"Just for Me" (stylised in

sentence case Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing ...

) is a song by English singer

PinkPantheress PinkPantheress (born 2001) is an English singer, songwriter, and record producer. PinkPantheress's songs, which are frequently short in length and include samples of music from the 1990s and 2000s, span a number of genres, including bedroom p ...

. It was produced by

Mura Masa Alexander Crossan (born 5 April 1996), also known by the stage name Mura Masa, is a Guernsey-born electronic music producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Crossan is best known for his song " Lovesick", which reached number one on the ...

and released on 13 August 2021 through

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...

and Elektra as the fourth single from her debut mixtape ''

To Hell with It ''To Hell with It'' (stylised in all lowercase) is the debut mixtape by English musician PinkPantheress, released through Parlophone and Elektra Records on 15 October 2021. The mixtape, which runs for slightly over 18 minutes, features productio ...

''. Prior to being released, a snippet of the song posted to

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version o ...

by PinkPantheress went viral on the platform. The

bedroom pop Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...

2-step garage 2-step garage, or simply 2-step, is a genre of electronic music and a subgenre of UK garage.''A transcription of this article is availablhere as a PDF file.'' One of the primary characteristics of the 2-step sound – the term being coined to de ...

, and

alternative pop Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial ...

song is a spiritual successor to PinkPantheress's song " Pain", and is written about her unhealthy obsession with a crush. "Just for Me" received critical acclaim, and was named the best song of 2021 by ''

The Fader ''The Fader'' (stylized as ''FADER'') is a magazine based in New York City that was launched in 1999 by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. It was the first print publication to be released on iTunes. It is o ...

'', as well as one of the best songs of the year by '' Billboard'',

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

, and ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

''. It peaked at number 27 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 49 on the Irish Singles Chart. A low resolution music video for the song, directed by PinkPantheress and Lauzza, was released on 9 September 2021, and depicts PinkPantheress singing to a crowd of depressed youths. "Just for Me" was sampled by

Central Cee Oakley Neil H. T. Caesar-Su (born 4 June 1998), known professionally as Central Cee, is a British rapper and songwriter from Shepherd's Bush, London. He rose to prominence in 2020 with the release of the singles "Day in the Life" and "Loading". ...

in his song " Obsessed with You", and covered by

Giveon Giveon Dezmann Evans (born February 21, 1995), better known by his mononym Giveon (stylized as GIVĒON), is an American singer-songwriter. He rose to prominence with his collaboration with Drake on their 2020 single, " Chicago Freestyle". That s ...

for BBC Radio 1Xtra's

Live Lounge The Live Lounge is a segment on the British radio stations BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra. It was originally hosted by Simon Mayo, and later by Jo Whiley on her weekday mid-morning, and later weekend lunchtime radio shows, then by Fearne Cotton ...

and by

Coldplay Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University ...

for

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, ...

's Live Lounge.

Background, release, and composition

"Just for Me" was inspired by the "stalkerish" theme of " Stan" by Eminem as well as PinkPantheress's desire to make a song that sounded like

Craig David Craig Ashley David (born 5 May 1981) is a British singer and songwriter who rose to fame in 1999, featuring on the single " Re-Rewind" by Artful Dodger. David's debut studio album, ''Born to Do It'', was released in 2000, after which he has re ...

. After writing the melody of the song, she recorded it during a four-hour-long studio session with producer

two weeks before the song's release. A snippet of "Just for Me" posted to

in July 2021 by PinkPantheress went viral and was used in over two million videos on the platform . TikTok named "Just for Me" its "breakout track of the summer" and its third top song by a British artist in 2021. "Just for Me" was released on 13 August 2021 through

and Elektra Records. The song was added to the

playlist in August 2021. British rapper

's song " Obsessed with You" heavily sampled "Just for Me". In October 2021, American singer

performed an acoustic

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

cover of the song for BBC Radio 1Xtra's

. Later that month, British band

performed a slow

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

-focused cover on

's Live Lounge. "Just for Me" is a "wistful", "

funky Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mid ...

", "

2000s File:2000s decade montage3.png, From top left, clockwise: The World Trade Center on fire and the Statue of Liberty during the 9/11 attacks in 2001; the euro enters into European currency in 2002; a statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled during th ...

-inspired"

, and

song produced by British record producer Mura Masa, who also programmed and played drums and keyboards on the song. It runs for slightly less than two minutes. In it, PinkPantheress sings in a "soft", " android-like", "

helium Helium (from el, ἥλιος, helios, lit=sun) is a chemical element with the symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. ...

-high" tone, over a "snappy", " nostalgia-fueled"

garage A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicle ...

beat Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery (c ...

and "delicate", "gentle" guitars, about having an unhealthy obsession with a crush and going to lengths such as finding their house and sleeping with their hair under her pillow. She described the song as the spiritual successor to her song " Pain".

's Alex Ramos referred to the song as "uncanny, as are most stories about stalking and obsession". Chris Taylor of ''

DIY "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...

