"Locked Away" is a song by

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands () are an archipelago between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Caribbean Sea, geographically forming part of the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, Caribbean islands or West Indie ...

production duo R. City featuring American singer

Adam Levine Adam Noah Levine ( ; born March 18, 1979) is an American musician who is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist and sole continuous member of the pop rock band Maroon 5. Levine began his musical career in 1994 with the band Kara's Flowers, for ...

, the lead singer of

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 ...

band

Maroon 5 Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Adam Levine, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine (musician), James Valentine, d ...

. The song was released on June 29, 2015, by

Kemosabe Records Kemosabe Records is an American record label founded by record producer Dr. Luke in 2011. It was launched as an imprint of RCA Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment. Based in Los Angeles, California, the label has signed acts including ...

and

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

. The song peaked at number six on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, making it the duo's first top ten hit and Levine's first single that he did not co-write.

Composition

Musically, "Locked Away" is a

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots reggae, roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2 ...

and

reggae fusion Reggae fusion is a Music_genre#Subtypes, fusion genre of reggae that mixes reggae and/or dancehall with other genres, such as pop music, pop, rock music, rock, hip hop music, hip-hop/rap, Contemporary R&B, R&B, jazz, funk, soul music, soul, disco ...

song. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Universal Music Publishing, the song is written in the key of

D major D major is a major scale based on D (musical note), D, consisting of the pitches D, E (musical note), E, F♯ (musical note), F, G (musical note), G, A (musical note), A, B (musical note), B, and C♯ (musical note), C. Its key signature has two S ...

with 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 94 beats per minute. The chorus follows a chord progression of D– Bm– G– D– A, the verses follow a chord progression of B– Gm– D– Fm, the bridge follow the progression Gbmaj7- D- Bm- A and the vocals span from B₂ to A₄. The melody in the chorus contains an interpolation of

Do That To Me One More Time "Do That to Me One More Time" is a song performed by the American pop duo Captain & Tennille. It was their 13th charting hit in the United States, and their second number-one hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. The song was included on the ...

by American duo

Captain & Tennille Captain & Tennille were an American recording duo whose primary success occurred in the 1970s. The husband-and-wife team were "Captain" Daryl Dragon (1942–2019) and Toni Tennille (born 1940). They have five albums certified gold or platinum a ...

Meaning

The meaning of the song "Locked Away" seems to ask if you would truly love someone for your whole life despite all the flaws which may arise. As Theron—one of the song authors—explain:

“Locked Away” is based on our parents. Our dad went to jail for five years, came out and became a trash man. Then he worked at the legislature as a security guard. He didn’t make real money, he was on sweets, did all kinds of crazy shit. But our mom held him down. Our parents been together for 38 years—they’re still together. With the success of being a songwriter, where you can get fly and have all this nice shit, we’re like, “You really like me? If I was fucked up, would you hold me down?"

Remix

The official remix is titled "Locked Away Again (The Remix)" and features an additional verse from American rapper

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all ...

. It cancels the bridge by R. City and replaces their first verse of the original song to the third verse. The second verse is the same as in the original song.

Music video

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 "Locked Away" was released on August 14, 2015. The music video features four different families, a soldier leaving his family to return to service, a man (Theron Thomas of R. City) and a woman (Chantel K Davis) fighting to make ends meet, a man (Timothy Thomas of R. City) returning home to his child and the child's mother, and a father and daughter torn apart by an unlawful act. All suffering from vignettes of love, loss, poverty, and imprisonment, all set over Levine's crooned chorus "If I got locked away / and we lost it all today / tell me honestly / would you still love me the same?" In the beginning of the video, a woman gets arrested, and a police officer gives her a

Miranda warning In the United States, the ''Miranda'' warning is a type of notification customarily given by Law enforcement in the United States, police to criminal suspects in police custody (or in a custodial interrogation) advising them of their right t ...

, telling her: "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law."

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{authority control 2015 songs 2015 singles Adam Levine songs Rock City (duo) songs Dancehall songs Number-one singles in Lebanon Number-one singles in Poland Number-one singles in Slovakia Songs written by Cirkut Songs written by Theron Thomas Songs written by Timothy Thomas Songs written by Dr. Luke Song recordings produced by Dr. Luke Song recordings produced by Cirkut Kemosabe Records singles Torch songs