"Selfish" is a song by American singer

Madison Beer Madison Elle Beer (born March 5, 1999) is an American singer. Born in New York, she began posting covers to YouTube in early 2012. Beer gained substantial media coverage when Justin Bieber posted a link to one of her covers. She released her d ...

. It was released on February 14, 2020, as the second single from her debut studio album, ''

Life Support Life support comprises the treatments and techniques performed in an emergency in order to support life after the failure of one or more vital organs. Healthcare providers and emergency medical technicians are generally certified to perform basic ...

''. Beer co-wrote and produced the song with

Leroy Clampitt Leroy James Clampitt (born October 24, 1992), formerly known as Big Taste, is a Grammy-nominated producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Pirongia, New Zealand, based in Los Angeles, California. Leroy has co-written and produced songs ...

, while other credited writers of the song include Jeremy Dussolliet,

Tim Sommers Timothy Sommers, known professionally as One Love, is an American record producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. His professional career began after cowriting the Grammy-nominated hit "Airplanes" with long-time collaborator Kinetics. H ...

, Lowell, and Jaramye Daniels. Commercially, "Selfish" reached number 25 in Ireland, making it her first top forty hit as a solo artist in the country.

Composition

"Selfish" is a slow

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 ...

pop

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

with stripped-down production. The song was written by Madison Beer,

, Jaramye Daniels, Jeremy Dussolliet, Elizabeth Lowell Boland, and

. Beer and Clampitt handled production of the song. In terms of

music notation Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

, "Selfish" was composed using common time in the

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

of A major with a slow tempo of 75

beats per minute Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ...

. Beer's

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...

vocal range spans from the low note of F#₃ to the high note of E₅. For much of the song, the stripped-down instrumentation consists of an

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

, placing emphasis on Beer's vocals, which are doubled in select parts of the song such as the chorus. Beer's vocal performance on the track was described by one music critic as "emotional". Deemed a "breakup ballad" by one music critic, "Selfish" contains lyrics about a toxic relationship and feelings of betrayal.

Critical reception

"Selfish" received universal acclaim. '' Billboard'' magazine praised Beer's vocal performance on the song, writing that the singer "sounds poised n "Selfish" committed to the approach and confident in her capabilities as a vocalist". Brian Cantor, writing for ''Headline Planet'', praised the song as an "impressive vocal showing" and "perhaps the strongest 'mainstream pop' song to hit the market thus far in 2020". Mike Wass of ''

Idolator An idolator is a practitioner of idolatry. Idolater or Idolator may also refer to: Books *''Os Idólatras'', 1968 Portuguese novel by Maria Judite de Carvalho Music * Idolator (website), an American music blog * ''Idolator'' (album), third album ...

'' deemed the song a "stirring breakup ballad".

Music video

"Selfish" was accompanied by a music video co-directed by Madison Beer and Jason Lester that was released the same day as the single. The visual features the singer performing the song on the ground with various rain effects. After its upload, the video currently has over 35 million views as well as more than 1 million likes. On December 15, 2020, a ''

Vevo Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, di ...

'' LIFT live performance of "Selfish" was released on Beer's YouTube account. The video features the artist lying down on an illuminated platform, she progresses throughout the song with more powerful runs that weren't originally present in the track.

Personnel

Adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

. *

– lead artist, songwriter, producer *

– songwriter, producer, bass, drums, keyboards, programmer, recording engineer *Jaramye Daniels – songwriter * Jeremy Dussolliet – songwriter * Elizabeth Lowell Boland – songwriter *

– songwriter *Kinga Bacik – cello *Oscar Scivier – executive producer *

Chris Gehringer Chris Gehringer (born May 27, 1962) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered recordings such as Gwen Stefani's '' Love. Angel. Music. Baby.'' (2004), Rihanna's '' Loud'' (2010), Lady Gaga's '' Born This Way'' (2011) and Drake' ...

– mastering engineer *Mitch McCarthy – mixing engineer

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Madison Beer 2020 songs 2020 singles Madison Beer songs Epic Records singles Pop ballads Songs written by Kinetics (rapper) Songs written by Leroy Clampitt Songs written by One Love (record producer) Songs written by Lowell (musician)