"Last Time" is a song by English musician
Labrinth
Timothy Lee McKenzie (born 4 January 1989), better known by his stage name Labrinth, is an English singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. Labrinth signed as a recording artist with Simon Cowell's record label Syco Music in 2010, ini ...
. Written by Labrinth and manager Marc Williams, it was released as the third
single from the musician's debut album ''
Electronic Earth'' on 16 March 2012.
Background
Before its release, "Last Time" was performed live by Labrinth on the
BBC Radio 1Xtra
BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts Black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been ...
Live tour in 2011. Labrinth revealed on Twitter that the song would be his third single, announcing on 25 January 2012: "My new single is called Last Time out on March 11th."
The full track was premiered on UK radio on 30 January at 8:00
GMT,
and the song was later uploaded on Labrinth's
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 ...
account.
Style and composition
Labrinth claims that he was "gravitated" to the sound of "Last Time" by his love of
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
, and points out that song is influenced by European electronic artists such as
Daft Punk
Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, combining house music, funk, disco, tech ...
and
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk (, ) is a Germany, German Electronic music, electronic band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk was among the first successful a ...
, describing it as his "own perception" of their sounds. When revealing the song, the musician and producer claimed that it "shows another side to what I'm about", pointing out that "It's quite electronic, but when you really listen to the detail of the music, you can understand that it's really musical".
Critical reception
Lewis Corner of
Digital Spy
Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its initial launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television pro ...
described the song as "immaculately produced, slickly executed and ... fresh and fizzy".
Music video
The
music video
A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
for "Last Time" was released on 24 February 2012, and was directed by
Colin Tilley
Colin Tilley (born June 27, 1988) is an American filmmaker, music video director, and television commercial director. Tilley is the CEO and owner of Boy in the Castle Productions. He has directed more than 300 music videos.
Tilley directed, pr ...
. The video has been described as "intergalactic", and features Labrinth "travelling the globe with a blue alien" and other phenomena.
Labrinth said in the pre-video that he wanted to try a sci-fi video.
Track listing
Charts
Certifications
Release history
References
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Labrinth songs
2012 singles
Song recordings produced by Labrinth
Music videos directed by Colin Tilley
2012 songs
Syco Music singles
Songs written by Labrinth