"Strong" is a song by

the xx The xx are an English indie rock band from Wandsworth, London, formed in 2005. The band consists of Romy Madley Croft (guitar, vocals), Oliver Sim (bass guitar, vocals), Jamie Smith, also known as Jamie xx (beats, MPC, record production), ...

member

Romy Madley Croft Romy Madley Croft (born 18 August 1989) who releases solo music as Romy, is an English musician. She is the guitarist and co-vocalist of the xx, and she released a solo album, '' Mid Air'', in 2023, which peaked at No. 15 on the UK Albums Ch ...

, released mononymously as Romy, featuring

Fred Again Frederick John Philip Gibson (born 19 July 1993), known professionally as Fred Again (stylised as Fred again..) or simply Fred (stylised as FRED), is an English record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and DJ. At the 66th Ann ...

. It was released on 14 November 2022 by

Young Young may refer to: * Offspring, the product of reproduction of a new organism produced by one or more parents * Youth, the time of life when one's age is low, often meaning the time between childhood and adulthood Music * The Young, an America ...

, as the lead single to her debut album '' Mid Air''. The

trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...

song was written and produced by Romy, Fred Again, and

Stuart Price Stuart David Price (born 9 September 1977) is an English electronic musician, DJ, songwriter, and record producer. His acts include his own band Zoot Woman (with Adam Blake (musician), Adam Blake and Johnny Blake (musician), Johnny Blake), L ...

. The song is about

grief Grief is the response to the loss of something deemed important, particularly to the death of a person to whom or animal to which a Human bonding, bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, ...

, and was inspired by the death of Romy's parents. It was released with a music video directed by Romy's wife Vic Lentaigne, and stars Romy and her cousin Luis. It was nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Recording at the

66th Annual Grammy Awards The 66th Annual Grammy Awards honored the best recordings, compositions, and artists from October 1, 2022, to September 15, 2023, as chosen by the members of The Recording Academy, on February 4, 2024. In its 21st year at the Crypto.com Arena ...

, the first Grammy nomination of Romy's career.

Writing

Romy initially paired up with

to write songs for other artists at a point where neither had yet to release any solo music. "Strong" came out of those early sessions, with the track inspired by

Eurodance Eurodance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of Hip-hop, rap, techno and Eurodisco. This genre of music is heavily influenced by the use ...

and

trance music Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged from Electronic body music, EBM in Frankfurt, Germany, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and quickly spread throughout Europe. Trance music is typically characterized by a tempo between ...

which Romy described as "emotional music to dance to".

, who Romy started collaborating with on the suggestion of

founder Caius Pawson, was brought in to finish the track. The song went through multiple iterations, including one change to the bassline inspired by Romy performing the song at a festival and noticing the crowd dancing with their chests rather than their hips as she preferred. The song is about

, and was inspired by the death of Romy's parents. Per Romy, the song "is an invitation to the listener and to myself to open up about difficult emotions and connect. It's about vulnerability, and the lyric 'You don't have to be so strong' is about it being OK to be vulnerable."

Release

The song was first teased during Fred Again's Boiler Room set, and later given its live debut at a Fred Again concert in Amsterdam on 25 November. The single was released on 14 November 2022 by Young, as the lead single to her debut album '' Mid Air''. With the release, Romy shared a statement saying: "Strong" is Romy's second solo single, after she debuted with "Lifetime" in 2020. She also previously appeared on the single "Lights Out", alongside Fred Again and HAAi, which was released in January 2022.

Remixes

In December 2022, in sessions recorded at the BBC's

Maida Vale Studios Maida Vale Studios is a complex of seven BBC sound studios, of which five are in regular use, in Delaware Road, Maida Vale, west London. It has been used to record thousands of classical music, popular music and drama sessions for BBC Radio 1, ...

, Romy's bandmate

Oliver Sim Oliver Sim is an English singer and bass guitarist. He is a member of the xx and released a solo album, '' Hideous Bastard'', in 2022, which peaked at No. 58 on the UK Albums Chart. Personal life In 2022, Oliver Sim publicly came out as living ...

performed a

mashup Mashup may refer to: * Mashup (culture), the rearrangement of spliced parts of musical pieces as part of a subculture * Mashup (education), combining various forms of data and media by a teacher or student in an instructional setting * Mashup (mus ...

of "Strong" and

the Verve The Verve were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Wigan in 1990 by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bass guitarist Simon Jones (musician), Simon Jones and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboard player Sim ...

