"Break Free" is a song by American singer

Ariana Grande Ariana Grande-Butera ( ; born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her four-octave vocal range has received critical acclaim, and her personal life has been the subject of widespread media attention. She has received ...

featuring Russian-German music producer

Zedd Anton Zaslavski (russian: Антон Заславский; born 2 September 1989), known professionally as Zedd (), is a Russian-born German DJ, record producer, and songwriter. Zedd grew up and began his musical journey in Kaiserslautern, G ...

. Written by

Savan Kotecha Savan Harish Kotecha is an American songwriter and record producer from Austin, Texas. Kotecha is of Indian (Gujarati) descent. He was also the executive music producer of the 2020 film '' Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga'', for ...

and its producers Zedd and

Max Martin Karl Martin Sandberg (; born 26 February 1971),Max Martin
allmusic.com known profess ...

, it premiered on July 2, 2014, on ''Total Ariana Live'',

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's revival of ''

Total Request Live ''Total Request Live'' (known commonly as ''TRL'') was an American television program broadcast on MTV that premiered on September 14, 1998. TRL featured popular music videos played during its countdown, and was also used as a promotion tool by ...

''. The song was made available by digital download later that day and was serviced to contemporary hit and

rhythmic Rhythmic may refer to: * Related to rhythm * Rhythmic contemporary, a radio format * Rhythmic adult contemporary, a radio format * Rhythmic gymnastics, a form of gymnastics * Rhythmic (chart) The Rhythmic chart (also called Rhythmic Airplay, and ...

radio on July 8, 2014, as the second single from Grande's second studio album '' My Everything'' (2014). Musically, the song explores

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 ...

and electro genres, a musical departure for Grande, whose discography is primarily composed of pop and R&B.Villa, Lucas
"Listen: Zedd helps Ariana Grande 'Break Free' on new dance track"
''AXS''. Retrieved July 3, 2014. "Break Free" peaked at number four on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming Grande's third consecutive top-ten from ''My Everything'' after "Problem" and "Bang Bang", and fourth overall in the US. Similarly, "Break Free" hit number three on the Australian

ARIA Charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

, and number five on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record chart in Canada; a n ...

and the

New Zealand Singles Chart The Official New Zealand Music Chart ( mi, Te Papa Tātai Waiata Matua o Aotearoa) is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The Music ...

. Overall, the song attained top-ten peaks in multiple countries including Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, and Sweden, as well as reaching the top twenty in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Poland, Scotland, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The song has been certified triple Platinum by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

and has sold 1.9 million copies in the United States as of 2018, making it Grande's seventh single to have sold over a million. "Break Free" also marked a milestone in Grande's career, as it entered the top ten on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 the same week "

Bang Bang Bang Bang or Bang Bang Bang or similar may refer to: Food * Bang bang chicken, a Chinese dish *Bang bang shrimp, a Chinese dish People * Abdul Razzaq (cricketer) (born 1979), nicknamed Bang Bang Razzaq * Bang Bang (Dubliner) (1906–1981), ...

" and " Problem" were charting. Consequently, she became the second lead female artist in chart history to simultaneously hold three positions in the top ten on the Hot 100 after

Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (, ; born 5 May 1988), professionally known by the mononym Adele, is an English singer and songwriter. After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a reco ...

Production and composition

"Break Free" was written by Savan Kotecha, Zedd and Max Martin and produced by the latter two. The song was originally intended for a male singer, due to her working on his 2013 single "Say Somethin". In a May 2014 interview during which he talked about "Break Free",

spoke about wanting to collaborate with Grande after hearing her voice for the first time at a

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a ...

showcase. He said, "I was backstage and I heard someone sing. And I didn't know who it was, and I just said 'I want to make a song with whoever is singing right now.' I didn't know who it was, and it turned out to be her. And luckily, now there's a song!" Grande first spoke about collaborating on a song with Zedd in late April in an interview with ''Billboard''. She described the song as "fantastic and super-experimental for me" and further stated, "I never thought I'd do an EDM song, but that was an eye-opening experience, and now all I want to do is dance." She later talked about the song at Wango Tango and shared that she wanted it to be the next single. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Kobalt Music Services America, "Break Free" is written in the key of

G minor G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative major is B-flat major and its parallel major is G major. According to Paolo Pietropaolo, it is the cont ...

