"Digital Love" is a song by French
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
duo
Daft Punk
Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Widely regarded as one of the most influential acts in dance music history, they achieved popularity in the late 1990s as p ...
. It was released as the third single from the album ''
Discovery
Discovery may refer to:
* Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown
* Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown
* Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence
Discovery, The Discovery ...
'' on 11 June 2001 and reached number 33 in France, number 28 in Italy, and number 14 in the United Kingdom. As part of the album, the song is featured in the film ''
Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem''.
Composition
As documented in the ''Discovery'' liner notes, the song features a sample of "I Love You More" by
George Duke
George M. Duke (January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013) was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as a pr ...
. The sample was worked into an electronic pop song about unspoken love with lyrics by
DJ Sneak
Carlos Sosa (born November 5, 1969), known as DJ Sneak, is a Puerto Rican-born American DJ and record producer raised in Chicago, Illinois, United States. He is noted as being one of the second wave of Chicago house producers, (alongside Derrick ...
and vocals performed by Daft Punk. Friend and occasional collaborator
Chilly Gonzales
Jason Charles Beck (born 20 March 1972), professionally known as Chilly Gonzales, is a Canadian musician, songwriter, and producer. Currently based in Cologne, Germany, he previously lived for several years in Paris. Gonzales is a musical polymat ...
remarked upon the unresolved
chord progression
In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...
derived from the sample, noting that the suspended harmonies contribute to the song's sense of longing and desire.
The track is known for the solo featured prominently on its second half.
Thomas Bangalter
Thomas Bangalter (; born 3 January 1975) is a French musician, record producer, singer, songwriter, DJ and composer. Son of French music composer and artist Daniel Vangarde. He is best known as one half of the former French house music duo Daft ...
revealed that the solo was created using a mixture of elements, aided by
music sequencer
A music sequencer (or audio sequencer or simply sequencer) is a device or application software that can record, edit, or play back music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically CV/Gate, MIDI, or Open Sound Cont ...
s. "No one plays solos in their songs anymore, but we wanted to include some on the album."
Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo
Guillaume Emmanuel "Guy-Manuel" de Homem-Christo (; born 8 February 1974) is a French musician, record producer, singer, songwriter, DJ and composer. He is known as one half of the former French house music duo Daft Punk, along with Thomas Bang ...
also noted the duo's use of in-studio equipment to evoke the sound of a previous artist:
Music video
The video was released in 2001 and would later appear as part the 2003 anime film ''
Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem''.
Immediately following the events that occurred in the "
Aerodynamic
Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...
" video, the alien planet's security guards regain enough consciousness to send a distress signal to a distant astronaut named Shep. At first, Shep is seen cleaning his spaceship's exterior while singing along with the song's lyrics. After completing the task, he returns to the ship and lounges around in his bedroom, filled with memorabilia of the alien band. He drifts into a daydream where he dances with his crush, the band's female bass player (later named Stella), in mid-air.
Shep's dream comes to an abrupt halt when he is awakened by the distress signal sent to him. To his horror, he learns of the band's abduction and current state of the alien planet, immediately pursuing after the kidnappers. After the chase leads through a warp hole, the kidnappers make a safe landing with the unconscious alien band at their base on Earth, with Shep crash-landing into a nearby forest, temporarily rendering him unconscious. The kidnappers take the sedated captives into the base's lab for the events that take place in the "
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
"Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" is a song by French duo Daft Punk, released in October 2001 as the fourth single from their second studio album ''Discovery''. A live version of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" was released as a single from ...
" video.
Reception
"Digital Love" charted backed with "
Aerodynamic
Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...
" due to equal club play. It charted at number 14 on 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 ...
and reached number nine on the
Hot Dance Music/Club Play
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 th ...
chart in the United States. It also reached number 67 in Australia, promoted along with its B-side, "Aerodynamic".
The song was featured in a
GAP television advertisement. It featured both members of Daft Punk wearing their robotic helmets and gloves as well as GAP denim shirts and jeans. They appeared dancing with
Juliette Lewis
Juliette Lake Lewis (born June 21, 1973) is an American actress and alternative rock singer. She is known for her portrayals of offbeat characters, often in films with dark themes. Lewis became an "it girl" of American cinema in the early 1990s, ...
. When asked about Daft Punk's dancing in the ad,
Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo
Guillaume Emmanuel "Guy-Manuel" de Homem-Christo (; born 8 February 1974) is a French musician, record producer, singer, songwriter, DJ and composer. He is known as one half of the former French house music duo Daft Punk, along with Thomas Bang ...
stated "It looks really simple to do, but when you're on a step with the crew, it's really not, even though the choreographer was really nice."
[Michael Hamersly, '']The Miami Herald
The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.[Nokia 5300
Nokia 5300 XpressMusic is a slider mobile phone by Nokia, part of the XpressMusic range. It was introduced on 26 September 2006 and released at the end of that year. It runs on Nokia Series 40 3rd Edition FP2.
Overview
The phone has a sleek sl ...]
, and several 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 ...
programs ''Is It College Yet?
''Is It College Yet?'' is a 2002 American animated comedy-drama television film written by Glenn Eichler and Peggy Nicoll, and directed by Karen Disher. The film was the second film-length installment of MTV's animated series ''Daria'', after 200 ...
'', ''Pimp my Ride
''Pimp My Ride'' is an American television series produced by MTV and hosted by rapper Xzibit, which ran for six seasons on MTV from 2004 to 2007. In each episode, a car in poor condition is both restored and customized. The work on the show w ...
'', ''Date My Mom
''Date My Mom'' is a television dating show airing on the music channel MTV and produced by Kalissa Productions. The series premiered on November 15, 2004 and ended in 2006. An 18- to 24-year-old heterosexual male, gay male or lesbian female, goes ...
'' and ''Next
Next may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare
* ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage
* '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film
Lit ...
''.
The American band Hellogoodbye
Hellogoodbye (sometimes styled as hellogoodbye) is an American pop rock band that was formed in Huntington Beach, California in 2001 by singer Forrest Kline. They were signed to Drive-Thru Records and released their first full-length album ''Zom ...
often uses the first two verses of "Digital Love" in place of the second verse of the song "Here (In Your Arms)
"Here (In Your Arms)" is the lead single from Hellogoodbye's debut album, ''Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!'' (2006), released on August 8, 2006. The song peaked at number fourteen on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and was certified platinum i ...
" when performing live. A live version of the song, performed by Danish group Alphabeat
Alphabeat were a Danish pop band from Silkeborg, fronted by singers Stine Bramsen and Anders Stig Gehrt Nielsen. Their single " Fascination" was a major hit in Denmark during the summer of 2007, as well as the United Kingdom in 2008. Follow-up ...
is available as part of an iTunes Live EP.iTunes Store
Track listings
Charts
Certifications
Release history
References
External links
Daft Punk official siteDaft Punk official site (German)Virgin Records Daft Punk official site
{{Authority control
2001 singles
2001 songs
Animated music videos
Daft Punk songs
Songs written by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo
Songs written by Thomas Bangalter
Virgin Records singles