"Everything I Did to Get to You" is a song by actor/singer-songwriter

Ben Platt Benjamin Schiff Platt (born September 24, 1993) is an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He began his acting career in musical theater as a child and appeared in productions of ''The Sound of Music'' (2006) and ''The Book of Mormon'' (201 ...

. It was released on June 8, 2020, following Platt's appearance on an episode of the television series ''

Songland ''Songland'' is an American songwriting competition series that aired on NBC from May 28, 2019, to June 15, 2020. The show, produced in cooperation with the Universal Television Alternative Studio, 222 Productions, Live Animals Productions and D ...

''. It is a re-worked version of the song "Everything It Took to Get to You" by David Davis, with additional writing from Michael Pollack,

Esther Dean Esther Renay Dean (born April 15, 1986) is an American singer, songwriter, music producer and actress. Dean has also written songs for many artists, with numerous Top 10 hits, including No. 1 hits for Rihanna and Katy Perry, earning the name ...

and

Shane McAnally Shane McAnally (born October 12, 1974) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer. Originally a solo artist for Curb Records in 1999, McAnally charted three singles on Hot Country Songs, including the No. 31 " Are Y ...

Background

According to Davis, the song was inspired by his own personal struggles with his sexuality and he described it as a "realization about how everything it took and everything I did to get to this place of owning my story was totally worth it." On the ninth episode of the second season of ''Songland'', Davis worked with producer

Ryan Tedder Ryan Tedder (born June 26, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. As well as being the lead vocalist of the pop rock band OneRepublic, he has an independent career as a songwriter and producer for various artists since th ...

to fine-tune the song to fit Platt's style, which included changing the title from "Everything It Took to Get to You" to its final one and tweaking the lyrics to make them "communicate pain and trial". This finished song was selected as the winner by Platt, who released the single on June 8, 2020 after the episode aired.

Release history

Charts

References

2020 singles 2020 songs Ben Platt songs Songs written by Ester Dean Songs written by Shane McAnally Songs written by Michael Pollack (musician) {{2020s-pop-song-stub