this person their boo and enjoy watching them dance on tables while being unstable.
Overall, the song celebrates being a hot mess and living life on your terms. It is about finding attraction in someone who is confident and doing what they want, even if it is unconventional.
Line by Line Meaning
You were a problem child
You have always been a difficult person to handle
Been grounded your whole life
You have been punished throughout your life
So now you running wild
And now, you are behaving recklessly
Playing with them good girls
You are interacting with people who are regarded as good and pure
No that ain't your style
But this type of behavior is not your usual way of behaving
You think your hot shit
You have a high opinion of yourself
I love it, I love it, yeah, yeah
But I find it amusing and attractive
Stumbling but yeah, you're still looking hella fine
Even though you are not steady on your feet, you still look very attractive
Keep doing what you're doing and I'm a make you mine
If you continue to act this way, I am going to pursue a relationship with you
Well, you're a hot mess and I'm falling for you
You are disorganized, but I find myself attracted to you nonetheless
And I'm like hot damn let me make you my boo
I really want to make you my romantic partner
Cause you can shake it shake it shake it
Because you dance really well
Yeah you know what to do
You are an experienced and talented performer
I've been hypnotized
I find myself entranced by your presence
The city's your playground
You feel very comfortable and in control in this urban environment
I watch you take a bite
I observe you indulging in the pleasures of life
At five am roaming in the streets
I see you wandering around the city in the early hours of the morning
Drunk all night
You are inebriated from staying out all night
If you're dancing up on tables
If you are dancing on tabletops
You go you go, you got it girl
You keep going, you are doing great
Say that you're unstable
Admit that you are emotionally unbalanced
You go coco, you got it girl
Keep going, you are doing great
Ha ha ha ha ha yeah you're a hot mess
You are a chaotic and disorganized person, but I find it amusing
Ha ha ha ha ha we're singing hell yes
We are rejoicing in your messiness and the good times that come with it
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Spirit Music Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: OLIVER ELLIOT GOLDSTEIN, SARA ALLEN, MICHAEL CAREN, KARA DIOGUARDI, JACOB HINDLIN, JAY KASHER, PHILIP LAWRENCE, BRUNO MARS, KEVIN RUDOLPH, GABE SAPORTA, RONNIE WOOD
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@DaveVoyles
I was an extra in this video.
I believe it was filmed over 1 night, Oct. 8th 2009 (perhaps a 2nd for pickups), outside of the bar Angels and Kings in the Village in Manhattan.
Most of the extras were members of the Cobra Starship fan club (you could sign up through a page in the CD jewel case), where we submitted photos and a brief description. A few weeks later they contacted us, and we all met in the village to film.
It was a union job, so we all got paid decent wages. Most of the time was spent sitting around the food table waiting for our turn to film, but overall it was a lot of fun.
They had a party for everyone at Angels and Kings after filming, too!
@davidadams2395
Sounds like cool work.
@jessjess5246
Are you a hot mess lol🤣🤣 im in my own world atm🤣🤣
@astralwalk6865
convinced this band's existence was just a mass hallucination
@jnuy764
XD 😀😁💯💯❤️
@renlu2397
Bitch It's 2019 and I recently discovered this band and is so good
@claudia-wo1on
@Nctizen 505 wow
@kimkinney425
I literally only remember this song😂 also, I always wanted a BlackBerry.
@thamys2106
Vicky sometimes posts stuff on her Instagram about these times, it messes me up
@informjared9508
Damn why did this song randomly just pop into my head after not thinking about the bands existence as a whole literally a whole 9 years