"Hero" is a song by Dutch DJ

Afrojack Nick Leonardus van de Wall (; born 9 September 1987), better known as Afrojack, is a Dutch DJ, music producer and remixer from Spijkenisse, South Holland. In 2007, he founded the record label Wall Recordings; his debut album '' Forget the World' ...

and French DJ

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 ...

. The song was released on 30 April 2021 under Afrojack's own label

Wall Recordings Nick Leonardus van de Wall (; born 9 September 1987), better known as Afrojack, is a Dutch DJ, music producer and remixer from Spijkenisse, South Holland. In 2007, he founded the record label Wall Recordings; his debut album '' Forget the Worl ...

, and was notably performed at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2021 The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's win at the with the song "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The Netherlands was set to host the , ...

grand final on 22 May 2021. The song was written by Afrojack, Guetta, Mikkel S. Eriksen and Tor Erik Hermansen of production duo

Stargate ''Stargate'' (often stylized in all caps) is a military science fiction media franchise based on the Stargate (film), film directed by Roland Emmerich, which he co-wrote with producer Dean Devlin. The franchise is based on the idea of an alien E ...

, English singer-songwriter

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 ...

, English singer

Jamie Scott Jamie Scott (born James Christopher Needle; 12 February 1984) is an Ivor Novello Award winning English singer, songwriter and producer. Career Songwriting As a writer and producer Scott has sold over 100 million albums, 50 million singles, has ...

, and American musician

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 ...

of the band

OneRepublic OneRepublic is an American pop rock band formed in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2002. It consists of lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Tedder, lead guitarist and violist Zach Filkins, rhythm guitarist Drew Brown, bassist and cellis ...

. The song was produced by Afrojack, Guetta, Stargate and Dutch production duo

DubVision DubVision is a Dutch DJ duo from The Hague consisting of brothers Victor (born 1989) and Stephan Leicher (born 1981) signed to the labels Spinnin' Records, Armada Music and Axtone. Biography Stephan and Victor's parents pressured the duo to l ...

. Although Goulding was the vocalist on the demo version of the song, the vocals on the final version were performed by American singer Luxtides (a.k.a. Danni Bouchard). However, she is not billed as a credited singer.

Critical reception

"Hero" was described as an "inspiring summer song" and "a crossover between pop and EDM". American web site ''EDM.com'' said that the song clearly refers back to the sound of the early 2010s which since then had eroded a bit, but that "(...)after a brutal year devoid of live music thanks to the fury of COVID-19, many ravers have found themselves nostalgic, desperately clinging to memories of simpler times in the throes of solitude. Afrojack hopes "Hero" can serve as a time machine."

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

2021 singles 2021 songs Afrojack songs David Guetta songs Songs written by Afrojack Songs written by David Guetta Songs written by Tor Erik Hermansen Songs written by Mikkel Storleer Eriksen Songs written by Ellie Goulding Songs written by Jamie Scott Songs written by Ryan Tedder Song recordings produced by David Guetta Song recordings produced by Stargate (record producers) Dance-pop songs {{2020s-single-stub