Tongue-in-cheek lyrics are just one of the things that make Benjamin Taylor’s “Wicked Way” one of the most asked about songs on the What’s Your Number Soundtrack. “I just want to take you out and get you drunk so I can have my wicked way with you. I’m just being honest ’cause I know the other guys are thinking just the same way too”.
Besides the song’s in your face jaunty pick-up line being so in sync with the movie’s theme, if you dig further and take a look at the song’s music video, you’ll really appreciate the brilliant song choice by What’s Your Number music supervisor Julia Michels (Sex and the City, Soul Surfer, Diary Of a Wimpy Kid).
Remember Michael Jackson’s video “Black or White” from 1991 where the people’s head shots morph into one another with a flick of their head. Ben Taylor admits the video’s producers for “Wicked Way” were influenced in part by the video produced by director John Landis. The result is that Ben Taylor got to minimize his onscreen acting time and is instead replaced by 15 Trump Models whose faces merge into one another while lip syncing “Wicked Way”.
And isn’t that really what Anna Faris’ character, Ally’s dating life in the movie What’s Your Number is all about? After a lengthy dating history, Ally’s love life in retrospect now probably feels to her like an amorphous glob of bad boyfriends and miserable dates.
Taylor’s inspiration, which he explains in the video’s intro, was that he wrote the song as a sort of joke. With his endearing scruffy beard that borderlines on homeless cute with a split gap in his teeth, in that kind of Lauren Hutton appealing way, Taylor goes on to explain how he’s uncomfortable with being in front of the camera. So he warmed to the idea when video director Patrik Andersson “came up with this phenomenal idea. I’m going to round up some beautiful girls and they’re going to sing the song for you.”
Do check out the video for “Wicked Way” which is kind of disconcerting and mesmerizing at the same time with Taylor’s very masculine but gentle voice coming out of the mouths of babes. But when you think about it, isn’t that the way things are when you look back at your past love life where you kind of reconstruct and deconstruct your memories?
If you didn’t know, Ben Taylor is actually the offspring of two well known musicians who once thought they were each other’s “the one”, the son of Carly Simon and James Taylor. Now that’s a lot of pressure to live up to in the pop world.
But, Ben Taylor’s clever ditty “Wicked Way” was actually released as a single in 2009 on his album The Legend of Kung Folk – Part 1 – The Killing Bite. The song was pre-released the year before on iTunes and made it to number 2 as one of the best folk songs on iTunes in 2008.
If you’re interested in hearing more songs from Ben Taylor, you can also check out Ben’s previous two albums, Famous Among the Barns, and Another Run Around The Sun. Or you can check out the song “Wicked Way” on the Soundtrack to the What’s Your Number Movie starring Anna Faris & Chris Evans, currently in theaters now.