"Don't Call Me Angel" is a song by American singers

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 ...

Miley Cyrus Miley Ray Cyrus ( ; born Destiny Hope Cyrus on November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her distinctive raspy voice, her music spans across varied styles and genres, including pop, country, rock, hip hop ...

, and

Lana Del Rey Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Her music is noted for its cinematic quality and exploration of tragic romance, glamour, and melancholia, with frequent ...

. It was released on September 13, 2019, by

Republic Records Republic Records is a New York City–based American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). It was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially an ...

as the lead single from the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

to the film ''

Charlie's Angels ''Charlie's Angels'' is an American crime drama television series that aired on ABC from September 22, 1976, to June 24, 1981, producing five seasons and 115 episodes. The series was created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and was produced by Aa ...

'', based on the television series of the same name created by

Ivan Goff Ivan Goff (17 April 1910 – 23 September 1999) was an Australian screenwriter, best known for his collaborations with Ben Roberts including ''White Heat'' (1949), '' Man of a Thousand Faces'' (1957), '' Legend of the Lone Ranger'' (1981), and ...

and Ben Roberts. The song reached number one in Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Lebanon, and Israel, as well as the top five in eleven other countries.

Background and composition

Grande, Cyrus, and Del Rey had collaborated on the theme song for the 2019 film ''Charlie's Angels''. The song was written by Grande, Alma-Sofia Miettinen,

Ilya Salmanzadeh Ilya Salmanzadeh (; born 19 September 1986 in Stockholm), known mononymously as ILYA, is a Swedish-Persian songwriter, producer and singer. He rose to prominence outside of Sweden after co-writing and producing Ariana Grande's " Problem" and Je ...

, Del Rey,

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

, Cyrus and

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 ...

. "Don't Call Me Angel" is a pop,

trap A trap is a mechanical device used to capture or restrain an animal for purposes such as hunting, pest control, or ecological research. Trap or TRAP may also refer to: Art and entertainment Films and television * ''Trap'' (2015 film), Fil ...

and R&B song with "lightly hip-hop-infused production".

Critical reception

The song received a lukewarm reaction from critics. ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...

''s Craig Jenkins wrote that the single "blends styles that sound fine alone but struggle to jell together ... such is the vastness of the space between the singers present". Stacy Anderson of ''

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 ...

'' stated that the pop stars "meet at a lower creative common denominator than they've enjoyed lately" while adding that the song has "distinct flatness". Writing for ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'', Rhian Daly claimed it was "definitely not the follow-up to

Destiny's Child Destiny's Child was an American girl group whose final line-up comprised Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams. The group began their musical career as Girl's Tyme, formed in 1990 in Houston, Texas. After years of limited ...

's own ''Charlie's Angels'' theme" and that the collaboration was "far less potent".

Commercial performance

"Don't Call Me Angel" debuted at number 13 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart becoming Grande's 20th top 20 song, Cyrus' 14th, and Del Rey's third. The song also became Del Rey's highest-charting song since "

Summertime Sadness "Summertime Sadness" is a song by American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey from her second studio album, ''Born to Die'' (2012). The Pop music, pop ballad was released on June 22, 2012, by Interscope Records as the fourth single of the album. In ...

", which reached number six in 2013; as well as Cyrus' highest since " Malibu", which peaked at number 10 in 2017. The track started at number two on 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 with 26,000 downloads sold within its first week, and number eleven on the

Streaming Songs The Streaming Songs chart is released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists each week's top streamed radio songs, on-demand songs and videos on leading online music services in the United States. The chart represents one of the three component ...

chart with 26.3 million streams. With 7.5 million airplay audience impressions, "Don't Call Me Angel" also debuted at number 33 on the

Mainstream Top 40 Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...

following a complete tracking week.

Music video

The music video and the song were both released on September 13, 2019. It features the singers dressed up in black angel costumes and wearing wings on their backs. The ending featured

Elizabeth Banks Elizabeth Banks (born Elizabeth Irene Mitchell; February 10, 1974) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is known for playing Effie Trinket in ''The Hunger Games'' film series (2012–2015) and Gail Abernathy-McKadden in the ''Pitch Perfe ...

showcasing her role as Rebekah Bosley from the film. The video has since surpassed the 100 million view mark becoming Grande's first video since "

7 Rings "7 Rings" (stylised in all lowercase) is a song by American singer Ariana Grande, from her fifth studio album ''Thank U, Next''. It was released as the album's second single on January 18, 2019, through Republic Records. The song was written by ...

" to do so, Del Rey's first since " Lust for Life" and Cyrus' first since "Malibu".

Lyric video

A lyric video was released on September 16, 2019, which shows scenes from the film.

Live performance

"Don't Call Me Angel" was first performed live by Cyrus during her set on

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 21, 2019.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

: *

– vocals, songwriting *

Ilya Ilya, Iliya, Ilia, Ilja, or Ilija (russian: Илья́, Il'ja, , or russian: Илия́, Ilija, ; uk, Ілля́, Illia, ; be, Ілья́, Iĺja ) is the East Slavic form of the male Hebrew name Eliyahu (Eliahu), meaning "My God is Yahu/Jah." ...

– production, songwriting, bass, drums, keyboards *

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

– production, songwriting, bass, drums, keyboards *

Alma Alma or ALMA may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Alma'' (film), a 2009 Spanish short animated film * ''Alma'' (Oswald de Andrade novel), 1922 * ''Alma'' (Le Clézio novel), 2017 * ''Alma'' (play), a 1996 drama by Joshua Sobol about Alma ...

– songwriting *

– songwriting * Daniel Changel – songwriting, samples * Cory Bice – record engineering * Jeremy Lertola – record engineering * Sam Holland – record engineering * John Hanes – mixing engineering *

Serban Ghenea Șerban Ghenea (born October 13, 1969) is a Grammy award-winning Romanian-Canadian audio engineer and mixer. Early life and education Ghenea was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1969. In 1976 he moved to Montreal with his family. He later attended ...

– mixing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control 2019 singles 2019 songs Ariana Grande songs Charlie's Angels (franchise) Miley Cyrus songs Lana Del Rey songs Songs with feminist themes Songs written for films Songs written by Ariana Grande Songs written by Miley Cyrus Songs written by Lana Del Rey Songs written by Ilya Salmanzadeh Songs written by Alma (Finnish singer) Song recordings produced by Ilya Salmanzadeh Song recordings produced by Max Martin Music videos directed by Hannah Lux Davis Number-one singles in Iceland Number-one singles in Israel Number-one singles in Greece Number-one singles in Hungary Number-one singles in Scotland Republic Records singles Trap music songs