"Solo" is a song by British electronic music band

Clean Bandit Clean Bandit is an English electronic music group formed in Cambridge in 2008. They have achieved four number-one singles and six additional top-ten songs on the UK Official Singles Chart. Since 2016, the group has been a trio comprising foundi ...

featuring guest vocals from American singer

Demi Lovato Demetria Devonne "Demi" Lovato ( ; born August 20, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. After appearing on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004), she starred in the Disney Channel short series ...

and pitched backing vocals from Kamille. It was released on 18 May 2018 through

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

as the fourth single from the band's second studio album, '' What Is Love?'' (2018). The song was written by Lovato, Kamille,

Grace Chatto Grace Chatto (born 10 December 1985) is an English musician and singer who is the cellist, backing vocalist and occasional main vocalist, for the electronic music band Clean Bandit. Education Chatto attended Latymer School and Westminster Sc ...

, Fred Gibson and Jack Patterson, and was produced by Chatto, Gibson, Patterson and Mark Ralph. The song was a commercial success. It topped the charts in thirteen countries including the UK singles chart, earned Diamond certifications in France and Poland, and went platinum in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. "Solo" was the most searched song on Shazam in 2018, with 9.1 million tags worldwide.

Background

The song was first revealed when a dancer posted on her

Instagram Stories Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

that she was starring in a Clean Bandit and Demi Lovato music video. Clean Bandit teased the song on 10 May 2018, writing on Instagram and

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

: "Really excited to announce our new single Solo with Demi Lovato will be out 18/05." The announcement came with the song's cover art. Camille Purcell also disclosed in a tweet that she has been involved in the making of "Solo". Grace Chatto of Clean Bandit told the ''

London Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free of charge in London, England. It is print ...

'' that "Solo" was based on her own experience with a "difficult break-up". She also revealed that the song was recorded over

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because the band was unable to schedule a studio session with Lovato. "It was crazy. She was in Alabama in a studio and we were over here. You know when the connection is bad and the speed fluctuates? We couldn't hear that well, but it turned out really well."

Composition

"Solo" is an upbeat EDM song about

self-love Self-love, defined as "love of self" or "regard for one's own happiness or advantage", has been conceptualized both as a basic human necessity and as a moral flaw, akin to vanity and selfishness, synonymous with amour-propre, conceitedness, ...

in spite of a heartbreak. It is performed in the key of

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 ...

common time A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...

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 105 beats per minute, following a progression of Bm–A–Fm–G and Bm–A–D–G, and Lovato's vocals span from A₃ to D₅. Described as a "summer anthem", it opens with a "buoyant production". The chorus consists of a mix of synth and

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''vo''ice and en''coder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder wa ...

effects, and it bears a resemblance to

Rita Ora Rita Sahatçiu Ora (; born Rita Sahatçiu; 26 November 1990) is a British singer-songwriter, television personality, and actress. Born in Pristina, modern-day Kosovo, she rose to prominence when she featured on DJ Fresh's 2012 single, "Hot Rig ...

's " Anywhere".

Commercial performance

"Solo" reached number one in the United Kingdom, becoming Clean Bandit's fourth UK chart-topper and Lovato's first number-one song in the nation. In Australia, the song has reached number 7, giving Clean Bandit their fourth and Lovato her second top 10 entry in the country. It additionally peaked at number one in Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Switzerland (Romandy) and Slovakia, as well as the top ten in Australia, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Latvia, Lebanon, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Singapore, Slovenia, Sweden, and Switzerland (german-speaking part).

Live performances

The song was added to the set list of the European leg of Lovato's Tell Me You Love Me World Tour. Clean Bandit performed the song during their set at the Capital FM

Summertime Ball Capital's Summertime Ball is a mini-festival in London, usually held on either first or second Saturday or Sunday of June by the radio station Capital (radio network), Capital. The first ball was at Emirates Stadium in 2009, and it has since b ...

along with Lovato as a special guest on 9 June 2018.

Music videos

The music video was released on 31 May 2018, starring the members of Clean Bandit and Demi Lovato. The video follows Clean Bandit's Grace Chatto and a "lover", actor George Todd McLachlan as they argue. As the arguments become violent, Chatto grabs her longboard and skates into town where she ends up at a laundromat. Hidden behind the washing machines in an office, she pays an attendant (Ko Hyojoo) for an unknown concoction. The video then follows Hyojoo, who skates with a longboard down the road, to retrieve this medicine which is being made for her by Jack and Luke Patterson. Before that, Luke suggests choosing the shape of a bearded dragon or a rabbit. Then they decide to choose the shape of a dog. In the end, with the help of the medicine, Chatto turns her abusive partner into a rainbow golden Labrador puppy. The video is briefly intercut with images of Chatto lying on a bed and a sun lounger with her face seemingly evaporating. Lovato briefly appears in a floral top as she sings the track's vocals. As of December 2023, the music video has garnered over 1 billion views on YouTube. A black and white acoustic version of the video was released on 15 June 2018. On 17 August 2018, a Japanese version of the video was released. This video was filmed in

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

and focuses on the dichotomy of trying to break away from one's feelings and moving on from the past with the inner turmoil that comes along with it. The music video features a popular local dancer named Nana from the dance unit KiKiRara. Nana portrays the feeling of wanting to break away (dressed as a

Maiko A is an apprentice geiko in Kyoto (in Tokyo it is geisha). Their jobs consist of performing songs, dances, and playing the or other traditional Japanese instruments for visitors during banquets and parties, known as . are usually aged 17 ...

