The story of "I think I'm in Love" by Beck

'Think I'm In Love' is a song by innovative American alternative rocker Beck. It was released in 2006 as the third single from the album 'The Information', reaching a peak of number 22 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. Nigel Godrich produced it, with both he and Beck reportedly looking for a hip hop rather than a stripped down feel. This article will provide information on the song.

Album

The album 'The Information' is the seventh major label studio album by Beck, his tenth in total. Beck, who was born as Bek David Campbell, is known for his incorporation of hip hop techniques into his post-modern, loosely rock, occasionally folk collages. The album took almost three years to record, and was released in 2006. 'I Think I'm In Love' was the third single, after 'Nausea', released in the US and 'Cellphone's Dead', released in the UK.

Music and lyrics

The music has a light touch, pop feel, with a repetitive rock bass line helping to underpin the electric, anxious feel of the guitar breaks over the chorus, something which brings to mind Talking Heads. Certainly, David Byrne would be proud of the lyrics' over analytical, anxious assessment of the prospect of romantic love.
Pop feel and the song
The pop feel is augmented by a few ELO strings and harmonies, third generation Beatles effects really, and all the better for that. The song, despite its self-obsessed subject matter of worrying about being in love, never sounds discouraging or dark. Lyrics
The 'I Think Im In Love' lyrics' refrain of, "I think Im in love/ But it makes me kinda nervous to say so" contrasts with the romantic images of the verses, of lines like, "Whisperin' her love through a smoke ring smile/ She doesn't know what happens when she's around." There is also the anxiety of the repeated line, "I really think I better get a hold of myself."

Video

The video to the song only reflects the theme of 'I am in love with you' in an oblique and surreal way. This is partly deliberate, with Beck himself stating in an interview with 'Wired' magazine that: "We filmed a series of very low-budget, home made videos for all the songs on the record. We got a bunch of cameras and a $100 video mixer off eBay and shot 15 silly, impromptu videos against a green screen. We even invited our friends and family into the studio to be a part of the action and my mother-in-law did the lighting, and my son and nieces and nephews are running around acting crazy. It was just a complete free-for-all, done on the fly."