"Warzone" is a song by British-Irish

boy band A boy band is a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their Teenage, teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Many boy bands ...

the Wanted The Wanted are a British-Irish boy band formed in 2009, and originally consisted of members Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness, Tom Parker, and Nathan Sykes. The group signed a worldwide contract to Universal Music, Island Reco ...

, released as the fourth and final single from their second studio album, ''

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'' (2011). It is also featured on the special edition of their self-titled EP. It was released on 26 December 2011. The

electropop Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...

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 ...

contains elements of

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken ...

, and was written by band members

Nathan Sykes Nathan James Sykes (born 18 April 1993) is an English singer, best known as a member of the boy band The Wanted. In 2013, Sykes appeared with his bandmates in the E! channel reality television series '' The Wanted Life''. After the band's hia ...

and

Max George Maximillian Albert George (born 6 September 1988) is an English singer, best known as the lead singer of the boy band The Wanted. George started his career as a footballer, playing for Preston North End F.C., Preston North End. After an injur ...

, alongside Jack McManus and producer Harry Sommerdahl. "Warzone" received positive reviews from music critics, who felt the song was one of the highlights of the album. "Warzone" has peaked at number 21 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming their first single to miss the UK top 20. The music video premiered on 10 November 2011.

Critical reception

"Warzone" has received positive reviews from critics. Jon O'Brien of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

referred to "Warzone" as one of the songs that proves "that the Wanted are still a cut above your average boy band", describing the song as "a subtle attempt at

that fuses somber piano chords and an epic

soft rock Soft rock (also known as light rock or mellow rock) is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in the United States and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, mel ...

chorus with distant wobble basslines and spacious beats". David Griffiths of

4Music 4Music was a British music television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. Launched on 15 August 2008, the original incarnation, replacing The Hits television channel, showed a mix of music and entertainment pr ...

called the song the band's "most mature effort to date" writing, "Featuring a haunting piano riff, emotional vocals and a truly epic chorus, it's easily the best thing they've ever recorded.". Lewis Corner of

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its initial launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television pro ...

quoted, "Try to erase a memory with a flame, And hope I never see you again," Jay declares over a lilting piano and rumbling bass that you'd expect from a Jamie Cullum vs. Nero play-off. Thankfully, the curious combo works beautifully beneath their angst-driven lyrics of betrayal and heartbreak, striking a fine balance between boyband balladry and oh-so-trendy dub beats. With Jay now on board with their current sound, we'd suggest he makes sure his heartbroken bandmates are holding up at this difficult time."

Music video

The music video for "Warzone" was shot on location in

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Director X Julien Christian Lutz (born October 31, 1975), known professionally as Director X, is a Canadian music video director. Having trained under Hype Williams, Lutz has been credited for directing over a hundred music videos spanning various genres si ...

. The video was subsequently released to YouTube on 10 November 2011. The video focuses on the intimate relationships between the five members of the group and their girlfriends. However, each member, one by one, discovers that his girlfriend is cheating on him with another man, played by model Broderick Hunter. The video incorporates shots of the band in a burning scrapyard, outside and inside an apartment building, and walking the streets of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. An alternative version of the video featuring alternate scenes was released to music channels on 14 December 2011. This version of the video also accompanies the download package.

Track listing

* Digital download # "Warzone" – 3:38 # "Warzone" (Basto! Remix) – 5:40 # "Warzone" (Green Fusion Remix) – 2:58 # "Animal" (Live Tour Performance) – 4:22

Charts

Release history

References

{{The Wanted 2011 singles The Wanted songs Synth-pop ballads Island Records singles Songs written by Nathan Sykes Songs written by Harry Sommerdahl