"Skinny Love" is a song written by American musician

Justin Vernon Justin DeYarmond Edison Vernon (born April 30, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is best-known as the primary songwriter and Lead vocalist, frontman of indie folk band Bon Iver. He is also a member o ...

. It was originally released by Vernon's band

Bon Iver Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Vernon had originally formed Bon Iver as a solo project, but it eventually became a band consisting of Vernon (vocals, guit ...

in 2007. A cover version by the British vocalist Birdy was released in 2011. Both versions charted internationally and have been featured in multiple television and film soundtracks. The song has since become a popular tune for various singing competition shows around the English-speaking world.

Background

"Skinny Love" was the first single released from Bon Iver's 2007 debut album, ''

For Emma, Forever Ago ''For Emma, Forever Ago'' is the debut studio album by American indie folk band Bon Iver. It was first self-released in July 2007, and later saw wide release on the Jagjaguwar label in February 2008. The album is principally the work of singer-so ...

'', in the United States. The song was released as a single in the United Kingdom on April 28, 2008. While "Skinny Love" has been considered a reference to singer

's relationship with former girlfriend Christy Smith, Vernon countered this as "not entirely accurate ..it's about that time in a relationship that I was going through; you're in a relationship because you need help, but that's not necessarily why you should be in a relationship. And that's skinny." The song was used in the second episode of ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series focusing on the personal and professional lives of surgical internship (medicine), interns, residency (medicine), residents, and attending physician, attendings at the fictional ...

''s fifth season. The digital download track "Skinny Love" was selected to be iTunes (UK) single of the week and was available for free during that time, as well as being featured as the track of the day on

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

. On October 6, 2008, "Skinny Love" was featured in the NBC series ''

Chuck Chuck () is a masculine given name or a nickname for Charles or Charlie. It may refer to: People Arts and entertainment * Chuck Alaimo, American saxophonist, leader of the Chuck Alaimo Quartet * Chuck Barris (1929–2017), American TV produce ...

'' ( season 2, episode 3). On December 11, 2008, Bon Iver performed "Skinny Love" on the ''

Late Show with David Letterman ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production com ...

''. On January 26, 2009, "Skinny Love" was announced at #21 by the Australian national radio station

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

in the annual Hottest 100 countdown of the previous year's best songs. In July 2009, "Skinny Love" was announced at #92 in Triple J's Hottest 100 of All Time countdown. In June 2013, "Skinny Love" was announced at #16 in

's Hottest 100 of the Last 20 Years countdown.

Track listing

Charts

Certifications

Birdy version

British musician Birdy released a cover version of the song in 2011 as her debut single. The single has been B-listed on

Xfm Radio X is a British national commercial radio station focused on alternative music, primarily indie rock, and owned by Global. The station launched in 1989 as a pirate radio station named Q102, before being renamed Xfm in 1992. The station b ...

and is a particular favourite with listeners of Shak's overnight show. The song was also chosen as "Record of the Week" by UK radio DJ

Fearne Cotton Fearne Cotton (born 3 September 1981) is an English broadcaster and author. She began her career in the late 1990s as a children’s television presenter for GMTV, CITV and CBBC. She went on to present various television shows, including ''To ...

. This version was used in Season 2 Episode 21 of ''

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 ...

'' and in Season 1 Episode 1 of ''

Prisoners' Wives ''Prisoners' Wives'' is a BBC drama series, created and written by Julie Gearey and starring Polly Walker, Pippa Haywood, Emma Rigby, Natalie Gavin, Sally Carman and Karla Crome, with supporting cast including Iain Glen, Adam Gillen, Jonas A ...

''. The song also skyrocketed in Australian popularity within the

ARIA Charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, 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 beca ...

' top ten, partly because of

Bella Ferraro Bella Ferraro (born 20 Aug 1994) is an Australian singer most notable for and was the tenth contestant eliminated on the fourth season of '' The X Factor Australia'' in 2012. Early life Ferraro was born and raised in Sydney, Australia. She beg ...

, an ''X Factor'' 2012 Top Four contestant who performed the song at the ''X Factor'' auditions aired in Australia in August 2012. The song reached number two on the ARIA Singles Chart in September, kept off the number-one spot by

Guy Sebastian Guy Theodore Sebastian (born 26 October 1981) is an Australian singer who rose to fame after winning the Australian Idol (season 1), first season of ''Australian Idol'', in 2003. Born in Malaysia and raised in Adelaide, Australia, Sebastian h ...

's song " Battle Scars" for three weeks. A similar event took place in New Zealand in May 2013 after ''

X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

'' winner Jackie Thomas performed the song at her audition. The song entered the top 40 for the first time and reached number two on the

RIANZ Recorded Music NZ (formerly the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ)) is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell recorded music in New Zealand. Membership of Recorded ...

chart following the broadcast, behind

Robin Thicke Robin Alan Thicke (born March 10, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his 2013 single " Blurred Lines" (featuring T.I. and Pharrell Williams), which peaked atop the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, received ...

's "

Blurred Lines "Blurred Lines" is a song by American singer Robin Thicke featuring American rapper T.I. and American musician Pharrell Williams from Thicke's sixth studio album of the same name (2013). Solely produced by Williams, it was released as the a ...

". In 2011, "Skinny Love" sold 259,000 copies in the UK, becoming the third biggest selling rock single of that year. As of August 2016, the song had sold 744,502 copies in the UK.

Music videos

There are three music videos for this single. The first music video for the song was uploaded to

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 ...

on April 1, 2011. It features Birdy playing the piano of walking in a dark house. The second music video was shot in one take and framed on Birdy's face. The camera changes focus as she sings. It was uploaded on October 14, 2011. The third music video was uploaded on January 15, 2014.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2007 songs 2008 debut singles 2011 debut singles Bon Iver songs Birdy (singer) songs 14th Floor Records singles 4AD singles Atlantic Records singles Jagjaguwar singles Songs written by Justin Vernon