I Won't Let You Down (OK Go song)
"I Won't Let You Down" | ||||
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Tarbox Road (Cassadaga, New York) | ||||
Genre | Disco[1] | |||
Length | 3:43 | |||
Label | ||||
Songwriter(s) | Damian Kulash | |||
Producer(s) | Tony Hoffer | |||
OK Go singles chronology | ||||
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"I Won't Let You Down" is a song by American
Song
The song has a late '70s-style disco style. Band frontman Damian Kulash said that the disco influence came as they were toying around with the beat of the song and they hit upon a sound, evoking the style of the Jackson 5 and Diana Ross, at which point, "we knew we had something worth chasing".[2] The song was featured in the 2014 American dance film Step Up: All In.
Music video
The video for "I Won't Let You Down" premiered on
OK Go was inspired by a trip they had taken to Japan during which they visited Tokyo's
The choreography in the video was inspired by the elaborate routines of musical director Busby Berkeley,[3] and took the idea of using double time filming after observing that Berkeley had used sped-up footage to allow these routines to be captured properly on film.[7] The opening sequence, primarily focusing on the OK Go band members, was made to feel like a futuristic version of Gene Kelly's dancing in Singin' in the Rain.[3] Another inspiration was from mass games, popular in Japan and North Korea, which was used for next-to-final shot mimicking a dot-matrix display; they had used computer visualization to plan out the choreography, and plan to release an interactive version of the video that will allow users to create their own choreography based on this.[7] The final shot, with the camera panning across the Japan landscape, was inspired by the Beatles' use of extended outros, as to give the viewer something "that packed a bit more entertainment even after the main part was over", according to Harano.[3] The final ascent and pan shot lasts a full 70 seconds without audio accompaniment.
The video went viral, garnering 6 million worldwide YouTube views in two days and sending the song to No. 1 on the Billboard/Twitter Trending 140 chart.[9]
The video won for Best Choreography at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards.[10]
In 2015, the band remixed “I Won’t Let You Down” as the soundtrack to a commercial for furniture company Red Star Macalline, a one-minute-47-second video alluded visually to their video for “The Writing’s on the Wall”.[11]
Charts
The song debuted at No. 71 on the Billboard Hot 100.[12]
Chart (2014) | Peak position |
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Japan ( Japan Hot 100)[13]
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22 |
US Billboard Hot 100[14] | 71 |
US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard)[15] | 7 |
References
- ^ Schultz, Barbara (July 1, 2014). "OK Go's Electronic Art: EP Previews the Elegant Pop Noise of 'Hungry Ghosts'". Mix Online. Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
- ^ a b Gee, Catherine (October 27, 2014). "OK Go release video for 'I Won't Let You Down'". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on October 27, 2014. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Brown, Harley (October 27, 2014). "OK Go Deconstruct Their Drone-Filmed 'I Won't Let You Down' Video". Billboard. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
- ^ Bacle, Ariana (October 27, 2014). "OK Go dances with umbrellas in 'I Won't Let You Down' video". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
- ^ a b Trenholm, Rich (October 27, 2014). "OK Go take off with a drone and electric unicycles in latest stunning one-take video". CNET. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
- ^ a b c Ripley, Will (October 29, 2014). "How did they do that? OK Go's music video in Japan goes viral". KHON-TV. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
- ^ a b c d e "I Won't Let You Down" - Interview with Damian and Tim. OK Go. October 30, 2014. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
- ^ The Today Show. NBC. October 27, 2014. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
- ^ Harley Brown (October 31, 2014). "How OK Go's Viral 'I Won't Let You Down' Video Took Flight". Billboard. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
- ^ "2015 MTV Video Music Awards Winners and Nominees - Complete list". hitfix.com. August 30, 2015. Retrieved November 8, 2015.
- ^ "OK Go made another crazy pop video—for a Chinese furniture store". Quartz. 2015-03-25. Retrieved 2023-08-20.
- ^ Paul Grein (November 5, 2014). "Chart Watch: Imagine Dragons Returns". Yahoo! Music Chart Watch.
- ^ "OK Go Chart History (Japan Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
- ^ "OK Go Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
- ^ "OK Go Chart History (Hot Rock & Alternative Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved November 6, 2014.