"First" is a song by American

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produ ...

band Cold War Kids. The song was written by the band and produced by

Lars Stalfors Lars Stalfors is an American record producer, writer and mixer based in Los Angeles. His most recent credits include Cold War Kids albums ''L.A. Divine'' (2017) and ''Hold My Home'' (2014) including the #1 alternative song "First". He has also w ...

and

Dann Gallucci Dann Gallucci (born March 31, 1975) is an American songwriter, producer, musician and audio engineer best known for his work with Modest Mouse, The Murder City Devils, and Cold War Kids. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Gallucci met ...

. It was the second and final single off their fifth album ''

Hold My Home ''Hold My Home'' is the fifth studio album by American indie rock band Cold War Kids. It was released on October 21, 2014 under Downtown Records. Following the mild reception of their fourth album '' Dear Miss Lonelyhearts'' and the departure o ...

'' (2014) and was released on February 17, 2015. The song garnered a positive reception from music critics. "First" peaked at number 1 on the ''Billboard'' Alternative Songs chart, becoming the band's highest charting single. A music video was made for the single and was released on January 12, 2015. The song was

certified Platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

for selling over 1,000,000 digital copies in the United States.

Critical reception

"First" received positive reviews from

music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mu ...

s. Philip Cosores of '' Paste'' called it a "clap-along anthem" and put it together with "All This Could Be Yours" and "Hot Coals" as "the strongest run the band has put together in its career." Heather Phares of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

remarked the song being a highlight of the album due to its "anthemic power."

Music video

The music video was uploaded on the band's VEVO page on January 12, 2015.

Chart performance

The song spent seven weeks at number one on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

chart. It remains the band's only song to top that chart. The song stayed on the chart for sixty-four weeks, making it the third-longest-running single in the chart's history.

In popular culture

* The song was featured in the 2015 film ''

Aloha ''Aloha'' ( , ) is the Hawaiian word for love, affection, peace, compassion and mercy, that is commonly used as a simple greeting but has a deeper cultural and spiritual significance to native Hawaiians, for whom the term is used to define a f ...

''. * The song was featured in the season 5 episode "Denial" of the USA series '' Suits''. * The song was featured in the pilot episode of the ABC series '' Quantico''. * The song was used in a commercial for Coors Banquet. * The song was used in a series of commercials for

Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate (" chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company ** Hyundai A ...

promoting its 2019 lineup of electric and hybrid vehicles.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:First (Cold War Kids Song) 2014 songs 2015 singles Cold War Kids songs Downtown Records singles V2 Records singles