"It Ain't Me" is a song by Norwegian DJ

Kygo Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll (; born 11 September 1991), known professionally as Kygo (), is a Norwegian DJ and music producer. He first received international attention with his December 2013 remix of the track " I See Fire" by Ed Sheeran and his De ...

and American singer

Selena Gomez Selena Marie Gomez ( ; born July 22, 1992) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, producer, and businesswoman. Gomez began her career as a child actress, appearing on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004), a ...

. It was released by

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

and

Ultra Ultra may refer to: Science and technology * Ultra (cryptography), the codename for cryptographic intelligence obtained from signal traffic in World War II * Adobe Ultra, a vector-keying application * Sun Ultra series, a brand of computer work ...

on 16 February 2017 as the

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

from Kygo's debut

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

'' Stargazing'' (2017) and appears as an international bonus track on Gomez's third studio album, '' Rare'' (2020). The song was written by Kygo, Gomez, Brian Lee, Ali Tamposi, and Andrew Watt and produced by Kygo, Watt and Louis Bell. An EDM,

dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...

electropop Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...

and

tropical house Tropical house, also known as trop house, is a subgenre of house music, and a derivation of tropical music, with elements of dancehall and Balearic house. Artists of the genre are often featured at various summer festivals such as Tomorrowland. ...

song, "It Ain't Me" comprises an

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

line, and a build-drop arrangement in its chorus featuring pulsing piano notes, bass,

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s, finger-snap claps and

pan flute A pan flute (also known as panpipes or syrinx) is a musical instrument based on the principle of the closed tube, consisting of multiple pipes of gradually increasing length (and occasionally girth). Multiple varieties of pan flutes have been ...

melodies. Gomez sings the track in a husky tone, while in the chorus her vocals are reduced to recurring syllables. The lyrics narrate a past relationship ruined by

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

. In addition to reaching number one in Croatia, Lebanon, and Norway, the song attained top five peaks in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland. It also reached the top 10 in Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. The song was remixed as an

Amapiano Amapiano is a genre of music from South Africa that became popular in mid-2012 with an earlier regular occurrence on South African radio stations in the early 2000s. It is a hybrid of kwaito, deep house, gqom, jazz, soul, and lounge music char ...

song in 2021 which went viral on TikTok.

Writing and recording

The lyrics to "It Ain't Me" were written by Andrew Watt, Brian Lee and Ali Tamposi. With Watt previously working with Kygo, the DJ's manager Myles Shear contacted Watt for a session with Kygo which Watt also facilitated for Lee and Tamposi. During their session for "It Ain't Me", they initially found the track very poor, but were trying to salvage it. Kygo and Shear suggested that they continue working on the song. After Kygo and Shear had left, Tamposi told Watt and Lee to play guitar and "

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...

it", spawning a 45-minute

jam session A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without ...

as well as the demo of "It Ain't Me", a simple

recording with Tamposi on vocals. Watt, Lee and Tamposi then asked Kygo to return to their studio to hear "It Ain't Me" for a second time. Tamposi recalled, "When they pushed the space bar to play the song, ygowent from this very sweet, polite, charming young man to this super-human producer guy. I was watching his eyes go back, left and right, just mapping out how he envisioned the production of the song. He was extremely excited". Lee and Tamposi then left for Kygo and Watt to work on the production where they followed the melodies and message of the demo. According to Tamposi, the producers brought the song to life. The three songwriters would usually spend several months pitching their songs to different singers, but with "It Ain't Me" Gomez heard it about a month afterward and recorded it a few days later. Tamposi was called back for the vocal sessions with Gomez where they shared a similar emotional vision for "It Ain't Me", basing it on their own personal experiences. Recalling the sessions, Tamposi said she was impressed with Gomez's involvement and the ideas she came up with for the song.

Music and lyrics

"It Ain't Me" is an EDM,

and

song. According to the official sheet music at Musicnotes.com, "It Ain't Me" is composed in the key of

A minor A minor is a minor scale based on A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major. The A natural minor scale is: Changes needed for the melodic ...

and is set in the

time signature A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...

of ''

alla breve ''Alla breve'' also known as cut time or cut common timeis a Meter (music), musical meter notated by the time signature symbol (a C) with a vertical line through it, which is the equivalent of . The term is Italian language, Italian for "on t ...

