"Unshaken" is a song by American singer-songwriter
D'Angelo
Michael Eugene Archer (born February 11, 1974), better known by his stage name D'Angelo (), is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He first garnered attention after co-producing the single "U Will Know" ...
. It was produced by
Daniel Lanois
Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter.
He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willie ...
, who wrote the track with D'Angelo and
Rocco DeLuca
Rocco or Rocko is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include:
First name
* Rocco Baldelli (born 1981), American Major League Baseball player and manager of the Minnesota Twins
* Rocco Botte (born 1983), American actor an ...
. The song was written for the
original soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of ...
to the 2018 video game ''
Red Dead Redemption 2
''Red Dead Redemption 2'' is a 2018 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games. The game is the third entry in the ''Red Dead'' series and a prequel to the 2010 game ''Red Dead Redemption''. The story is set in 1899 and f ...
''. It was released as a digital single through
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
on January 4, 2019, and later as part of the game's soundtrack released by
Lakeshore Records
Lakeshore Entertainment Group, LLC is an American independent film production, finance, and former international sales and distribution company founded in 1994 by Tom Rosenberg and Ted Tannebaum (1933–2002). Lakeshore Entertainment is headquart ...
and
Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...
. It was D'Angelo's first piece of new music released since his third studio album, ''
Black Messiah'', released in December 2014.
D'Angelo was invited to perform a song for ''Red Dead Redemption 2'' after showing enthusiasm during
playtest
A playtest is the process by which a game designer tests a new game for bugs and design flaws before releasing it to market. Playtests can be run "open", "closed", "beta", or otherwise, and are very common with board games, collectible card games, ...
ing, having been a big fan of
its predecessor. DeLuca conceived the chant in the song's
chorus
Chorus may refer to:
Music
* Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse
* Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound
* Chorus form, song in which all verse ...
, based on a
proverb
A proverb (from la, proverbium) is a simple and insightful, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and use formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phra ...
by
Paramahansa Yogananda
Paramahansa Yogananda (born Mukunda Lal Ghosh; January 5, 1893March 7, 1952) was an Indian Hindu monk, yogi and guru who introduced millions to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his organization Self-Realization Fellows ...
. Lanois felt that the lyrics were appropriate to the game's narrative. The song is moderately slow and includes D'Angelo's lower vocal register. "Unshaken" received positive reviews, both in the context of the game and as an individual track, and reached number 6 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 ...
''
R&B Digital Song Sales
Hot R&B Songs is a chart released weekly by '' Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular R&B songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stations, digital download sales and streaming data. It was establis ...
chart.
Background
Prior to the release of "Unshaken", the last piece of music that D'Angelo put out was his third studio album, ''
Black Messiah'', in December 2014, which acted as his first studio album in 14 years. Some time after the release of that album, D'Angelo discovered that
Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...
was developing ''
Red Dead Redemption 2
''Red Dead Redemption 2'' is a 2018 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games. The game is the third entry in the ''Red Dead'' series and a prequel to the 2010 game ''Red Dead Redemption''. The story is set in 1899 and f ...
''; as he was a big fan of its predecessor, ''
Red Dead Redemption
''Red Dead Redemption'' is a 2010 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar San Diego and published by Rockstar Games. A spiritual successor to 2004's ''Red Dead Revolver'', it is the second game in the ''Red Dead'' series. ''Red Dead Redempt ...
'' (2010), D'Angelo reached out to Ivan Pavlovich, the director of music and audio at Rockstar, to play the game. Pavlovich recalled that D'Angelo would visit Rockstar's New York City office at midnight and play the game for several hours, adding that the singer found the game to be "incredible".
Due to his enthusiasm, Rockstar's music team invited D'Angelo to perform on a song for the game's soundtrack. Pavlovich felt that D'Angelo's involvement in the game led to producer
Daniel Lanois
Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter.
He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willie ...
's engagement with the project. Lanois took an early version of the song to D'Angelo in New York. They added a percussion track, with
Brian Blade
Brian Blade (born July 25, 1970) is an American jazz drummer, composer, session musician, and singer-songwriter.
