With "A-O-K," Tai Verdes is uplifting his fans with nostalgia

Angelo Kritikos

One of the lyrics in Tai Verdes' hit "A-O-K" goes "I've had terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad days." Turns out that's a deliberate reference to a classic 1972 children's book, and according to Tai,  it's not the only nostalgic thing he added to the lyrics of his breakthrough hit.

Asked if he read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day as a child, Tai laughs, "Of course I did! Yeah, you know, I had a little throwback to my childhood, especially with like the 'two four, six, eight, who do we appreciate?' [lyric] --  like, that kind of callback stuff, like, that's just who I was as a kid."

"I listened to all that stuff," he adds. "So I was seeing so many people relate to, like, 'Oh, this is that songbook lyric!' And 'I remember saying "two four, six, eight!" and Minute Maid lemonade...' It's just nostalgic, but also fresh at the same time. 'Cause it's my voice, that's never been heard before on these radio stations."

Those lyrics, plus the upbeat, sunny sound of the track seems to put folks in a good mood. Tai tells ABC Audio that fans often share with him how the song really lifts their spirits -- and he can totally relate.

"Yes, I love it when people tell me that they listen to the song to, like, get their morning started or it helped bring them out of a negative headspace," Tai notes. "Like, that is really cool, because I had songs like that, that I listened to all the time -- all the time. And I know what those [kinds of] songs mean."

"I used to listen to Dominic Fike's 'Three Nights' in the shower every single time I got in the shower," he laughs. "It just made my showers better!" 

Thursday, September 16, 2021 at 6:00AM by Andrea Dresdale Permalink