LA Devotee

Last updated
"LA Devotee"
Promotional single by Panic! at the Disco
from the album Death of a Bachelor
PublishedListen to This Shhhh, Songs Music Publishing, BMG Platinum Songs, Manes and Reins Publishing
ReleasedNovember 26, 2015
Recorded2015
Genre
Length3:16
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) Jake Sinclair

"LA Devotee" is a song by American rock band Panic! at the Disco. It was released as the first promotional single from the band's fifth studio album, Death of a Bachelor , on November 26, 2015 (Thanksgiving Day) through Fueled by Ramen and DCD2. The song was written by Brendon Urie, White Sea and Jake Sinclair and was produced by Sinclair.

Contents

Background

The song's inspiration derives from Urie's passion for Los Angeles and is about someone who has fallen in love with L.A. and will stop at nothing to survive and succeed in the city. [4] A video of the audio for "LA Devotee" was uploaded to Fueled by Ramen's official YouTube channel on the day of its release, November 26, 2015. [5] It has been streamed over 55 million times on YouTube and over 262 million times on Spotify as of December 2022.

Music video

The song's official music video was released September 22, 2016, starring Noah Schnapp, a child actor known for his role as Will Byers in the Netflix series Stranger Things . The video starts with a young girl played by Anna Sachtleben nervously trying to cross a field with a dog barking in the background. The girl falls down and gets kidnapped by an unknown cloaked figure as the camera shows a shot of the mysterious "Join Us" logo cropped into the field. The next scene shows a young boy (Schnapp) being strapped to a chair singing the song while experiencing bizarre things, with Brendon also singing the song on a screen. The young girl also makes an appearance forcing the boy to drink a Eucharist. The last scene shows four cloaked figures strapping two mechanisms to the boy, causing him to be electrocuted and then suffer a seizure. Afterwards, the video ends with Brendon walking up to him with rubber gloves in a menacing manner. It is unknown what Brendon is to do next.

Between shots of Schnapp being tortured, several disturbing images can be seen, including men with animal heads, blood poured over a skull, children with black holes for their eyes, and a symbol of the Church of Satan (featuring Baphomet's head inside an inverted pentagon) projected over Urie's face.

Other references

The song references multiple places in the Great Los Angeles area, including:

Charts

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) [8] Gold40,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI) [9] Silver200,000‡
United States (RIAA) [10] Platinum1,000,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

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References

  1. ↑ Ridler, Faith (December 8, 2015). "Panic! At The Disco: 'LA Devotee' Single Review". Ppcorn. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
  2. ↑ Lucy, Evan (January 15, 2016). "Death Of A Bachelor channels Brendon Urie's inner Sinatra and vocal versatility - Reviews". Alternative Press. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
  3. ↑ Smith, Troy L. (January 14, 2016). "Panic! at the Disco feels more alive than ever on 'Death of a Bachelor'". cleveland.com. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
  4. ↑ Stumme, Clifford (2015-11-27). "What does "LA Devotee" by Panic! at the Disco mean?". Cliffordstumme.com. Retrieved 2016-01-04.
  5. ↑ "Panic! At The Disco: LA Devotee (Audio)". YouTube. 2015-11-26. Retrieved 2016-01-04.
  6. ↑ "Panic! At the Disco – Awards". AllMusic . Rovi Corporation . Retrieved December 21, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Hot Rock Songs – Year-End 2016". Billboard. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  8. ↑ "Canadian single certifications – Panic! At the Disco – LA Devotee". Music Canada.
  9. ↑ "British single certifications – Panic! At the Disco – LA Devotee". British Phonographic Industry . Retrieved October 25, 2019.
  10. ↑ "American single certifications – Panic! At the Disco – LA Devotee". Recording Industry Association of America . Retrieved March 20, 2019.
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