Early life
Blade was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana. The first music he experienced was gospel and songs of praise at ...
on drums,
Cyril Neville
Cyril Garrett Neville (born October 10, 1948) is an American percussionist and vocalist who first came to prominence as a member of his brother Art Neville's funky New Orleans-based band, The Meters. He joined Art in the Neville Brothers band u ...
on cowbell, Lanois playing guitar, and D'Angelo playing
Rhodes piano
The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...
, and turned it into a full song. The recording process took around a week and a half. Lanois and D'Angelo originally began working on a
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 ...
-oriented song in a
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 ...
, but "it didn't pan out".
Composition and lyrical interpretation
"Unshaken" is a moderately slow track, performed in the key of
G minor
G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative major is B-flat major and its parallel major is G major.
According to Paolo Pietropaolo, it is the cont ...
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 80 beats per minute.
Chaz Kangas of
KZGO called it a
neo soul
Neo soul (sometimes called progressive soul) is a genre of popular music. As a term, it was coined by music industry entrepreneur Kedar Massenburg during the late 1990s to market and describe a style of music that emerged from soul and contempo ...
song,
while
Jon Caramanica
Jon Caramanica (born 1975) is an American journalist and pop music critic who writes for ''The New York Times''. He is also known for writing about hip hop music.
Biography
Born in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York, Caramanica received his ba ...
of ''
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 ...
'' described it as "lonely
cowboy-western soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
".
Musically, Elias Leight of ''Rolling Stone'' called the song "meditative", featuring soft keyboards, low-key percussion, and a groove inspired by
New Orleans rhythm and blues
New Orleans rhythm and blues is a style of rhythm and blues that originated in New Orleans. It was a direct precursor to rock and roll and strongly influenced ska. Instrumentation typically includes drums, bass, piano, horns, electric guitar, and ...
.
D'Angelo sings in his lower vocal register on the track, a deliberate choice by Pavlovich to differentiate it from his typical
falsetto
''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave.
It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...
singing voice.
Ryan Reed of ''Rolling Stone'' described the performance as "crooning bleak imagery over a percussive groove".
Lanois's co-writer
Rocco DeLuca
Rocco or Rocko is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include:
First name
* Rocco Baldelli (born 1981), American Major League Baseball player and manager of the Minnesota Twins
* Rocco Botte (born 1983), American actor an ...
conceived the chant for "Unshaken" in
,
based on a
proverb
A proverb (from la, proverbium) is a simple and insightful, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and use formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phra ...
by
Paramahansa Yogananda
Paramahansa Yogananda (born Mukunda Lal Ghosh; January 5, 1893March 7, 1952) was an Indian Hindu monk, yogi and guru who introduced millions to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his organization Self-Realization Fellows ...
: "You must stand unshaken amidst the crash of breaking worlds".
Lanois felt that the term applied to the determination of game's characters throughout the story.
The chant was also used in the song "Crash of Worlds" on
the game's soundtrack (2019).
Ilana Kalish of ''
Atwood Magazine
Atwood Magazine is a digital music magazine that focuses on emerging and established artists from around the world. The magazine was founded in 2012 and is currently run by editor-in-chief Mitch Mosk.
History
Atwood Magazine was founded in 20 ...
'' described the song's opening percussion as a "secret knock on a hidden door", leading into the "privately uttered password" of the opening lines, which repeats Yogananda's proverb.
Amanda Hurych of
AXS noted that the song's chorus is a plea for strength in difficult situations.
Dom Nero of ''
Esquire
Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title.
In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...
'' described the proverb as "something between a battle cry and an
elegy
An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...
", writing that it encapsulates the game's narrative direction.
''Atwood Magazine''s Kalish felt that the verses unlock the thoughts of ''Red Dead Redemption 2'' protagonist
Arthur Morgan Arthur Morgan may refer to:
* Arthur Morgan (Australian politician, born 1856) (1856–1916), Premier of Queensland, Australia
* Arthur Ernest Morgan (1878–1975), American administrator, educator and engineer
* Arthur Morgan (Australian politici ...
as he attempts to decipher his path. She identified a connection between D'Angelo's lyrical approach on "Unshaken" and his previous music, avoiding being "preachy" while being universal.
