"Back to You" is a song recorded by American singer

Selena Gomez Selena Marie Gomez ( ; born July 22, 1992) is an American singer, actress and producer. Gomez began her acting career on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004). As a teenager, she rose to prominence for starring a ...

. it appears as an international bonus track on Gomez's third studio album, Rare (2020) And was written by Gomez, Parrish Warrington, Diederik Van Elsas, Amy Allen, and Micah Premnath. The production was handled by

Ian Kirkpatrick Ian Andrew Kirkpatrick (born 24 May 1946) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. Described as "supremely athletic, fast, fearless and with an uncanny sense of anticipation", Kirkpatrick is widely regarded as one of the greatest flankers t ...

and Trackside. The track was released on May 10, 2018, as the lead single from the second season soundtrack of ''

13 Reasons Why ''13 Reasons Why'' is an American teen drama television series developed for Netflix by Brian Yorkey and based on the 2007 novel ''Thirteen Reasons Why'' by author Jay Asher. The series revolves around high school student Clay Jensen (Dylan Mi ...

'', a TV adaptation of the eponymous book. Commercially, the song reached the top five in Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Poland, Singapore and Slovakia; the top ten in Belgium, Finland, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal and Scotland; as well as the top 20 in Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. In the US, the song also became Gomez's 15th consecutive top 40 entry on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at number 18.

Background and release

Before its official announcement, the song was registered in

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

and teased by various US radio stations such as 104.7 KISS FM. Gomez finally confirmed the release through social media on May 1, as well as its inclusion on the soundtrack of the second season of the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

's original series ''

'', in which she takes part as an

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

. The song premiered on May 10 in

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

radio show

Beats 1 Apple Music 1, previously branded as Beats 1, is a 24/7 music radio station owned and operated by Apple Inc. It is accessible through iTunes or the Apple Music app on a computer, smartphone or tablet, smart speaker (such as the Apple HomePod), ...

as the release day's "World Record". She was also interviewed by Lowe and confirmed that her third solo studio album was being completed.

Composition

"Back to You" was written by Parrish Warrington, Diederik Van Elsas, Amy Allen, Micah Premnath, and

. The production was handled by Trackside and

, the latter also working on Gomez's previous single " Bad Liar". The track has been described as an emotional acoustic midtempo with

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

influences, being also called a "

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

anthem", as well as an

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...

and

EDM EDM or E-DM may refer to: Music * Electronic dance music * Early Day Miners, American band Science and technology * Electric dipole moment * Electrical discharge machining * Electronic distance measurement *Entry, Descent, and landing demonstrat ...

ballad. Gomez said that it was a "very special record" and that she wanted it to be "a beautiful message in a really complicated way but really fun". The song is performed in the key of

F major F major (or the key of F) is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor F minor is a minor scale based on F, consis ...

with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

of 102 beats per minute in 4/4 time and follows a chord progression of Dm–B–F. Gomez's vocal range spans two octaves, from C₃ to C₅.

Music video

A lyric video with scenes of the second season of ''13 Reasons Why'' was released on May 10, 2018.

Release and synopsis

The official music video was directed by Scott Cudmore. The imagery for the music video is inspired from the 1965

French New Wave French New Wave (french: La Nouvelle Vague) is a French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentation and a spirit of iconocla ...

film '' Pierrot le Fou''. The music video starts at a party with Gomez, dressed in a vintage feather-trimmed green sequined high-neck dress, locking eyes with a sharply suited man (Andrey Kupchenko), and they steal a convertible and end up frolicking in a bucolic pasture. Gomez wears an ensemble fit for the French countryside: a vintage white skirt and a sleeveless orange-and-yellow crop top. and take Gomez's twist on iconic ’60s French-girl style as some summer style inspiration. Nevertheless, Gomez's video, is saturated with Godard's quintessential filmmaking quirks: fragmented editing; characters breaking the fourth wall; melodramatic dialogue; a garish, primary color-focused palette; and cartoonish neorealism. Cinemaphiles will immediately notice parallels, as the music video's opening visual directly mirrors the famous party scene in "Pierrot le Fou," both doused in deep, ever-changing colors. The inane dialogue from side characters serves to highlight the shallow, bourgeois lifestyle that Pierrot wants to escape from. The two find they are wanted and burn their car to destroy the evidence. The video returns to the party from the start and despite everything, Gomez cycles back, locks eyes with the sharply dressed man and asks: "Do you want to steal a car?".

Accolades

Track listing

*Digital download # "Back to You" – 3:30 * Riton and

Kah-Lo Faridah Seriki, known professionally as Kah-Lo is a Nigerian singer-songwriter, best known for her song ‘Fasta’ and for her work on ' Rinse and Repeat' with British DJ, Riton. The track was nominated for Best Dance Recording at the 59th Gram ...

remix # "Back to You" (Riton and Kah-Lo remix) – 3:27 *Joey Pecoraro remix # "Back to You" ( Joey Pecoraro remix) – 3:46 *Anki Remix # "Back to You" (Anki remix) – 4:41

Credits and personnel

Credits and personnel adapted from '' Rare'' album liner notes. *

– lead vocals, songwriting * Amy Allen – background vocals, songwriting * Micah Premnath – background vocals, songwriting * Parrish Warrington – songwriting * Diederik Van Elsas – songwriting *

– production * Trackside – production * Benjamin Rice – vocal production * Tony Maserati – mixing * Tyler Scott – mix engineering assistance *

Chris Gehringer Chris Gehringer (born May 27, 1962) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered recordings such as Gwen Stefani's '' Love. Angel. Music. Baby.'' (2004), Rihanna's '' Loud'' (2010), Lady Gaga's '' Born This Way'' (2011) and Drake' ...

– mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control 2018 songs 2018 singles Selena Gomez songs Interscope Records singles Songs from television series Songs written by Selena Gomez Songs written by Amy Allen (songwriter) Song recordings produced by Ian Kirkpatrick (record producer) 2010s ballads Electropop ballads