'' wrote that the song was reminiscent of UK garage duo

Artful Dodger Jack Dawkins, better known as the Artful Dodger, is a character in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel '' Oliver Twist''. The Dodger is a pickpocket, so called for his skill and cunning in that occupation. He is the leader of the gang of child criminal ...

, while '' Stereogum''s Chris DeVille described it as "

hyperpop Hyperpop is a loosely-defined music movement and microgenre that predominantly originated in the United Kingdom during the early-to-mid 2010s. It is characterized by a maximalist or exaggerated take on popular music, and artists within the genr ...

-leaning".

Critical reception and commercial performance

NPR named "Just for Me" one of the best songs released in August 2021, with writer Alex Ramos writing that "Just for Me" "demonstrates inkPantheress'sappeal" and "lingers under the radar", adding that "you won't even notice you've had it on repeat until the next time you're sucked in again". Jordan Darville of ''

'' wrote that the song "transcends mere nostalgia thanks to a heap of emotion" and "has enough stomach butterflies to fill a

monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power i ...

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...

." In a review of ''

'', ''Stereogum''s Chris DeVille called "Just for Me" his favorite PinkPantheress song as of writing the review, writing that it "most clearly affirms her potential to be a paradigm-shifting figure". Rob Copsey of

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 in ...

described "Just for Me" as PinkPantheress's "most radio-friendly offering yet" and praised it for its "high replayability", comparing it to "

Do You Really Like It? "Do You Really Like It?" is a song by UK garage music group DJ Pied Piper and the Masters of Ceremonies. The single went to number one on the UK Singles Chart in June 2001. The song has sold over 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom according to ...

" by garage group

DJ Pied Piper and the Masters of Ceremonies DJ Pied Piper and the Masters of Ceremonies were a UK garage collaboration between producer and DJ Pied Piper and the emcees MC DT (responsible for the line "we're loving it, loving it, loving it"), Melody, Sharky P and the Unknown MC (Kamanc ...

. "Just for Me" peaked at number 27 on the

, making it her highest-charting single on the chart, and at number 49 on the Irish Singles Chart. "Just for Me" was named the best song of 2021 by ''The Fader''. ''

Dazed ''Dazed'' (''Dazed & Confused'' until February 2014) is a bi-monthly British style magazine founded in 1991. It covers music, fashion, film, art, and literature. Dazed is published by Dazed Media, an independent media group known for producing ...

'' named it the fifth best song of the year, and it was also listed as one of the best songs of the year by ''

'', ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'', NPR, '' Billboard'',

Uproxx ''Uproxx'' (stylized in all caps) is an entertainment and popular culture news website. It was founded in 2008 by Jarret Myer and Brian Brater, and acquired by Woven Digital (later renamed Uproxx Media Group) in 2014. The site's target audience ...

, ''

The Line of Best Fit ''The Line of Best Fit'' is an independent online magazine based in London, concentrating on new music. It publishes independent music reviews, features, interview, and media. Founded by Richard Thane in February 2007 and currently edited by P ...

'', ''

Nylon Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic. Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from pe ...

'', ''

Slant Slant can refer to: Bias *Bias or other non-objectivity in journalism, politics, academia or other fields Technical * Slant range, in telecommunications, the line-of-sight distance between two points which are not at the same level * Slant d ...

'', and '' Crack''.

Music video

A music video for "Just for Me" was co-directed by PinkPantheress with Lauzza and uploaded to the YouTube channel "PP_ROCKSXX" on 9 September 2021. In it, she is shown standing in front of a DJ and performing the song in front of a white background to a crowd of depressed youths wearing

emo Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...

-style clothing, with occasional

fisheye lens A fisheye lens is an ultra wide-angle lens that produces strong visual distortion intended to create a wide panoramic or hemispherical image. Fisheye lenses achieve extremely wide angles of view, well beyond any rectilinear lens. Instead of p ...

cutaways. The video has a low

display resolution The display resolution or display modes of a digital television, computer monitor or display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution ...

and includes scenes with a tarantula, a book blowing in the wind, and people using flip phones. In the video, she also wears her hair in micro braids. ''DIY''s Chris Taylor compared the video to "an early-00s

Taking Back Sunday Taking Back Sunday is an American rock band from Long Island, New York. The band was formed by guitarist Eddie Reyes and bassist Jesse Lacey in 1999. The band's members currently are Adam Lazzara (lead vocals), John Nolan (lead guitar, keybo ...

video", while Erica Russell of ''

Paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distrib ...

'' stated that the video has "the stark, post-Y2K flair you might expect from a Cooler Kids or Anna Nalick video of the same era".

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

. *

vocals, songwriting *

production, songwriting, drums, keyboards, engineering, programming *

Matt Colton Matt Colton (born 30 March 1975) is an English mastering engineer and member of the mastering group of the Music Producers Guild. He has mastered recordings for artists such as Muse, Coldplay, James Blake, George Michael, Hot Chip, Gary Numa ...

mastering * Jonny Breakwellmixing, engineering * Dilladditional keyboards

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{PinkPantheress 2021 songs 2021 singles PinkPantheress songs Parlophone singles Elektra Records singles UK garage songs Songs written by Mura Masa