"Immortals" is a song written and recorded by American
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer A ...
for the 2014
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...
film ''
Big Hero 6''. An alternative version appears on the band's sixth studio album ''
American Beauty/American Psycho
''American Beauty/American Psycho'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''AB/AP'') is the sixth studio album by American rock band Fall Out Boy, released on January 16, 2015 through Island Records as the follow-up to the band's comeback album ''Save Ro ...
'' (2015).
The "End Credits" single version was released by
Walt Disney Records
Walt Disney Records is an American record label of the Disney Music Group. The label releases soundtrack albums from The Walt Disney Company's motion picture studios, television series, theme parks, and traditional studio albums produced by its r ...
on October 14, 2014, as a
digital download. A
7" vinyl
In music, a single is a type of Art release#Music, release, typically a song Sound recording, recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for record sales, sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most ca ...
bundled with a poster was released on December 16, 2014. As of February 8, 2016, "Immortals" was certified
Platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Platinu ...
by the RIAA for one million units sold.
Background and composition
"Immortals" is composed in the key of
F-sharp minor
F-sharp minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative major is A major and its parallel major is F-sharp major (or enharmonically G-flat major).
T ...
. Disney asked the band to write and perform the song for the film's sequence in which the ''
Big Hero 6'' team is transformed from a group of super smart individuals to a band of high-tech heroes. "We went over to Disney and met with the directors," bassist
Pete Wentz
Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III (born June 5, 1979) is an American musician best known as the bassist and lyricist for the rock band Fall Out Boy since 2001. Before Fall Out Boy, Wentz was a fixture of the Chicago hardcore scene and was the lea ...
recalled. "They explained the story to us. It was insane how much it lined up with the way our band saw the world."
Wentz later stated, "Disney asked the band to come in and talk to the directors so we did that.... and we discussed the scene and what our song would attempt to do. Then we went home and wrote and sent it to them- it was a back and forth from there. It was interesting to be a part of because our song was just a small part of a bigger thing and the challenge to just be a part of the fabric. It was a really cool experience."
Vocalist
Patrick Stump
Patrick Martin Stumph (born April 27, 1984), known professionally as Patrick Vaughn Stump, is an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Fall Out Boy, originally from Wilmette, I ...
said that the song's title was inspired by "the idea of this kid stepping up on behalf of his brother. Your victories aren't exclusively yours, so the fact that all of these people are coming together to help him get to the finish line is really exciting."
Wentz further elaborated: "They're testing out their new super suits for the first time in the scene. Some of it works—some of it doesn't. You get the sense that they're stepping into a bigger role. The story's in the DNA of Fall Out Boy. It is an authentic story and it's who our band is—we've always identified with the underdog."
On December 15, when the band's upcoming ''
American Beauty/American Psycho
''American Beauty/American Psycho'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''AB/AP'') is the sixth studio album by American rock band Fall Out Boy, released on January 16, 2015 through Island Records as the follow-up to the band's comeback album ''Save Ro ...
'' (2015) album was made available for preorder, "Immortals" was revealed to also be included as track 10. On January 12, 2015, the six yet-unreleased songs from the album, including "Immortals" were made available for streaming on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
. The band quipped, "according to
Baymax
Baymax is a fictional superhero character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steven T. Seagle and Duncan Rouleau, Baymax first appeared in ''Sunfire & Big Hero 6'' #1 (September 1998). Baymax begins his exi ...
this is his favorite song on the record". The album version and film versions slightly differ: on the film version the percussion "is all marching-band strident, but on the album version much of that power is stripped away."
A remix features vocals by a member from
The Roots
The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy F ...
,
Black Thought
Tariq Luqmaan Trotter (born October 3, 1973), better known as Black Thought, is an American rapper, actor and the lead MC of the Philadelphia-based hip hop group the Roots, which he co-founded with drummer Questlove (Ahmir Thompson). Regarded ...
and appeared on the remixed album
Make America Psycho Again
''Make America Psycho Again'' is the first remix album by Fall Out Boy, released on October 30, 2015. The album is a remixed version of the band's original album ''American Beauty/American Psycho'', and features a different rapper on each song. T ...
