"When I'm Gone" is a song by Swedish DJ Alesso and American singer Katy Perry. It was released on 29 December 2021 by 10:22 PM Records. It coincides with the first date of

Play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

—Perry's Las Vegas

concert residency A concert residency (also known as musical residency or simply residency) is a series of concerts, similar to a concert tour, but only performed at one location. ''Pollstar'' Awards defined residency as a run of 10 or more shows at a single ven ...

. The song is a

EDM EDM or E-DM may refer to: Music * Electronic dance music * Early Day Miners, American band Science and technology * Electric dipole moment * Electrical discharge machining * Electronic distance measurement *Entry, Descent, and landing demonstrat ...

, dance-pop, house and electropop tune, written by Perry, Alesso, Alida Garpestad Peck,

Rami Yacoub Rami Yacoub (born 17 January 1975), also known by the mononym Rami, is a Swedish record producer and songwriter and former member of the songwriting/production houses Cheiron Studios and Maratone. Yacoub collaborated extensively with Max Marti ...

, Nathan Cunningham, Marc Sibley, and Alma Goodman, and produced by Alesso and the

Space Primates Space Primates are a DJ/songwriting/production duo from England. They have made records with artists such as Katy Perry, David Guetta, DJ Snake, Chris Brown, Maluma, Flo Rida, Ozuna, Ciara, DVBBS, Gashi, Enrique Iglesias, Upsahl and many m ...

. "When I'm Gone" was released alongside a music video that was directed by

Hannah Lux Davis Hannah Lux Davis (born May 17, 1986) is an American music video, commercial and film director. She's known for her work especially with female artists, such as Ariana Grande, Katy Perry, Demi Lovato, Nicki Minaj, Miley Cyrus, Avril Lavigne, Christ ...

, and choreographed by Sean Bankhead. The song reached number one in Croatia and has also entered the top 10 in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Russia, and Slovakia as well as the top 20 in Lebanon, the Netherlands, and Poland, and the top 30 in Belgium and Hungary. The single was the third-bestselling song of 2022 in Croatia. Perry performed the track as a medley with " Walking on Air" (2013) at Play, during

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

's New Year's Eve Live. The official music video premiered on 10 January 2022 on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

during the halftime show of the

2022 College Football Playoff National Championship The 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship was a college football bowl game played on January 10, 2022, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. The eighth College Football Playoff National Championship, the game determined ...

Release and promotion

On 15 December 2021, Alesso and Perry announced the song and released a small snippet of the song and music video via their social media accounts. The song was released on 29 December 2021, the same day that Perry began her residency show

. The song appears on the setlist of her 2021-2022 Las Vegas Residency, Play, at

Resorts World Las Vegas Resorts World Las Vegas is a resort, mall, and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada, United States. The property had been the site of the Stardust Resort and Casino until 2007, when Boyd Gaming demolished the resort to develop its ...

. It is performed with her song " Walking on Air" (from her 2013 album, ''

Prism Prism usually refers to: * Prism (optics), a transparent optical component with flat surfaces that refract light * Prism (geometry), a kind of polyhedron Prism may also refer to: Science and mathematics * Prism (geology), a type of sedimentary ...

''). On 31 December 2021, her performance of the song (from her residency) was also included as a part of the

's '' New Year's Eve Live'' special. On 29 January 2022, Perry also performed the song on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...

'', introduced by

Willem Dafoe Willem James Dafoe (; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, in addition to receiving nominations for four Academy Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, t ...

Composition

"When I'm Gone" is a dance-pop, house, and electropop song that runs for 2 minutes and 41 seconds. Alesso said: "I feel like a song like this hasn't been made in a while. The world needs a fun energetic dance record again. We worked on this song for more than a year and are so pleased with how it came out."

Critical response

Justin Curto from ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...

'' wrote "When I'm Gone" is "another EDM bop" that is similar to Perry's 2019 single "

Never Really Over "Never Really Over" is a song by American singer Katy Perry, released on May 31, 2019 by Capitol Records. The song was later included on the track list of her fifth studio album, ''Smile'' (2020), as the first song on the album. It is an ele ...

" in cadence and rhythm. '' 360'' said the song blends "high-tech" beats with heartbreaking lyrics, and complimented Alesso's production.

Official Charts Company The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. In the United Kingdom, its charts in ...

gave a positive review and wrote: "Over a thumping house-beat, Katy says she's 'going to give them everything that they want', and this high-tempo banger will certainly win over a huge swathe of pop fans."

Commercial performance

Katy Perry Play at Resorts World, Las Vegas - 51808267537

In the United States, "When I'm Gone" charted in the

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

, before debuting on the primary ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart at number 97 in the week dated 22 February 2022, becoming Perry's 35th entry and Alesso's third on the chart. It peaked at number 90. "When I'm Gone" also debuted at number four on

Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales, previously Dance/Electronic Digital Songs is a weekly chart that ranks the best-selling digital dance and electronic singles in the United States, according to '' Billboard''. Although it originally started tra ...

and number 17 on the overall Hot Dance/Electronic Songs list. In the United Kingdom, "When I'm Gone" debuted at number 72 on

Official 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 ...

as the sixth highest new-entry of the week. It rose to number 49 in its eighth week on the chart, and further peaked at number 27 on both the UK Official Singles Sales Chart Top 100 and Downloads Chart Top 100 charts. In Canada, "When I'm Gone" debuted at number 54 on Canadian Hot 100, as her 38th career entry on the chart. It also debuted at number seven on the Canadian Digital Songs Sales chart.

Music video

The accompanying music video premiered 10 January 2022 on

, during

halftime In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in ...

of the

; it was the first music video to debut during a live event on

. The video features a

Boston Dynamics Boston Dynamics is an American engineering and robotics design company founded in 1992 as a Research spin-off, spin-off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, Boston Dynamics has been owned by th ...

robot named "Spot" which in the video Perry named "Nugget" after her own personal dog. Perry describes it as her first full blown choreography video due to the "sexy" production of the song. The video was choreographed by Sean Bankhead, and was directed by

. According to Perry it was shot at an active working

Budweiser Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, part of AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States. ''Budweiser'' may also refer to an unrelat ...

brewery. Davis said: "We were going for something that was more ''

Black Mirror ''Black Mirror'' is a British anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker. Individual episodes explore a diversity of genres, but most are set in near-future dystopias with science fiction technology—a type of speculative fictio ...

''. Slightly

futuristic The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...

, but we still wanted it to feel grounded. Tech

sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...

but make it pop." Perry wears a custom

Dolce & Gabbana Dolce & Gabbana (), also known by initials D&G, is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1985 in Legnano by Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. The house specializes in ready-to-wear, handbags, accessories, and cosmetic ...

purple jumpsuit in the video, describing it as her "favorite outfit". ''

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

'' called it "mesmerising", further saying: "In true Perry style, the video features some stunning costumes and impressive dance moves."

Track listing

*Digital download and streaming *#"When I'm Gone" – 2:41 *Digital download (VIP mix) *#"When I'm Gone" (VIP mix) – 2:51 *Streaming (VIP mix) *#"When I'm Gone" (VIP mix) – 2:51 *#"When I'm Gone" – 2:41

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Katy Perry 2021 singles 2021 songs Alesso songs Katy Perry songs Music videos directed by Hannah Lux Davis Songs written by Alesso Songs written by Katy Perry Songs written by Rami Yacoub Song recordings produced by Alesso