"Swan Song" is a song by English-Albanian singer

Dua Lipa Dua Lipa ( , ; born ) is an English and Albanian singer and songwriter. Possessing a mezzo-soprano vocal range, she is known for her signature disco- pop sound. Lipa has received numerous accolades, including six Brit Awards, three Gramm ...

for the soundtrack of 2019 film '' Alita: Battle Angel''. The singer co-wrote the song with

Justin Tranter Justin Drew Tranter (born June 16, 1980) is an American songwriter, singer, and activist. Frequently co-writing with Julia Michaels, Tranter has written songs for artists such as Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, Linkin Park, Kelly Clarkson, Selena ...

, Kennedi Lykken, Mattias Larsson, Robin Fredriksson and

Tom Holkenborg Tom Holkenborg (born 8 December 1967), also known by his stage name Junkie XL or occasionally JXL, is a Dutch composer, multi-instrumentalist, DJ, producer, and engineer. Originally known for his trance productions, he has moved to producing ...

, while the production was handled by

Mattman & Robin Mattman & Robin is a Swedish songwriting and production duo composed of Mattias Per Larsson and Robin Lennart Fredriksson. They are published by Wolf Cousins, a publishing company administered by Warner Chappell Music. In 2016, they won a Grammy A ...

. Holkenborg also composed the soundtrack and orchestrations he created for it are used in the song. Announced in December 2018, the song was released for digital download and

streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...

on 24 January 2019 through

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

as the soundtrack's

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

. "Swan Song" is an

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...

song set to muted electronics, cinematic horns and orchestral stabs. In the song, Lipa references 1980s AIDS activist group

ACT UP AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, ...

and sings about new beginnings and society using their voices to fight for what they believe in. Several critics praised the song for the production. It was nominated for

Best Original Song This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the 24th Satellite Awards. Commercially, the song reached number 24 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 ...

and also reached the top 50 of charts in Belgium (Flanders), Ireland, Lithuania and Scotland. The song was awarded a silver certification in the UK and a gold one in Poland. The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Swan Song" was directed by

Floria Sigismondi Floria Sigismondi (, born 1965) is an Italian-Canadian film director, screenwriter, music video director, artist, and photographer. She is best known for writing and directing '' The Runaways'', for directing music videos for performers includi ...

and accompanied the song's release. A blockbuster visual, it follows a loose synopsis of ''Alita: Battle Angel'', specifically with the self-discovery themes. The video features Lipa and her crew in the fictional Iron City of the film. They encounter a giant robot and eventually Alita, before Lipa transforms into her towards the end. Several critics complimented the video's sci-fi themes. An acoustic version and a remixes

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

were released for further promotion.

Background and development

At the end of 2018,

was contacted about an opportunity to create a song for the new film '' Alita: Battle Angel'', which

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker. A major figure in the post-New Hollywood era, he is considered one of the industry's most innovative filmmakers, regularly pushing the boundaries of cinematic capability w ...

and

Robert Rodriguez Robert Anthony Rodriguez (; born June 20, 1968) is an American filmmaker, composer, and visual effects supervisor. He shoots, edits, produces, and scores many of his films in Mexico and in his home state of Texas. Rodriguez directed the 1992 ac ...

had been working on. She accepted as she was instantly drawn to the film's titular character, Alita, and wanted to be a part of the film. The film team thought that Lipa would be a perfect fit for ''Alita: Battle Angel'' after seeing her

for "

New Rules "New Rules" is a song by English-Albanian singer Dua Lipa from her eponymous debut studio album (2017). The song was written by Caroline Ailin, Emily Warren and Ian Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick also handled the production and offered it to Lipa ...

". They thought her performance had the "kick-ass strength, power and attitude" Alita embodies in the film. Lipa was given the film's trailer and synopsis to begin, while she later got to see it prior to working on the song. Lipa wrote "Swan Song" alongside

, Kennedi Lykken, Mattias Larsson, Robin Fredriksson and

. The singer found it exciting to write a song she already had a concept for and experiment with sounds that were different from what she was working on with her album. Holkenborg had composed the score for the film; the writers decided to take the orchestrations he created and use them in the song. The production was handled by

. "Swan Song" was recorded at

Conway Studios Conway may refer to: Places United States * Conway, Arkansas * Conway County, Arkansas * Lake Conway, Arkansas * Conway, Florida * Conway, Iowa * Conway, Kansas * Conway, Louisiana * Conway, Massachusetts * Conway, Michigan * Conway T ...

in Los Angeles, TaP Studio in London and Wolf Cousins Studios in Stockholm.

