"Warzone" is a song by British-Irish boy band

The Wanted The Wanted are a British-Irish boy band consisting of group members Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness and Nathan Sykes and, until his death in 2022, Tom Parker. The group was formed in 2009 and signed a worldwide contract to ...

, released as the fourth and final single from their second studio album, '' Battleground'' (2011). It is also featured on the special edition of their self-titled EP. It was released on 26 December 2011. The electropop

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

contains elements of

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...

, and was written by band members

Nathan Sykes Nathan James Sykes (born 18 April 1993) is an English singer, best known as a member of the boy band The Wanted. In 2013, Sykes appeared with his bandmates in the E! channel reality television series '' The Wanted Life''. After the band's hiat ...

and

Max George Maximillian Albert George (born 6 September 1988) is an English singer, best known as the lead singer of the boy band The Wanted. George started his career as a footballer, playing for Preston North End. After an injury ended his football ca ...

, alongside Jack McManus and producer Harry Sommerdahl. "Warzone" received positive reviews from music critics, who felt the song was one of the highlights of the album. "Warzone" has peaked at number 21 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 ...

, becoming their first single to miss the UK top 20. The music video premiered on 10 November 2011.

Critical reception

"Warzone" has received positive reviews from critics. Jon O'Brien of

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 ...

referred to "Warzone" as one of the songs that proves "that the Wanted are still a cut above your average boy band", describing the song as "a subtle attempt at

that fuses somber piano chords and an epic soft rock chorus with distant wobble basslines and spacious beats". David Griffiths of

4Music 4Music is a British music television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. The original incarnation was launched on 15 August 2008, and until 29 June 2022, showed a mix of music and entertainment programming. I ...

called the song the band's "most mature effort to date" writing, "Featuring a haunting piano riff, emotional vocals and a truly epic chorus, it's easily the best thing they've ever recorded.". Lewis Corner of Digital Spy quoted, "Try to erase a memory with a flame, And hope I never see you again," Jay declares over a lilting piano and rumbling bass that you'd expect from a Jamie Cullum vs. Nero play-off. Thankfully, the curious combo works beautifully beneath their angst-driven lyrics of betrayal and heartbreak, striking a fine balance between boyband balladry and oh-so-trendy dub beats. With Jay now on board with their current sound, we'd suggest he makes sure his heartbroken bandmates are holding up at this difficult time."

Music video

The music video for "Warzone" was shot on location in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

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 ...

Director X Julien Christian Lutz (born October 31, 1975), known professionally as Director X, is a Canadian filmmaker, commercial director, music video director, and television director. Having directed more than 100 music videos, he is widely known as a pr ...

. The video was subsequently released to YouTube on 10 November 2011. The video focuses on the intimate relationships between the five members of the group and their girlfriends. However, each member, one by one, discovers that his girlfriend is cheating on him with another man, played by model Broderick Hunter. The video incorporates shots of the band in a burning scrapyard, outside and inside an apartment building, and walking the streets of New York. An alternative version of the video featuring alternate scenes was released to music channels on 14 December 2011. This version of the video also accompanies the download package.

Track listing

* Digital download # "Warzone" – 3:38 # "Warzone" (Basto! Remix) – 5:40 # "Warzone" (Green Fusion Remix) – 2:58 # "Animal" (Live Tour Performance) – 4:22

Charts

Release history

References

{{The Wanted 2011 singles The Wanted songs Synth-pop ballads Island Records singles Songs written by Nathan Sykes Songs written by Harry Sommerdahl