"Thunder" is a song by English singer

Jessie J Jessica Ellen Cornish (born 27 March 1988), known professionally as Jessie J, is an English singer. Born and raised in London, she began her career on stage, aged 11, with a role in the West End musical '' Whistle Down the Wind''. She studied ...

. It was written by Jessie J,

Claude Kelly Claude Kelly (born December 27, 1980)Shirley Halperin and Bob Love"THR Names Music's 35 Top Hitmakers,"''The Hollywood Reporter'', February 6, 2013. is an American singer, songwriter and music producer. He is a four-time Grammy Award nominee, a ...

, Benjamin Levin,

Tor Erik Hermansen Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to: Places * Tor, Pallars, a village in Spain * Tor, former name of Sloviansk, Ukraine, a city * Mount Tor, Tasmania, Australia, an extinct volcano * Tor Bay, Devon, England * Tor River, Western New Guinea, Indonesia Sc ...

and

Mikkel Storleer Eriksen Stargate is a record producing and songwriting team composed of Tor E. Hermansen (born 14 October 1972) and Mikkel S. Eriksen (born 10 December 1972), based in Los Angeles. The team's genres include R&B, pop and hip hop. Stargate was establis ...

for her second studio album ''

Alive Alive may refer to: *Life Books, comics and periodicals * ''Alive'' (novel), a 2015 novel by Scott Sigler * '' Alive: The Final Evolution'', a 2003 shonen manga by Tadashi Kawashima and Adachitoka * '' Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors'', ...

'' (2013), while production was helmed by

StarGate ''Stargate'' (often stylized in all caps) is a military science fiction media franchise based on the Stargate (film), film directed by Roland Emmerich, which he co-wrote with producer Dean Devlin. The franchise is based on the idea of an alien E ...

and

Benny Blanco Benjamin Joseph Levin (born March 8, 1988), known professionally as Benny Blanco (stylized in all lowercase), is an American record producer. He is the recipient of the 2013 Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is also ...

Background

"Thunder" was written by Jessie J,

Mikkel S. Eriksen Mikkel is a Danish and Norwegian masculine given name. It may refer to: * Mikkel Ødelien (1893–1984), Norwegian soil researcher * Mikkel Aaland (born 1952), award-winning American photographer * Mikkel Andersen (disambiguation) *Mikkel Bødker ...

and

. It was produced by Eriksen and Hermansen, credited under their production name

, along with Blanco. Jessie's vocals were recorded by Chris Sclafani, Joel Peters, and Justin Pancionendon, with Mark "Exit" Goodchild serving as its

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

. Kelly provided additional vocals on the song. "Thunder" was mixed by

Phil Tan Phil Tan is a Malaysian-American music and audio engineer. Early life and education Tan was born in Malaysia. He attended Full Sail University in Florida in the U.S., where he attained a degree in Recording Arts in 1990. Afterwards he moved to Atla ...

and assistants Daniela Rivera and Phil Seaford. Eriksen and Hermansen recorded the song's instrumentation, and Tim Blacksmith and Danny D. were assigned as its

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

s. Andrew "McMuffin" Luftman and Scott "Yarmov" Yarmovsky were credited as production coordinators on the song. The song was the last song Jessie and Kelly penned for the ''Alive'' album. "It got sent over by Stargate and Benny Blanco, and Claude and myself were like, 'Thunder, thunder, thunder'", Jessie later elaborated, "we just started writing and had it finished in about half an hour before I went to the airport to fly home from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

." Lyrically, "Thunder" was inspired by Jessie J's religious beliefs. "Thunder is a dedication to God," she told British newspaper '' The Mirror''. "I remember I prayed a lot when I worked on this album and it's not something I've ever spoken about openly," she shared. "I've very much enjoyed bringing my beliefs onto the album. I think it's important that whatever your beliefs are you use them in your day-to-day life."

Reception

On 18 October 2013, Jessie J announced that "Thunder" was chosen for release as the third single from ''Alive'' and also debuted the single's

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

work on her

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page alongside the caption: "My next UK single is…". It officially impacted European

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

and

rhythmic Rhythmic may refer to: * Related to rhythm * Rhythmic contemporary, a radio format * Rhythmic adult contemporary, a radio format * Rhythmic gymnastics, a form of gymnastics * Rhythmic (chart) The Rhythmic chart (also called Rhythmic Airplay, and ...

radio stations on 26 November 2013. On 6 December, the single was released digitally and as a

CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any si ...

, which contained the album version of the song and producer Erik Arbores's remix of the song. Following its release, "Thunder" first appeared in the top 40 of 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 40. One week later, it climbed nine places to 31, then another thirteen places to number 18 the week after.

Music video

The accompanying

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 ...

was directed by

Emil Nava Emil William Capper Nava (born 29 March 1985) is a British music video director. After leaving school at 16, Emil started his career as a chef. He shot to fame after directing Jessie J's song " Do It Like A Dude". He has since directed over 1 ...

. As her

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

faith took on an important role in the development of both ''Alive'' and "Thunder", it was significantly incorporated into the production of the video. "That's why in the video I'm levitating, that feeling of being lifted to the light," Jessie told '' The Mirror''. The clip sees her demonstrate some more classic dance moves. In it, she is shown with a short blond cropped hairstyle and wears a skin-toned bodysuit with strategically placed black embroidery and a slinky black cape. She also channels a more gothic look, with dark eye makeup and dark red lipstick. Jessie levitates, dances in the sand and in front of a car as lights flash around her.

Track listing

*;Digital EP #"Thunder" (Full Crate Remix) – 4:38 #"Thunder" (Erik Arbores Remix) – 5:12 #"Thunder" (Erik Arbores Dub) – 5:12 #"Thunder" (Instrumental) – 3:34

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Alive''. *Production coordination – Andrew "McMuffin" Luftman, Scott "Yarmov" Yarmovsky * Executive production – Danny D, Tim Blacksmith *Additional vocals – Claude Kelly *Vocal production – Claude Kelly * Programming – Benny Blanco, StarGate * Mixing – Phil Tan *Mixing assistance – Daniela Rivera *

Engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

– Mark "Exit" Goodchild, Phil Seaford *

Recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

– Chris Sclafani, Joel Peters, Justin Pancione * Mastering – Kevin Reeves

Charts

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thunder (Jessie J Song) 2013 singles Pop ballads Songs written by Claude Kelly Jessie J songs Songs written by Jessie J 2013 songs Songs written by Tor Erik Hermansen Songs written by Mikkel Storleer Eriksen Songs written by Benny Blanco Song recordings produced by Stargate (record producers) Song recordings produced by Benny Blanco