"Golden" is a song by English singer

Harry Styles Harry Edward Styles (born 1 February 1994) is an English singer, songwriter, and actor. His musical career began in 2010 as a solo contestant on the British music competition series ''The X Factor (UK TV series), The X Factor''. Following hi ...

from his second studio album '' Fine Line'' (2019). The song was written by Styles alongside

Mitch Rowland Mitchell Kristopher Rowland (born July 13, 1988) is an American songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work as a touring guitarist and for co-writing songs on all three of Harry Styles' solo albums. "Watermelon Sugar," a song he c ...

, Tyler Johnson and

Kid Harpoon Thomas Edward Percy Hull (born 20 April 1982), known professionally as Kid Harpoon, is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. Career Already a fixture at local venues in his hometown of Chatham, Kid Harpoon first emerge ...

, with Johnson and Harpoon handling the production and co-production, respectively. The song was serviced to

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

formats in the United Kingdom on 23 October 2020 as the album's fifth single. In the US, the song was serviced to

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

and

formats on 26 and 27 October 2020 respectively. This song peaked at number 26 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 at number 57 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Composition

"Golden" is an

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

and

soft rock Soft rock is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in Southern California and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. S ...

song, with a

1970s File:1970s decade montage.jpg, Clockwise from top left: U.S. President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office following the Watergate scandal in 1974; The United States was still involved in the Vietnam War i ...

and

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

sound. The song is composed in time and the

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

D major D major (or the key of D) is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor. The D major scale is: : Ch ...

, with a moderately fast

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

of 140 beats per minute and a

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 ...

of C–Em/Bm⁷–D. It incorporates clusters of background harmonies and is filled with twinkling

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The glo ...

tinkles. Styles' vocals range from D₃ to B₄.

Music video

The music video for "Golden" was directed by Ben Turner and

Gabe Turner Gabe Emmanuel Turner (born 21 December 1980) is a British director and executive producer, known for directing the documentary films ''In The Hands of The Gods'', ''The Class of '92'', and '' I Am Bolt''. He is a partner at Fulwell 73, a product ...

, and premiered on 26 October 2020. In the music video, Styles is shown running, swimming, and driving a car along the

Amalfi Coast The Amalfi Coast ( it, Costiera amalfitana) is a stretch of coastline in southern Italy overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Gulf of Salerno. It is located south of the Sorrentine Peninsula and north of the Cilentan Coast. Celebrated worldwide ...

in Italy.

Accolades

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

of ''Fine Line''.

Recording

* Recorded at

Real World Studios Real World Studios is a residential recording studio complex founded by Peter Gabriel and situated in the village of Box, Wiltshire, England, near to the city of Bath. It is closely associated with the Real World Records record label, Real Wor ...

(

Bath, Somerset Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...

Shangri-La Shangri-La is a fictional place in Asia's Kunlun Mountains (昆仑山), Uses the spelling 'Kuen-Lun'. described in the 1933 novel ''Lost Horizon'' by English author James Hilton. Hilton portrays Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, ge ...

(

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malibu ...

Groove Masters Groove Masters is a semi-private recording studio owned by Jackson Browne. Located in Santa Monica, California, the studio has been the setting for many of Browne's recordings. The head sound engineer is Grammy-nominated Paul Dieter. The studio occ ...

(

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

), and Harpoon House (Los Angeles, California) * Mixed at

EastWest Studios EastWest Studios (formerly known as Western Studio, a component of United Western Recorders and later Ocean Way Recording) is a recording studio complex located at 6000 West Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Originally constructed by Bill Putnam in ...

(Los Angeles, California) * Mastered at

Sterling Sound George Marino (April 15, 1947 – June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s. Biography Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He at ...

(

Edgewater, New Jersey Edgewater is a borough located along the Hudson River in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough had a population of 11,513,/nowiki>''sic''/nowiki> Hill Road was an important route to the top ...

)

Personnel

vocals, backing vocals, songwriting * Tyler Johnson production, songwriting, backing vocals, keyboards *

co-production, songwriting, backing vocals,

synth A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...

moog bass The Moog Taurus is a foot-operated analog synthesizer designed and manufactured by Moog Music, originally conceived as a part of the Constellation series of synthesizers. The initial Taurus I was manufactured from 1975 to 1981; a less popular re ...

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

* Mitch Rowland songwriting, drums, slide guitar, glockenspiel, electric guitar *

Leo Abrahams Leo Matthew Abrahams (born 1977 in Camden, London) is an English musician, composer and producer. He has collaborated with a multitude of professional musicians, including Brian Eno, Katie Melua, Imogen Heap, Jarvis Cocker, Carl Barât, Regina ...

electric guitar * Sammy Witte engineering * Jon Castelli additional engineering * Mark Rankin additional engineering * Nick Lobel additional engineering * Dylan Neustadter assistant engineering * Jeremy Hatcher assistant engineering * Kevin Smith assistant engineering * Oli Jacobs assistant engineering * Oliver Middleton assistant engineering * Rob Bisel assistant engineering * Tyler Beans assistant engineering *

Spike Stent Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed Sh ...

mixing * Michael Freeman mix assistant *

Randy Merrill Randy Merrill is an American mastering engineer who has worked with international artists including DAY6, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Harry Styles, One Direction, Adele, Imagine Dragons, Beck, Liam Gallagher, Jonas Brothers, Muse, Cage the ...

mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Notes

References

{{authority control 2019 songs 2020 singles Columbia Records singles Harry Styles songs British indie pop songs Songs written by Harry Styles Songs written by Tyler Johnson (musician) Songs written by Kid Harpoon Music videos shot in Italy