"Cycles" (stylized as "cycles" on the tracklist) is a song by Swedish singer-songwriter Tove Lo, from her third studio album, '' Blue Lips''. It was released on 17 November 2017 as a promotional single. It was written by Tove Lo, Joe Janiak, Ludvig Söderberg and produced by The Struts. Lyrically, it talks about being trapped in a never-ending relationship loop. A music video directed by Malia James was released on 4 December 2018.

Composition

"Cycles" is a three-minute, twenty-eight-second

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

song, written by Tove Lo, Joe Janiak, Ludvig Söderberg and produced by The Sturts. Written 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 ...

, "Cycles" has a

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 ...

and features "baby-cry production, is dripping with self-deprecation." Lyrically, the song is about being trapped in a never-ending relationship loop, indicated by the lines: "How can I change it when I don't know when I'm in it?/ I'm in a cycle/ Swear this is different/ Don't wanna end it/ If you leave then I keep spinnin'". According to Xavier Piedra from '' Billboard'' she "sings in the chorus while she holds her head in frustration."

Critical reception

Danny Madion of

The Michigan Daily ''The Michigan Daily'', also known as "''The Daily''", is the independent student newspaper of the University of Michigan published in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Established on September 29, 1890, the newspaper is financially and editorially independe ...

wrote that the song "walks listeners through a narrative of falling in love with an ex-lover. It's sad and earnest but doesn't lead to a notable chorus you’d sing in the car.". Alex Clarke of

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

described "Cycles" and "Stranger" as "honest depictions of love that are nothing in the way of cliché."

Music video

The music video for "Cycles" was directed by Malia James and it was released on 4 December 2018 on her Vevo channel. It was filmed as a one-shot and it was initially previewed in her short film '' Blue Lips'' in the post-credits scene where she spins around in a chair while the camera circles around her in blurry motion while lights are flashing all over her body.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal. * Tove Lo − vocals, songwriter * Ludvig Söderberg − songwriter * Joe Janiak − songwriter * Jakob Jerlström − songwriter, backing vocalist * The Struts − producer,

programmer A programmer, computer programmer or coder is an author of computer source code someone with skill in computer programming. The professional titles Software development, ''software developer'' and Software engineering, ''software engineer' ...

* Chris Gehringer −

mastering engineer Mastering is a form of audio post production which is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the Audio mixing (recorded music), final mix to a data storage device called a master recording, the source ...

* John Hanes − assistant mixer * Serban Ghenea − mixer

Charts

References

External links

* {{authority control 2017 songs Songs written by Tove Lo Tove Lo songs Songs written by Ludvig Söderberg Songs written by Joe Janiak Songs written by Jakob Jerlström