"Burn the Ships" is a song performed by an Australian

Christian pop Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and s ...

duo For King & Country. The song impacted

Christian radio Christian radio is a Christian media radio format that focus on programming with a Christian message. Many such broadcasters play contemporary Christian music, though many programs include sermons, radio dramas, as well as news and talk progra ...

in the United States on 30 August 2018, becoming the third single from '' Burn the Ships'' (2018). The song was written by

Matt Hales Matthew Nicholas Hales (born 17 January 1972) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer who has been performing professionally under the name Aqualung since the early 2000s. Aqualung is best known in the UK for his song "St ...

Seth Mosley Seth David Mosley (born October 17, 1987) is an American Christian musician and record producer, who plays Christian pop and Christian rock. He was the frontman for the Christian alternative rock band Me in Motion. Mosley was awarded the Songwr ...

Joel Smallbone Joel David Smallbone (born 5 June 1984) is an Australian singer and actor. He is a member of the Christian pop duo for King & Country along with his brother Luke Smallbone. He played the role of James Stevens in the 2016 film '' Priceless''. E ...

and Luke Smallbone. The song peaked at No. 3 on the US

Hot Christian Songs Hot Christian Songs is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It ranks the popularity of Christian songs using the same methodology developed for the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, the magazine's flagship songs c ...

chart, becoming their eleventh top ten single.

Background

"Burn the Ships" was initially availed on 28 September 2018 as the fifth promotional single from '' Burn the Ships'' (2018). In an interview with ''Billboard'', the duo shared the inspiration of the song, saying that it came from Luke Smallbone's wife, Courtney, battling with an addiction to prescribed medication, combined with an historical incident during the

Spanish conquest of Mexico The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, also known as the Conquest of Mexico or the Spanish-Aztec War (1519–21), was one of the primary events in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. There are multiple 16th-century narratives of the eve ...

in 1519 AD, where a Spanish commander named

Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca (; ; 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of w ...

, landed his ships on enemy shores unaware of what awaited his arrival. To ensure that the men were committed to their mission, he proclaimed, "Burn the ships!" Luke Smallbone shared in an interview with NewReleaseToday that the song became the album's title track after realising that the theme of "no retreat" was recurring on the album especially in songs like "Never Give Up" and "Fight On, Fighter" and he opined that "it makes the album and the title feel potent." The song was released to

in the United States on 30 August 2019, becoming ''Burn the Ships third official single. A radio-adapted version of the song was released in digital format on 27 September 2019. On 4 October 2019, For King & Country released a remix of the song by

R3hab Fadil El Ghoul ( ar, فضيل الغول; born 2 April 1986), performing under the stage name R3hab (stylized in all caps as R3HAB; pronounced "rehab"), is a Dutch-Moroccan disc jockey and music producer. Ranked at number 12 on the DJ Mag Top 1 ...

Composition

"Burn the Ships" composed 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 of 94

beats per minute Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ( ...

. For King & Country's vocal range spans from C₃ to C₅.

Commercial performance

The song reached No. 1 on Billboard's Christian Airplay chart. It has sold 32,000 copies in the United States as of November 2019.

Music video

The music video of "Burn the Ships" was published on For King & Country's YouTube channel on 5 October 2018, celebrating the release of the album, which arrived on the same day. It was filmed on ''

Lady Washington ''Lady Washington'' is a ship name shared by at least four different 80-100 ton-class Sloop-of-war and merchant sailing vessels during two different time periods. The original sailed during the American Revolutionary War and harassed British shi ...

'', the duo singing aboard the ship before leaving an explosive and retreating to shore.

Accolades

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burn the Ships (song) 2018 singles 2019 songs For King & Country (band) songs Contemporary Christian songs Songs written by Aqualung (musician) Songs written by Seth Mosley Songs written by Joel Smallbone