. Ariana Grande commented on the seemingly nonsensical lyrics, telling ''Time'' magazine, "I fought ax Martinon it the whole time. I am not going to sing a grammatically incorrect lyric, help me, God! Max was like, ‘It’s funny — just do it!'"

Release

On May 10, 2014, during an interview after her performance at Wango Tango, Grande revealed that she wanted "Break Free" to be her next single after " Problem". She said, "I did a song with Zedd, who I just met for the first time here, and I'm really excited about that song. I really want that to be the second single. My whole team is like, 'Oh it's too early to pick a new single,' but I'm really leaning towards that one. I love that song so much. He's fantastic and the song is really fun." Grande began dropping hints about her second single on social media throughout the month of June but did not confirm that it was her Zedd collaboration until June 21, at which point she also revealed the song's name on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. To build hype, Grande started an online countdown for the ten days leading up to "Break Free's" release. On June 28, Grande uploaded a teaser video with a snippet of the song to her

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

account. "Break Free" premiered on the one-day revival of the MTV show ''

'' in a half-hour special titled ''Total Ariana Live'' on July 2, 2014. It was made available for purchase as a digital download on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

a few hours after the TRL premiere. It reached the number one spot on the iTunes Sales Chart soon after its release.

Critical reception

Rachel Sonis from

Idolator An idolator is a practitioner of idolatry. Idolater or Idolator may also refer to: Books *''Os Idólatras'', 1968 Portuguese novel by Maria Judite de Carvalho Music * Idolator (website), an American music blog * ''Idolator'' (album), third album ...

gave the song a positive review calling it "''the'' club anthem of the summer" and thought that Grande herself is "dipping her toes into exciting new waters for her upcoming record." Lewis Corner from ''

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...

'' gave the song four stars out of five and said that the track is "too catchy to be generic". Larry Fitzmaurice from ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' also liked the song praising both the production part of the song and the vocal saying that, "from the zippy opening synth line to the verse's insistent pounding, 'Break Free' certainly invites comparisons to Swedish pop mastermind

Robyn Robin Miriam Carlsson (born 12 June 1979), known as Robyn (), is a Swedish pop singer, songwriter, record producer, and DJ. She arrived on the music scene with her 1995 debut album, ''Robyn Is Here'', which produced two Billboard Hot 100, ''Bil ...

; as ever, Grande brings her own skyscraping voice in top form, so vocally the comparisons don't stick." He compared the message of the song to

Kelly Clarkson Kelly Brianne Clarkson (born April 24, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. She rose to fame after winning the first season of ''American Idol'' in 2002, which earned her a record deal with RCA. Her debu ...

's "

Since U Been Gone "Since U Been Gone" is a song recorded by American singer Kelly Clarkson from her second studio album, '' Breakaway'' (2004). The song, which was written and produced by Max Martin and Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald, was released as the lead sing ...

". "Break Free" was nominated at the 2014 Teen Choice Awards in the Break-Up Song category. It was also nominated for Top Dance/Electronic Song at the

2015 Billboard Music Awards The 2015 ''Billboard'' Music Awards ceremony was held on May 17, 2015, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It was aired live on ABC. The show was hosted by Ludacris and Chrissy Teigen. Taylor Swift won 8 out of her 14 nominations, inclu ...

Accolades

Commercial performance

In the United States, "Break Free" debuted at number 15 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 with 161,000 digital downloads sold in its first week, entering the

Digital Songs The Digital Songs or Digital Song Sales chart (previously named Hot Digital Songs) ranks the best-selling digital songs in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published by '' Billboard'' magazine. Although it originally sta ...

chart at number five. Following the release of the song's official music video on August 12, "Break Free" soared on the Hot 100 from number 18 to number four, becoming Grande's fourth top-ten single and her third consecutive top-ten single of 2014. Grande's other singles, "

" and " Problem" were also in the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 top ten that week, placing at number ten and seven respectively. With three songs in the top ten, Ariana Grande became the second female lead artist to have three singles in the top ten since

in 2012. In that same week, "Break Free" jumped from 14 to four on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

charts with 116,000 digital downloads sold, along with "Bang Bang" and the promotional single "

Best Mistake "Best Mistake" is a song by American recording artist Ariana Grande that features American hip hop recording artist Big Sean. The song served as a promotional single from Grande's second studio album, '' My Everything'' (2014), and was released ...