Serban Ghenea Șerban Ghenea (born October 13, 1969) is a Grammy award-winning Romanian-Canadian audio engineer and mixer. Early life and education Ghenea was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1969. In 1976 he moved to Montreal with his family. He later attended ...

mixed the song at MixStar Studios in

Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...

and

Randy Merrill Randy Merrill is an American mastering engineer who has worked with international artists including DAY6, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Harry Styles, One Direction, Adele, Imagine Dragons, Beck, Liam Gallagher, Jonas Brothers, Muse, Cage the ...

mastered it at Sterling Sound in New York.

Music and lyrics

Musically, "Swan Song" is an

track. It is constructed in

verse–chorus form Verse–chorus form is a musical form going back to the 1840s, in such songs as "Oh! Susanna", "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze", and many others. It became passé in the early 1900s, with advent of the AABA (with verse) form in the Tin ...

and composed in the

time signature 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 ...

of 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 ...

C minor C minor is a minor scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature consists of three flats. Its relative major is E major and its parallel major is C major. The C natural minor scale is: : Cha ...

, 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 96 beats per minute and a

chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...

of A–B–Cm–Gm7. The song begins with a burst of horns and heavy drums. The production features muted electronics, airy

synths A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...

, stabbing brass samples, vocal chants, percolating percussion, cinematic horns, orchestral stabs, a driving melody, powerful

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

and a mechanized, cybernetic and pulsating beat. Lipa builds on an urgency feeling in the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

. The synths build up to the minimal chorus, while the sections progress to the final booming hook. Lipa uses triumphant vocals,

ranging Length measurement, distance measurement, or range measurement (ranging) refers to the many ways in which length, distance, or range can be measured. The most commonly used approaches are the rulers, followed by transit-time methods and the int ...

from G₃ to D₅. In the song, Lipa sings about new beginnings and mentions a series of obstacles she has had to overcome. The writers were inspired by how Alita fights for the lives of marginalized people. They wrote the song about how society constantly needs to speak up about what they believe in and the injustices of the world, as well as how their voices always need to be used; this message was also inspired by the film's empowering message. The song additionally took inspiration from the 1980s advocacy group

, who formed in response to the HIV/AIDS crisis at the time. The bridge paraphrases the group's motto "silence equals death" and the song's title contradicts its meaning. "Swan Song" ends with an abrupt climax that leads to a two-second fade out.

Release and promotion

On 17 December 2018, it was announced that Lipa would record "Swan Song" for ''Alita: Battle Angel'' and that the song would be released ahead of the film's 14 February 2019 release. The same day, Lipa revealed the cover art. Also in December 2018, the film's trailer was released, featuring clip of the song. The following month, it was announced that the song would be released on 25 January 2019. Lipa began teasing the song on social media thereafter. Prior to the song's release, it was previewed in a TV spot for ''Alita: Battle Angel''. "Swan Song" was released for digital download and

on 24 January 2019 through

as the

from the film's soundtrack, being released a day earlier than originally intended. The following day, the song was sent for

radio airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

in Australia and Italy. On 28 January 2019, it was sent to US

adult contemporary radio Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet s ...

formats and

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

formats the following day. While promoting the song, Lipa wanted viewers to find a piece of themselves in Alita and inspire one to do good in everyday life. "Swan Song" was included as the closing track on physical releases of the

Milan Records Milan Records is a record label located in Los Angeles, California specializing in film scores and soundtrack albums. In addition, Milan boasts an extensive electronic catalog which features down-tempo, chillout, and eclectic electronic releases ...

