Friends (Francis and the Lights song) explained

Friends
Cover:Friends (Francis and the Lights song).jpg
Type:single
Artist:Francis and the Lights featuring Bon Iver and Kanye West
Album:Farewell, Starlite!
Released:July 7, 2016
Length:3:09
Label:KTTF Music
Producer:
Chronology:Francis and the Lights
Prev Title:Wonderful Everyday: Arthur
Prev Year:2014
Next Title:Summer Friends
Next Year:2016

"Friends" is a song by American music project Francis and the Lights featuring Bon Iver and uncredited contributions from Kanye West. The song was released as a single on July 7, 2016, accompanied by a music video featuring Francis Farewell Starlite, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and Kanye West.[1]

The song was sampled in Chance the Rapper's song "Summer Friends" from his 2016 mixtape Coloring Book.[2] "Friends" was sampled in "Summer Friends" before it was officially released independently as a single by Francis and the Lights.

Red Bull named it as the 15th best song of 2016.[3]

Francis and the Lights, Vernon and West collaborated again in 2019 on the song "Take Me to the Light."[4]

Music video

A music video for "Friends" was released on July 7, 2016.[5] The video was directed by Jake Schreier.[6] Knowing each other since childhood, Francis and Schreier have been making single-take, minimalist performance videos since 2008.[6] They wanted to do the next iteration of what they had been doing before.[6] In a 2016 interview, Schreier said, "We had never done a synchronized dance in a video or really had other protagonists in the video, so that's what we wanted to add to this one."[6]

Pitchfork named it as the 18th best music video of 2016.[7] NPR named it as one of the best music videos of 2016.[8]

Charts

ChartPeak
position
US Spotify Velocity (Billboard)[9] 13
US Spotify Viral 50 (Billboard)[10] 1

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Watch Kanye, Bon Iver, and Francis and the Lights Team Up for New Video "Friends" . . Matthew . Strauss . 2016-07-07 . 2016-08-17.
  2. Watch Kanye West, Bon Iver in Francis and the Lights' New 'Friends' Video . . Althea . Legaspi . 2016-07-07 . 2016-08-17.
  3. Web site: 50 Best Songs of 2016 . . 2016-12-06 . 2017-07-04.
  4. Web site: Francis And The Lights – "Take Me To The Light" (Feat. Bon Iver & Kanye West). Stereogum. Rettig. James. September 3, 2019. September 4, 2019.
  5. Web site: Francis And The Lights – "Friends" (Feat. Bon Iver And Kanye West) Video . . Tom . Breihan . 2016-07-07 . 2016-08-17.
  6. Web site: Francis and the Lights' "Friends" Video Director Talks Kanye, Bon Iver, Dance Moves . . Marc . Hogan . 2016-07-08 . 2017-07-04.
  7. Web site: The Best Music Videos of 2016 (1/3) . . 2016-11-28 . 2017-07-04.
  8. Web site: Best Music Videos of 2016 . . 2016-12-20 . 2017-07-04.
  9. Francis & the Lights - Chart history - Spotify Velocity . . 2017-07-04.
  10. Francis & the Lights - Chart history - Spotify Viral 50 . . 2017-07-04.