"Close Enemies" is a song by British recording artist

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. It was released on 11 November 2012 as the second single from his fourth studio album, ''

The Evolution of Man ''The Evolution of Man'' is the fourth studio album by English musician Example, released on 19 November 2012 through Ministry of Sound. Background and development Example tweeted that on the plane to Sydney, he planned on writing some songs ...

''. The song was written by

Elliot Gleave Elliot John Gleave (born 20 June 1982), better known by his stage name Example, is an English musician, singer, songwriter, rapper and record producer. His name arose due to his initials being E.G., which is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase ...

and Alex Smith, the latter who also produced the song. It entered the UK Singles Chart on 18 November 2012 at number 37. Gleave and his band performed a live version of the song for

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

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, which features on the ''Live Lounge 2013'' compilation album.

Background and release

"Close Enemies" received its live debut at the Norwich UEA on 15 September 2012, and was performed on 17 September 2012 at the iTunes Festival. The track received its radio debut on

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 ...

show, where it was announced to be Zane Lowe's hottest record in the world on 26 September 2012 and the lyric video was made public on Example's official YouTube channel on the same evening. The DJ Wire remix was uploaded to UKF Drum & Bass on 4 October 2012 and the Rollz remix was uploaded to UKF Music on 8 October 2012. Due to the large amount of remixes for the song, two extended plays were released. One contains the original and extended mixes alongside four remixes and the other EP consists entirely of four remixes. The Joker and

Dyro Jordy van Egmond (; born 22 April 1992), known professionally as Dyro (), is a Dutch DJ and EDM producer. Since 2010 he has released original singles and remixes on labels such as Revealed Recordings, Musical Freedom, and Def Jam, and has also ...

remixes also feature on the deluxe edition of

. Talking about the song, Example said: "it's got the light, the dark, the emotion, it's got the guitars, it's got the electronic elements, the rapping, the half time dubstep bits, everything I wanted to do is embodied by this record so it was the one to lead the album with."Example Teams Up With Rankin For New 'Close Enemies' Music Video
Capital FM. capitalfm.com/ Example has collaborated with producer Alex Smith in the past, as the two had co-written " Chasing the Sun" by

The Wanted The Wanted are a British-Irish boy band consisting of group members Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness and Nathan Sykes and, until his death in 2022, Tom Parker (singer), Tom Parker. The group was formed in 2009 and signed a worldw ...

Critical reception

Robert Copsey of ''

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'' gave the song a positive review stating:

If 'Close Enemies' is anything to go by, the answer is a firm no. "Your smile should have told me you're trouble," he half-sings over a menacing guitar riff and moody synths, before breaking out into a gloopy, dubsteppy and suitably epic chorus. The result, despite the whiff of alt-rock, largely sticks to his tried and tested methods – though it comes at a time when he should be doing just the opposite. .

Music video

Background

A music video to accompany the release of "Close Enemies" was first released onto YouTube on 8 October 2012 at a total length of three minutes and fifty-five seconds. The video was directed by Rankin. On Twitter, Example said: "As per usual my new music video will not make any sense or have anything to do with the song. I like it this way. There is a clown in it tho."

Synopsis

The video starts with a warning message for "Restricted Audiences Only". He is seen rapping in a warehouse. During the video, the rapper shares scenes with a female who continues to flicker between human and zombie as they stand face to face. There is also a menacing looking clown, a huge man wielding a chainsaw and a troubled soldier.

Track listing

Chart performance

On 18 November 2012 the song entered the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

at number 37.BBC – Radio 1 – Chart – The Official UK Top 40 Singles Chart
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Charts

Release history

References

{{authority control 2012 singles Example (musician) songs Ministry of Sound singles Songs written by Example (musician) 2012 songs