.
International versions
The Italian version was performed by Patrick Stump, even though he did not speak the language. Rick Dempsey, senior vice president of
Disney Character Voices International
Disney Character Voices International, Inc. is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company with primary responsibility for the provision of translation and dubbing services for all Disney productions including those by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pi ...
, said, "he’d sing every phrase again and again and just change the pronunciation just a little bit until the person listening—who spoke fluent Italian—said, ‘That’s it!’".
Music video
A music video was released with the song, depicting the four members of the band walking up to a
jukebox
A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media. The classic jukebox has buttons, with letters and numbers on them, which are used to selec ...
and choosing to play the single. The vinyl record playing the song is white and depicts the face of
Baymax
Baymax is a fictional superhero character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steven T. Seagle and Duncan Rouleau, Baymax first appeared in ''Sunfire & Big Hero 6'' #1 (September 1998). Baymax begins his exi ...
from ''Big Hero 6''. The concept of the music video is similar to that of
Green Day
Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, together with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt. For most of the band's career, they have been a powe ...
's "
X-Kid
"X-Kid" is a song by American rock band Green Day. It is the fifth track on their eleventh studio album, ''¡Tré!'' (2012), and was released as the second single from the album on February 12, 2013, and is the sixth and final single from the ''¡ ...
".
A second music video for the band's album version of "Immortals" was released on December 24, 2014, composed of scenes taken from ''Big Hero 6'' intertwined with Fall Out Boy performing live. It was released on the 10th day of "12 Days of FOB", an event during which the band posted exclusive videos, pictures or lyrics.
Appearances
A snippet of the song first appeared unannounced in a teaser trailer for ''Big Hero 6''.
[Fall Out Boy: ‘Immortals’ Single Review]
fdrmx.com. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
Fall Out Boy performed "Immortals" live for the first time on ''
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, Los ...
''. Stump accidentally sang a different version of the song on that performance. It was also performed on Japanese TV.
It was being used as a promo for the 2015–16 NFL Thursday Night Games on CBS and NFL Network.
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
used Immortals for their coverage of the
2023 NHL All-Star Game
The 2023 National Hockey League All-Star Game was held on February 4, 2023 at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida, the home of the Florida Panthers. For the seventh consecutive All-Star Game, a three-on-three format was used, with teams representi ...
, beginning with the Skills Competition on February 3rd, followed by the Game the next day on
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
. ESPN later integrated the instrumental parts into their coverage for the rest of the season.
Commercial reception
During the week-ending November 29, 2014, "Immortals" sold 25,000 downloads and peaked at No. 9 on the US ''
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 ...
''
Hot Rock Songs
Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (formerly known as Rock Songs and Hot Rock Songs) is a record chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine. From its debut on June 20, 2009, through October 13, 2012, the chart ranked the airplay of songs across alternati ...
and No. 1 on the US
Bubbling Under Hot 100
Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...
.
In ''American Beauty/American Psychos release week, "Immortals" debuted on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 at No. 96. In the week ending March 14, the song re-entered the chart at No. 78 for its second chart week, following ''Big Hero 6''s
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
win for
Best Animated Feature. It peaked at No. 72 the week after. To date, the song has been certified Platinum denoting one million units.
The song debuted at No. 122 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 ...
during the week of October 25, 2014.
In ''American Beauty/American Psychos third chart week, "Immortals" peaked at No. 84, its fourth chart week (week of February 14, 2015).
It notched one week in Australia at No. 82 in mid-January.
Chart performance
Peak positions
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
External links
"Immortals" 7" vinyl at the Disney Music Emporium
{{authority control
2014 songs
2014 singles
Disney songs
Fall Out Boy songs
Songs written for animated films
Song recordings produced by Butch Walker
Songs written by Pete Wentz
Songs written by Patrick Stump
Songs written by Joe Trohman
Songs written by Andy Hurley
Walt Disney Records singles
Songs written for films
Big Hero 6 (franchise)