Jason Guisao of ''
Game Informer
''Game Informer'' (''GI'', most often stylized ''gameinformer'' from the 2010s onward) is an American monthly video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and associated consoles. It debuted in August 1991 w ...
'' found that the song recounts the game's important themes: "redemption through violence, redemption through heroism, and, most importantly, redemption through fatherhood".
Release
![D'Angelo Pori Jazz 2012 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/D%27Angelo_Pori_Jazz_2012_%28cropped%29.jpg)
"Unshaken" was originally only available for listening via gameplay in ''Red Dead Redemption 2'' when it was released in October 2018.
It is played in the background while Arthur rides on a horse back to his camp at a pivotal moment in the game's story.
Bootleg versions of the audio were eventually uploaded to
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 ...
for listening outside of the gameplay.
The song's official release came on January 4, 2019, when it was uploaded onto digital platforms through
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
.
The song was later published by
Lakeshore Records
Lakeshore Entertainment Group, LLC is an American independent film production, finance, and former international sales and distribution company founded in 1994 by Tom Rosenberg and Ted Tannebaum (1933–2002). Lakeshore Entertainment is headquart ...
and Rockstar Games as part of ''The Music of Red Dead Redemption 2 (Original Soundtrack)'', released digitally on July 12, 2019,
and as a
CD and
vinyl record
A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...
on September 20, 2019.
Reception
''Atwood Magazine''s Kalish praised the combination of musical elements in "Unshaken", particularly the lyrics and percussion.
Hurych of AXS described the song as "a perfect complement" to ''Red Dead Redemption 2''s narrative.
''Esquire''s Nero called the track "transporting", hailing its performance in the game as "a sublime narrative moment that's among the best gaming has ever offered".
Dave Thier of ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' wrote that the song's percussion track was in rhythm with the gallop of Arthur's horse in the game.
''Game Informer''s Guisao identified that "Unshaken" was the game's most popular song.
It peaked at number six on the US
R&B Digital Song Sales
Hot R&B Songs is a chart released weekly by '' Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular R&B songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stations, digital download sales and streaming data. It was establis ...
.
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''The Music of Red Dead Redemption 2 (Original Soundtrack)''.
*
D'Angelo
Michael Eugene Archer (born February 11, 1974), better known by his stage name D'Angelo (), is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He first garnered attention after co-producing the single "U Will Know" ...
vocals,
Rhodes piano
The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...
, writer, lyrics
*
Brian Blade
Brian Blade (born July 25, 1970) is an American jazz drummer, composer, session musician, and singer-songwriter.
Early life
Blade was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana. The first music he experienced was gospel and songs of praise at ...
drums
*
Rocco DeLuca
Rocco or Rocko is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include:
First name
* Rocco Baldelli (born 1981), American Major League Baseball player and manager of the Minnesota Twins
* Rocco Botte (born 1983), American actor an ...
writer, lyrics
*
Daryl Johnson
Daryl E. Johnson (born August 11, 1946) is a former American football defensive back who played in the American Football League, the National Football League, and the World Football League. He was a member of the Boston Patriots and was a membe ...
percussion
*
Daniel Lanois
Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter.
He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willie ...
guitar, writer, lyrics, producer, mixing engineer
*
Cyril Neville
Cyril Garrett Neville (born October 10, 1948) is an American percussionist and vocalist who first came to prominence as a member of his brother Art Neville's funky New Orleans-based band, The Meters. He joined Art in the Neville Brothers band u ...
percussion
Charts
References
{{Red Dead
2018 songs
2019 singles
D'Angelo songs
Paramahansa Yogananda
RCA Records singles
Red Dead Redemption 2
Song recordings produced by Daniel Lanois
Songs written by D'Angelo
Songs written by Daniel Lanois
Songs written for video games