"Carry Me" is a song by Norwegian DJ and music producer

Kygo Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll (; born 11 September 1991), known professionally as Kygo (), is a Norwegian DJ and music producer. He first received international attention with his December 2013 remix of the track " I See Fire" by Ed Sheeran and his De ...

, featuring vocals from American singer

Julia Michaels Julia Carin Michaels (''Birth name, née'' Cavazos; born November 13, 1993) is an American singer and songwriter. She has received six Grammy Award nominations, including twice for Grammy Award for Song of the Year, Song of the Year and Grammy A ...

. It was released as sixth single from the album Cloud Nine. It was released via digital download on 12 August 2016 by

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

and

Ultra Ultra may refer to: Science and technology * Ultra (cryptography), the codename for cryptographic intelligence obtained from signal traffic in World War II * Adobe Ultra, a vector-keying application * Sun Ultra series, a brand of computer work ...

. The song was written by Kygo, Michaels and

Justin Tranter Justin Drew Tranter (born June 16, 1980) is an American songwriter, singer, and activist. Tranter has written songs for artists such as Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, Linkin Park, Kelly Clarkson, Sara Bareilles, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, DNCE, ...

and produced by Kygo. The song was performed at the

2016 Summer Olympics closing ceremony The closing ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics was held on 21 August 2016 from 20:00 to 22:50 BRT at the Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As per traditional Olympic protocol, the ceremony featured cultural presentations from both t ...

in the

Maracanã Stadium Maracanã Stadium (, ; named after the Maracanã River), officially known as Jornalista Mário Filho Stadium (, ; , named after Mário Filho), is an association football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Located in the Maracanã neighbor ...

on 21 August 2016.

Background and writing

"Carry Me" was written Kygo, Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter and produced by Kygo.

Recording and composition

"Carry Me" features Julia Michaels' lead vocals and Justin Tranter backing vocals. Miles Walker mixed the track at Silent Sound Studios,

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Georgia with assistance from Ryan Jumper and John Horesco IV completed the

audio mastering Mastering is a form of audio post production which is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device called a master recording, the source from which all copies will ...

. Musically, "Carry Me" is a three minutes and fifty-three seconds

uptempo A variety of musical terms is encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special musical meanings ...

tropical house Tropical house, also known as trop house, is a subgenre of house music, and a derivation of tropical music, with elements of dancehall and Balearic house. Artists of the genre are often featured at various summer festivals such as Tomorrowland. ...

song. In terms of

music notation Musical notation is any system used to visually represent music. Systems of notation generally represent the elements of a piece of music that are considered important for its performance in the context of a given musical tradition. The proces ...

, "Carry Me" was composed using common time in the key of

G major G major is a major scale based on G (musical note), G, with the pitches G, A (musical note), A, B (musical note), B, C (musical note), C, D (musical note), D, E (musical note), E, and F♯ (musical note), F. Its key signature has one sharp (music ...

, with a moderate

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of 105

beats per minute Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of in ...

. The song follows the

chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural, or simply changes) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from ...

of C- G- D- Em while Michaels' vocal range spans from the low note B₃ to the high note of C₅, giving the song one octave and one

note Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to: Music and entertainment * Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music * ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian * ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened versi ...

of range.

Music video

Prior to the release of the music video, Kygo debuted a

lyric video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to promote the sale of m ...

for the song on August 29, 2016 on

Ultra Music Ultra Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, which is a subsidiary of Sony Music Group. Company history Established in 1995 in New York City by Patrick Moxey, a former executive of PolyGram and Virgin Record ...

YouTube channel. The lyric video, by Luca Brenna for Superbros and Johannes Lovund, was illustrated by Sprankenstein and was animated by Jonathan Folkard. The lyric shows Kygo playing piano and Michaels recording the song on a studio with an orchestra playing strings. The music video, produced by Savage Isle Productions and Kygo, was released on 5 October 2016 on Kygo's official

Vevo Vevo LLC ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized in all caps until 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available ...

channel. The video shows Kygo going out with friends on vacation, and it contains scenes on a yacht, on a footage from a festival and poolside shenanigans.

Credits and personnel

Recording and management * Mixed at Silent Sound Studios (

, Georgia) * Published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Personnel *

– songwriting, production *

– vocals, songwriting *

– songwriting, backing vocals *Miles Walker – mixing *Ryan Jumper – assistant *John Horesco IV – mastering Credits adapted from '' Cloud Nine'' liner notes.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2016 singles 2016 songs Julia Michaels songs Kygo songs Song recordings produced by Kygo Songs written by Kygo Songs written by Julia Michaels Songs written by Justin Tranter Sony Music singles