About Young and Menace

"Young and Menace" is a song by American rock band Fall Out Boy, released on April 27, 2017, through Island Records and DCD2. It was released as the lead single from the band's seventh studio album, Mania. The music video was released simultaneously with the single.

In deciding what "Young and Menace" would sound like, Pete Wentz took inspiration from artists he admires like The Clash, David Bowie, and Kanye West whose musical direction evolved over time. Wentz told Andrew Trendell of NME that the original version of the song was so "extreme" and "chaotic" that "It sounded like a 1990's modem. It didn't even sound like music. So we reigned [sic] it in from there." The band felt that the track might not be radio-friendly, but that it could resonate with the wider culture. Initially, the song made a reference to the personal life of Britney Spears, and included the lyric "Oops I did it again/ I’ve got my head shaved and my umbrella out/ I just forgot what I was talking about." Wentz removed the references to Spears' personal struggles, as he was not comfortable discussing them in his music. The finished song still name-drops Spears' single "Oops!... I Did It Again" (2000). Wentz told Nylon's Ilana Kaplan that he referenced Spears in "Young and Menace" because "To me, Britney Spears is a mirror we hold up to pop culture: We build her up, tear her down, root for her or against her. I think it says so much more about us as a culture than it does about Britney herself.