The BAD OMENS single “Just Pretend” was just certified platinum by the RIAA for digital sales and streams in excess of 1 million.  

The smash rock hit, which originally went gold in July 2023, has continued to be a success on Billboard’s Hot Hard Rock Songs chart, among other places. 

“Just Pretend” was written and produced by the band’s own Noah Sebastian and Joakim Karlsson. Sebastian revealed in an interview with NME that it began as a parody of “butt rock” radio hits: 

“At the time, I was frustrated with people in my ear talking about, ‘Oh, you need to focus on the radio,” the band’s frontman explained. “Never having an ulterior motive when writing has always been a strict rule of ours. We just want to make music that we like and we’re proud of. So with ‘Just Pretend,’ it started as this ironic butt-rock song. Even the way I was singing in the demo, I was doing this exaggerated bravado. As silly as the vocal sounded I was like, ‘This is actually a really great chorus.’ I was kind of just freestyling. I had written some chords and I just started singing in the booth over it. And this melody came out, the lyrics came out really quickly.” 

Once the song hit No. 1 on the rock radio charts, Bad Omens concluded, “It’s the most ironic full-circle moment this band will probably ever have.”

“Just Pretend” appears on the band’s 2022 album, The Death of Peace of Mind (Sumerian Records). The album’s title track was certified gold in January of this year.