" (featuring

Big Sean Sean Michael Leonard Anderson (born March 25, 1988), known professionally as Big Sean, is an American rapper. Anderson began his music career in 2007 and gained popularity in 2010 with his third mixtape '' Finally Famous Vol. 3: Big''. He then s ...

) ranking at numbers two and six respectively. Consequently, Grande became the first female artist to have three songs placing in the top six of the ''Billboard'' Digital Songs chart simultaneously and the second overall artist since

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

. This also marked Zedd's second top ten and his highest-peaking single to date in the US. "Break Free" also peaked at number three on the

Dance Club Songs Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

, while topping the

Dance/Electronic Songs The Dance/Electronic Songs chart has been published weekly by ''Billboard'' since January 2013. It is the first chart to be published that ranks the most popular dance and electronic songs according to audience impressions, digital downloads, s ...

chart for nine weeks, becoming Grande's and Zedd's first number one in the latter. The song has sold 1.9 million copies in the nation as of April 2018. Internationally, the song also reached the top ten in Australia, Austria, Canada, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, and Sweden.

Impact

In March 2022, "Break Free" has received attention in the Philippines during a campaign rally for presidential candidate, Vice President

Leni Robredo Maria Leonor "Leni" Gerona Robredo (; born Maria Leonor Santo Tomas Gerona; April 23, 1965) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 14th vice president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. She was the wife of the late Jesse ...

and her running mate, Sen.

Francis Pangilinan Francis Pancratius "Kiko" Nepomuceno Pangilinan (; born August 24, 1963) is a Filipino lawyer, politician, and farm owner who served as a Senator from 2001 to 2013 and from 2016 to 2022. He was the Senate Majority Leader from 2004 to 2008. A ...

. A video of the crowd singing "Break Free" went viral, catching the attention of Grande herself. Grande posted the video on Instagram, stating "I could not believe this was real. I love you more than words". An estimated 137,000 people attended the rally.

Music video

The music video was filmed from June 10–12, 2014. It was directed by

Chris Marrs Piliero Chris Marrs Piliero is an American actor, writer, producer, and director of short films and music videos. Piliero directed the 2010 music video for '' Tighten Up'' by The Black Keys, which won the 2010 MTV Video Music Award for Breakthrough Vide ...

. Having an intergalactic theme, Grande stated that the video was inspired by the 1968

sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...

film '' Barbarella'', the ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'' series and

space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...

in general. The plot consists of Grande on a fictional planet renouncing her allegiance to an evil regime of

extraterrestrials Extraterrestrial life, colloquially referred to as alien life, is life that may occur outside Earth and which did not originate on Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been conclusively detected, although efforts are underway. Such life might ...

and freeing a group of prisoners from their cages. She subsequently attacks a giant robot using missiles, but the robot managed to release its hand to catch her, bringing her to the planet's overlord. Her character succeeds in defeating the villain, and the clip ends with Grande and the prisoners she rescued flying away in a spaceship, partying with the crew, as

Beats by Dre Beats Electronics LLC (also known as Beats by Dr. Dre, or simply Beats by Dre) is an American consumer audio products manufacturer headquartered in Culver City, California. The company was founded by music producer Dr. Dre and record company exec ...

products are

visible Visibility, in meteorology, is a measure of the distance at which an object or light can be seen. Visibility may also refer to: * A measure of turbidity in water quality control * Interferometric visibility, which quantifies interference contrast ...

in the scene. The song's producer Zedd makes an appearance. It premiered on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

on August 12, 2014. It surpassed 100 million views on October 5, making it Grande's third Vevo-certified music video after " The Way" and " Problem". It made its televised debut three days later on

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

during its original movie ''

How to Build a Better Boy ''How to Build a Better Boy'' is a Disney Channel Original Movie directed by Paul Hoen and written by Jason Mayland. It stars China Anne McClain, Kelli Berglund and Marshall Williams. The first images were shown during a promo for Disney Channe ...

