"Pray for Me" is a song by Canadian singer

the Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Known for his sonic versatility and dark lyricism, his music explores escapism, Romance (love), ...

and American rapper

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper and songwriter. Known for his Progressive rap, progressive musical styles and Social consciousness, socially conscious songwriting, he is often considered one of the most infl ...

from

the soundtrack album ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

of the

Marvel Studios Marvel Studios, LLC (originally known as Marvel Films from 1993 to 1996) is an American film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of the Walt Disney Company. Marvel Studios produces the Mar ...

superhero film ''

Black Panther A black panther is the melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical rosettes are also present. They have been d ...

''. The song was released by

Top Dawg Entertainment Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) is an American independent record label founded in 2004, by CEO Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith. Terrence "Punch" Henderson is president of the label. There are currently eleven artists signed to the label: the label's f ...

Aftermath Entertainment Aftermath Entertainment is an American record label founded by hip hop producer and rapper Dr. Dre. It operates as a subsidiary of, and is distributed through, Interscope Records. Current acts include Dr. Dre himself, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, An ...

, and

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

on February 2, 2018, as the album's third and final single. It serves as the second overall collaboration between the two artists. The song appears in the movie during the scene where the titular hero along with his allies,

Nakia Nakia Reynoso (born February 20, 1975), known professionally as Nakia, is an American musician, singer-songwriter and actor living in Austin, Texas. He is a native of Fort Payne, Alabama. Professional background Nakia moved to Austin in 200 ...

and

Okoye Okoye is a family name (surname) originating in Nigeria. It is an Anambra State, Anambra dialect derived from the central Igbo name Okorie (meaning someone born on orie market day, or Oye market day as known in Anambra State). Notable people wi ...

, enter a secret casino in

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, w ...

Background and release

The Weeknd first hinted at his involvement with the ''Black Panther'' soundtrack album with an

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

post that he made on January 19, 2018, which contained an illustration of the

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...

superhero

perched on a tree in front of the moon. On January 26, 2018, the Weeknd then further hinted at his involvement with the soundtrack when he uploaded an official trailer for the ''Black Panther'' film to his Instagram account. Then on January 31, 2018, Lamar confirmed the Weeknd's involvement with the soundtrack when he uploaded to his

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account the complete tracklist of the soundtrack, which contained the song "Pray for Me". On February 1, 2018, the Weeknd uploaded to his Twitter account a video teasing the release date for "Pray for Me" as the soundtrack's third single.

Composition

"Pray for Me" is composed in the key of

E minor E minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative major is G major and its parallel major is E major. The E natural minor scale is: : Changes needed ...

Reception

Alex Robert Ross of ''

Noisey ''Vice'' (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian-American magazine focused on lifestyle, arts, culture, and news/politics. Founded in 1994 in Montreal as an alternative punk magazine, the founders later launched the youth media company Vice Media, ...

'' praised the song, calling it "short, punchy, and self-lacerating."

Copyright infringement lawsuit

In February 2020, Tesfaye and Lamar were sued by now-split American

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...

band

Yeasayer Yeasayer () was an American experimental rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2006. The band consisted of Chris Keating, Ira Wolf Tuton, and Anand Wilder. They announced their split on December 19, 2019. History Formation The band's thr ...

for alleged plagiarism due to vocal similarities with their 2007 song "

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology Al ...

". According to the lawsuit, the part allegedly stolen from the song includes "the recording of a distinctive choral performance, which Plaintiffs easayercreated and recorded using their own voices". Furthermore, Yeasayer claims that "Defendants extracted Plaintiffs’ choral performance from a recording of 'Sunrise,' slightly modified it, including, on information and belief, via postprocessing to alter its pitch, among other qualities" and then subsequently used the modified audio in their own song. Both Tesfaye and Lamar have denied the accusation. The lawsuit later reached its conclusion in July 2020, after Yeasayer dropped it.

Credits and personnel

Credits and personnel adapted from digital booklet. *

– songwriting, lead vocals *

The Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Known for his sonic versatility and dark lyricism, his music explores escapism, Romance (love), ...

– songwriting, lead vocals *

Frank Dukes Adam King Feeney (born September 12, 1983), better known as Ging and by his former stage name Frank Dukes, is a Canadian musician, record producer, and songwriter. A prolific producer, he has worked with artists including Camila Cabello ("Havana ...

– songwriting, production *

Doc McKinney Martin "Doc" McKinney (born August 27, 1971) is a Canadian-American record producer and songwriter. McKinney is a Grammy-award-winning producer. He was formerly one half of the duo (now solo act) Esthero. His work with fellow Toronto artist The ...

– songwriting, production, recording * Beatriz Artola – recording * Shin Kamiyama – recording * Mike Sonier – recording * Barry McCready – recording assistance *

Jaycen Joshua Jaycen Joshua is a mix engineer and music producer who owns the revered Canton House Studios in Studio City, California. Joshua started his mix career in 2005 when he became partners with his mentor Dave Pensado and formed The Penua Project. Joshu ...

– mixing * David Nakaji – mixing assistance *

Mike Bozzi Mike Bozzi is an American mastering engineer at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, California. He won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year for mastering Donald Glover, Childish Gambino's "This Is America (song), This ...

– mastering * Chris Athens – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* * {{Marvel Cinematic Universe, selected=Music 2018 songs 2018 singles Black Panther (film series) Kendrick Lamar songs Marvel Cinematic Universe songs Songs involved in plagiarism controversies Songs written by Doc McKinney Songs written by Frank Dukes Songs written by Kendrick Lamar Songs written by the Weeknd The Weeknd songs Songs written by DaHeala Interscope Records singles Aftermath Entertainment singles Top Dawg Entertainment singles Song recordings produced by Frank Dukes Pop-rap songs