"Burning House" is a song recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer

Cam Calmodulin (CaM) (an abbreviation for calcium-modulated protein) is a multifunctional intermediate calcium-binding messenger protein expressed in all eukaryotic cells. It is an intracellular target of the secondary messenger Ca2+, and the bin ...

. It was released on June 16, 2015, as the second single from her second album '' Untamed''. Co-written by Cam along with Tyler Johnson and

Jeff Bhasker Jeff Bhasker (born March 4, 1974) is an American record producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles. He was awarded the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year in 2016 and nominated in 2013. An accomplished producer, he ...

, the song was inspired by a dream that she had about attempting to rescue her boyfriend from a house that was on fire. "Burning House" peaked at No. 2 on both the ''Billboard'' Country Airplay and Hot Country Songs charts respectively. The song also charted on the Hot 100, peaking at No. 29. The song was

certified Platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and has sold 1,125,000 copies in the United States as of November 2016. It received similar chart success in Canada, peaking at No. 2 on the

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 ...

chart and No. 46 on the Canadian Hot 100. It was also certified

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

by Music Canada, denoting sales of over 40,000 units in that country. The accompanying music video for the song was directed by

Trey Fanjoy Trey Fanjoy is an American music video director. Fanjoy has directed over 150 major label music videos. Her videos have appeared on CMT, VH1, GAC, The Nashville Network, CMT Canada, and MTV. She is the first woman to win the Country Music A ...

History and content

According to '' Billboard'', the idea for the song came when Cam learned that an ex-boyfriend of hers would be at a party that she was attending, and that night, she had a dream that she was trying to rescue him from a burning house. She recounted the dream to producer Tyler Johnson via

Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...

, and he offered a guitar riff inspired by Metallica's "

Nothing Else Matters "Nothing Else Matters" is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released in 1992 as the third single from their self-titled fifth studio album, '' Metallica''. The song peaked at number 11 on the '' Billboard'' Mainstream Rock ...

" while she came up with "two off-the-cuff opening lines that alternate between standard 4/4 time and 3/4 bars". When they recorded the song with producer

, Johnson played acoustic guitar on the recording, with a few notes spliced in from Cam's touring guitarist Doug Showalter due to Johnson having difficulty playing the last four notes of the riff. The song also features a piano, a muted bass, and a small string section arranged by Hamilton Ulmer. The song has a play length of 3 minutes and 51 seconds. It is composed in the key of A minor, and alternates between 4/4 and 3/4

time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note va ...

s. Cam's vocal ranges just over an octave, from G to A.

Reception

Critical

Billy Dukes of ''

Taste of Country Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wi ...

'' praised Cam’s voice and the musical arrangement, saying “The newcomer’s performance is stark and personal. Her production team does a great job of not getting in the way.” He also said that “Cam is the one who wronged her man, not vice-versa. The other way around is an over-told story, but there’s nothing unoriginal” about "Burning House". '' Billboard'' ranked "Burning House" at 24 on its year-end list for 2015: "In one four-minute track, Cam manages to pack in frustration, despair, anguish, and torment. But what makes it beautiful is the wounded vocal melody set against gentle guitar strumming and understated strings. This is the rare quiet breakout hit of 2015." At the

58th Annual Grammy Awards The 58th Annual Grammy Awards was held on February 15, 2016, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The ceremony recognizes the best recordings, compositions and artists of the eligibility year, which was from October 1, 2014, to September 30, 20 ...

, "Burning House" was nominated for

Best Country Solo Performance The Grammy Award for Best Country Solo Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. According to the 54th Grammy Awards description guide it is design ...

but lost to Chris Stapleton's " Traveller".

Commercial

The song was released after Cam performed it twice on ''

The Bobby Bones Show ''The Bobby Bones Show'' is an American nationally syndicated country music radio show aired during the morning drive. The Bobby Bones Show originated in Austin, Texas, but now originates from studios at WSIX-FM in Nashville. The show is syndic ...

'', and the song entered the Hot Country Songs chart at 43 on the song release (chart date June 27, 2015), selling 13,000 copies. It debuted at No. 48 on the Country Airplay chart dated for July 11, 2015. It then entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at No. 94 on the chart date of August 1, 2015. The song later went on to peak at No. 2. on both Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay in January 2016. The song was certified Gold by the RIAA on October 14, 2015, Platinum on December 16, 2015, and double Platinum on August 28, 2018. The song reached over a million in sales in the US in March 2016. The song has sold 1,231,000 copies as of November 2019.

Music video

The music video was directed by

and premiered in October 2015.

Personnel

From ''Untamed'' liner notes. ;Musical *

– piano, background vocals * Connie Ellisor – violin * Carl Gorodetzky – string contractor * Jim Grosjean – violin * Tyler Johnson – acoustic guitar, background vocals * Tony Lucido – bass guitar * Anders Mouridsen – electric guitar * Cam (as Camaron Ochs) – lead vocals, background vocals * Carole Rabinowitz – cello * Douglas Charles Showalter – acoustic guitar * Hamilton Ulmer – string arrangements ;Technical * Jeff Bhasker – production * Jon Castelli – mixing * Tyler Johnson – production, engineering * Lindsey Marias – vocal production * Melissa Mattey – string engineering * Ryan Nasci – mixing engineer * Ernesto Olivera – engineering * Alex Salibian – engineering

Chart and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

{{authority control 2015 singles 2015 songs Country ballads 2010s ballads Cam (singer) songs Arista Nashville singles Music videos directed by Trey Fanjoy Song recordings produced by Jeff Bhasker Songs written by Jeff Bhasker Songs written by Tyler Johnson (musician) Songs written by Cam (singer) Songs about dreams