"Ghost Town" is a song recorded by American singer
Adam Lambert
Adam Mitchel Lambert (born January 29, 1982) is an American singer and songwriter. Since 2009, he has sold over 3 million albums and 5 million singles worldwide. Lambert is known for his dynamic vocal performances that fuse his theatrical tra ...
for his third studio album, ''
The Original High
''The Original High'' is the third studio album by American singer Adam Lambert, released on June 12, 2015, by Warner Bros. Records. Its executive producers are Max Martin and Shellback, the duo responsible for co-writing and producing Lambert's ...
'' (2015). It was released as the album's lead single on April 21, 2015. The single garnered considerable commercial and critical success, becoming somewhat of a sleeper hit in select countries and receiving a substantial amount of radio play in the US.
Background
In July 2013, it was reported that Lambert had left his record label of four years,
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
, due to "creative differences" and the label allegedly pushing him to record an album composed of
cover songs
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or Sound recording and reproduction, recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referr ...
from
the 1980s. The day after his announcement, Lambert was contacted by
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...
.
A deal with the label was confirmed by ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' in January 2015, along with news that his upcoming album would be executive produced by
and
Shellback and was scheduled for release in the summer of 2015. Songwriting for the album began in early 2014, with recording taking place between 2014 and 2015 in the producers' native
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
.
Lambert first revealed the album title on social media on January 29, 2015, also his birthday. In March 2015, he unveiled additional details regarding the musical direction of the album in an interview with ''Hunger TV'' magazine.
Describing the style of the album as less "
campy
Camp is an aesthetic style and sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its bad taste and ironic value. Camp aesthetics disrupt many of modernism's notions of what art is and what can be classified as high art by inverting aes ...
" and theatrical than his previous material, Lambert also identified the album's genre as "definitely
pop but not
bubblegum
Bubble gum or bubblegum is a type of chewing gum, designed to be inflated out of the mouth as a bubble.
Bubble gum flavor
While there is a bubble gum "flavor" – which various artificial flavorings including esters are mixed to obtain – it ...
."
Lambert revealed the single cover art for "Ghost Town" on April 16, 2015.
[
]
Composition
Jason Lipshutz, a writer from ''Billboard'', noted that "Ghost Town" starts with "a
Wild West
The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...
whistle, which laces together guitar balladry and EDM drops".
Lewis Corner of ''Digital Spy'' described as the song has "a massive earworm hook – which is in the form of an addictive whistle line here – but its overall tone is marginally darker than their previous shiny anthems." He also noted that the song's verses are "dusty and spacious" with "an acoustic guitar line" and the chorus drops into "a deep house bassline and stomping club beats."
Music critics noted the similarity between "Ghost Town" and
Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...
's similarly titled song, "
Ghosttown," because of the similarity between the titles and proximity of the songs' releases. Lambert was surprised Madonna also had a song with the same title, but he thought "Hers is like a post-apocalyptic love song, mid-tempo, and mine's like an existential dance goth rave thing. So they're two different songs – they just share a title."
Critical reception
Rob Copsey from
Official Charts Company
The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France.
In the United Kingdom, its charts inc ...
called "Ghost Town" "a triumphant return...the kind of song that forces you to sit up and take notice."
Lipshutz from ''Billboard'' commented that "the track could use a bigger energy boost, although the dark house beats suit Lambert well".
[ Jon Caramanica of '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called it "perhaps his best single to date... ambert
Ambert (; Auvergnat: ''Embèrt'') is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France.
Administration
Ambert is the seat of the canton of Ambert and the arrondissement of Ambert. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. ...
becomes a house diva, singing with precision and ambition but in service of the song." Lewis Corner of ''Digital Spy'' commented "it's a mood perfect for Adam's balance of glam rock image, soulful vocal and today's house music-dominated landscape."
Commercial performance
"Ghost Town" 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 82. The following week, the song climbed to number 71 with 5,637 on sales.
"Ghost Town" jumped from number 16 to number 2 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart
The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...
for the week August 10, 2015 following his performance on ''The Voice Australia
''The Voice'' is an Australian singing competition television series. It premiered on the Nine Network on 14 April 2012, before moving to the Seven Network in 2021. Based on the original ''The Voice of Holland'', and part of ''The Voice '' ...
''.
''Ghost Town'' topped the chart in Poland and was certified triple platinum. It was also certified triple platinum in the Netherlands, double platinum in Sweden and Australia and platinum in Denmark. ''Ghost Town'' was certified Gold in US and Germany.
Since then, the single has sold more than 1.2 million copies worldwide.
Music video
The accompanying music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
for "Ghost Town" was directed by Hype Williams
Harold Williams (born August 1, 1970) is an American music video director, film director, film producer, and screenwriter.
Early life
Williams was born in Queens, New York. He is of mixed African-American and Honduran descent. He attended Adel ...
and premiered on April 29, 2015. The video features Lambert dancing on a white background with flashes of all types of dancers dancing to the rhythm. Scenes also include old photos of a ghost town.
Live performances
On May 1, 2015, Lambert performed "Ghost Town" live for the first time, donning an all-white ensemble, on ''Ellen
Ellen is a female given name, a diminutive of Elizabeth, Eleanor, Elena and Helen. Ellen was the 609th most popular name in the U.S. and the 17th in Sweden in 2004.
People named Ellen include:
* Ellen Adarna (born 1988), Filipino actress
* Elle ...
''. According to ''Billboard'' magazine, the performance was "haunting" and a "perfect complement to the official video" for the song.
On June 5, 2015, Lambert performed "Ghost Town" on the Dutch television show ''RTL Late Night'', and on June 6, 2015, in Finland at the "Live Aid Uusi Lastensairaala" concert.
Additional live performances include a performance of June 15, 2015 on ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It is the seventh incar ...
'' and a performance on ''Live with Kelly and Michael
''Live with Kelly and Ryan'' (or simply ''Live'') is an American syndicated morning talk show hosted by Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest. Executive produced by Michael Gelman, the ''Live with...'' show formula has aired under various hosts since ...
'', which was taped on June 16, 2015 and aired on the morning of June 19, 2015.
He also performed the song on June 19, 2015 as part of ''Good Morning America
''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...
s Summer Concert Series in Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...
, and on August 2, 2015 on the Australian version of ''The Voice
The Voice may refer to:
Fictional entities
* The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics
* The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe
* The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...
''.
The song was performed during Lambert's tour of South America with Queen in 2015 and is included in the setlist of ''The Original High Tour
The Original High Tour was the third solo (sixth overall) concert tour by American singer/songwriter Adam Lambert, launched in support of his third studio album, ''The Original High''. The tour began on December 31, 2015 in Singapore and continue ...
'' in 2016.
Track listing
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
{{Authority control
2015 singles
2015 songs
Adam Lambert songs
American house music songs
Music videos directed by Hype Williams
Number-one singles in Poland
Song recordings produced by Max Martin
Songs written by Adam Lambert
Songs written by Ali Payami
Songs written by Max Martin
Songs written by Sterling Fox
Warner Records singles
Songs written by Tobias Karlsson (songwriter)