"Ophelia" is a song recorded by American folk rock band the Lumineers. It was released as the lead single from their sophomore album, ''Cleopatra'' on February 5, 2016.
As of August 2022, the song has garnered over 800 million streams on Spotify.
Background
The song started out as a slower instrumental demo that
Jeremiah Fraites
Jeremiah Caleb Fraites (born January 17, 1986) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He is the co-founder of The Lumineers and is a songwriter for the band. He was born and raised in Ramsey, New Jersey.
Early ...
Wesley Schultz
Wesley Keith Schultz (born December 30, 1982) is the guitarist and lead vocalist for the American folk rock band The Lumineers.
Life and career
Schultz grew up in Ramsey, New Jersey, According to Schultz, the demo generated enough excitement to work on the project. While playing at a backbar in LA alongside the Lumineers, Schultz wrote the song's hook.
Soon after, the Lumineers felt they needed to find a proper substitute for the name Ophelia, due to the fact that a song of the same name had been released years prior by the band, the Band. Nevertheless, this issue reached its end after Schultz decided that no other name had "the right musicality to it." Subsequently, Schultz had trouble writing "good" verses to carry the hook he wrote, which made the songwriting process so difficult that the project was completely abrogated until four years later. In January 2015, when it came time to work on a new record, the defunct "Ophelia" was resurrected.
Over a series of vocal demos, the song was recorded at The Clubhouse in
Rhinebeck, New York
Rhinebeck is a village (New York), village in the Rhinebeck (town), New York, town of Rhinebeck in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 2,657 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie, New York, Poughkeepsie– ...
.
On February 8, 2016, via Facebook, the single's cover art was premiered, along with an 18-second-long snippet of the song.
In an interview with '' Entertainment Weekly'', Schultz said that the song's lyrics are "a vague reference to people falling in love with fame."
The song was featured on the CW's ''
The Flash
The Flash (or simply Flash) is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date ...
'' in the last scene of episode 22 of season 2, "Invincible".
The song was featured in the 2017 film ''
Happy Death Day
''Happy Death Day'' is a 2017 American black comedy slasher film directed by Christopher Landon, and written by Scott Lobdell. It stars Jessica Rothe and Israel Broussard. The film was produced by Jason Blum through his Blumhouse Productions b ...
''.
The song was featured in a 2017 commercial for
American Express
American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...
's "Shop Small" market campaign.
Critical reception
The song has received mixed reviews from music critics. The song was praised by Marina Watts of '' The Cornell Daily Sun''; where Watts refers to "Ophelia" as "hauntingly beautiful", also noting that the song is "a march that wishes anyone who ever falls in love the best of luck." David Dye of NPR also viewed "Ophelia" positively, while comparing its musical influences and style to the Lumineers' earlier hit, " Ho Hey".
In a negative review Brunna Pimentel wrote for The Edge, she claimed to be disappointed with the song, stating that it "might have been an okay track for the middle of the album," but "as a single, it is undoubtedly anti-climatic. '' ic'" Pimentel also criticized the song for its "repetitive" chorus.
Music video
The official music video was directed by Isaac Ravishankara, and released via the Lumineers' YouTube and Vevo accounts on February 12, 2016. As of January 2022, it has gained over 200 million views.
''The Ballad of Cleopatra''
''The Ballad of Cleopatra'' is a compilation of the story in the music videos for "Ophelia", "
Cleopatra
Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.She was also a ...
", "Sleep on the Floor", "
Angela
Angela may refer to:
Places
* Angela, Montana
* Angela Lake, in Volusia County, Florida
* Lake Angela, in Lyon Township, Oakland County, Michigan
* Lake Angela, the reservoir impounded by the source dam of the South Yuba River
Fiction
* Angel ...
" and "My Eyes", all songs from the album ''Cleopatra''. The video was released on the Lumineers YouTube channel on April 27, 2017.
Live performances
On April 7, 2016, the Lumineers performed "Ophelia" on '' The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon''. The Lumineers also performed the song on ''
Good Morning America
''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...
'' on April 13, their first time on the show. A live performance of the song at the
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 ...
music theater in Los Angeles was aired on
Audience Network
Audience Network (also known as Audience from 2016 until 2020) was an American pay television channel that was owned by AT&T. It featured a mix of original and acquired series, specials, and feature films. The network operated as a commercial-fre ...
at 9pm on April 8.
On December 12, 2021, the Lumineers and
Arkells
Arkells is a Canadian rock band, formed in Hamilton, Ontario. In 2006, they signed with Dine Alone Records, and have since signed with Universal Records Canada and Last Gang Records. They are managed by Last Gang Management. They have released s ...
performed a snippet of the song during the halftime show of the CFL
Grey Cup
The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...
Wesley Schultz
Wesley Keith Schultz (born December 30, 1982) is the guitarist and lead vocalist for the American folk rock band The Lumineers.
Life and career
Schultz grew up in Ramsey, New Jersey,Jeremiah Fraites
Jeremiah Caleb Fraites (born January 17, 1986) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He is the co-founder of The Lumineers and is a songwriter for the band. He was born and raised in Ramsey, New Jersey.
Early ...