"More than Friends" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter

Jason Mraz Jason Thomas Mraz (; born June 23, 1977) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He rose to prominence with the release of his debut studio album, ''Waiting for My Rocket to Come'' (2002), which spawned the single " The Remedy (I Won't ...

featuring American singer-songwriter

Meghan Trainor Meghan Elizabeth Trainor (born December 22, 1993) is an American singer-songwriter and television personality. She rose to prominence after signing with Epic Records in 2014 and releasing her debut single "All About That Bass", which reached ...

from his sixth studio album '' Know.'' (2018). It was written by Mraz, Trainor, Jonathan Green and Andrew Wells, and produced by the latter.

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

released it on October 8, 2018, as the fourth single from the album. A "bubbly" and "quirky" acoustic

love song A love song is a song about romantic love, falling in love, heartbreak after a breakup, and the feelings that these experiences bring. A comprehensive list of even the best known performers and composers of love songs would be a large order. ...

, “More than Friends” is about a pair of friends interested in taking their relationship to the next level, with implications of a summer romance.

Darren Doane Darren Doane (born September 20, 1972) is an American filmmaker, actor, and music video director.meta Meta (from the Greek μετά, '' meta'', meaning "after" or "beyond") is a prefix meaning "more comprehensive" or "transcending". In modern nomenclature, ''meta''- can also serve as a prefix meaning self-referential, as a field of study or ende ...

concept where a pair of co-workers at a video shoot admit romantic feelings for each other. This is interspersed with scenes of the singers performing the song. It was also supported by a dance video directed by Ryan Hutchins. Commercially, "More than Friends" charted at number 49 on the Belgium

Ultratip Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organization of ...

chart and number 32 on the US

Adult Top 40 The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems ...

. Mraz and Trainor performed the song on ''

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was prod ...

''.

Background and composition

Andrew Wells produced “More than Friends” and co-wrote it with

and Jonathan Green. After Mraz initially finished his album '' Know.'', Wells suggested that he have a songwriting session with Trainor. Mraz agreed to this, but was unsure of what would come of it. "More than Friends" was written during this session, and led to him pushing back "a few departments and their deadlines" to accommodate it on the record. With the song, Trainor intended to create her own version of Mraz and

Colbie Caillat Colbie Marie Caillat (; born May 28, 1985) is an American singer-songwriter. She rose to fame through social networking website Myspace. At that time, she was the number one unsigned artist of her genre. After signing with Universal Republic R ...

's song " Lucky" (2009). It was inspired by a conversation Mraz had with his wife, he said "My wife, she has these cute things she does, when I make her a cup of coffee, I'll be like, 'Is it good?' And she'll say, 'Oh, more than friends.' I thought that was so cute." "More than Friends" is a "bubbly" and "quirky" acoustic

. It is sung in a back-and-forth style with Mraz opening with "It feels like we've been friends forever and we always see eye-to-eye", and Trainor responds "At the risk of sounding foolish/ I don't wanna fool around no more/ So if we're gonna do this, then let's do this/ You could fix my broken heart if it's all yours." It has a "catchy" chorus and "summery, carefree vibes." The song was described as "breezy" and "ebullient" by some critics. It has lyrics about "wishing you could step out of the friend zone." A writer for

iHeartRadio MMVAs The iHeartRadio MMVAs were an annual awards show broadcast on Much to honour the year's best music videos that was last held in 2018. Originally debuting in 1990 as the Canadian Music Video Awards, the awards were renamed in 1995 to the MuchMu ...

said that it "gives off the vibe of a budding summer romance", noting that its lyrics recount "the feelings of a pair of friends who are interested in taking their relationship to the next level."

Music video and promotion

A lyric video featuring animation by Maddy Franklin accompanied the song's release.

Darren Doane Darren Doane (born September 20, 1972) is an American filmmaker, actor, and music video director.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 ...

channel. It was released on September 17, 2018, and features a

meta Meta (from the Greek μετά, '' meta'', meaning "after" or "beyond") is a prefix meaning "more comprehensive" or "transcending". In modern nomenclature, ''meta''- can also serve as a prefix meaning self-referential, as a field of study or ende ...

concept where a pair of co-workers at the video shoot for the song admit romantic feelings for each other, followed by a celebration of their newfound relationship. The video begins with two people working on the set of a music video, as the director and the stylist respectively, glancing at each other occasionally. They deal with their emotions before admitting their feelings to each other. Trainor and Mraz perform the song while getting ready for the shoot. The video concludes with a dance sequence that celebrates the former couple's new union. On November 1, 2018, an official dance video, directed by Ryan Hutchins, and starring Nicola Collie and Derek Schiesel, was released. Mraz and Trainor performed "More than Friends" at ''

'' on September 18, 2018.

Commercial performance

"More than Friends" charted at number 35 on the Belgium Flanders

chart, number 43 on the Belgium Wallonia Ultratip chart, and number 32 on the US

Credits and personnel

Credits are referenced from the album's liner notes: *

–

songwriting A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

– songwriting * Andrew Wells – songwriting, production,

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

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 keyboa ...

* Jon Green – songwriting * Sean Hurley –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

* Rob Humphreys –

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

* Chris Gehringer – mastering * Tony Maserati – mixing * Tyler Scott – mixing * Drew Taubenfeld –

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...

Charts

Release history

References

{{authority control 2018 singles 2018 songs 2010s Atlantic Records singles Jason Mraz songs Meghan Trainor songs Songs written by Jason Mraz Songs written by Meghan Trainor Male–female vocal duets Songs written by Andrew Wells (record producer)