"Tightrope" is a song by Australian

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

Illy Illycaffè S.p.A. (branded and stylised as illy) is an Italian coffee company specializing in espresso, headquartered in Trieste. Illy markets its coffee globally in silver and red pressurized, oxygen-free cans; operates a network of cafes on s ...

. Written by Mark Landon and Alasdair Murray and produced by the former under his stage name,

M-Phazes Mark Landon (born 1 February 1983), better known by his stage name M-Phazes, is an Australian-born producer based in LA. He has produced records for Logic, Demi Lovato, Madonna, Eminem, Kehlani, Zara Larsson, Remi Wolf, Kiiara, Noah Cyrus, ...

the song was first released in March 2014 through Illy's

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

, ONETWO as the fourth single from Illy's fourth studio album, ''

Cinematic Cinematic describes anything related to ''cinema''. It may refer to: any movie updates, cinema nights, cinematic review Film-related * Cinematic cutscene, a sequence in a video game that is not interactive * Cinematic music, original music writt ...

'' (2013). "Tightrope" was well received by fans and was also singled out as one of the strongest tracks on ''Cinematic'' in Navarone Farrell's review of the album for The AU Review.

Background and release

Whilst recording material for his fourth studio album, ''Cinematic'' (2013), Illy collaborated with a variety of artists including the

Hilltop Hoods Hilltop Hoods is an Australian hip hop group that formed in 1996 in Blackwood, Adelaide, South Australia. They are regarded as pioneers of the "larrikin-like" style of Australian hip hop. The group was founded by Suffa (Matthew David Lambert) a ...

Daniel Merriweather Daniel Paul Merriweather (born 17 February 1982) is an Australian R&B recording artist. Merriweather's debut solo album, '' Love & War'', was released in June 2009. It entered the UK Albums Chart at number two. It was preceded by two sing ...

and

Ahren Stringer The Amity Affliction is an Australian metalcore band from Gympie, Queensland, formed in 2003. The band's current line-up consists of Ahren Stringer (bass, clean vocals), Joel Birch (lead vocals), Dan Brown (guitar) and Joe Longobardi (drums). T ...

of The Amity Afflcition among others. When asked about the album's material Illy responded, "It’s the most ambitious work I’ve done and these are the biggest risks I’ve taken, but I believe they’re the strongest songs I’ve written". "Tightrope" was eventually released as the follow-up to the album's third single, "Youngbloods" in March 2014. While the album version of the song features guest vocals by

Kristina Miltiadou Kristina Miltiadou (born 12 May) is a Greek-Australian singer-songwriter based in Melbourne. She released her self-titled debut album in 2013 which featured her singles "Heartstrings" and "Carousel". She has an uncredited appearance in the albu ...

the single version features vocals by

Scarlett Stevens Scarlett Stevens is an Australian singer/drummer from the indie band San Cisco, The Flairz and grunge band Ghetto Crystals. She has performed on recordings by Bob Evans (musician), Bob Evans and Illy (rapper), Illy. She is the daughter of Phil St ...

. The album version was released to radio and also used in the song's 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 ...

. When speaking about the single, Illy commented, "Tightrope has been going off on the tour. It’s good to have a single that can also be a track that goes down really well in a live performance".

Music video

The song's accompanying music video runs for approximately three minutes and thirty-seven seconds. The video centres on Illy who is seen rowing a boat across a lake. As he continues to do so however, he is followed and subsequently shot at by a woman, causing his boat to sink and sending him into the water.

Track listing

;Digital download

Chart performance

"Tightrope" debuted at number thirty-nine on the Australian

ARIA In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...

singles chart and after re-entering the chart twice, eventually reached its peak position of number eighteen during its ninth week on the chart, thereby becoming Illy's first top twenty hit and one of his top hits to date. The song was certified Platinum by the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing th ...

(ARIA), denoting shipments in excess of 70,000 copies.

Charts

Year-end chart

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2014 singles 2014 songs Illy (rapper) songs APRA Award winners Scarlett Stevens songs Songs written by Illy (rapper) Songs written by M-Phazes