"Tightrope" is a song by Australian

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

Illy Illycaffè S.p.A. (branded and stylised as illy) is an Italian coffee company specializing in espresso, headquartered in Trieste. Illy markets its coffee globally in silver and red pressurized, oxygen-free cans; operates a network of cafes on sh ...

. Written by Mark Landon and Alasdair Murray and produced by the former under his stage name,

M-Phazes Mark Landon (born 1 February 1983), better known by his stage name M-Phazes, is an Australian-born producer based in LA. He has produced records for Logic, Demi Lovato, Madonna, Eminem, Kehlani, Zara Larsson, Remi Wolf, Kiiara, Noah Cyrus, an ...

the song was first released in March 2014 through Illy's

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

, ONETWO as the fourth single from Illy's fourth studio album, '' Cinematic'' (2013). "Tightrope" was well received by fans and was also singled out as one of the strongest tracks on ''Cinematic'' in Navarone Farrell's review of the album for ''

The AU Review Larry Heath is an Australian publisher, events organiser, and entrepreneur. He is the founder-owner of Heath Media, which publishes online magazine ''The AU Review'' and hosts the National Live Music Awards. Heath is associate producer at Soun ...

''.

Background and release

Whilst recording material for his fourth studio album, ''Cinematic'' (2013), Illy collaborated with a variety of artists including the

Hilltop Hoods Hilltop Hoods are an Australian hip hop group that formed in 1994 in Blackwood, Adelaide, South Australia. They are regarded as pioneers of the " larrikin-like" style of Australian hip hop. The group was founded by Suffa (Matthew David Lambert) ...

Daniel Merriweather Daniel Paul Merriweather (born 17 February 1982) is an Australian R&B singer-songwriter and record producer. Merriweather's debut solo album, '' Love & War'', was released in June 2009. It entered the UK Albums Chart at number two. It was ...

and Ahren Stringer of The Amity Afflcition among others. When asked about the album's material Illy responded, "It’s the most ambitious work I’ve done and these are the biggest risks I’ve taken, but I believe they’re the strongest songs I’ve written". "Tightrope" was eventually released as the follow-up to the album's third single, "Youngbloods" in March 2014. While the album version of the song features guest vocals by Kristina Miltiadou the single version features vocals by Scarlett Stevens. The album version was released to radio and also used in the song's accompanying

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

. When speaking about the single, Illy commented, "Tightrope has been going off on the tour. It’s good to have a single that can also be a track that goes down really well in a live performance".

Music video

The song's accompanying music video runs for approximately three minutes and thirty-seven seconds. The video centres on Illy who is seen rowing a boat across a lake. As he continues to do so however, he is followed and subsequently shot at by a woman, causing his boat to sink and sending him into the water.

Track listing

;Digital download

Chart performance

"Tightrope" debuted at number thirty-nine on the Australian

ARIA In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...

singles chart and after re-entering the chart twice, eventually reached its peak position of number eighteen during its ninth week on the chart, thereby becoming Illy's first top twenty hit and one of his top hits to date. The song was certified Platinum by the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival Records (Australia), Festival, Sony Music ...

(ARIA), denoting shipments in excess of 70,000 copies.

Charts

Year-end chart

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2014 singles 2014 songs Illy (rapper) songs APRA Award winners Scarlett Stevens songs Songs written by Illy (rapper) Songs written by M-Phazes