'' at a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of 100 beats per minute. Gomez's vocal range spans from the low note of G₃ to the high note of E₅, while the music follows the

chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural, or simply changes) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from ...

of Am– C– F– C– F– C– G. Later in the song, the piano plays in a chord progression of: Am– C– G– F– Am– C– G. The song carries a calm tone and a drop common in tropical house music, but is complemented by an equal measure of electronic and

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

elements. The track starts with a

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

-like acoustic guitar riff. It is followed immediately by Gomez singing the first verse in a husky tone. As the song develops, a steady bass and

s are heard. The production is subtle and varied with finger snaps sometimes being louder than the

kick drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter usually greater than its depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. The hea ...

, and the guitar riff and

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

notes alternating in and out. In the chorus, Gomez is accompanied by background vocals that pertain to the sound of a

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

. The chorus has a new melodic arrangement and a ''

crescendo In music, the dynamics of a piece are the variation in loudness between notes or phrases. Dynamics are indicated by specific musical notation, often in some detail. However, dynamics markings require interpretation by the performer depending ...

''. It is ensued by chord-buoyed builds and drops comprising finger snaps and

melodies. The same synthesizers from the verses are repeated with a sidechained piano in the background. In the drop Kygo introduces sidechained vocal chops of Gomez singing syllables and are accompanied by

percussion instrument A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

s. "It Ain't Me" is a breakup song with a theme of

nostalgia Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word ''nostalgia'' is a neoclassical compound derived from Greek language, Greek, consisting of (''nóstos''), a Homeric word me ...

. The lyrics are about standing up for yourself in the face of a toxic relationship. Gomez narrates the regret of a previous relationship ruined by her former lover's habits of drinking and partying too often. The lyrics address

. Tamposi explained that "It Ain't Me" is about a woman finding the strength to walk away from a toxic relationship despite the pressure she receives from society to stand by her man. Although the lyrics are sombre, the song has a distinctly uplifting and empowering sound. In Vietnam, the song "LayLaLay" composed by singer Jack was plagiarized from "It Ain't Me".

Release

In early February 2017, "It Ain't Me" was registered on the

American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

(ASCAP) database. Gomez first teased the single with two

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

stories on 3 February 2017. The first teaser showed a half-profile of the singer with a black "X" over her mouth as a 10-second snippet plays with the lyrics, "I had a dream / we were back to 17 / summer nights and The Libertines / never growing up," while the second teaser was a snippet of the song's

beat Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of inte ...

. Gomez later revealed the single's

cover art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product, such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game ( box art), music album ( album ar ...

and release date on Instagram on 13 February 2017, and shared three teasers of the song on

Snapchat Snapchat is an American multimedia social media and instant messaging app and service developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc. One of the principal features of the app are that pictures and messages, known as "snaps", are usually availa ...

the following day. "It Ain't Me" was released for digital download by Interscope,

and

Ultra Music Ultra Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, which is a subsidiary of Sony Music Group. Company history Established in 1995 in New York City by Patrick Moxey, a former executive of PolyGram and Virgin Record ...

on 17 February 2017 as the first single from Kygo's upcoming second studio album. Interscope was the primary label since it is Gomez's label. A remix of the song featuring actor

Vin Diesel Mark Sinclair (born July 18, 1967), known professionally as Vin Diesel, is an American actor and film producer. One of the world's highest-grossing actors, he is best known for portraying Dominic "Dom" Toretto in the '' Fast & Furious'' fra ...

was released on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

on 18 February 2017. "It Ain't Me" was sent to

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (CHR, also known as contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top ...

in the US on 28 February 2017.

Critical reception

"It Ain't Me" received positive reviews from music critics. Matt Medved of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' regarded it as one of Gomez's most mature-sounding releases and appreciated Kygo's usage of her vocals, adding that the song showed both collaborators' "best sides". Similarly, Alexia Hernandez of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' deemed it "perhaps her most mature tune to date". In ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'',

Jon Pareles Jon Pareles (born 1953) is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of ''The New York Times''. Pedro Pincay of ''

Vibe Vibe, alternatively '' vibes,'' is short for ''vibration''. A "vibe" is an emotional reaction to the aura or energy felt to belong to a person, place or thing. Vibe may also refer to: People * DJ Vibe (born 1968), Portuguese DJ * Lasse Vibe (b ...

