"True Friends" is a song by British

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Bring Me the Horizon Bring Me the Horizon (often abbreviated as BMTH) are a British Rock music, rock band formed in Sheffield in 2004. The group consists of lead vocalist Oliver Sykes, guitarist Lee Malia, bassist Matt Kean, drummer Matt Nicholls and keyboardis ...

. Produced by keyboardist Jordan Fish and vocalist

Oliver Sykes Oliver Scott Sykes (born 20 November 1986) is a British singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Bring Me the Horizon. He also founded the apparel company Drop Dead Clothing, and created a graphic novel. Early ...

, it was featured on the band's 2015 fifth studio album '' That's the Spirit''. The song was also released as the fourth

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from the album on 20 November 2015, reaching number 91 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 topping the

UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart The UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart and UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart are record charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company (OCC) to determine the 40 most popular singles and albums in the rock and heavy metal genres. The ...

Promotion and release

"True Friends" was first released on 23 August 2015 in the form of a

lyric 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 promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

on the band's official

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channel, after being teased by the band for a number of days. It was reportedly due to be premiered on

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...

's Beats 1 radio show on

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

, but this was cancelled. On 20 November, the song was released as a

in the form of a limited edition 7" vinyl.

Composition and lyrics

"True Friends" is a song about disloyalty. Speaking to TeamRock, vocalist

has explained that the hook "True Friends stab you in the front" is based on a quote credited to Irish playwright Oscar Wilde. The song is "not about anyone in particular", although Sykes has revealed that "It's about some people more than it is others, but it's all about one event in particular that spurred it on. It's about people that I thought were my friends, my very good friends, doing something to me that I just didn't see coming in a way I never thought they would." In a track-by-track commentary of '' That's the Spirit'' for

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

, the frontman added that "True Friends" is about "coming to peace with nger... ndletting those people know that I can forget but never forgive". In his review of ''That's the Spirit'', David Renshaw for the ''

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 ...

'' claimed that on "True Friends", Sykes "maintains a sense of paranoia and emotional vulnerability amid the cavernous sounds". The song has been noted to "unleashed their 'Bring Me the Horizon''inner

emo Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...

kid".

Music video

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 promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for "True Friends" was directed by Bring Me the Horizon frontman Oliver Sykes and released on 5 November 2015. Described as a "murder mystery revolving around a family" by TeamRock's Luke Morton, it features a story which "centers on a detective ( Steve Oram) who is being haunted by his own past misdeeds". The video was praised by Loudwire's Chad Childers, who described it as "a powerful storytelling tool" and "one of the more chilling and intense videos of the year". Similarly, ''

DIY "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...

'' magazine's Jamie Milton praised the video's "thriller epic plot" and dramatic nature. In November, the band also released a video of their live performance of the song at

Webster Hall Webster Hall is a nightclub and concert venue located at 125 East 11th Street, between Third and Fourth Avenues, near Astor Place, in the East Village of Manhattan, New York City. It is one of New York City's most historically significant ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

earlier in the year.

Critical reception

Writing for Gigwise, Will Butler claimed that "True Friends" was "in keeping with the more accessible sounds of 'Happy Song' and 'Throne'", describing it as "aggressive". ''

Rock Sound ''Rock Sound'' is a British magazine that covers rock music. The magazine aims at being more " underground" and less commercial, while also giving coverage to better-known acts. It generally focuses on pop punk, post-hardcore, metalcore, punk, ...

'' writer Andy Biddulph dubbed it an "angsty, fist-pumping arena rock anthem" which he claimed was "ready-made for pyro blasts and sold-out arenas". Emmy Mack of ''

Music Feeds ''Music Feeds'' is a free bi-weekly digital music and lifestyle magazine ( street press) established in 2008 and based in Sydney, Australia. It is distributed electronically every second Tuesday, with additional material posted on the website ...

'' claimed that "True Friends" was "bordering dangerously on

", as well as describing it as the track which is closest to the post-hardcore genre on the album. On the other hand,

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

's James Christopher Monger criticised the main hook of the song, which he described as a "second-hand embarrassment-inducing" lyric.

Commercial performance

"True Friends" entered the

at number 2 on 28 August 2015, before registering on the main

at number 91 three weeks later. After moving up and down the top ten for a number of weeks, it later topped the UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart on 27 November, replacing

Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy is an American rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurle ...

's "

Centuries A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

". In the United States, the track reached number 22 on the '' Billboard'' Hot Rock Songs chart. Elsewhere, it peaked at number 74 on the Belgian

Ultratip Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organization of ...

chart in the Flanders region.

Personnel

Credits 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 ...

. Bring Me the Horizon *

– lead vocals, production, composition, programming * Lee Malia – guitars, composition * Matt Kean – bass, composition * Matt Nicholls – drums, composition * Jordan Fish – keyboards, synthesizers, programming, percussion, backing vocals, production, composition, engineering Additional musicians * Maddie Cutter – cello * Will Harvey – violin Additional personnel *

Al Groves Alistair Austin Rothwell Groves is a British record producer, currently based in Liverpool, England. He is renowned for his focus on guitar based popular music. He works at The Motor Museum, Liverpool and is a guest lecturer in music production at ...

– engineering * Sam Winfield – engineering * Nikos Goudinakis – assistant engineering *

Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Biography T ...

– mastering *

Dan Lancaster Dan Lancaster is a producer, mixer, songwriter and artist from the UK. He is best known for his mixing and production work in contemporary rock music, and has worked with prominent global acts such as Blink-182, 5 Seconds Of Summer, Bring ...

– mixing

Charts

Certifications

References

External links

"True Friends"
music video at

{{Authority control 2015 songs 2015 singles Bring Me the Horizon songs Songs written by Oliver Sykes Sony Music singles Songs about friendship British punk rock songs