Released 7 June 2010 Length 3:53 | Format Digital download Label Somewhat Damaged | |
Genre Alternative dance
synthpop
electronic rock Writer(s) Thomas Powers
Aaron Short | ||
"Young Blood" is a single by New Zealand band The Naked and Famous, released onto radio in May 2010. It was used in several indent commercials for C4, and received the 2010 Silver Scroll for Song of the Year.
Contents
The single was released as a digital download at the iTunes Store on 7 June 2010. "Young Blood" debuted at number one on the New Zealand Singles Chart, on 14 June 2010.
Composition
"Young Blood" is a synthpop and electro song, and features a buzz-guitar riff. Kevin Harley of BBC Music compared the song to the work of MGMT. According to Godfrey de Grut of NZ Musician, "Young Blood" is set in the key of F#, and follows the chord progression of B–F♯–B–F♯–C♯–B–F♯–B–D♯min–C♯. The theme of "Young Blood" is that of "spirit of youth" and its loss, and contains a "yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah" hook.
Critical reception
The song received critical acclaim by music critics. Allmusic's Matt Collar noted "Young Blood" as one of the top tracks from Passive Me, Aggressive You and described it as "layered and shimmering". Tom Cardy from The Dominion Post called it "one of the catchiest indie electro tunes I've heard in years". The New Zealand Herald's Scott Kara labelled "Young Blood" as "an inventive, rousing, and uplifting tune".
On 8 September 2010 "Young Blood" won the APRA Silver Scroll, a New Zealand peer-judged songwriting award. APRA's Anthony Healey stated, "Young Blood is outstanding; it's stroppy, it's youthful and energetic. It makes me want to be eighteen again". At the awards ceremony it was covered by reggae band Three Houses Down. The Naked and Famous said being awarded with the honour was "surreal and intense".
Chart performance
"Young Blood" debuted a top the New Zealand Singles Chart on 14 June 2010, becoming the first time a New Zealand artist debuted at number one in over three years; Matthew Saunoa's "Hold Out" did so in November 2006. The song held the top spot for another week, however on 28 June it was pushed to number two by "California Gurls" by Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg. "Young Blood" fell out of the singles chart in October 2010, having spent eighteen weeks in the chart.
In Australia, "Young Blood" peaked at number twenty-six on the ARIA Singles Chart, while in Austria it appeared for ten weeks on the Ö3 Austria Top 40, reaching number fifty-three. The song made number fifty-nine on the Dutch Mega Single 100, lasting five weeks.
In the United States, the song was nominated as iTunes Store Single of the Week and was available for free of charge download during a week (15–21 March 2011). It was certified Gold by the RIAA, denoting sales of over 500,000 copies.
Young Blood reached number 9 on the Hong Kong charts on 14 January 2012.
Music video
The accompanying music video for "Young Blood" was directed by Joel Kefali and Campbell Hooper of Special Problems.
Covers and use in media
Jessie J covered "Young Blood" for BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge in March 2011. Chiddy Bang remixed it in September 2011. Birdy covered the song on her eponymous debut album Birdy. Her version was featured in the "Moment of Truth" episode of Grey's Anatomy and on Harry's Law at the end of episode "The Contest". A remix was also made by Dutch DJs Tiësto and Hardwell, whose version appears on Tiësto's album Club Life: Volume Two Miami. Machine Gun Kelly sampled Young Blood in his Half Naked & Almost Famous single.
In August 2010, the Israeli clothing company Castro featured "Young Blood" in their shoes commercial and later, on November 2010 the Winter collection advertisement included acoustic cover of the song. In March 2011, Castro used it again in their shoes commercial. With the relaunch of the TV-channel VIVA on 1 January 2011 "Young Blood" gained popularity in Germany and Austria as it is used in the channels' idents and trailers. Recently, the song has been featured in the Strongbow 'Summer Blossom' advert in Australia. The song was also featured on a section of the entertainment news program, E! News in the United States. In Uzbekistan, the song was used in the advertisement of the mobile network operator UCell during May–June 2011. It was also used in Canon camera adverts. It has been used as the theme of a French TV show La Nouvelle Édition from August 29, 2011 (video) to June 2013 (video). This song was played right before the unveiling of the all-new 2013 Nissan Altima at the 2012 New York International Auto Show.
UFC MMA fighter Maurício "Shogun" Rua used it as walk in music at UFC on Fox 4. "Young Blood" was featured in the Disney film, Prom and in its trailer. The song was featured in the pilot of Covert Affairs, in both the first and last episodes of The Almighty Johnsons, and in the thirteenth episode of the fourth season of NBC's Chuck, during a sequence which was called the "best 10 minutes in the show's history" by series creator Josh Schwartz. The song was further featured in the episode "Panic Roommate" of the fourth season of Gossip Girl, in the season 3 premiere of TVNZ's Go Girls, and in a promo for the British show Skins. This song was also featured in the third episode of the eleventh season of Degrassi, and again in the twenty-ninth. "Young Blood" was then used in the third episode of MTV's TV series Awkward, and in the pilot of The Secret Circle. It is featured on the season finale of Whitney. The song was featured in Travis Rice's The Art of Flight, a snowboarding film released 7 September 2011. A promo for the second season of the HGTV show Property Brothers features a cut of the song. The song is featured on the FOX telecast of the 2011 Major League Baseball World Series. The song is also featured in the trailer for the movies The Cabin in the Woods and Prom. The song was featured a bit in the Season 11 premiere of American Idol on FOX. The song is featured on the soundtrack for video game SSX. An alternate version of the song with a slower tempo is currently being featured in commercials for Trident Gum. This version is known as the Renholder Remix and was used in the soundtrack for Underworld Awakening. The song is featured on Season 1 Episode 1 of TV show Elementary. A remix of the song by Dekade was featured in the 2013 American comedy film 21 & Over. In the Philippines, meanwhile, the song is used as the opening theme song of #SU, a student-oriented magazine TV talk show produced by students of Silliman University in Dumaguete City. The show airs weekly on local cable TV station Fil Products Channel 6.
The use of the song was also featured in Episode 10 of Germany's Next Topmodel, Cycle 6
The song also featured in the 2013 films Carrie and 21 & Over.