''. As of May 2019, the video has received over 1 billion views on

Live performances

Grande first performed at the "IHeartRadio Theater at the L.A Honda Stage" on August 22, 2014. She performs the song for the second time at the 31st annual MTV Video Music Awards on August 24, 2014. She then went on to perform it on several television shows, including ''

America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is a televised American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distribut ...

'' on August 27, on ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...

'' on August 29, and on ''

The X Factor Australia ''The X Factor'' is an Australian television reality music competition, based on the original UK series, to find new singing talent. The first season of the show premiered on Network Ten on 6 February 2005. Ten dropped ''The X Factor'' after ...

'' on September 8. She also performed it at the

iHeartRadio Music Festival The iHeartRadio Music Festival is a two-day music concert festival held every year in September since 2011 by iHeartRadio along the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. From 2011 to 2015, the festival was held at the MGM Gran ...

on September 19. She performed a half acoustic, half upbeat version of "Break Free" on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'' on September 27, 2014. Grande once again performed "Break Free" at the 2014 MTV Europe Music Awards on November 9, 2014, opening up the show along with her other single "Problem". Grande performed the song at the

American Music Awards The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show, generally held in the fall, created by Dick Clark in 1973 for ABC when the network's contract to air the Grammy Awards expired, and currently produced by Dick Clark Produc ...

on November 23, 2014. "Break Free" was part of Grande's set list for the Honeymoon Tour, the

Dangerous Woman Tour The Dangerous Woman Tour was the third concert tour and the second arena tour by American singer Ariana Grande in support of her third studio album, ''Dangerous Woman'' (2016). It traveled across North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Oc ...

and

One Love Manchester One Love Manchester was a benefit concert and British television special on 4 June 2017, organised by American singer Ariana Grande, Simon Moran, Melvin Benn and Scooter Braun in response to the Manchester Arena bombing after Grande's concert t ...

, a benefit concert held on June 4, 2017, for the victims of the

Manchester Arena bombing On 22 May 2017, an Islamist extremist suicide bomber detonated a shrapnel-laden homemade bomb as people were leaving the Manchester Arena following a concert by American pop singer Ariana Grande. Twenty-three people were killed, including ...

. The song was also performed at Grande's

Sweetener World Tour The Sweetener World Tour was the fourth concert tour and third arena tour by American singer, songwriter and actress Ariana Grande in support of her fourth and fifth studio albums, ''Sweetener'' (2018) and '' Thank U, Next'' (2019). Led by Live N ...

on all dates from March 18 to November 22, 2019, before it was removed.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from ''My Everything'' liner notes. Recording and management * Recorded at

Conway Recording Studios Conway Recording Studios is a recording studio in Hollywood, California. People and awards Conway started in the early 1970s as a mastering studio. In 1976, the studio began recording albums, including projects by Elton John and Stevie Wond ...

(

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

) and Zedd1 Studio (

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

) * Mastered at Sterling Sound (

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

) * Zedd Music Empire (

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 ...

), all rights administered by Kobalt Songs Music Publishing, MXM (administered by Kobalt) (ASCAP), MXM (administered by Kobalt (ASCAP) Personnel *

– lead vocals, background vocals *

– songwriting, production, programming, instruments, mixing *

Max Martin Karl Martin Sandberg (; born 26 February 1971),Max Martin
allmusic.com known profess ...

– songwriting, production for MXM Productions *

– songwriting * Ryan Shanahan – engineering * Jesse Taub – engineering * Sam Holland – engineering * Cory Bice – engineering * Tom Coyne – mastering * Aya Merrill – mastering

Other versions

For its sixth season, the hit musical-comedy TV series ''

Glee Glee means delight, a form of happiness. Glee may also refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 30 ...

'' covered this song in the ninth episode titled " Child Star". This version is performed by

Lea Michele Lea Michele Sarfati (; born August 29, 1986) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, and author. She began her career as a child actress on Broadway (theatre), Broadway, appearing in productions of ''Les Misérables (musical), Les Misérab ...

Josie Totah Josie Totah (born August 5, 2001), formerly known as J. J. Totah, is an American actress. She is known for her recurring role on the Disney Channel series '' Jessie'' and supporting role on the 2013 ABC comedy series '' Back in the Game''. T ...

Dot-Marie Jones Dorothy-Marie Jones (born January 4, 1964) is an American actress and retired athlete who has had multiple roles in television. She attended California State University, Fresno, where she set records for shot put. Jones is also a 15-time world ...