's "

Bitter Sweet Symphony "Bitter Sweet Symphony" is a song by the English rock band the Verve, released on 16 June 1997 by Hut Recordings and Virgin Records as the lead single from their third album, ''Urban Hymns''. It was produced by Youth (musician), Youth at Olympi ...

", backed by a "

Queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

choir" consisting of Romy,

Låpsley Holly Lapsley Fletcher (born 7 August 1996), known by the stage name Låpsley, is an English singer, songwriter, musician and producer. Her debut album '' Long Way Home'' was released on 4 March 2016. Early life Låpsley was born in York. Her m ...

Marika Hackman Marika Louise Hackman (born 17 February 1992) is an English vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. Hackman has released a mini-album, ''That Iron Taste'' (2013), and five full-length albums: ''We Slept at Last'' (2015); '' I'm Not Yo ...

Katie Gavin Catherine Hope Gavin is an American singer-songwriter and musician from Winnetka, Illinois, who is a member of the pop band Muna (band), MUNA. She is also a solo artist, with her debut studio album, ''What a Relief'', being released in October 2 ...

, and Casey MQ. Two remixes of the song, one by I. Jordan and the other by Pretty Girl, were released on 2 February 2023.

Music video

The song came with a music video directed by Romy's wife Vic Lentaigne. It stars Romy and her cousin Luis hugging each other in the middle of a dancefloor while the camera circles around them. The idea of the video was Romy's, while casting Luis came from Lentaigne.

Reception

'' DIY''s Ben Tipple called the song "euphoric". ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

''s Siobhán Kane called it "surprising in its weird mixture of earnest lyrics and frantic tempo". Kane and ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''s

Alexis Petridis Alexis Petridis (born 13 September 1971) is an English journalist. He is the head Rock music, rock and pop music critic for ''The Guardian'', and a regular contributor for ''GQ''. In addition to his music journalism for the paper, he has written ...

both compared it to the music of

Faithless Faithless are an English dance music Band (rock and pop), band that formed in 1995, with its core original members being Rollo Armstrong, Rollo, Sister Bliss and Maxi Jazz. During the band's initial period of success, Sister Bliss and Maxi Ja ...

. ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

''s Nick Levine wrote that Romy singing the line "You don't have to be so strong" felt "both cathartic and uplifting." '' The Skinny''s said it had "an upbeat energy, encouraging vulnerability and the blissful feeling of euphoria when you're able to truly let go in love." ''

Rolling Stone UK ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known f ...

''s Hollie Geraghty called it "as much a maximalist trance banger as it is a powerful comment on grief." "Strong" was nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Recording at the

, losing to

Skrillex Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ, record producer, musician, singer. Raised in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he began his career in 2004 as the lead vocalist of the ...

, Fred Again, and

Flowdan Marc Veira (born 17 March 1980), better known by his stage name Flowdan, is an English grime MC and record producer. A founding member of Roll Deep, he was responsible for naming the group and remained a member until its hiatus. In 2015, he fou ...

's " Rumble". It was the first Grammy nomination of Romy's career, about which she said "The fact that this song could reach more people ... and hopefully encourage more people to open up about their feelings is really special to me."

Personnel

Romy Romy is a given name, often a diminutive form of names such as Rosemary or Roman or Romeo. https://nameberry.com/babyname/romy/boy People with the name include: Men * Romy Cachola, nickname of Romeo Munoz Cachola, Philippines-born Hawaiian poli ...

– vocals, lyrics, composer, producer *

– composer, 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' ...

– composer, producer,

mixing engineer A mixing engineer (or simply mix engineer) is responsible for combining ("mixing") different sonic elements of an auditory piece into a complete rendition (also known as "final mix" or "mixdown"), whether in music, film, or any other content of a ...

, programmer * Teneil Throssell – programmer *

Emily Lazar Emily B. Lazar is an American mastering engineer. She is the founder, president, and chief mastering engineer of The Lodge, an audio mastering facility that has operated in New York City's Greenwich Village since 1997. She won a Grammy Award for ...

–

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

and

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 ...

* Chris Allgood – mastering engineer

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2022 songs 2022 singles Romy songs Fred Again songs Songs written by Romy Madley Croft Songs written by Fred Again Songs written by Stuart Price Song recordings produced by Fred Again Song recordings produced by Stuart Price Trance songs Songs inspired by deaths Songs about families Young (record label) singles