Symphony_(Clean_Bandit_song)

Symphony (Clean Bandit song)

Symphony (Clean Bandit song)

2017 single by Clean Bandit featuring Zara Larsson


"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.[2][4][5] 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.

Quick Facts from the album What Is Love? and So Good, Released ...

Description

"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 17 March 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."[6] Singer Zara Larsson has spoken about why they wanted to specifically feature a black gay couple in the video[7] and she has said that she finds it ridiculous that people continue to illogically read the couple as being brothers or father and son.[8]

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.[4] 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.[9]

As of November 2023, the video has over 1.25 billion views on YouTube.[10]

Live performances

Clean Bandit and Larsson gave their first live performance of the song on The Voice UK on 18 March 2017.[1]

A performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon followed on 21 April 2017.[11]

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]

It was covered by BAFTA-winning actress Suranne Jones, accompanied by a choir from the Youth Theatre group of the Half Moon Theatre, for a 2019 Children in Need charity album titled Got it Covered.[14]

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]

Track listing

More information No., Title ...

Charts

More information Chart (2017), Peak position ...

Certifications

More information Region, Certification ...

Release history

More information Region, Date ...

See also


References

  1. Lee, Christina (19 March 2017). "Clean Bandit & Zara Larsson Perform "Symphony" On 'The Voice UK': Watch". Idolator. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  2. "Zara Larsson Is a Pop Star Who's About More Than Just the Music". Time. 29 January 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  3. "So Good by Zara Larsson on Apple Music". iTunes. 17 March 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  4. "Public announcement: THEYYY GAAYYYYY". TikTok - @zasalarrson. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  5. Clean Bandit (17 March 2017). "Clean Bandit - Symphony feat. Zara Larsson [Official Video]". Retrieved 29 June 2017 via YouTube.
  6. Christina Lee (22 April 2017). "Clean Bandit & Zara Larsson Perform "Symphony" On 'The Tonight Show': Watch". Idolator. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  7. "BBC One celebrates spending Christmas together in its 2017 short film". BBC Media Centre. 2 December 2017. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  8. "Got it Covered". BBC Children in Need. 5 November 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
  9. Hilton, Boyd (7 December 2021). "heat Unmissables Awards 2021: see the full list of winners". Heatworld.com. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  10. "Bafta TV Awards 2022: The winners and nominees". BBC News. 8 May 2022. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
  11. "Top 20 Anglo Argentina – Del 15 al 21 de Mayo, 2017" (in Spanish). Monitor Latino. 15 May 2017. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  12. "Clean Bandit feat. Zara Larsson – Symphony" (in Dutch). Ultratop Dance. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  13. "Clean Bandit feat. Zara Larsson – Symphony" (in French). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  14. "Clean Bandit feat. Zara Larsson – Symphony" (in French). Ultratop Dance. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  15. "Top 100 Colombia - Semana 28 del 2017 - Del 7/07/2017 al 13/07/2017" (in Spanish). National-Report. Archived from the original on 14 July 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  16. "STRANA - Top do topa (17.6.2017.)". HRT. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
  17. Zara Larsson — Symphony. TopHit. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  18. "ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – RADIO – TOP 100 and insert 201730 into search. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  19. "ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – SINGLES DIGITAL – TOP 100 and insert 201717 into search. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  20. "Euro Digital Songs". Billboard. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  21. "Greece Official IFPI Charts Digital Singles Chart: March 26, 2018". IFPI Charts. Archived from the original on 26 March 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  22. "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Dance Top 40 lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  23. "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Rádiós Top 40 játszási lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  24. "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Single (track) Top 40 lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  25. "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Stream Top 40 slágerlista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  26. "Media Forest Week 14, 2017". Israeli Airplay Chart. Media Forest. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  27. "Luxembourg Digital Songs". Billboard. 1 June 2017. Retrieved 28 June 2017.(subscription required)
  28. "Los artistas #1 de América Latina". Monitor Latino (in Spanish). Monitor Latino. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  29. "Mexico Airplay: May 06, 2017". Billboard. Retrieved 28 April 2017. (subscription required)
  30. "Zara Larsson Chart History (Mexico Ingles Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  31. "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 17, 2017" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  32. "BillboardPH Hot 100". Billboard Philippines. 26 June 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  33. "Serbia - Radio airplay chart (Settimana 18.2017)" (in Italian). RadioAirplay. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  34. "ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: insert 201739 into search. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  35. "ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select SINGLES DIGITAL - TOP 100 and insert 201716 into search. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  36. "SloTop50 – Slovenian official singles chart". slotop50.si. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  37. "ARIA End of Year Singles 2017". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  38. "Ö3 Austria Top 40 – Single-Charts 2017". oe3.orf.at. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  39. "Jaaroverzichten 2017". Ultratop. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  40. "Rapports Annuels 2017". Ultratop. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  41. "Canadian Hot 100 – Year-End 2017". Billboard. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  42. "CIS Year-End Radio Hits (2017)". Tophit. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  43. "Track Top-100 2017". Hitlisten. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  44. "Top singles 2017" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  45. "Top 100 Single-Jahrescharts". GfK Entertainment (in German). offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  46. "Dance Top 100 – 2017". Mahasz. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  47. "Stream Top 100 - 2017". Mahasz. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  48. "TÓNLISTINN - LÖG - 2017" (in Icelandic). Plötutíðindi. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  49. "Top 50 Israel airplay 2017". mediaforest.bizz. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  50. "Classifiche annuali dei dischi più venduti e dei singoli più scaricati nel 2017" (Click on "Scarica allegato" and open the "Classifica annuale 2017 Singoli digital" file) (in Italian). FIMI. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  51. "Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 2017". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  52. "Jaaroverzichten – Single 2017". Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  53. "Top Selling Singles of 2017". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  54. "SloTop50: Slovenian official year end singles chart". slotop50.si. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  55. "Årslista Singlar – År 2017" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  56. "Schweizer Jahreshitparade 2017 – hitparade.ch". Hung Medien. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  57. Copsey, Rob (3 January 2018). "The Official Top 40 Biggest Songs of 2017". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  58. "Dance Club Songs – Year-End 2017". Billboard. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  59. "End of Year Singles Chart Top 100 – 2018". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  60. Copsey, Rob (11 December 2019). "The UK's Official Top 100 biggest songs of the decade". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  61. "Ultratop − Goud en Platina – singles 2017". Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  62. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards ('Symphony')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  63. "Clean Bandit - Symphony ft. Zara Larsson RadioDate". Radioairplay.fm. 24 March 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
  64. "BBC – Radio 1 – Playlist". BBC Radio 1. Archived from the original on 8 May 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  65. "Top 40/M Future Releases". All Access. Archived from the original on 2 May 2017. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  66. "FMQB: Available for Airplay". FMQB. Archived from the original on 16 May 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2017.

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Symphony_(Clean_Bandit_song), and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.