"Sorry" is a song by American singer Halsey, from her second studio album, ''

Hopeless Fountain Kingdom ''Hopeless Fountain Kingdom'' (stylized in all lowercase) is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Halsey. It was released on June 2, 2017, through Astralwerks. The album features guest appearances from Quavo, Lauren Jauregui and ...

'' (2017). It was written by Halsey and its producer

Greg Kurstin Gregory Allen Kurstin (born May 14, 1969) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2017 and 2018, and contributed to five songs that pe ...

. The track is a

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

where she apologizes to her potential lovers for not letting them to get close to her. The music video for the song was directed by Sing J Lee and Halsey and it was released on February 2, 2018 on Halsey's

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channel. The song has achieved over 300 million streams on

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, being the third most played song from the album, despite not being an official single.

Composition

"Sorry" was written by Halsey and

, the latter also producing the song. The song is a simplistic

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

arranged

which lasts for a duration of 3:40 (three minutes and forty seconds). Written in the key of A♭ major, "Sorry" has 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 74

beats per minute Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of in ...

. Halsey's vocal range span from F₃ to Bb₄. The song's instrumentation comes from

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and

mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...

. Rob Sheffield from ''

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 ...

'' thought that its lyrical content "worries whether she'll ever like herself enough to let anyone get close to her". The song begins with a "somber" piano opening, followed by the lines "I've missed your calls for months it seems/ Don't realize how mean I can be/ Cause I can sometimes treat the people/ That I love like jewelry" sung by Halsey. During the

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in whic ...

, she sings "So I'm sorry to my unknown lover/ Sorry that I can't believe/ That anybody ever really/ Starts to fall in love with me". Toward the ending, she sings "Someone will love you/ But someone isn't me".

Music video

An accompanying music video for "Sorry" was directed by Sing J Lee and Halsey, who had also helmed the videos for the previous singles, " Now or Never" and " Bad at Love". It was uploaded on February 2, 2018, on Halsey's

channel. The video begins with the singer with wounds on her face after a car crash from the ending of "Now or Never", she starts walking on a street on fire with dead bodies and abandoned vehicles everywhere. The video was filmed as a

one-shot One shot may refer to: Film and television * One-shot film, a feature film shot in one long take with no edits, or manufactured to look like so * ''One Shot'' (2005 film), a Sri Lankan action film directed by Ranjan Ramanayake * ''One Shot'', a ...

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal. * Ashley Frangipane – songwriter, vocals *

− songwriter, producer, guitar, mellotron, piano, recording engineer *John Hanes − mixing engineer *Serban Ghenea − mixer *Alex Pasco − recording engineer *Julian Burg − recording engineer

Certifications

References

External links

* 2010s ballads 2017 songs Astralwerks singles Halsey (singer) songs Songs written by Halsey (singer) Songs written by Greg Kurstin Song recordings produced by Greg Kurstin {{2010s-rock-song-stub