"Friends" is a song by American music project Francis and the Lights featuring

Bon Iver Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Vernon had originally formed Bon Iver as a solo project, but it eventually became a band consisting of Vernon (vocals, guit ...

and uncredited contributions from

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

. The song was released as a single on July 7, 2016, accompanied by a music video featuring Francis Farewell Starlite,

Justin Vernon Justin DeYarmond Edison Vernon (born April 30, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is best-known as the primary songwriter and Lead vocalist, frontman of indie folk band Bon Iver. He is also a member o ...

and

. The song was sampled in Chance the Rapper's song "Summer Friends" from his 2016 mixtape ''

Coloring Book A coloring book (British English: colouring-in book, colouring book, or colouring page) is a type of book containing line art to which people are intended to add color using crayons, colored pencils, marker pens, paint or other artistic media. ...

''. "Friends" was sampled in "Summer Friends" before it was officially released independently as a single by Francis and the Lights.

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks created and owned by the Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With a market share of 43%, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2020, and the third most valuable soft drink brand, behind Coca-Cola and ...

named it as the 15th best song of 2016. Francis and the Lights, Vernon and West collaborated again in 2019 on the song " Take Me to the Light."

Music video

A music video for "Friends" was released on July 7, 2016. The video was directed by

Jake Schreier Jacob Stacey Schreier (born 1981) is an American director. He was a founding member of Waverly Films, a Brooklyn, New York, Brooklyn-based filmmaking collective, and joined Park Pictures in 2006, releasing his first feature film ''Robot & Frank'' ...

. Knowing each other since childhood, Francis and Schreier have been making single-take, minimalist performance videos since 2008. They wanted to do the next iteration of what they had been doing before. In a 2016 interview, Schreier said, "We had never done a synchronized dance in a video or really had other protagonists in the video, so that's what we wanted to add to this one." ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' named it as the 18th best music video of 2016.

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

named it as one of the best music videos of 2016.

Track listing

Charts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Friends (Francis and the Lights song) 2016 singles 2016 songs Francis and the Lights songs Bon Iver songs Songs written by Justin Vernon Songs written by Rostam Batmanglij Song recordings produced by Ariel Rechtshaid Songs written by Benny Blanco Song recordings produced by Benny Blanco Songs written by Cashmere Cat Song recordings produced by Cashmere Cat Song recordings produced by Rostam Batmanglij Music videos directed by Jake Schreier Songs written by BJ Burton