"Oblivion" is a song by British band
Bastille
The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was stormed by a ...
from their 2013 album ''
Bad Blood''. It was released digitally in the UK on 5 September 2014 as the eighth overall and final single from the album. A limited edition 7-inch vinyl edition of the single, featuring the previously unreleased track "Bad News" as the B-side, was also released on 8 September.
The song was featured on an episode of the television series ''
The Vampire Diaries
''The Vampire Diaries'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural teen drama television series developed by Kevin Williamson (screenwriter), Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, based on the The Vampire Diaries (novel series), book series ...
'' in 2012.
Release
The band confirmed during their headline set at London's Somerset House on 15 July that "Oblivion" will be the next single from ''Bad Blood''.
Music video
The music video was exclusively premiered on MSN Music UK on Monday 21 July.
It was later published through Bastille's
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 on
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 ...
the same day. The video was directed by Austin Peters (who previously directed the band's "
Flaws" and "
Laura Palmer
Laura Palmer is a fictional character in the ''Twin Peaks'' franchise and the primary focus of the series. She is portrayed by Sheryl Lee and was created by the series creators David Lynch and Mark Frost. She first appears in the ABC origin ...
" music videos) and stars actress
Sophie Turner
Sophie Belinda Turner (born 21 February 1996) is an English actress. She made her acting debut as Sansa Stark in the HBO epic fantasy television series ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019), for which she received an Emmy Award nomination for Out ...
(known for her role in the television series ''
Game of Thrones
''Game of Thrones'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series created by David Benioff and for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of high fantasy novels by ...
''). She is seen lip-syncing to the lyrics of the song, singing in front of a crowd of people at a demolition derby.
Live performances
The song made its first appearance in September 2012, when it was first performed at
iTunes Festival
The Apple Music Festival (formerly known as the iTunes Festival) was a concert series held by Apple, Inc. and inaugurated in 2007. Free tickets were given to Apple Music, iTunes and DICE users who lived in the United Kingdom, through localized ...
in London.
Bastille made a live recording of the song at
Capitol Studios
Capitol Studios is a recording studio located at the landmark Capitol Records Building in Hollywood, California, United States. The studios, which opened in 1956, were initially the primary recording studios for the American record label Capi ...
. ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' premiered the video on 21 November 2013.
This live version was used as a B-side track to the single "
Of the Night".
They also performed the song live on the 25 January 2014 airing of
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
.
In popular media
The song was featured in "
O Come, All Ye Faithful
"O Come, All Ye Faithful", also known as "", is a Christmas carol that has been attributed to various authors, including John Francis Wade (1711–1786), John Reading (1645–1692), King John IV of Portugal (1604–1656), and anonymous Ciste ...
", the ninth episode of the fourth season of ''The Vampire Diaries''.
Track listing
Charts
Certifications
Personnel
Credits adapted from ''
Bad Blood''.
* Dan Smith – vocals, piano, songwriting, production, string arrangements
* Mark Crew – production, string arrangements
* Verity Evanson – cello, string arrangements
References
{{Bastille
2010s ballads
2012 songs
2014 songs
2014 singles
Pop ballads
Bastille (band) songs
Virgin Records singles