"Rockabye" is a song by British

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

group

Clean Bandit Clean Bandit are an English electronic music group, formed in Cambridge in 2008. They have had four number 1 hits and ten top 10 hits on the UK Singles Chart. They direct and produce their own music videos, many of which have been nominated for ...

, featuring English singer

Anne-Marie Anne-Marie Rose Nicholson (born 7 April 1991) is an English singer. She has attained charting singles on the UK Singles Chart, including Clean Bandit's "Rockabye (song), Rockabye", which peaked at number one, as well as "Alarm (Anne-Marie song ...

as main vocalist together with Jamaican

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...

singer

Sean Paul Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques OD (born 9 January 1973) is a Jamaican rapper and singer who is regarded as one of dancehall's most prolific artists. Paul's singles "Get Busy" and "Temperature" topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in the ...

. It was released on 21 October 2016 and was their first single since Neil Amin-Smith's departure from the group and it serves as the lead single from their second studio album, '' What Is Love?'' (2018). The song is about hardships of

single mothers A single parent is a person who has a child or children but does not have a spouse or live-in partner to assist in the upbringing or support of the child. Reasons for becoming a single parent include divorce, break-up, abandonment, becoming wid ...

and alludes to the

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From t ...

and

lullaby A lullaby (), or cradle song, is a soothing song or piece of music that is usually played for (or sung to) children (for adults see music and sleep). The purposes of lullabies vary. In some societies they are used to pass down cultural knowled ...

, ''

Rock-a-bye Baby "Rock-a-bye baby in the tree top" (sometimes "Hush-a-bye baby in the tree top") is a nursery rhyme and lullaby. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 2768. Words First publication The rhyme is believed to have first appeared in print in ...

''. "Rockabye" is included on the deluxe edition of Anne-Marie's debut studio album, ''

Speak Your Mind ''Speak Your Mind'' is the debut studio album by English singer Anne-Marie, released on 27 April 2018 by Major Tom's and Asylum Records. Anne-Marie announced the album on 21 February 2018 and it was made available for pre-order two days late ...

''. The song became 2016’s

Christmas number one In the United Kingdom, Christmas number ones are singles that top the UK Singles Chart in the week in which Christmas Day falls. The singles have often been novelty songs, charity songs or songs with a Christmas theme. Historically, the volume ...

on December 23, 2016, beating the likes of

Rag'n'Bone Man Rory Charles Graham (born 29 January 1985), better known as Rag'n'Bone Man, is an English singer and songwriter. He is known for his deep baritone voice. His first hit single, "Human", was released in 2016, and his debut album of the same nam ...

Little Mix Little Mix are a British girl group, composed of group members Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, and Perrie Edwards. Jesy Nelson was originally part of the group before she left in 2020. After becoming the first group to win the British ver ...

Zara Larsson Zara Maria Larsson (, ; born 16 December 1997) is a Swedish pop singer. In 2008, at the age of 10, she won the second season of the talent show '' Talang'', the Swedish version of the ''Got Talent'' format. Since then she has received recogni ...

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the whi ...

Matt Terry Matthew James Terry (born 20 May 1993) is an English singer and songwriter. In 2016, he was crowned as the winner of the thirteenth series of ''The X Factor''. His debut single, " When Christmas Comes Around", which was released on 11 December ...

and

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 ...

Steve Aoki Steven Hiroyuki Aoki (, ; born November 30, 1977), best known as Steve Aoki, is an American DJ, record producer, music programmer, and record executive.

to the Christmas number one spot. It is the first song in chart history to become Christmas number one after already being at the top of the charts for six weeks. In total, the song spent 9 weeks at the summit of the UK Singles Chart while also topping the charts in over 28 other countries.

Background and composition

"Rockabye" was written by Clean Bandit and Norwegian singer

Ina Wroldsen Ina Christine Wroldsen (born 29 May 1984), previously known simply as Ina, is a Norwegian singer and songwriter. She was a part of the electropop duo Ask Embla with Icelandic producer and songwriter Arnthor Birgisson. Career Wroldsen's caree ...

, together with Amar Malik and Steve Mac. Wroldsen wrote the lyrics about her son, which, according to

Grace Chatto Grace Chatto (born 10 December 1985) is an English musician and singer who is the cellist, backing vocalist and occasional main vocalist, for the electronic music band Clean Bandit. Education Chatto attended Latymer School and Westminster S ...

, "is why it rings so true for

and is so emotional and special." Wroldsen originally provided the vocal for the song but at last minute was swapped for Anne-Marie. The band fought their label to get Ina on the records but failed. Grace described the situation as a terrible experience and she almost quit the band because she felt "I did feel like I couldn’t do it anymore because the idea that my business was hurting people … that was really painful. I went completely crazy for a while after that. I just had to carry on, but inside it was really hard.”. Clean Bandit announced the single on 21 October 2016, just two days after Neil Amin-Smith quit the band. Talking to ''

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...

'', Chatto said, "We've wanted to work with

for a long, long while and it's a dream that we've managed to finally do it.

tells the story and we love her voice. We first heard her singing with

Rudimental Rudimental are a British drum and bass band, signed to Asylum Records, Atlantic Records and Black Butter Records. The band consists of Piers Aggett, Kesi Dryden and Leon "Locksmith" Rolle. They were nominated for a Mercury Prize in 2013, and ...

and we've met her at a million festivals over the past couple of years – it's been so lovely to collaborate together". The song has a sample from

Jerry Rivera Jerry Rivera (born Gerardo Rivera Rodríguez on July 31, 1973) is a Puerto Rican salsa singer and songwriter. Early years Rivera was born in Humacao, a town located on the eastern coast of Puerto Rico. He moved with his family to Levittown in ...