Jane Lynch Jane Marie Lynch (born July 14, 1960) is an American actress, comedian and author. She is known for starring as Sue Sylvester in the musical comedy series '' Glee'' (2009–2015), which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award. Lynch also gained recog ...

Matthew Morrison Matthew James Morrison (born October 30, 1978) is an American actor, dancer and singer-songwriter, best known for his role as Will Schuester on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox television show ''Glee (TV series), Glee'' (2009–2015). He has s ...

, and

Chord Overstreet Chord Paul Overstreet (born February 17, 1989) is an American actor and musician. He is best known for his role as Sam Evans on the Fox television series ''Glee'' (2009–2015). He has starred in the Apple TV+ comedy series ''Acapulco'' since 20 ...

as their characters

Rachel Berry Rachel Barbra Berry is a fictional character and one of the two main protagonists, alongside Mr. Schue in the Fox musical comedy-drama series ''Glee''. The character is portrayed by actress Lea Michele, and appears in ''Glee'' from its pilot epi ...

, Myron Muskovitz,

Sheldon Beiste Coach Sheldon Beiste is a fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series '' Glee''. He is portrayed by actress Dot-Marie Jones, and has appeared in ''Glee'' since its second season premiere "Audition", first broadcast on Septemb ...

Sue Sylvester Susan "Sue" Rodham Sylvester is a fictional character of the Fox musical comedy-drama series, '' Glee''. The character is portrayed by actress Jane Lynch, and appears in ''Glee'' from its pilot episode, first broadcast on May 19, 2009, through ...

Will Schuester William Michael Schuester, often referred to as Mr. Schue, is a fictional teacher character and one of the two main protagonists from the Fox musical comedy-drama series ''Glee'', alongside his student Rachel Berry. He has appeared in ''Glee'' ...

, and

Sam Evans Sam Evans is a fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series '' Glee''. The character is portrayed by actor Chord Overstreet, and appeared on ''Glee'' starting with the second season premiere episode entitled "Audition", first b ...

, respectively. A small portion of the lyrics is changed for an unknown reason. Fantasy-comedy series ''

The Good Place ''The Good Place'' is an American fantasy comedy television series created by Michael Schur. It premiered on NBC on September 19, 2016, and concluded on January 30, 2020, after four seasons and 53 episodes. Although the plot evolves significa ...

'' uses the original recording of this song as background music for a sequence in its series premiere " Everything Is Fine".

Reese Witherspoon Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, she ...

and

Nick Kroll Nicholas Kroll (born June 5, 1978) is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is known for creating and starring in the Comedy Central series ''Kroll Show'', ''The Oh, Hello Show'', the FX comedy series ''The Lea ...

performed this in the 2021 animated feature ''

Sing 2 ''Sing 2'' is a 2021 American computer-animated jukebox musical comedy film produced by Illumination and distributed by Universal Pictures. The sequel to ''Sing'' (2016) and the second film in the franchise, it was again written and directed ...

'' as Rosita and Gunther. Dakota Lotus,

Olivia Sanabia Olivia may refer to: People * Olivia (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Olivia (singer) (Olivia Longott, born 1981), American singer * Olívia (basketball) (Carlos Henrique Rodrigues do Nascimento, born 197 ...

and Ruby Rose Turner sing a portion of the song in a 2020 episode of

Coop & Cami Ask the World ''Coop & Cami Ask the World'' is an American comedy television series created by Boyce Bugliari and Jamie McLaughlin that premiered on Disney Channel on October 12, 2018. It stars Dakota Lotus and Ruby Rose Turner as Coop and Cami Wrather, two m ...

in their respective roles as Coop, Charlotte and Cami, after Ariana Grande fails to show up at Cami's birthday party. The episode aired during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

References

{{authority control 2014 singles 2014 songs Ariana Grande songs Republic Records singles Zedd songs Electronic dance music songs Song recordings produced by Max Martin Songs written by Max Martin Songs written by Savan Kotecha Songs written by Zedd Music videos directed by Chris Marrs Piliero Extraterrestrial life in popular culture Songs with feminist themes Synth-pop songs American synth-pop songs American electronic songs American dance-pop songs Dance-pop songs