"Renegades" is a song by American
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band
X Ambassadors
X Ambassadors (also stylized XA) are an American pop rock band from Ithaca, New York, that consists of lead vocalist Sam Harris, keyboardist Casey Harris, and drummer Adam Levin. Russ Flynn is a touring member who plays guitar and bass. Their m ...
. It was released as the second single from the band's debut studio album ''
VHS
VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s.
Ma ...
'' on March 3, 2015. It peaked inside the top ten in ten countries, including France, Germany, Canada and Poland, where it reached number one. In the United States, the song peaked at number 17 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 and was certified Platinum by the
RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
. The song was nominated for the "Top Rock Song" award at the
2016 ''Billboard'' Music Awards.
Background
The song was leveraged as a commercial tie-in with the release of the
Jeep Renegade
The Jeep Renegade is a subcompact crossover SUV produced by Stellantis under their Jeep marque. It was first shown to the public in March 2014 at the Geneva Motor Show#2014, Geneva Motor Show and production started in late August of that year. T ...
. It was delivered very quickly, just a few days after the request was sent in to
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 ...
as the song was nearly complete when Jeep first approached Interscope. It has been the band's most successful song so far. "We're trying not to get too caught up in everything," X Ambassadors vocalist Sam Harris said. "We're just glad people like
Renegades'and that it's having a positive effect on them." The song was also featured in the
second season of ''
The Flash
The Flash is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date, cover-dated Jan ...
'', and the third season of ''
Mr. Robot
''Mr. Robot'' is an American drama thriller television series created by Sam Esmail for USA Network. It stars Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and hacker with social anxiety disorder, clinical depression, and dissoci ...
''.
Composition
"Renegades" is a song in
B minor
B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major.
The B natural minor scale is:
Changes need ...
, written with a tempo of 90 bpm. It follows a chord progression of Bm–D–A–G.
Music video
The music video was released in June 2015 and was shot in the band's hometown of
Ithaca,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
. It depicts several people with disabilities working to overcome their challenges such as boxing, walking on hands, and swinging their arms on rings. It had a personal aspect to it because band member Casey Harris has been blind since birth. "We wanted to make it emotional and personal — and that's as personal as it gets for me, Casey and the band," Sam Harris stated.
Commercial performance
"Renegades" was a commercial success in the United States, peaking at number 17 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100. It topped several other ''
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 ...
'' charts:
Alternative Airplay
Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...
, where it led for 11 weeks;
Adult Top 40
The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Syste ...
, where it led for one week;
Rock Airplay
The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...
, where it led for 18 weeks;
and the multi-metric
Hot Rock & Alternative Songs
Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (formerly known as Rock Songs and Hot Rock Songs) is a record chart published by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. From its debut on June 20, 2009, through October 13, 2012, the chart ranked the airplay of ...
chart, where it led for two weeks.
It also reached number two on
Adult Alternative Airplay
Adult Alternative Airplay (also known as Triple A or Triple A Airplay, and formerly Adult Alternative Songs and Triple A Songs) is a record chart currently published by ''Billboard'' that ranks the most popular songs on adult album alternative radi ...
,
number eight on
Mainstream Top 40
Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...
,
number ten on
Adult Contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...
,
and number 31 on
Dance/Mix Show Airplay
Dance/Mix Show Airplay (formerly Hot Dance Airplay) is a monitored electronic dance music radio chart that is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The chart came about as a result of the small but influential impact of electronic dance musi ...
.
In February 2021, for the 25th anniversary of Adult Alternative Airplay,
''Billboard'' published a ranking of the 100 most successful songs in the chart's history; "Renegades" was placed at number 78.
''Billboard'' would later rank "Renegades" as the 44th-biggest hit in the history of Alternative Airplay in September 2023,
for that chart's 35th anniversary.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Decade-end charts
Certifications
Release history
References
{{Authority control
2015 singles
2015 songs
X Ambassadors songs
Kidinakorner singles
Interscope Records singles
Song recordings produced by Alex da Kid
Songs written by Alex da Kid
Number-one singles in Poland
Torch songs