"Kill My Mind" is a song by English singer and songwriter
Louis Tomlinson
Louis William Tomlinson (; born Louis Troy Austin; 24 December 1991) is an English singer and songwriter. He rose to fame as a member of the boy band One Direction. Tomlinson began his career appearing in television dramas before he auditioned ...
. It was released on 5 September 2019, as the second single from his debut album, ''
Walls
Walls may refer to:
*The plural of wall, a structure
* Walls (surname), a list of notable people with the surname
Places
* Walls, Louisiana, United States
*Walls, Mississippi, United States
* Walls, Ontario, neighborhood in Perry, Ontario, C ...
''. It is the second single released by Tomlinson on
Arista Records
Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...
since signing with them in early 2019.
Promotion
In June 2019,
Louis Tomlinson
Louis William Tomlinson (; born Louis Troy Austin; 24 December 1991) is an English singer and songwriter. He rose to fame as a member of the boy band One Direction. Tomlinson began his career appearing in television dramas before he auditioned ...
announced his plans to release music more frequently, stating "At the moment it's three or four months in between, so I think I'm going to do two or three at once and get myself back on the road".
On 29 August 2019, he posted the artwork for "Kill My Mind", writing "So happy to finally announce my new single #KillMyMind will be out a week today! Soooooo excited for you all to hear what I've been working on!".
It was released a week later, premiering on
Hits Radio Manchester
''For the Network, see Hits Radio. For the National DAB station, see Hits Radio UK.''
Hits Radio Manchester is an Independent local radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Greater Manchester ...
.
Background
Tomlinson described "Kill My Mind" as, "a song about having fun and doing silly things when you’re younger," and, "going through an experimental phase in your youth, and doing things that might not be good for you, but they are exciting." He said that "this single is the closest I’ve got in all of my singles to where I feel comfortable. It's the kind of influences that I have and stuff that I listened to growing up. Where I’m at with this single I’m actually really proud and relieved to finally find my place, find my lane musically".
Reception
Rob Copsey of the
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 ...
wrote that Tomlinson "sounds at his most confident and comfortable yet" on "Kill My Mind", and added that there is "something very turn-of-the-noughties-indie-pop about" it.
iHeartRadio
iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming Computing platform, platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbr ...
's Lindsey Smith described the song as a "punk-influenced track with heavy guitars and drums", and thought that it "really showcases his talent and ability to perform different genres effortlessly".
Jason Lipshutz of ''
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 ...
'' described the track as "the song that lets a pop star rock out" and called it "brash, swaggering and catchy as all hell".
Writing for ''
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
'', Patrick Hosken said that on "Kill My Mind" Tomlinson "sounds bigger, more stadium-ready, and more like himself than he ever has", described the track as being "bigger, slicker and rockier than anything he
ouiss ever done" and called Louis "the Britpop star he was born to be".
Music video
The music video was directed by Charlie Lightening and released on 13 September 2019. It features Tomlinson singing in front of a crowd of fans intercut with scenes of a loved-up couple. Tomlinson said that "conceptually, for “Kill My Mind,” I wanted it to be like all the Oasis videos I love. I wanted it to be more about the performance. Not focusing too much on a narrative and just being lit really well. I think we pulled it off".
Live performances
Tomlinson premiered the track for the first time live at Coca Cola Music Experience in Madrid on 14 September 2019.
Charts
References
{{authority control
2019 songs
2019 singles
Louis Tomlinson songs
Songs written by Louis Tomlinson
Songs written by Jamie Hartman
Songs written by Sean Douglas (songwriter)