"Safe and Sound" is a song by American

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

duo

Capital Cities A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, Department (country subdivision), department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city ...

, written and produced by band members Ryan Merchant and

Sebu Simonian Sebu Simonian (born October 15, 1978; hy, Սեպուհ Սիմոնեան) is an Armenian-American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer, one-half of the Los Angeles-based indie pop duo Capital Cities. Early life Simonian was born in ...

. The song was released as a single on January 6, 2011, and first appeared on their debut EP ''Capital Cities'' (2011), later serving as the lead single from their debut studio album, ''

In a Tidal Wave of Mystery ''In a Tidal Wave of Mystery'' is the debut studio album of American indie pop duo Capital Cities, released on June 4, 2013, under Capitol Records. Background and production Ryan Merchant and Sebu Simonian worked as jingle writers for various co ...

'' (2013). "Safe and Sound" became the duo's breakout hit, peaking at number eight on the United States ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and achieving commercial success in several other territories. Three music videos were produced for the single, with the third video, directed by Grady Hall and set in the Los Angeles Theatre, later being nominated for

Best Music Video The Grammy Award for Best Music Video is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality short form music videos. Hon ...

at the

56th Annual Grammy Awards The 56th Annual Grammy Awards presentation was held on January 26, 2014, at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. ET/PT and was hosted for the third time by LL Cool J. The show was moved to January to avoid comp ...

. It is the theme song for the

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL) ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

Background and composition

"Safe and Sound" is a

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

and

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

song, and was written and produced by Capital Cities members Ryan Merchant and Sebu Simonian. It features a prominent

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

line, which was only incorporated into its production after eight previous takes of the song.

Music videos

The first music video for "Safe and Sound" was self-produced and edited by the band and uploaded to their official

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 ...

account on February 24, 2011. It features alternating historical film clips of dancing and war from the last century generally arranged in chronological order. Another video, directed by Jimmy Ahlander, was released on October 21, depicting the duo being led through a junkyard by a monk. The third and most well-known video for the song was directed by Grady Hall and released on April 25, 2013. The video is set in the Los Angeles Theatre and depicts Capital Cities performing on stage as dancers of all types (1940s swing dancers, 1970s roller-disco skaters, 1990s hip-hop dancers, etc.) emerge from pictures on the wall and film clips from different time periods in the theater's history come to life and compete in dance-offs. It received a nomination in the

category at the

Cover versions and in other media

On November 7, 2013, the song was performed by Team

Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

(consisted of

Tessanne Chin Tessanne Amanda Chin (; born September 20, 1985) is a Jamaican recording artist, best known for winning The Voice (American season 5), Season 5 of NBC's reality TV singing competition ''The Voice (American TV series), The Voice'' as part of Adam ...

James Wolpert James Wolpert (born December 26, 1990) is an American singer, best known for his appearance on Season 5 of the NBC singing competition ''The Voice'' as part of Adam Levine's team. Early life Originally from Strasburg, Pennsylvania, where he gra ...

Will Champlin William Christopher Champlin (born April 24, 1983) is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his appearance on Season 5 of the NBC singing competition ''The Voice'' as part of Adam Levine's team. He finished in third place behind Jacqui ...

, Grey and Preston Pohl) from the fifth season of the series, ''

The Voice The Voice may refer to: Fictional entities * The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics * The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe * The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...

''.

Zendaya Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman ( ; born September 1, 1996) is an American actress and singer. She has received various accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the ...

Kina Grannis Kina Kasuya Grannis (born August 4, 1985) is an American guitarist, singer and Internet personalities, YouTuber. Grannis was the winner of the 2008 Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest, earning a recording contract with Interscope Records and ha ...

Kurt Hugo Schneider Kurt Hugo Schneider (born September 7, 1988), sometimes referred to by his initials KHS, is an American video editor, producer, musician, singer and songwriter, whose primary medium is YouTube music videos. He has produced music videos for vari ...

and

Max Schneider Maxwell George Schneider (born June 21, 1992), also known by his mononym MAX, is an American singer-songwriter, actor and model, signed to Arista and Sony RED. In 2018, MAX's single " Lights Down Low" went double platinum in the US, Platinum i ...

(not related) released a cover of the song on March 31, 2014, used for a

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

commercial. Actual Coca-Cola bottles served as instruments in the version.

Air New Zealand Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier airline of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 30 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily around and within the Pacific ...

have used the song in their in-flight safety video for 2014, while the Barcelona's Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) has used it in its dance video to raise awareness and support for research into diseases such as cancer and metastasis, Alzheimer's and diabetes. The song was featured as the background music for the 2014 model year

Mazda3 The Mazda3 (known as the Mazda Axela in Japan (first three generations), a combination of "accelerate" and "excellent") is a compact car manufactured by Mazda. It was first introduced in 2003 as a 2004 model, replacing the Mazda Familia, Familia ...

vehicles. The music video featured prominant figures

Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that ...

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

, and

Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line ...

to promote the all new features, including the "kodo" design

Mazda , commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan. In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...

has introduced post-

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

ownership of the company. The song is briefly played at a party scene in the beginning of the 2015 film '' Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip''.

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

has used the song in 2020 in McDonald's Australia promotion for the return of the McRib® & El Maco® as part of the that year’s summer menu. Beginning in July 2021, the song was used in an advertising campaign for ADT Home Security titled “It’s Safe To Say”, which featured

Drew Drew may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places ;In the United States * Drew, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Drew, Mississippi, a city * Drew, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Drew, Oregon, an unincorporated community * Drew County, Arkansas ...

and Jonathan Scott from the

HGTV HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. As of February 2015, appr ...

series “

Property Brothers ''Property Brothers'' is a Canadian reality television series now produced by Scott Brothers Entertainment, and is the original show in the ''Property Brothers'' franchise. The series features twin brothers Drew Scott and Jonathan Scott. D ...

”.

Commercial performance

"Safe and Sound" first gained commercial success in Germany following its use in a

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...

commercial, later topping the German

Media Control Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...

singles chart. A

sleeper hit In the entertainment industry, a sleeper hit is a film, television series, music release, video game, or some other entertainment product that was initially unsuccessful on release but became a success later on. A sleeper hit may have little promo ...

, it peaked at number eight on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in September 2013, over two-and-a-half years after its initial release. It has sold over two million copies in the United States as of January 2014. It also reached #2 on the

Mainstream Top 40 Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...

chart. In the United Kingdom, the single was added to the

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

playlist on August 31, 2013; following its official single release in the country the following month, it peaked at number 42 on 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 ...

Awards and nominations

Track listing

* Digital download (single) # "Safe and Sound" – 3:12 * Digital download (remix EP) # "Safe and Sound" – 4:12 # "Safe and Sound" – 5:26 # "Safe and Sound" – 2:52 # "Safe and Sound" – 5:30 # "Safe and Sound" – 5:22 # "Safe and Sound" – 5:53 # "Safe and Sound" – 7:48 * CD single (Germany) # "Safe and Sound" – 3:12 # "Safe and Sound" – 5:53 * 11th Anniversary Bundle (remix EP) # "Safe and Sound" – 2:31 # "Safe and Sound" – 2:41 # "Safe and Sound" – 2:58 # "Safe and Sound" – 3:08 # "Safe and Sound" – 3:09 # "Safe and Sound" – 2:31 # "Safe and Sound" – 4:23

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2011 singles Capital Cities (band) songs Number-one singles in Germany Number-one singles in Russia Capitol Records singles Record Report Pop Rock General number-one singles 2011 songs