"Finish Line" is a song recorded by British artist Yasmin. Self-written, produced by

Labrinth Timothy Lee McKenzie (born 4 January 1989), better known by his stage name Labrinth, is an English singer, rapper, songwriter and record producer. After initially pursuing a career in music production, Simon Cowell signed him to his record labe ...

and co-produced by Marc Williams and featuring a sample from the

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

song " As". The song was released on 8 May 2011 as Yasmin's second single.

Background

"Finish Line" came about after Yasmin was in studio with her friend,

in January 2010. The two struggled for eight hours before beginning work on the song. Yasmin originally wrote and composed the whole song acoustically before Labrinth begun production work on it. Yasmin has revealed that it took about thirty minutes for her to write the song. The song was co-produced by Labrinth's manager, Marc Williams. The song resulted in Yasmin becoming Level Entertainment's first signed artist after she played "Finish Line" to the label's co-director and

BBC Radio 1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been cod ...

presenter, Twin B. In mid February 2011, a snippet of the final studio version of "Finish Line" was released onto the internet after Yasmin performed the song live at various gigs. The official radio edit for the song was then uploaded on 14 March 2011. On 20 April, "Finish Line" was A-listed on

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, ...

. Remixes of "Finish Line" by

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, Mike Delinquent and

Shy FX Andre Williams, better known as Shy FX, is a British DJ and producer from London. He specialises in drum and bass and jungle music. Biography Shy FX's debut record was "Jungle Love", released in 1992 on the Permission to Dance label. Soon after ...

were also released. In an interview with SoulCulture, Yasmin explained how the Freemasons Remix came about as well as her opinion of the remix:

I suggested the Freemasons when discussing remix ideas with the label and luckily for me the guys loved the song and went right ahead making an incredible floorfiller-esque remix, .. the guys told me they were so inspired by the track they wanted to do an alternative afterhours chilled out version which I was more than happy for them to do considering the calibre of the uptempo mix. When I finally heard this Afterhours Mix, I was blown away, it's even more magical than I expected. This remix has some of the most beautiful and evoking production I've heard in a long time, reminds me so much of
Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. The debut Massive Attack album ''Blue Lines'' was release ...
and Portishead, they just really nailed it.

Critical reception

"Finish Line" has been positively reviewed by music critics. Ciarán Gaynor of

State.ie State.ie (formerly ''State Magazine'') was an Republic of Ireland, Irish website and, before, a monthly music magazine. It launched in April 2008 and switched to online-only distribution in January 2009 after having published a total of ten iss ...

said that "Finish Line" proves many wrong who say that

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

is all the same. Gaynor complimented the song's good tune and sharp production. He went on to describe the drum sound on the track as "ace" and also highlighted: "'Finish Line' is not

auto-tune Auto-Tune (or autotune) is an audio processor introduced in 1996 by American company Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a proprietary device to measure and alter pitch in vocal and instrumental music recording and performances. Auto-Tu ...

y, and not full of those bright

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...

house sounds that people complain about and so it's something of a bit of fresh air." Robert Copsey 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, ...

praised how "Finish Line", unlike most break-up songs, is able to dress up a break-up as a cool and sophisticated pop track, "a feat too great for even the most established of artists." Copsey went on to describe the song's synths as "heart warming" and Yasmin's vocals as "radio-friendly". Cameron Rawson from Sound Of The Day was impressed by Yasmin's "soft tone" and "vibrant voice" on the song. Rawson felt Labrinth's hard work paid off in the "sweet production" on the record. He also highlighted: "If this is the sort of quality Yasmin is releasing now, in a few years time she will be huge - mark my words." Nyasha Edwards of Urban Development felt that "Finish Line" shows a more softer, mildly sentimental side to Yasmin than her previous single, " On My Own", did.

Chart performance

"Finish Line" first charted on 15 May 2011, when it debuted at number 13 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 ...

; marking Yasmin's highest charting single to date. The single also debuted at number-one on the

UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rele ...

, knocking " Unorthodox" by

Wretch 32 Jermaine Sinclaire Scott (born 9 March 1985), better known by his stage name Wretch 32, is a British rapper, singer and songwriter from Tottenham, North London. He was a member of the grime collective Combination Chain Gang, before forming The M ...

from the summit. On its second week charting, the single fell 7 places to number 20; falling a further 10 places to number 30 on 29 May. "Finish Line" spent only a single week at the summit of the independent chart, with

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 ...

returning to the top spot on 22 May with " Someone Like You".

Live performances

Yasmin performed "Finish Line" in January 2011 in an acoustic session for '' The Sun's'' 'The Biz Sessions'. She also performed "On My Own" and a cover of

Ellie Goulding Elena Jane Goulding ( ; born 30 December 1986) is an English singer and songwriter. Her career began when she met record producers Starsmith and Frankmusik, and she was later spotted by Jamie Lillywhite, who became her manager and Artists and ...

's " Starry Eyed" (2010). "Finish Line" was also performed by Yasmin when she was the supporting act for British artists

Example Example may refer to: * '' exempli gratia'' (e.g.), usually read out in English as "for example" * .example, reserved as a domain name that may not be installed as a top-level domain of the Internet ** example.com, example.net, example.org, ex ...

's 2010 tour, and

Eliza Doolittle Eliza Doolittle is a fictional character and the protagonist in George Bernard Shaw's play ''Pygmalion'' (1913) and its 1956 musical adaptation, ''My Fair Lady''. Eliza (from Lisson Grove, London) is a Cockney flower woman, who comes to Profe ...

's 2011 tour of the United Kingdom.

Track listing

*;Digital download #"Finish Line" (Radio Edit) – 3:59 #"Finish Line" (

Pegasus Club Mix) – 9:23 #"Finish Line" (Mike Delinquent Project Remix) – 4:29 #"Finish Line" ( Shy's Smoking Rabbit Mix) – 4:48 #"Finish Line" (Freemasons Pegasus After Hours Mix) – 6:01 #"Finish Line" (Acoustic Mix) – 4:02 *;12" (I) #"Finish Line" (Freemasons Pegasus Club Mix) – 9:23 #"Finish Line" (Freemasons Pegasus Dub) – 8:46 *;12" (II) #"Finish Line" (Mike Delinquent Project Remix) – 4:29 #"Finish Line" (Shy's Smoking Rabbit Mix) – 4:48 *;"Finish Line" (Freemason's Pegasus Radio Edit) - single #"Finish Line" (Freemason's Pegasus Radio Edit) - 3:25 *;Promo CD single #"Finish Line" (Radio Edit) – 3:59 #"Finish Line" (

Pegasus Club Mix) – 9:23 #"Finish Line" (Mike Delinquent Project Remix) – 4:29 #"Finish Line" ( Shy's Smoking Rabbit Mix) – 4:48 #"Finish Line" (Pegasus After Hours Mix) – 6:01 #"Finish Line" (Freemason's Pegasus Radio Edit) - 3:25 #"Finish Line" (Original Extended Edit) - 4:50 #"Finish Line" (Instrumental Edit) - 3:57

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2011 singles Song recordings produced by Labrinth Ministry of Sound singles