Lighter (Nathan Dawe song)
Upbeat house track about leaving a toxic relationship.
"Lighter" is a house track by British DJ Nathan Dawe, featuring YouTuber and rapper KSI with vocals from singer Ella Henderson. Released as a standalone single on 24 July 2020, its lyrics celebrate leaving a toxic relationship. The song reached number three on the UK Singles Chart and earned a BRIT Award nomination for Song of the Year in 2021.
Quick Facts
- Artist
- Nathan Dawe featuring KSI
- EP
- If Heaven Had a Phone Line
- Released
- 24 July 2020
- Studio
- Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
- Genre
- House, UK Garage
- Length
- 3:02
- Label
- Atlantic; Warner
- Writer
- Nathan Dawe
- Olajide Olatunji
- Gabriella Henderson
- Tre Jean-Marie
- Jonny Lattimer
Facts from the source article.
Writing and production
Ella Henderson co-wrote "Lighter" with Tre Jean-Marie and Jonny Lattimer. The track started as a slow ballad, but Henderson felt it didn't suit her style at the time because she had other releases planned. She passed it to Nathan Dawe, who accelerated the tempo, raised the vocal pitch, and overhauled the arrangement. Henderson liked the new version and wished Dawe well. Dawe and his team decided the song needed a verse from a British rapper, mirroring his earlier single "Flowers" with Jaykae, so they chose KSI. Dawe had followed KSI's music and asked his manager about contacting him. After hearing the track, KSI called it a banger and agreed to join. He wrote his verse at home over a couple of hours, then recorded it in under an hour at a studio. Dawe couldn't be there because of COVID-19 travel rules, but he watched the session through Zoom.
Release and promotion
On 12 July 2020, Dawe announced via social media that he would soon release a new single. The song's title, featured artist, cover art and release date were revealed three days later, and "Lighter" was made available to pre-order and pre-save alongside a teaser trailer. The cover art shows a photo of Dawe and KSI taken on the set of the music video shoot, in front of a red and white background. The song was released for digital download and streaming on 24 July 2020. A lyric video was released to Dawe's YouTube channel the same day, and the day after release Dawe and KSI performed the song during a live streamed launch party. An acoustic version crediting Henderson and featuring a new verse by KSI was announced on 21 August 2020 and released on 28 August 2020 with a music video. Remixes by S-X (featuring Big Zuu and Window Kid), PS1, and Shapes were released on 4 September, 21 September, and 9 October 2020 respectively. Dawe, KSI and Henderson performed the track on BBC One's Top of the Pops New Year Special on 31 December 2020 and later during The KSI Show on 17 July 2021.
Music video
The music video for "Lighter" was directed by Troy Roscoe and filmed at two locations in London on 20 June 2020 over a 13-hour shoot. It was released to KSI's YouTube channel on 24 July 2020. KSI released a reaction video with Dawe one week later, followed by a behind-the-scenes video on Dawe's channel on 7 August 2020 and a bloopers video on KSI's channel a week after that. The video opens with the cast—Dawe, KSI, S-X and Window Kid—playing poker. After KSI loses by going all-in, he challenges the group to basketball and football. The group start out useless at both sports but improve upon the arrival of a young woman, competing for her affection. The video ends with closing credits. Promonews described it as a "suitably light-hearted take on sporting achievement" that "captures the [group's] sporting incompetence like a big budget Nike [advert]". Dawe said the shoot was "a genuinely fun project" and that "all the reactions on camera [were genuine]".
Commercial performance
In the United Kingdom, "Lighter" was the most downloaded song in its first week of release. It debuted at number four on the UK Singles Chart, becoming both artists' first top-five entry. It spent eight weeks inside the top five, peaking at number three for four weeks, and remained on the chart for 22 weeks. The song also reached number two on the UK Dance Singles Chart. The Official Charts Company reported it as the UK's 40th highest-selling and 32nd most-downloaded song of 2020, as well as the fifth highest-selling dance song of the year. On 1 January 2021, the BPI certified it platinum for 600,000 track-equivalent units; by 4 March 2021, Music Week reported sales of 671,884 units. In Ireland, it debuted at number 17 and peaked at number eight in its sixth week, spending 18 weeks on the chart. It also charted in Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. In the US, it debuted at number 18 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart and spent eight weeks there. On 12 May 2021, Staffordshire Live reported over 136 million global streams.
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