Format Digital download Genre EDM Label Disruptor
Columbia | Recorded 2016 Length 4:04 | |
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Released July 29, 2016 (2016-07-29) | ||
"Closer" is a song by American DJ duo The Chainsmokers, featuring American singer Halsey. Andrew Taggart (one half of The Chainsmokers) also provides his vocals in the song. It was released on July 29, 2016, through Disruptor Records and Columbia Records. The song was written by Andrew Taggart, Ashley Frangipane, Shaun Frank, Freddy Kennett, Isaac Slade and Joe King, while the production was handled by The Chainsmokers. Musically it is an EDM song with a "retro" style synthesizer in the chorus.
Contents
- Background and release
- Composition
- Critical reception
- Commercial performance
- Lyric video
- Music video
- Live performances
- References
In the United States, "Closer" became both The Chainsmokers' and Halsey's first number one single on the Billboard Hot 100. The song stayed at the top spot for 12 consecutive weeks. The Chainsmokers became the first act to have four songs ("Closer" being the fourth) that top the Dance/Electronic Songs, passing Calvin Harris, who held the previous record with three. Outside of the United States, "Closer" topped the charts in more than ten countries including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland and the United Kingdom, making it both The Chainsmokers' and Halsey's first number-one single in all six countries. The song went on to become the first song to spend 26 weeks in the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The song was performed live for the first time at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April 2016. Halsey and The Chainsmokers performed the track live at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards as well as a remix of the song at the 2016 American Music Awards. Its music video was released on October 24, 2016. It received a nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 2017 Grammy Awards.
Background and release
The song's beat was created in a session between Chainsmokers member Andrew Taggart and Freddy Kennett of Louis the Child. Taggart wrote the song with Canadian DJ Shaun Frank in one session, and Frank encouraged him to sing on the song. According to Taggart, the track was inspired by the Blink-182 song "I Miss You", which the duo were listening to on repeat and is referenced in the song. He later said the song instead was "Feeling This", though he could not really remember which: "I've listened to their self-titled album so many times the whole thing is pretty much beat," he tweeted. The band Taking Back Sunday also influenced the song. After comparisons were drawn between "Closer" and The Fray's "Over My Head (Cable Car)", lead singer Isaac Slade and guitarist Joe King of The Fray were credited as co-writers of "Closer" on September 2, 2016. The song was released on July 29, 2016, through Disruptor Records and Columbia Records.
Composition
The song is written in the key of A♭ major with a common time tempo of 95 beats per minute and a chord progression of D♭9 – E♭6 – Fm7 – E♭. The vocals span from E♭2 to E♭4 for Andrew Taggart and E♭3 to B♭5 for Halsey in the song.
Critical reception
Matt Medved of Billboard wrote the song "sounds like an instant classic," stating that it "[boasts] an earworm chorus and evocative verses like 'play that Blink-182 song that we beat to death in Tucson,' "Closer" captures the millennial zeitgeist in brilliantly infectious fashion." MTV journalist Deepa Lakshmin called the song "an upbeat, dance-worthy jam that deserves a spot on your summer playlist. It'll make you forget about all your pesky life problems and live in the moment." The song received a more mixed review from Idolator, with a consensus from various editors resulting in a 5/10 rating.
Billboard ranked "Closer" at number 29 on their on their "100 Best Pop Songs of 2016" list: “The year's longest-running No. 1 on the Hot 100 was as predictable a smash as they come: Perfectly played duet drama, an immediately recognizable hook — maybe a little too instantly recognizable — and a Blink-182 reference that made every Millennial listening nod with begrudging respect. Overplay might've done The Chainsmokers and Halsey a temporary disservice, but just wait for the emotional rush that hits in 2025 when you're hanging in a hotel bar and hear this for the first time in years.”
