"Butterfly Effect" (stylized in

all caps In typography, text or font in all caps (short for "all capitals") contains capital letters without any lowercase letters. For example: All-caps text can be seen in legal documents, advertisements, newspaper headlines, and the titles on book co ...

) is a song by American rapper

Travis Scott Jacques Bermon Webster III (born April 30, 1991), known professionally as Travis Scott (formerly stylized as Travi$ Scott), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Scott has had five number-one hits on the U.S. ''Bil ...

. It was released on May 15, 2017, as the lead single from his third studio album '' Astroworld'' (2018) by

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

. The song was written alongside producers

Murda Beatz Shane Lee Lindstrom (born February 11, 1994), known professionally as Murda Beatz, is a Canadian record producer from Ontario. Working predominantly in hip hop and trap music, he has produced hit songs and albums for various musical acts since 2 ...

and Felix Leone.

Background

During a performance in Portsmouth, Virginia on May 4, 2017, Scott hinted at the release of new music in a freestyle. Scott can be heard saying: "Dropping new music in a few days. Bout to go crazy for a few days." The song was released alongside two other songs from Scott on

SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...

, including "A Man" and "Green & Purple", which featured American rapper

Playboi Carti Jordan Terrell Carter (born September 13, 1995, or 1996), known professionally as Playboi Carti, is an American rapper. Known for his eccentric vocal style and fashion, he is considered an influential figure in modern Hip hop music, hip hop a ...

Reception

Lawrence Burney of ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...

'' magazine said: "'Butterfly Effect' is textbook slurred Scott number, with backing vocals that sounds eerily similar to Migos' 'Slippery.'" Madeline Roth of

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

said the song is "hazy" and "low-key". Similarly, Tom Breihan of ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...

'' said: "'Butterfly Effect' is low-key and melodic, with some sharp production from Drake collaborator Murda Beatz." "Butterfly Effect" debuted at number 99 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on the week of June 17, 2017, and peaked at number 50 following the release of ''Astroworld''. The single was certified nine-times platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of America 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/o ...

(RIAA) for combined sales and streaming equivalent units of 9,000,000 units in the United States.

Music video

The music video was released on July 13, 2017, via Travis Scott's

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. It was directed by BRTHR, who also directed the video to Scott's "

Goosebumps ''Goosebumps'' is a series of children's horror novels written by American author R. L. Stine. The protagonists in these stories are teens or pre-teens who find themselves in frightening circumstances, often involving the supernatural, the p ...

Live performances

On May 17, 2017, Scott performed "Butterfly Effect" for the first time at a show in St. Louis. On August 27, 2017, he performed the chorus of the song with

Thirty Seconds to Mars Thirty Seconds to Mars (commonly stylized as 30 Seconds to Mars) is an American Rock music, rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1998. The band consists of brothers Jared Leto (lead vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards) and Shannon Let ...

on their song " Walk On Water" at the

MTV Video Music Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category ...

. Scott also performed the song at the

MTV Europe Music Awards The MTV Europe Music Awards (originally named MTV European Music Awards, commonly abbreviated as MTV EMA) are awards presented by Paramount International Networks to honour artists and music in pop culture. It was originally conceived as an al ...

on November 12, 2017.

Personnel

Credits adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

. *

– production * Felix Leone – co-production * Thomas Cullison – engineering assistance * Mike Dean – master engineering * Blake "Blizzy" Harden – mix engineering, record engineering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2017 songs 2017 singles Travis Scott songs Songs written by Travis Scott Songs written by Murda Beatz Song recordings produced by Murda Beatz Epic Records singles Experimental hip-hop songs Songs about Atlanta