Released November 14, 2014 Genre Pop rock
power pop Label Hollywood | Recorded 2014 Length 3:21 | |
Writer(s) Leah Haywood
Daniel James
Brian Lee
Matt Thiessen | ||
"Smile" is a song by American pop rock band R5. It had its radio premiere on November 14, 2014 as the lead single from their second studio album, Sometime Last Night.
Contents
Writing and composition
The song was written by Leah Haywood, Daniel James, Brian Lee and Matt Thiessen and produced by Dreamlab and Randall Bobbitt. The band's frontman, Ross Lynch, told Teen Magazine that the song was about "doing ridiculous things in order to make someone else smile" and "the simplicity of just happiness." "Smile" has a length of three minutes and twenty one seconds and sonically, "classic rock and roll" was the main inspiration of its sound. "Smile" was compared to Maroon 5 and Bruno Mars.
Reception
"Smile" has received generally positive reviews. Bop and Tiger Beat magazine said the song was "sweet, catchy and great". Vivan Pham of Pop Dust noted that the band's sound has changed, no longer teen to become something more mature. She was positive and said it was "great". Raffy Ermac to Teen Magazine said "Smile" was the band's best song so far and they were "playing better than ever".
Live performances
The first "Smile" performance was in Family Channel special Family Day, in Canada, in November 16, 2014. On November 23, the band performed at the American Music Awards. On November 28, they performed in Good Morning America.
Music video
On November 14, 2014, the band released a live video in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to promote the song. The official music video was premiered on MTV in December 23, 2014. MTV also released an exclusive interview and behind-the-scenes, entitled "What Makes R5 Smile?". The video shows the band backwards in a wooded park in four different scenes, like the four seasons. In the summer the band plays with water guns shirtless, in the spring they're on a picnic, in the autumn they dance in the rain among the dry leaves, in the winter they cut firewood in the snow.
A special version of the song was created for the Special Olympics. R5 changed some of the lyrics to the song to fit the event.