Commercial performance
"Closer" debuted at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 in the issue dated August 20, 2016. It became the third top ten single for The Chainsmokers on the chart, after "Roses" and "Don't Let Me Down". It is Halsey's first top ten on the chart and her second top forty. In the issue dated September 3, 2016, the song moved from number six to one, becoming both artists' first number-one song and the first the song by a duo to top the chart since Macklemore & Ryan Lewis's "Thrift Shop" and "Can't Hold Us" in 2013. It is also the first song titled "Closer" to reach number one (Ne-Yo's song of the same name reached number 7 in 2008). Moreover, the song also topped the Dance/Electronic Songs chart, becoming the first song to reach number one on both the Hot 100 and the Dance/Electronic chart simultaneously since Baauer's "Harlem Shake" in early 2013. It became the duo's fourth number one song to top the latter chart, passing Calvin Harris' previous record of three songs. It went on to top the Hot 100 chart for twelve consecutive weeks. On the issue date November 5, 2016, "Closer" became the 33rd song to top the chart for at least 10 weeks. By spending an 11th week atop the chart, it became the longest number one single of 2016 surpassing Drake's "One Dance" which spent 10 non-consecutive weeks at number one. In its fourth week, the song was joined by Twenty One Pilots' "Heathens", which moved from number three to number two. This marks the first time (and the third time overall) that duos have held the top two spots at the same time since June 1985, when Tears for Fears was on top with "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and Wham! was number two with "Everything She Wants." (The week before, the two songs were in the opposite order.) On the chart issue dated November 26, 2016, the song was finally replaced at the top of the Hot 100 by "Black Beatles" by Rae Sremmurd featuring Gucci Mane. On the issue dated January 28, 2017, "Closer" surpassed Justin Bieber's "Love Yourself" for the most weeks logged in the top 10 from a song's debut, having totaled all 30 of its weeks on the chart in the region since its debut on the issue dated 20 August 2016. On the issue date March 11, 2017, "Closer" became the 4th song to stay in the top ten for 30 weeks. Only Leann Rimes' "How Do I Live", Santana's "Smooth" (feat. Rob Thomas) and Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk" (feat. Bruno Mars) have achieved this feat since the Billboard Hot 100 was formed in 1958.
"Closer" achieved its 12th week atop Digital Songs with 84,000 downloads sold in the week ending October 27, according to Nielsen Music; the total is the lowest for a number one song on the tally in 10 years. The track became the third best-selling song of the year, behind Flo Rida's "My House" and Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop the Feeling!".
Internationally, the song reached number one in Australia on August 13, 2016, also becoming both The Chainsmokers' and Halsey's first number-one song there. It also peaked at number one in the UK, New Zealand and Canada. The song topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks, becoming the first song by a duo to log multiple weeks at number one in both the US and the UK since LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" in 2011.
Lyric video
The lyric video for "Closer" was edited and directed by Rory Kramer. It received one billion views on January 10, 2017, making it the first lyric video ever to do so, and it is currently the 30th most-viewed video of all time, reaching 1.23 billion views.
Music video
The music video for "Closer", directed by Dano Cerny, was released on October 24, 2016. The video begins with The Chainsmokers' Andrew Taggart looking at Halsey while at a party. It then flashbacks to an early time where Andrew and Halsey's characters met for the first time in a party. where they eventually ended up kissing in a kitchen. Through the video, Halsey and Andrew are seen singing with Halsey in lingerie and Andrew shirtless both in bed, also representing the time they were together. The video ends with Halsey leaving the party in present time, while Andrew follows her outside and then Halsey stops and turns around to see Andrew while they both see each other implying they regretted drifting apart. As of 2 March 2017, the video has received over 160 million views on YouTube.
Live performances
The Chainsmokers invited Halsey to the stage during their set at the Bonnaroo Music Festival to perform "Closer" for the first time in June 2016. Halsey and Taggart also performed the song live at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards. The Chainsmokers and Halsey also performed "Closer" at the American Music Awards on November 20, 2016.