Jimmy Eat World were feeling pretty good about The Middle when they were recording it, but if you had told them then that the song would become a breakout hit that would later be covered by Taylor Swift and Prince, they would have told you you were out of your mind.
Even today, 25 years on, that’s kind of crazy to think about. The look on Jimmy Eat World frontman/guitarist Jim Adkins face when we ask him what it actually feels like when the world’s biggest pop star covers your song suggests that he still hasn’t quite processed this – or at least there are no words that could possibly do it justice. He had no idea that it was going to connect like it did.
