Last week Iann Dior released a new album, On To Better Things, which follows up his massive 2020. Dior and 24kGoldn broke out in a huge way during the first year of the pandemic when their bratty hit “Mood” went all the way to No. 1 and stayed there for weeks, spawning a remix with Justin Bieber and J Balvin, and even landing Dior a guest spot on a remixed version of UK indie rockers Glass Animals own sleeper hit, “Heat Waves.”
But before all the buzz around “Mood,” Dior released his debut Industry Plant, back in 2019, and a couple EPs before sharing On To Better Things, a full-length album that officially follows up his debut. But over the course of his last few releases, Dior has been leaning way more into the pop-punk side of things (and recent trend) with several collaborations with Travis Barker, Machine Gun Kelly, or both. Dior even appeared on a song off MGK’s pivotal jump to pop-punk, Tickets To My Downfall.
So it’s not that surprising that there’s a song on Ian’s latest album that features both Barker and Machine Gun Kelly, but what is surprising is another credited artist on the track: Dan Wilson of the band Semisonic. You see this track, “Thought It Was,” which is the third single from the album, released just a few days before the full-length dropped, interpolates Semisonic’s cult-y 1998 hit “Closing Time” in the melody, an easter egg within the song that plenty of fans will notice upon close listen.
A couple listeners did notice and comment last week when the song first dropped:
I’m convinced @ianndior @travisbarker and @machinegunkelly came up with “thought it was” after listening to @SemisonicBand‘s “Closing Time”
— Empress OHLO
(@prodOHLO) January 24, 2022
Iann Dior really did a remake of “Closing Time”
— Sidney Golden (@SidTheeeKid) January 22, 2022
Hey @NotNewova – super interested to hear your reaction on the new Iann Dior/Machine Gun Kelly song called Thought It Was. Just FYI, it samples the song Closing Time (because I know you’ll be going ‘wait a minute…’). I’m very interested in your opinion!!
— Shelly-Let Your Light Shine
BLM – 59 y.o. (@shellymarie19xx) January 20, 2022
Iann Dior’s new song sounds like “closing time” lol
— jordan poole meme acct (@DerekTahara) January 21, 2022
And one of the song’s other co-writers, Kyle Reynolds, also weighed in to let listeners know they were hearing it right!
Hahah essentially it’s a “flip” of it. Dan Wilson the original songwriter of closing time has songwriting credit on thought it was because we borrowed some of the melody from the original song.
— Kyle Reynolds (@kyreynoldsmusic) January 24, 2022
It’s an interpolation of closing time 🙂
— Kyle Reynolds (@kyreynoldsmusic) January 24, 2022
Given how many people love the original, could this be Ian’s next shot at a No. 1 single? Well, it’s only been a week, but who knows, ’90s nostalgia has been at an all time high lately, so there’s always a chance this one will take off like “Mood” did. Hopefully, TikTok will do its thing and give us a mashup of Dior’s new song and the ’90s classic. Check the new song out above, and for good measure, check out the original below.