Exclaim!

Belinda Carlisle Responds to Alvvays' "Belinda Says"

"This is awesome and I'm so flattered"
Belinda Carlisle Responds to Alvvays' 'Belinda Says'
By Alex Hudson
Published Jan 13, 2023
Alvvays' Blue Rev was the best album of 2022, and "Belinda Says" one of its best songs. Now, the song's inspiration, Belinda Carlisle, has learned that she's quoted in the song — and she loves it.

UPDATE (1/13, 2:00 p.m. ET): Alvvays have now responded to Carlisle's support, tweeting, "belinda says she likes belinda says."

Alvvays made their late-night TV debut this week, performing the song on Fallon. Carlisle shared the performance on Twitter, posting several heart emojis and writing, "I had no idea about this! This is awesome and I'm so flattered." 
 
"Belinda Says" quotes Carlisle's 1987 hit "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" in its lyrics: "Belinda says that heaven is a place on earth / Well, so is hell."

In a recent interview on KEXP, the band revealed that guitarist Alec O'Hanley was the one who came up with the lyric in question. "I was on a bike ride," he said, "and just was wowed by the beauty of 'Heaven Is a Place on Earth.' I had the thought that it should be played instead of national anthems at hockey games and stuff. Instead of a patriotic thing, more of an internationalist, humanist thing. I think it's this sneaky, secular, utopian anthem that people don't quite realize."

He added, "I may have been on psilocybin at the time."