) as well as the feeling of wanting to hang on, portrayed as a lady-in-a-black costume. This music video was filmed in Japan's historical tourist sites in Kyoto,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It was directed by Yutaka Obara.

Track listing

*Digital download #"Solo" (featuring Demi Lovato) – 3:42 *Digital download – Wideboys remix #"Solo" (featuring Demi Lovato) (

Wideboys The Wideboys are an English electronic music duo known for club remixes and for their own song "Sambuca", featuring Dennis G on vocals, which reached number 15 in the UK in October 2001. Another top 40 single, "Daddy-O" featuring Shaznay Lewis ...

remix) – 3:08 *Digital download – acoustic version #"Solo" (featuring Demi Lovato) (acoustic) – 3:45 *Digital download – Ofenbach remix #"Solo" (featuring Demi Lovato) ( Ofenbach remix) – 3:48 *Digital download – Sofi Tukker remix #"Solo" (featuring Demi Lovato) (

Sofi Tukker Sofi Tukker (stylized in all caps) is a musical duo based in New York City, consisting of Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern. They are known for their songs "Drinkee", "Best Friend (Sofi Tukker song), Best Friend", and "Purple Hat". "Best Fr ...

remix) – 3:24 *Digital download – M-22 remix #"Solo" (featuring Demi Lovato) (

M-22 M-22 are a British-German DJ and producer duo consisting of Matt James and Frank Sanders. On March 22, the duo met, through a joint production, which is the reason for their stage name. History On March 22, 2015, the duo met during a joint ...

remix) – 5:15 *Digital download – Latin remix #"Solo" (featuring Demi Lovato) (Latin remix) – 3:42 *Digital download – Yxng Bane remix #"Solo" (featuring Demi Lovato) (

Yxng Bane Larry Cummings Kiala, known professionally as Yxng Bane (pronounced "young bane"), is an English rapper, singer and songwriter. Early and personal life Larry Cummings Kiala grew up in Custom House, an industrial district of East London's Cannin ...

remix) – 3:41 *Digital download – Seeb remix #"Solo" (featuring Demi Lovato) (

Seeb Al-Seeb, As Seeb, As Sib, or Seeb () is a coastal fishing province, located several kilometres northwest of Muscat, in northeastern Oman. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 470,878. Landmarks include the Naseem Garden, the Royal Stables ...

remix) – 3:14

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal and

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 ...

. *

– vocals, songwriting *

Camille Purcell Camille Angelina Purcell (born 29 June 1988), known professionally as Kamille, is a British singer-songwriter and record producer. Kamille's co-writing and co-production contributions have accumulated to over 10 billion streams, as well as ove ...

– backing vocals, songwriting *

– production, songwriting, cello, mixing * Jack Patterson – production, songwriting, guitar, mixing, synthesizer *

Fred Fred or FRED may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Fred ...

– production, songwriting, keyboard, drum programming, synthesizer * Mark Ralph – production, mixing * Tom AD Fuller – mix engineering * Stuart Hawkes – master engineering *

Mitch Allan Mitchell Allan Scherr is an American record producer, songwriter, and singer. He has worked with artists including Demi Lovato, Third Eye Blind, Miley Cyrus, Carlie Hanson, Jason Derulo, Pitbull, Fifth Harmony, Kelly Clarkson, Simple Plan, Fait ...

– engineering * Mike Horner – engineering * Luke Patterson – percussion * James Boyd – viola * Beatrice Philips – violin * Stephanie Benedetti – violin *

Scott Cutler Scott Michael Cutler is an American songwriter, musician, record producer, and music executive. As a member of the alternative rock band Ednaswap, he co-wrote " Torn" which was covered in 1997 by Natalie Imbruglia. Her recording became the wo ...

– songwriting (acoustic version) *

Anne Preven Anne Preven (born February 25, 1965) is an American songwriter, music publisher, and record producer. As a member of the alternative rock band Ednaswap, she co-wrote " Torn" which was covered by Lis Sørensen (Danish), Trine Rein (Norwegian), a ...

– songwriting (acoustic version)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2018 songs 2018 singles Clean Bandit songs Demi Lovato songs Atlantic Records UK singles Number-one singles in Austria Ultratop 50 Singles (Wallonia) number-one singles Number-one singles in Finland Number-one singles in Germany Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Israel Number-one singles in Russia Number-one singles in Poland Songs written by Kamille (musician) Songs written by Demi Lovato Songs written by Grace Chatto Songs written by Jack Patterson (Clean Bandit) British electronic dance music songs UK singles chart number-one singles Songs written by Fred Again Black-and-white music videos Song recordings produced by Mark Ralph (record producer)