's song "Amores cómo el nuestro" "Rockabye" is written in the key of

A minor A minor is a minor scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats and no sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major. The A natural minor scale is: : Changes ...

. It was composed in

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

of 102 beats per minute, and follows a chord progression of Am–F–G–Em. The vocals span from G₃ to E₅.

Music video

The video has over 2.4 billion views 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 ...

as of September 2020, making it the 34th most viewed video on the site. It was written and directed by Grace Chatto and Jack Patterson of Clean Bandit. Cinematography by Anna Patarakina and Daria Geller, who the band originally met when Jack was at film school in Moscow aged 21. They have worked on many music videos directed by Jack and Grace, including Mozart's House, Dust Clears, Symphony. The actress pole dancer in the video, Rita Conte, Grace met and cast in Italy. The video for the song was released on 21 October 2016, and has a running time of 4 minutes and 11 seconds. Parts of it were shot on location in Cap Sa Sal,

Begur, Spain Begur is a village and municipality in the comarca of Baix Empordà and province of Girona in Catalonia, Spain. The village itself lies some from, and above, the coastline of the Costa Brava, but the municipality includes several seaside resor ...

and the

George Tavern The George Tavern is a Grade II listed public house and music venue located on Commercial Road in Stepney, London. It is owned and operated by artist Pauline Forster. Formerly known as the Halfway House, the building contains original brick ...

, London.

Commercial performance

On 28 October 2016, "Rockabye" entered the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

at number 7. The following week, it climbed to 3, before high performance in streaming got it to number one on its third week, dethroning "

Shout Out to My Ex "Shout Out to My Ex" is a song recorded by British girl group Little Mix. It was released on 16 October 2016 by Syco Music, as the lead single from the group's fourth studio album '' Glory Days (''2016). A dance-pop and power pop song, it wa ...

" by

, making it their second number one after "

Rather Be "Rather Be" is a song by English electronic music group Clean Bandit, featuring vocals by Jess Glynne. It was released on 5 December 2013 as the fourth single from the group's debut studio album, ''New Eyes'' (2014). It also appears on the delu ...

", it also became Sean Paul's third and Anne-Marie's first number one in the UK. It subsequently spent nine consecutive weeks at number one, became Clean Bandit's first number one single in Australia, and additionally reached number one in Austria, Finland, Germany, the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand and Switzerland. On 23 December 2016, having already spent six weeks on top of the charts, "Rockabye" became the Christmas number one for 2016, making it the first song to do so that was not an ''X Factor'' winner's song, charity single, or stunt song since "

Mad World "Mad World" is a 1982 song by British band Tears for Fears. Written by Roland Orzabal and sung by bassist Curt Smith, it was the band's third single release and first chart hit, reaching number three on the UK Singles Chart in November 1982. Bo ...

" in 2003. However, it sold just 57,631 copies, becoming the lowest-selling Christmas number one of all time due to being helped by streaming (while actually being number two on the sales-only chart). It's gone on to spend a total of 41 weeks on the UK Singles Chart. In the United States, "Rockabye" debuted at number 100 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 during the week of 24 December 2016, becoming Clean Bandit's first entry in this chart since "Rather Be" in 2014. It has since reached the Top 10, reaching a current peak of number nine, the group's highest-charting song, exceeding the number 10 peak of "Rather Be". It is also

's first entry on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. On ''Billboard''s

Dance/Mix Show Airplay Dance/Mix Show Airplay (formerly Hot Dance Airplay) is a monitored electronic dance music radio chart that is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. History The chart came about as a result of the small but influential impact of electronic d ...

chart, the song reached number one in its 18 February 2017 issue, giving both Clean Bandit and Sean Paul their second number one on this chart, as well as Anne-Marie's first.

Track listing

*Digital download #"Rockabye" – 4:11 *CD single #"Rockabye" – 4:11 #"Rockabye" (Thomas Rasmus Chill Mix) – 3:38 *Digital download – Remixes EP #"Rockabye" (Jack Wins Remix) – 5:05 #"Rockabye" ( End of the World Remix) – 2:54 #"Rockabye" (

Elderbrook Alexander Kotz (born 20 December), known professionally as Elderbrook, is an English musician, songwriter and producer. His career as a musician began in 2015, when he released his first EP, which contained the song, "How Many Times" which went ...

Remix) – 3:28 #"Rockabye" (Thomas Rasmus Chill Mix) – 3:38 *Digital download – Lodato & Joseph Duveen Remix #Rockabye (Lodato & Joseph Duveen Remix) – 3:18 *Digital download – Autograf Remix #Rockabye ( Autograf Remix) – 4:09 *Digital download – Eden Prince Remix #Rockabye (Eden Prince Remix) – 3:24 *Digital download – Ryan Riback Remix #Rockabye (

Ryan Riback Ryan Riback (born 19 September 1981), is an Australian DJ, record producer and remixer based in Caulfield, Victoria. Ryan Riback is most known for his remix of Australian pop artist, Starley's debut single " Call on Me" which exceeded triple ...

Remix) – 3:54 *''Spotify Singles'' #"Rockabye" – 3:45 #"

Work from Home Remote work, also called work from home (WFH), work from anywhere, telework, remote job, mobile work, and distance work is an employment arrangement in which employees do not commute to a central place of work, such as an office building, war ...

" – 2:39

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References