-released ''Alita: Battle Angel'' soundtrack. On 22 March 2019, an acoustic version of the song was released. An

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

featuring remixes by

DJ Shadow Joshua Paul Davis (born June 29, 1972), better known by his stage name DJ Shadow, is an American DJ, songwriter and record producer. His debut studio album, '' Endtroducing.....'' was released in 1996. Biography Early years (1989–1995) DJ Sha ...

and NastyNasty,

Maya Jane Coles Maya Jane Coles is a music producer, audio engineer and DJ based in the United Kingdom, born in London of British and Japanese descent. Under her real name, she mostly composes and plays techno music, while her alias Nocturnal Sunshine create ...

, aboutagirl and

Calibre In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the finished bore match ...

was released on 12 April 2019.

Reception

In ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'', Raisa Bruner viewed "Swan Song" as a "clear battle anthem" where Lipa's "mellifluous" voice adds "weight and smoothness, and a welcome human element". She concluded by stating it echoes a "mix of electronic rhythms and a touch of the real". Writing for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'',

Jon Pareles Jon Pareles (born October 25, 1953) is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of ''The New York Times''. Brennan Carley of '' GQ'' thought Lipa treated the song as a "proper" solo single instead of a soundtrack song while also stating it could be nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

. Additionally, he said the song "feels properly high stakes, but also kind of weird and murky until its head-rattling chorus kicks in". Ryan Reed of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' called the song "cinematic" while

Uproxx ''Uproxx'' (stylized in all caps) is an entertainment and popular culture news website. It was founded in 2008 by Jarret Myer and Brian Brater, and acquired by Woven Digital (later renamed Uproxx Media Group) in 2014. The site's target audience ...

's Chloe Gilke named "Swan Song" a "powerful", "confident, anthemic banger" and Lake Schatz of ''

Consequence Consequence may refer to: * Logical consequence, also known as a ''consequence relation'', or ''entailment'' * In operant conditioning, a result of some behavior * Consequentialism, a theory in philosophy in which the morality of an act is determi ...

'' viewed it as a "defiant number". For ''

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 ...

'', Mike Nied named "Swan Song" a "soaring anthem" with a "suitably epic production" that "could easily be ipa'snext song to dominate the charts". Chris DeVille of ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...

'' complimented how Lipa experimented with the track and compared it to

Lorde Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor (born 7 November 1996), known professionally as Lorde ( ), is a New Zealand singer-songwriter. Taking inspiration from aristocracy for her stage name, she is known for her unconventional musical styles and i ...

's "

Yellow Flicker Beat "Yellow Flicker Beat" is a song by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde released on 29 September 2014 as the lead single from the soundtrack for '' The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1'' by Republic Records. Written by Lorde and Joel Little a ...

" (2014). In ''

Popjustice Popjustice is a music website founded in 2000 by UK freelance music journalist Peter Robinson, who has worked for ''NME'', ''The Guardian'', ''Attitude'' and many others. It is composed of the work of editor Robinson, features editor Michael Cra ...

'', Peter Robinson praised the "creative and luxurious production" that is "sparse where it needs to be and full of dramatic and unpredictable little flourishes" while also complimenting how the song fades out at the end. Writing for ''

Audacy Audacy, previously known as Radio.com, is a free broadcast and Internet radio platform owned by the namesake company Audacy, Inc. (formerly known as Entercom). The Audacy platform functions as a music recommender system and is the national um ...

'', Michael Cerio viewed the song as a "sweeping epic, building like a battle hymn into a post-apocolyptic banger". "Swan Song" was nominated for

at the 24th Satellite Awards. In February 2019, "Swan Song" debuted at number 25 on the

. In its third week, the song reached a peak of number 24. It spent a total of eight weeks on the chart. The

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with th ...

(BPI) awarded the song a silver certification in November 2021 for selling 200,000 track-equivalent units in the UK. In Ireland and Scotland, the song had respective peaks of numbers 24 and 27. Additionally, the song reached number 50 in Belgium (Flanders), 63 in Portugal, 67 in Sweden and 96 in Switzerland. In 2020, the song was awarded a gold certification from the

Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry The Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry ( pl, Związek Producentów Audio-Video, ZPAV) is the trade organization that represents the interests of the music industry in Poland, and the Polish chapter of the International Federation of the ...