'' magazine said Kygo and Gomez "cooked up something special". Kat Bein of ''Billboard'' ranked "It Ain't Me" atop her list of ten best Kygo songs, writing that Gomez's "powerful and strong" vocals took "Kygo's collaborative vocal game to a whole new level" and the chorus arrangement brought "a certain edginess new to Kygo's catalogue", concluding that the song showed growth and "maybe heralds a new era of Kygo's sound". In a negative review, ''

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 ...

'' described it as "yet another exercise in EDM guys reducing female vocalists to anonymities," deeming it inferior to Gomez's follow-up single " Bad Liar".

Chart performance

In the US, "It Ain't Me" debuted at number 93 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, selling 19,000 copies and accumulating 1.7 million streams in its first day. Following its first full week of tracking, the song climbed to number 12, aided by sales of 67,000 copies, 15.5 million streams and a 19 million airplay audience. "It Ain't Me" became Kygo's highest-charting single in the US, surpassing the number 92 peak of his 2014 single " Firestone", and marked Gomez's seventh top 10 entry in less than four years, continuing her "chart hot streak" according to Gary Trust of ''Billboard'' magazine. As of May 2017, the song has sold 484,000 copies in the United States. "It Ain't Me" debuted at number nine on the UK Singles Chart with first-week sales of 31,380 units, giving Kygo his second top 10 single (after "Firestone") in the UK and Gomez her third (after " Naturally" and " Come & Get It"). It rose to number seven in its second week, selling 33,466 units. In Australia, "It Ain't Me" debuted at number nine on the

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

becoming both Kygo and Gomez's first top 10 debut and highest-charting single in the country, as well as Kygo's second top 10 entry after "Firestone" and Gomez's third following " Good for You" and " We Don't Talk Anymore".

Music video

A music video, directed by Philip R. Lopez, was released on 24 April 2017 on Kygo's official

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. The video revolves around a young couple involved in a motorcycle crash. The boyfriend is rendered

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

tose. The video depicts the boyfriend's unconscious state, with the girlfriend dancing and singing by his bedside at the hospital. At the end of the video, the boyfriend wakes up but his girlfriend is not there. Instead a butterfly sits on his forehead, symbolizing that his girlfriend had died in the crash and was accompanying him in his comatose state from the afterlife. The music video was shot in High Bridge, New Jersey. Neither Kygo nor Gomez appear in the video.

Usage in media

The song is featured in tenth episode of the television series '' The Bold Type''.

Track listing

*Digital download #"It Ain't Me" – 3:40 *Digital download –

Tiësto Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( , ), is a Dutch DJ and record producer. He was voted "The Greatest DJ of All Time" by ''Mix (magazine), Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, h ...

's AFTR:HRS Remix #"It Ain't Me" (Tiësto's AFTR:HRS Remix) – 3:12

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal. *

– songwriter, producer *

– vocals, songwriter * Brian Lee – songwriter, background vocals * Ali Tamposi – songwriter, background vocals * Andrew Watt – producer, songwriter, vocal producer, guitar,

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...

* Louis Bell – producer, vocal producer * David Rodríguez –

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproducti ...

* Tom Coyne –

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 ...

Serban Ghenea Serban Ghenea () is a Canadian audio engineer and mixer. He has been nominated for a Grammy Award a total of 45 times and has won 21 times. Early life and education Ghenea was born in Romania, and in 1976 he moved to Montreal with his family. H ...

–

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 ...

* Benjamin Rice – vocal producer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2017 singles 2017 songs Kygo songs Selena Gomez songs Songs written by Selena Gomez Electropop songs Interscope Records singles Number-one singles in Norway Songs about alcohol Breakup songs Songs about nostalgia Song recordings produced by Kygo Song recordings produced by Louis Bell Songs written by Ali Tamposi Songs written by Andrew Watt (record producer) Songs written by Brian Lee (songwriter) Sony Music singles Ultra Music singles