"Drift Away" is a song by New Zealand band

Sons of Zion Sons of Zion is a six-member New Zealand reggae band who formed in 2007 in Pakuranga, Auckland. They became widely famous in New Zealand in early 2018, due to the popularity of their single "Drift Away". Biography Band members Sam Eriwata and ...

, released as a single in March 2018. The song was a hit in New Zealand, becoming double platinum certified and was nominated for the Single of the Year at the

New Zealand Music Awards The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously called the New Zealand Music Awards), conferred annually by Recorded Music NZ, honour outstanding artistic and technical achievements in the recording industry. The awards are among the most significant that ...

. In 2019, the band re-recorded the song in

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

as "Pōtere Ana / Drift Away", which was included on the compilation album ''

Waiata / Anthems ''Waiata / Anthems'' is compilation album by New Zealand artists, whereby they re-record previous songs from English to Māori language. It was released in New Zealand 6 September 2019 and it debuted at number 1 on the Official New Zealand Music ...

''.

Background and composition

Sons of Zion's bassist Matt Sadgrove created the song's initial demo in 30 minutes, recording it as a voice memo. The song was inspired by the imagery of film ''

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'' (2010), specifically the scene where Dom Cobb, played by

Leonardo DiCaprio Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio (; ; born November 11, 1974) is an American actor and film producer. Known for Leonardo DiCaprio filmography, his work in biographical and period films, he is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received ...

, mourns the death of his wife on a beach. Sadgrove wrote the song as a simple, sad song, noting that it had a vibe of a

Tracy Chapman Tracy Chapman (born March 30, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter, widely known for her hit singles " Fast Car" (1988) and " Give Me One Reason" (1995). She was signed to Elektra Records by Bob Krasnow in 1987. The following year she rel ...

song, but the song developed an upbeat vibe. Sadgrove wrote the song to cater to band vocalist Caleb Haapu's voice. Lyrically, the song reminisces the loss of a summer romance. The band were nervous to send an acoustic song to commercial pop radio. The song was stylistically different to their previous singles, and the band began to feel more fearless and able to release genreless music.

Release and promotion

"Drift Away" was released as a single on 16 March 2018. A music video was released for the song in April, which featured a couple enjoying the end of summer at the beach. The song was a commercial success, becoming the number one most performed song on New Zealand radio for 11 weeks, and becoming double platinum certified. On the band's album '' Vantage Point'' released two months later, Sons of Zion included both the original and a pop remix version of the song, and in the same year released a remix version by Otosan. In 2019, the band re-recorded the song in

Māori language Māori (; endonym: 'the Māori language', commonly shortened to ) is an Eastern Polynesian languages, Eastern Polynesian language and the language of the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. The southernmost membe ...

as "Pōtere Ana / Drift Away", with the help of

Tīmoti Kāretu Sir Tīmoti Samuel Kāretu (born 29 April 1937) is a New Zealand academic of Māori language and performing arts. He served as the inaugural head of the Department of Māori at the University of Waikato, and rose to the rank of professor. He wa ...

, who translated the song's lyrics. This version of the song was released on ''

'', a compilation album. Vocalist Caleb Haapu found recording the song a difficult process, as he does not speak

. "Drift Away" featured as the first track on the band's 2022 compilation album ''

First XV Rugby union is a team sport played between two teams of fifteen (15) players. This is a general glossary of the terminology used in the sport of rugby union. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in i ...

''.

Critical reception

Anzel Singh of ''NZ Musician'' described "Drift Away" as the "most stripped song on 'Vantage Point'' feeling that the Māori strum guitar and backing vocals created "flashback to moments of sweet escapes". The song was nominated for Single of the Year at the

2018 New Zealand Music Awards The 2018 New Zealand Music Awards was the 53rd holding of the annual ceremony featuring awards for musical recording artists based in or originating from New Zealand. It took place on 15 November 2018 at Spark Arena in Auckland and was hosted by ...

, losing to "

Woke Up Late "Woke Up Late" is a song by New Zealand band Drax Project, originally released in November 2017. It reached number 15 on the New Zealand Singles Chart and was included on their 2018 EP ''Noon''. Background In September 2019, Drax Project re-reco ...

" by

Drax Project Drax Project are a New Zealand pop and R&B band that formed in Te Aro, Wellington in 2014. Recording a mix of jazz, R&B and pop music, the band came to prominence in 2017 with the single "Woke Up Late", which was certified triple platinum by RI ...

Credits and 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 ...

. *Matthew Sadgrove – engineer, mixing engineer, producer, songwriter *Sons of Zion – performer

Background and composition

Release and promotion

Critical reception

Credits and personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References