(ZPAV) for track-equivalent sales of 10,000 units in Poland. It reached number 99 in both Canada and Germany. In the United States, the song spent five weeks on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

chart, peaking at number four. In Oceania, it reached number 68 in Australia and entered the NZ Hot Singles chart at number five.

Music video

The music video for "Swan Song" was directed by

and filmed in December 2018. Lipa described filming the video as different from ones she had done before as a movie team was working on it and CGI was used. She knew she wanted to do a fighting scene and had people from ''Alita: Battle Angel'' come and help her out and teach her how to do the fighting. The only time Lipa had to rehearse for the videos shoot was while she was in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

writing for her album so she would spend the entire day in the studio and then go and practice the moves every night for two to three hours. Sigismondi wanted the video to showcase the self-discovery themes of ''Alita: Battle Angel''. She thought that the film is a powerful story for any girl who does not know her power, a notion the director wanted to play with by putting Lipa into Alita's world and using Alita to help Lipa on a journey to discover she's stronger than she knew. Along with the song's announcement, Lipa revealed that it would also receive a music video. The video accompanied the single's release on 24 January 2019. It follows a loose synopsis of the film and is a blockbuster production. The visual is set in the fictional Iron City from ''Alita: Battle Angel''. It begins with Lipa and her crew rummaging through ruins and picking through mountains of trash, looking for items of value. The singer wears a chain mail dress with a black leather corset alongside heavy gold and silver chain necklaces, chunky lace-up platform boots, black pants and dark eye makeup. Lipa and her crew eventually perform dance and martial arts choreography in the city. Following this, a giant robot pops up to attack them but they escape. Lipa reemerges in another setting as if she had woken up from a nightmare and makes her way to a mirror. She encounters Alita in the mirror and performs a martial arts inspired dance break with her. The singer then transforms into Alita wearing a skin-tight black crop top. To close the video, she puts her cyborg fist into the air, posing in front of the Iron City. Elizabeth Aubrey of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' described the video as "sci-fi, futuristic". Robinson thought it marked "the best rubbish dump-based pop video" since " Keep Your Head Up" (2009) by Girls Can't Catch. For '' Clash'', Robin Murray viewed the video as "ambitious" and noted the sci-fi theme reminiscent of the film. Cerio compared the video to the 2008 film ''

WALL-E ''WALL-E'' (stylized with an interpunct as ''WALL·E'') is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed and co-written by Andrew Stanton, pro ...

''. Nied called the music video "dramatic" and thought it does "a great job integrating Dua into the film's world". Gilke viewed the video as "cinematic" and thought it is "a perfect match" to the song.

Track listings

*Digital download and streaming # "Swan Song (From the Motion Picture 'Alita: Battle Angel')" – 3:02 *Digital download and streaming – acoustic # "Swan Song (From the Motion Picture 'Alita: Battle Angel')" coustic– 3:09 *Digital EP – remixes # "Swan Song (From the Motion Picture 'Alita: Battle Angel')" [

and NastyNasty remix] – 3:55 # "Swan Song (From the Motion Picture 'Alita: Battle Angel')" [

rework] – 3:07 # "Swan Song (From the Motion Picture 'Alita: Battle Angel')" boutagirl remix– 3:24 # "Swan Song (From the Motion Picture 'Alita: Battle Angel')" [

remix] – 3:39

Personnel

vocals *

production, programming, drums, percussion, guitar, piano, bass, synths, backing vocals, strings * Lorna Blackwood vocal production * Kennedi Lykken backing vocals *

piano, strings, bass, brass, synths * John Hanes engineering *

mixing *

mastering

Charts

Certifications

Release history

Footnotes

References

External links

* *
Lyrics of this song
at Musixmatch {{Dua Lipa 2019 singles 2019 songs Dua Lipa songs Music videos directed by Floria Sigismondi Protest songs Songs written by Dua Lipa Songs written by Justin Tranter Songs written by Mattias Larsson Songs written by Robin Fredriksson Song recordings produced by Mattman & Robin Songs written for films Songs with feminist themes Electropop songs Songs written by Kennedi Lykken