"Pretty Wings" is a single by American singer-songwriter Maxwell, taken from his fourth studio album ''

BLACKsummers'night ''BLACKsummers'night'' is the fourth studio album by American recording artist Maxwell, released July 7, 2009 on Columbia Records. It is the follow-up to his third album ''Now'' (2001). Recording sessions for the album took place during 2003 to ...

''. It was written and produced by Maxwell and Hod David. The song won the Grammy Award for

Best Male R&B Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance was awarded between 1968 and 2011. The award has had several minor name changes: *In 1968 it was awarded as Best R&B Solo Vocal Performance, Male *From 1969 to 1994 it was awarded as Best R&B V ...

and was nominated at the

52nd Grammy Awards The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 31, 2010, at Staples Center in Los Angeles honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009. Neil Young was honored as the 2010 MusiCares Pe ...

for Song of the Year and

Best R&B Song The Grammy Award for Best R&B Song (sometimes known as the R&B Songwriter's Award) has been awarded since 1969. From 1969 to 2000, it was known as the Grammy Award for Best Rhythm and Blues Song. Beyoncé has won it a record four times, while Bab ...

Background

Maxwell described "Pretty Wings" to

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 ...

as "a bittersweet love song about meeting the right girl at the wrong time". The single is his first in seven years (previous single being the cover of

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights (song), Wuthering Heights", ...

's "

This Woman's Work "This Woman's Work" is a song written and performed by the British singer Kate Bush. It was originally featured on the soundtrack of the American film ''She's Having a Baby'' (1988). The song was released as the second single from her album ''T ...

" in 2002). On further details of the song, Maxwell also told

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

: "I met this girl who I still respect very much, and although it didn't work out, I got lots of inspiration from it. This track speaks of my time with her. "

Glockenspiels The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The gloc ...

are heard in the intro of the composition. Despite the drifty meditation music being audible while the horns, guitars, drums, cymbals, hi-hats, synthesized claps play, and Maxwell sings, the song contains a long, meditation music-like outro with horns blowing softly at the end. The lyrics of the song express "pretty wings" as a

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...

; ''"If I can't have you, let love set you free to fly your pretty wings around."''

Music video

The music video, directed by

Philip Andelman Philip Andelman is an American music video director and photographer. Andelman has directed music videos for many notable artists, see below. He has received nominations for his works from the MVPA, VMAs, and CMT awards including MVPA Director ...

, premiered on

106 & Park ''106 & Park'' is an American hip hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that was broadcast on weekdays at 6:00 pm ET/5:00 pm CT on BET; it aired on a one-day delay on BET International. It was the network's highest- rated ...

on April 28, 2009. To date, the video has been viewed on

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 ...

over 60 million times. The music video takes place in a dim household and some scenes of the video shows five separate women in their beds sleeping. Maxwell served as an Incubus who is in bed with the women in their own scenes. In the final minutes of the video the women all levitate above their beds after reaching a state of euphoria by the Incubus. The final shot is Maxwell leaving one of the bedrooms of one of the five women. The music video was also ranked at #9 on

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

's Notarized: Top 100 Videos of 2009 countdown.

Chart performance

"Pretty Wings" reached the top forty on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It also topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, making it Maxwell's first song in ten years to have done so (the last having been "

Fortunate "Fortunate" is a neo soul song from the 1999 motion picture ''Life'' and was released on the film's soundtrack. The song was written, composed, produced and arranged by R. Kelly and recorded by Maxwell. "Fortunate" was awarded Best R&B Single o ...

" in 1999). It remained at number one on that chart for fourteen consecutive weeks, which remains tied for the third-longest run at the top in the chart's history.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

*
Pretty Wings
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

{{Authority control 2009 singles 2009 songs Music videos directed by Philip Andelman Maxwell (musician) songs Songs written by Maxwell (musician) Columbia Records singles Contemporary R&B ballads 2000s ballads