Night Is Young

Background and writing

"Night Is Young" was written by Nelly Furtado, Salaam Remi and StayBent Krunk-a-Delic, and produced by the latter pair. It was one of two songs that had not been properly finished and had leaked onto the internet. In response to the leaks, Furtado said that she decided to "finish them and put them out properly on the greatest hits album." In an interview with Beatweek, Furtado said that a conversation between her and a friend about the "past, present & future" is what inspired the concept of the song. Furtado had told PopEater that the song is "not necessarily a love song", adding that it is "about relationships in many different forms [...] and having a good time and enjoying life" Furtado said that she was happy with the song because she never had a "straightforward song that has been dance pop." She cited "[I]t’s definitely a pop track, but it’s obviously quite a high BPM. I think it’s 130 or something. It’s a really fast song." When writing the song, Furtado said that it started out as a poem before she presented the lyrics to Salaam Remi. She recalled, "I wrote all the lyrics and then I came to the studio and Salaam had this really great beat." It was mixed by Robert Orton, and recorded by Franklin Socorro and Gleyder Disla at Instrument Zoo studio in Miami, Florida.

Critical reception

Amar Toor of AOL Radio Blog characterized the song as "electrically charged pulse that persists from jolting start to glorious finish." Digital Spy's Nick Levine gave the song 4 out of 5 stars, calling it a "feel good dance-pop" song. Levine also commended Furtado's vocals, saying that her "ever-distinctive vocals and a chorus as stealthily catchy as a self-mutating virus." About.com described the song as "having a rather infectious beat and a great sing-along chorus." Jonathan Keefe of Slant Magazine described the song as a "four-four stomp, swirling electronic effects, and club-and-party lyrics." He also mentioned that the song "signals another outward shift in Furtado's style."

Commercial performance

"Night Is Young" was most commercially successful in Slovakia, peaking at number seven in its sixth week on the Radio Top 100 chart. The song was a commercial failure in Austria, debuting on the charts at number seventy-two. It then peaked at number sixty-nine the next week and fell off the charts the following week after that. "Night Is Young" was moderately successful in the Czech Republic, entering the charts at number thirty-seven and peaking at number thirty-six two weeks later. The song spent three more weeks on the chart before dropping out at number fifty-four.

Music video

The music video for "Night Is Young" was directed by Alan Ferguson and filmed in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada on the days of October 13 and 14 in 2010. Fefe Dobson appears in the video, playing a DJ. The video begins with Furtado conducting a choir. During this, a male and female member of the choir look at each other while performing. For the video shoot, fans of Furtado were cast to be featured as cyclists, dancers and party-goers. After the choir performs, Furtado and the members of the choir, including the night cyclists, dancers, skaters and young people are seen going to a party. At the end of the video, the male and female, previously seen at the beginning of the video, kiss as the clip ends.

Other versions

Furtado has recorded a live acoustic version of "Night Is Young" for Walmart Soundcheck, and a video was recorded and released. A remix was released, which has been played on BBC Radio 1Xtra, and was produced by Sketch iz Dead. It features grime recording artist Wiley. A remix EP of "Night Is Young" has been released on iTunes. The remixes were produced by Burns and Manhattan Clique. In early January, remixes produced by Jamaican producer The Wizard were released, entitled, "Night Is Young (Psychadelic Remix)" and "Night Is Young (Drum Groove Remix)".

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the The Best of Nelly Furtado liner notes.