"Symphony" is a song by British classical crossover band Clean Bandit,featuring Swedish singer Zara Larsson. The song was released on 17 March 2017 as the second single from Clean Bandit's second studio album,What Is Love? (2018). It was also released on the same day as Larsson's second album So Good,where it was included as a bonus track.[1][3][4] The single peaked at the top of the UK Singles Chart,becoming Larsson's first number one on the chart and Clean Bandit's third. Outside the United Kingdom,the single also topped the chart in Larsson's native Sweden,as well as in neighbouring Norway,in addition to being certified Diamond in France and Poland.
"Symphony" is a classical-pop song which has a duration of just over three-and-a-half minutes. The tempo is around 123 beats per minute. Lyrically,Larsson sings about being "part of your symphony" in the figurative sense. The vocabulary of the song incorporates a lot of music terminology like rhapsody,melody,stringed instruments,and solo singing.
Music video
The song's music video was premiered the same day the song was released,on March 17,2017. It was directed by Clean Bandit's members Grace Chatto and Jack Patterson and features Larsson in a glittery dress backed by Clean Bandit and an orchestra while an emotional story plays out.
The directors have explained in the "Making of" video and in interviews that the video features a gay couple and "tells the tragic story of a conductor who loses his boyfriend in a bicycle crash. The conductor leads the symphony orchestra that [Clean Bandit and Zara Larsson] are part of."[5] Singer Zara Larsson has spoken about why they wanted to specifically feature a black gay couple in the video[6] and she has said that she finds it ridiculous that people continue to illogically read the couple as being brothers or father and son.[7]
The video begins at dusk near Rotherhithe,accompanied to sound of an orchestra tuning up;meanwhile a young man packs away his laptop and briskly rides away,with no lighting,on a pedal bike. At the hall,during a hiatus,Zara's gaze lowers as sirens penetrate silence from faraway at the static crash cordon aftermath observed by an aerial view. Subsequent scenes show the man and his partner engaged in various activities,intercalated by scenes of the surviving partner grieving and visiting the spots they used to go together. The surviving partner paints the departed partner's bike white all-over and fixes it somewhere nearby where the fatality happened. He also begins to write music again as we find out he is a composer and his late partner was his inspiration. By the end,he has composed a beautiful symphony in his late partner's memory. The video ends with him looking out into the crowd while his deceased partner looks on proudly.[3] The conductor is played by Michael Akinsulire and his deceased partner / boyfriend is played by Josias Bertrand,while the orchestra scene takes place at the Royal Festival Hall.[8]
As of June 2024,the video has over 1.3 billion views on YouTube.[9]
Live performances
Clean Bandit and Larsson gave their first live performance of the song on The Voice UK on 18 March 2017.[10]
On August 14,2017,a live performance of the song at the Teen Choice Awards 2017 event was uploaded on the band's YouTube channel.[12]
Notable uses
An edited version of the track was used in the BBC's Christmas 2017 short film and idents celebrating spending Christmas together. They were broadcast on BBC One during December 2017.[13]
In 2021 the song,performed by Strictly Come Dancing's house band,was used in week eight of the show to accompany a dance by Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice. The performance,which included a period of silence in reference to Ayling-Ellis's deafness,scored 39 points out of a possible 40 and received widespread praise,with judge Anton Du Beke described it as "the greatest thing (he had) seen on the show".[15][16] They performed the routine again in the final,scoring a perfect 40 points and winning the competition.[17] Their performance earned the dancers Heat magazine's 2021 Unmissables Award for TV Moment of the Year[18] and the 2022 BAFTA TV Award for Must-See Moment.[19]
2024 viral resurgence in popularity
In August 2024,the song resurged in popularity more than seven years after its original release due to a viral meme on TikTok featuring a painting of "Enjoy Sunshine" by Christian Riese Lassen that shows a lively picture of dolphins and unicorns,often alongside Zara Larsson's part in the song,"I just wanna be part of your symphony". The humorous effect arose from the contrasting captions,such as "I have depression". Users found it amusing and commented on the irony of writing about personal problems while the upbeat song plays. The meme was inspired by TikTok posts showcasing diaries with cartoonish women on their covers doing ballet. When opened,these diaries play Larsson's part in the song.[20]
Larsson reacted to the trend,posting a TikTok video with the same painting with the text,reading:"What the fuck is happening". Clean Bandit also responded to the meme calling it "inspiring".[21][22] Due to the growing popularity of the meme,the song reached number one on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart dated 31 August 2024.[22][21]
↑ "ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 30. týden 2017 in the date selector. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
↑ "ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 17. týden 2017 in the date selector. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
↑ "ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 39. týden 2017 in the date selector. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
↑ "ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 16. týden 2017 in the date selector. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
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