Alvvays released Archie, Marry Me in 2014. A decade later, it's certified gold
The indie band's acclaimed breakout single has become its very 1st gold release
Alvvays, the Juno-winning, Polaris Music Prize-shortlisted indie pop/rock band has just earned its first gold record with its soaring hit "Archie, Marry Me." The track was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on Dec. 13, with half a million certified units.
"Archie, Marry Me" was the lead single on Alvvays' 2014 debut album, and the song quickly garnered critical acclaim: it landed on Rolling Stone's best songs of 2014 list and was named the song of the summer by the Globe and Mail and more.
The fuzzy, jangling track is about a whirlwind romance that's "more of an anti-marriage statement than a pining necessity of getting hitched," lead singer Molly Rankin told Rolling Stone, adding that she sings about "just two kids without any direction, doing it on a whim in a courthouse, saying 'Who cares?' to everyone else who has all of their ducks in a row before settling down."
"It was the most romantic thing I could think of at the time," she added.
In 2018, she followed up on the song's origins with the Detroit Free Press, sharing that the song "was written from a perspective of poking fun at being in your 20s and being surrounded by engaged friends."
Rankin penned the song while living in a farmhouse on P.E.I., telling Song Exploder that she felt that Archie wasn't that common of a name, but that it fit "perfectly."