"Windows" is a song by the English pop group

Take That Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead singer ...

. It was released by

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a British multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company EMI in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succes ...

on 22 September 2023 as the first single from their ninth studio album, '' This Life'' (2023). It was written by Take That, and produced by Grammy-winner

Dave Cobb Dave Cobb (born July 9, 1974) is an American record producer based in Nashville, Tennessee, best known for producing the work of Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, John Prine, Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, The Highwomen, Take That, Rival ...

with

Gary Barlow Gary Barlow (born 20 January 1971) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He is the lead singer of the pop group Take That. Barlow is one of the United Kingdom's most successful songwriters, having writ ...

on lead vocals.

Background

The song was recorded in

RCA Studio A RCA Studio A is a music recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee, built and founded in 1965 by Chet Atkins, Owen Bradley and Harold Bradley as an addition to the RCA Victor Studio the company established seven years prior. Together these two s ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

Critical reception

''Smooth Radio'' labelled the song "gorgeous". ''The Independent'' noted "the track dials into the family-friendly Seventies soft rock of bands like

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

with its casual electric guitars and falsetto yearnings".

Music video

The music video was directed by Ben Tricklebank and is based on the idea that the band are like three caged birds. They are longing to escape but individually aren't certain if they can still fly. Only once they are together are they able to take flight again. Tricklebank stated: "Universal sent out a really interesting brief that was centered around a technique of connecting moments through windows within each scene."

Chart performance

"Windows" entered the

UK Singles Downloads Chart The UK Singles Downloads Chart is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) on behalf of the music industry. Since July 2015, the chart week runs from Friday to Thursday, with the chart date given as the following Thursday. The main chart con ...

at number three on 29 September 2023.

Personnel

– lead vocals *

Howard Donald Howard Paul Donald (born 28 April 1968) is an English singer, songwriter, drummer, pianist, dancer, DJ and record producer. He is a member of the pop group Take That. He was also judge on the German reality talent show ''Got to Dance'' from 20 ...

– backing vocals *

Mark Owen Mark Owen (born 27 January 1972) is an English singer and songwriter best known for being a member of pop group and band Take That; as of 2024, the group have sold 14.4 million albums and 14 million singles in the UK. In Owen's solo career, he h ...

– backing vocals

Charts

References

{{authority control 2023 singles 2023 songs Take That songs EMI Records singles Songs written by Gary Barlow Songs written by Mark Owen Songs written by Howard Donald Song recordings produced by Dave Cobb