"Swerlk" is a song by American electronic singer MNDR and American

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

band Scissor Sisters. It was released as a single on June 9, 2017, by

WonderSound Records Peter Wade Keusch, more commonly known as Peter Wade, is a record producer, recording engineer, mixer, songwriter and A&R. His artist development projects include MNDR, Party Nails and numerous songwriters and producers signed to his record label ...

. MNDR and Scissor Sisters conceived the song in honor of the one-year remembrance of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting. "Swerlk" was released in conjunction with

GLAAD GLAAD (), an acronym of Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals ...

and proceeds from the sales benefited the Contigo Fund, a non-profit organization for LGBTQ individuals. The website ''swerlk.com'' was developed to funnel donations directly to Contigo. "Swerlk" marked the first single in five years by Scissor Sisters after they went on indefinite hiatus in 2012.

Writing and development

"Swerlk" was written by MNDR along with Babydaddy, Jake Shears, Ana Matronic, and Del Marquis from Scissor Sisters. It was produced by MNDR's longtime collaborator

Peter Wade Keusch Peter Wade Keusch, more commonly known as Peter Wade, is a record producer, recording engineer, mixer, songwriter and A&R. His artist development projects include MNDR, Party Nails and numerous songwriters and producers signed to his record label ...

, who also co-wrote and engineered the song. Chris Tabron mixed the song at Rumours Studios in New York City, and was assisted by Peter Geiser. The track was mastered by Dave Kutch at The Mastering Palace in New York. In an interview with

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming Computing platform, platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbr ...

, MNDR explained that the song is about "celebrating life, dancing, individuality, differences, fierceness, and sometimes 'Swerlk' is even a shoulder to cry on". She further said that it "is not only a dance floor anthem, but it is a way of life, a mindset, and a show of solidarity." MNDR conceived the song in honor of the one-year anniversary of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting. Its title is a combination of the words " twerk", "

twirl In cryptography and number theory, TWIRL (The Weizmann Institute Relation Locator) is a hypothetical hardware device designed to speed up the sieving step of the general number field sieve integer factorization algorithm. During the sieving step ...

", "werk", "swerve" and "swirl". "Swerlk" marked the first single in five years by Scissor Sisters after they went on indefinite hiatus in 2012. Babydaddy explained that when MNDR approached the band about the song, they all agreed that "it was too important to refuse". After contacting Elton John AIDS Foundation for guidance, the band decided to work with the Contigo Fund, which offers financial support to organizations working within the communities affected by the Orlando shooting. The project was later joined by

as an additional partner, which was "excited to be able to add an uplifting and fun message to what is also such a serious time for our community".

Release

"Swerlk" was announced as a charity single during the

Pride Month LGBT Pride Month is a month, typically in June, dedicated to celebration and commemoration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) pride. Pride Month began after the Stonewall riots, a series of gay liberation protests in 1969, and ha ...

of June, in view of the one-year anniversary of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting. It was released on June 9, 2017, through

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, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, and Google Play. All sales and streaming sales of the song are donated to the Contigo Fund. On June 9, 2017, WonderSound also launched the site Swerlk.com, where listeners can receive a free download of the song by donating any amount of money. On the same day, a lyric video for the song premiered on Vevo. Commenting the release, Rich Ferraro from

stated, "Music has the power to uplift and unite people and the Scissor Sisters and MNDR have always done that for the LGBTQ community. 'Swerlk' is a perfect rallying cry to live your life authentically and proudly." On June 15, 2017, an instructional dance video for the song premiered on ''

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'' magazine's website. It was directed by Kevin Tachman and Drew Levin, with a choreography by Brad Landers, who previously worked with Scissor Sisters on the music video for "

Let's Have a Kiki "Let's Have a Kiki" is a song by American band Scissor Sisters. The song was released as the third single from their fourth studio album '' Magic Hour''. It was released on September 11, 2012 in the United States and September 18, 2012 in the Unit ...

" (2012). It features three dancers performing a dance routine named "Swerlk" in a classic how-to format.

Critical reception

Justin Moran from ''

'' magazine found the song a "proud declaration of queer power, choosing to remember the Pulse victims in a celebratory light on the shooting's one-year anniversary". Taylor Henderson from '' Pride'' named the song "a heart-pounding, house-beat anthem begging you to swirl it, twirl it, twerk it, swerve all the way to the dancefloor". Samantha Manzella from '' NewNowNext'' described the song as "an

EDM EDM or E-DM may refer to: Music * Electronic dance music * Early Day Miners, American band Science and technology * Electric dipole moment * Electrical discharge machining * Electronic distance measurement *Entry, Descent, and landing demonstra ...

anthem for the ages, packing dance-worthy beats and catchy lyrics into an infectious 5-minute jam". Will Stroude of ''

Attitude Attitude may refer to: Philosophy and psychology * Attitude (psychology), an individual's predisposed state of mind regarding a value * Metaphysics of presence * Propositional attitude, a relational mental state connecting a person to a pro ...

'' called it a "thumping new anthem".

Track listing

*Digital download #"Swerlk" – 5:14

Credits and personnel

* Babydaddy – vocals, songwriter * Caryn Ganz – additional vocals * Peter Geiser – mixing assistant *

– additional vocals,

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

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* Dave Kutch – audio mastering * Del Marquis – electric guitar, songwriter * Ana Matronic – vocals, songwriter * Andrew Miller – additional digital editing * MNDR – vocals, songwriter * Mike Reddy – graphic design * Jake Shears – vocals, songwriter * Chris Tabron – mix engineering Credits and personnel adapted from WonderSound listing.

References

External links

Official "Swerlk" website
* {{Orlando nightclub shooting 2017 singles 2017 songs Charity singles LGBT-related songs MNDR songs Orlando nightclub shooting Scissor Sisters songs Song recordings produced by Peter Wade Keusch Songs written by Ana Matronic Songs written by Babydaddy Songs written by Del Marquis Songs written by Jake Shears Songs written by MNDR Songs written by Peter Wade Keusch