"Hey Brother" is a

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

song by Swedish DJ and record producer

Avicii Tim Bergling (8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), known professionally as Avicii, was a Swedish DJ, remixer, and record producer. At age 16, he began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first record deal. He rose ...

from his debut studio album, ''

True True most commonly refers to truth, the state of being in congruence with fact or reality. True may also refer to: Places * True, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States * True, Wisconsin, a town in the United States * ...

'' (2013). American bluegrass singer Dan Tyminski provides vocals for the track. It was written by Avicii, Ash Pournouri,

Salem Al Fakir Lars Salem Al Fakir (; born 27 October 1981) is a Swedish musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He regularly collaborates with Vincent Pontare as the songwriting and production duo Vargas and Lagola. Together, they have worked with ma ...

Vincent Pontare Fred Vincent Pontare (born 13 May 1980) is a Swedish songwriter, producer, and singer. He is also known by the mononym Vincent. He regularly collaborates with Salem Al Fakir as songwriting, producer, and duo Vargas & Lagola. Together, they have ...

and

Veronica Maggio Veronica Sandra Karin Maggio (born 15 March 1981) is a Swedish singer and songwriter. Born to an Italian father and a Swedish mother, Maggio was raised in Uppsala. After studying music and being the lead member of a band, Maggio released her de ...

. "Hey Brother" sees Avicii giving his brother advice. The song, which serves as the album's third single, was solicited to Australian radio on 9 October 2013 and later released on 28 October in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In March 2014, a version of the track remixed by Avicii himself was released on his remix album ''True'' (Avicii by Avicii), this time featuring new vocals from singer Salem Al Fakir.

Lyric video

On 1 November 2013, the lyric video for "Hey Brother" was released onto

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

by AviciiOfficialVEVO. The video is an assortment of

stock footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock ...

clips in slow motion that depict everyday moments such as popcorn popping, a woman having a snack, and people playing basketball, accompanied by an animated text representation of the lyrics.

Music video

The official music video, directed by Jesse Sternbaum, was released on 9 December 2013. Loosely based on Ron Franscell's 1998 literary novel ''Angel Fire'', it follows two brothers growing up in wartime middle America. There are pictures and clips of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

interspersed in the video. In the end, it is uncovered that the older brother, who is implied to have died in Vietnam, was in fact actually the younger's father, as the boy thought of him as the brother that he didn't have. The video features two boys, the older boy played by Zach Voss and the younger brother played by Jack Estes. The end of the video shows Avicii walking through the grass while fireflies are flying around. A music video was also released for the Avicii by Avicii version on 9 April 2014 on Avicii's VEVO page. The video was directed by Nick Fung and Nate Olson and features clips from the

Cartoon Hangover Cartoon Hangover is a Frederator-operated YouTube channel and adult animation brand that launched in February 2012 as part of the YouTube Original Channel Initiative. The channel (along with Cartoon Hangover 2, Cartoon Hangover FRA, Cartoon Ha ...

web-series '' Bravest Warriors''. The video was released as part o
"Channel 4"
a project by Avicii which had several songs from his ''True'' (Avicii by Avicii) album made into music videos by various

filmmakers and animators, which included

Joe Penna Jônatas de Moura Penna, best known as Joe Penna (born May 29, 1987), is a Brazilian filmmaker and musician, known from both his YouTube channel MysteryGuitarMan and his feature films. He resides in Los Angeles, California. Film In March 2016 ...

Keshen8
an
YoMama
as well as Cartoon Hangover.

Track listing

*;CD single #"Hey Brother" (radio edit) – 4:14 #"Hey Brother" (instrumental) – 4:14 *;Digital download — remixes #"Hey Brother" (

Syn Cole Rene Pais (born 25 March 1988), better known by his stage name Syn Cole, is an Estonian DJ and record producer. Some of his notable songs include " Miami 82" in 2013, "Bright Lights" in 2014, and " Feel Good" in 2016. Born and raised in Pärnu, ...

remix) – 5:00 #"Hey Brother" (extended version) – 5:30 *;''True'' (Avicii by Avicii) #"Hey Brother (Avicii by Avicii)" – 6:09

Commercial performance

In the United Kingdom, after climbing for several weeks, "Hey Brother" peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart on 15 December 2013 ― for the week ending dated 21 December 2013 ― being held off the top spot by

Lily Allen Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. List of awards and nominations received by Lily Allen, Her accolades include a Brit Award, alongside nominations for a Grammy Award and a Laurence Olivi ...

's cover of "

Somewhere Only We Know "Somewhere Only We Know" is a song composed and performed by English alternative rock band Keane, officially released as the first single from their debut album, '' Hopes and Fears'' (2004). The single peaked at number three on the UK Single ...

". It eventually spent 22 weeks in the top 40 ― 10 of which were in the top 10. In addition, "Hey Brother" peaked at the top of the

UK Dance Chart The Dance Singles Chart and the Dance Albums Chart are music charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company from sales of songs in the electronic dance music, dance music genre (e.g. house music, house, trance music, trance, ...

. Including previous releases " I Could Be the One", " Wake Me Up" and " You Make Me", Avicii therefore reached the summit of the UK Dance Chart four times in 2013 alone. The song spent a total of six weeks at the top spot on the UK Dance Chart, ended by "

Rather Be "Rather Be" is a song by English electronic music group Clean Bandit, featuring vocals by Jess Glynne. It was released on 17 January 2014 as the fourth single from the group's debut studio album, ''New Eyes'' (2014). It also appears on the delu ...

" by

Clean Bandit Clean Bandit is an English electronic music group formed in Cambridge in 2008. They have achieved four number-one singles and six additional top-ten songs on the UK Official Singles Chart. Since 2016, the group has been a trio comprising foundi ...

featuring

Jess Glynne Jessica Hannah Glynne (born 20 October 1989) is a British singer. She rose to prominence in 2014 as a featured artist on the singles " Rather Be" by Clean Bandit and " My Love" by Route 94, both of which reached number one on the UK Singles C ...

. In the United States, the song entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart at number 77 in December 2013. It continued climbing and rose to number 16 in March 2014, and reached a million in total sales that week. After Clear Channel personnel noticed the song's success at pop and adult pop radio, they asked

Island Def Jam Island Def Jam Music Group (IDJMG) was an American record label group formed on December 31, 1998, by Universal Music Group. Before 2014, IDJMG encompassed labels originally established under the umbrella of Island Records and Def Jam Recording ...

to craft a remix that showcases the song's instruments more prominently. Support for this remix enabled "Hey Brother" to debut, and peak, at number 59 on ''Billboard''s

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since October 20, 2012, although the magazine also retrospectively recognizes the Hot Country Songs charts from January 20, 1990, through October 13, 2012, ...

chart in March 2014. The song would become Avicii's final song to hit the top 40 before his death in 2018.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

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Release history

References