"Wolves" is a song by American singer

Selena Gomez Selena Marie Gomez ( ; born July 22, 1992) is an American singer, actress and producer. Gomez began her acting career on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004). As a teenager, she rose to prominence for starring a ...

and music producer

Marshmello Christopher Comstock (born May 19, 1992), known professionally as Marshmello, is an American electronic music producer and DJ. His songs "Silence", "Wolves", "Friends", " Happier", and " Alone" have been certified multi-platinum in several ...

. The song was written by Gomez,

Ali Tamposi Alexandra Tamposi (born November 17, 1989) is an American songwriter from West Palm Beach, Florida. She is best known for co-writing Kelly Clarkson's song "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)," 5 Seconds of Summer's song "Youngblood (5 Seconds of S ...

Louis Bell Louis Russell Bell (born May 27, 1982) is an American record producer, vocal producer, songwriter, and mixing engineer. Bell's work includes production for Post Malone, Camila Cabello, Halsey, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, 5 Seconds of Summer, T ...

, Brian Lee, and its producers Marshmello and Andrew Watt. The song was released by

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

on October 25, 2017. Commercially, the song has topped the charts in Latvia, Poland and Serbia while reaching the top 10 in 23 additional countries; as well as the top 20 in Germany and the United States. It was also the second-most successful electronic song of 2018 in the US. The single is

certified Certification is the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...

Platinum or higher in fifteen countries worldwide, including Diamond in Brazil.

Release and promotion

Marshmello first revealed the song on July 22, 2017, when he tweeted: "Happy birthday Selena Gomez! Can't wait for the world to hear what we've been working on." On August 15, 2017, Marshmello wrote that Gomez "sounds absolutely incredible" on the song, when replying to a fan who asked him about the collaboration. During a radio interview with Tonya and Sonic on San Diego's Energy 103.7 FM, Gomez said: "It's really cool. It's kind of in that world, his world, and I'm stepping into it and bringing my style too." She called it a beautiful song and one of her favorites. On September 25, 2017, a follower of Gomez reached out to Marshmello via Twitter for a "tip" about the song, to which Marshmello replied: "Coming very very soon," leading to speculation on the song's release. On October 6, 2017, Marshmello reassured fans that the song is "coming very soon". On October 19, 2017, both Gomez and Marshmello took to social media to officially announce the song and its release date. Gomez shared pictures of her wearing a pink version of Marshmello's helmet, another photos shows the two sitting on a couch eating popcorn. The song premiered via the radio show

Beats 1 Apple Music 1, previously branded as Beats 1, is a 24/7 music radio station owned and operated by Apple Inc. It is accessible through iTunes or the Apple Music app on a computer, smartphone or tablet, smart speaker (such as the Apple HomePod), ...

, the host

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 ...

named it the day's "World Record".

Composition

"Wolves" was written by

, Andrew Watt, Brian Lee, and Louis Bell. The song was described as a "sticky

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

snack" and "propulsive

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 ...

" which is equally " acoustic-laced EDM and long, lost 80's pop". Caitlin Kelley from ''

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 ...

'' noted how Marshmello's influence in the song can be heard through "subtle

trap A trap is a mechanical device used to capture or restrain an animal for purposes such as hunting, pest control, or ecological research. Trap or TRAP may also refer to: Art and entertainment Films and television * ''Trap'' (2015 film), Fil ...

elements, like the triple high hats buzzing beneath the smoky atmosphere." "Wolves" opens "dark and gloomy" with Gomez singing over a clean electric guitar as Kat Bein from ''Billboard'' commented, the build of the bridge is "almost

country-pop Country pop (also known as pop country or urban cowboy) is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends genres ...

, but the choral hook is all Marshmello sweetness." In an interview with Zane Lowe for Beats 1, Gomez stated that the lyrics deeply reflects what she was feeling during the period she recorded the track.

Music video

On November 2, 2017, Gomez released the vertical video for the single exclusively through

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 ...

. It was later released via her official Vevo account. The video is a FaceTime between Gomez and Marshmello. On November 17, the official video premiered on the

iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

and

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 ...

and it was directed by

Colin Tilley Colin Tilley (born June 27, 1988) is an American filmmaker, music video director, and television commercial director. Tilley is the CEO and owner of Boy in the Castle Productions. He has directed more than 300 music videos. Tilley directed, pro ...

. The video features Gomez wearing different outfits in various parts of an indoor swimming pool facility. Near the end of the video, Gomez walks on the water of the swimming pool. The video was released on Vevo and YouTube a day later on Gomez's account.

Commercial performance

"Wolves" entered at number 16 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 ...

. Three weeks later, it ascended to number nine and became Gomez's fourth top 10 entry in the nation. In Australia, the song entered at number 15 on the

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

. It has reached number five there and is her second-highest-peaking song in the country behind another EDM collaboration, " It Ain't Me". After debuting at number 69 on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record chart in Canada; a n ...

, it rose to number nine the following week and has been certified double Platinum by

Music Canada Music Canada (formerly Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA)) is a non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, manufacture, produce, and distribute music in Canada. It a ...

(MC) for accumulating 160,000 equivalent units. The song was certified double Platinum by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

for accumulating two million equivalent units.

Live performances

On November 19, 2017, Gomez and Marshmello performed "Wolves" live for the first time at the 2017 American Music Awards. On May 29, 2021, Gomez and Marshmello performed the song at the

2021 UEFA Champions League Final The 2021 UEFA Champions League Final was the final match of the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League, the 66th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 29th season since it was renamed from the European Cup to the ...

Track listing

*Digital download # "Wolves" – 3:17 *Digital download – Total Ape remixAll remixes of "Wolves" released on February 23, 2018. * Total Ape remix: * Sneek remix: * Said the Sky remix: * Rusko remix: * Owen Norton remix: * MOTi remix: # "Wolves" (Total Ape remix) – 3:05 *Digital download – Sneek remix # "Wolves" (Sneek remix) – 4:34 *Digital download –

Said the Sky Trevor Christensen (born 12 May 1993), known professionally as Said the Sky, is an American electronic dance music producer, DJ and musician. Early life At the age of 8, Christensen went for piano lessons which he had disliked. He quit the l ...

remix # "Wolves" (Said the Sky remix) – 3:28 *Digital download –

Rusko Rusko () is a municipality of Finland. It is located in Western Finland and is part of the Southwest Finland region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The municipali ...

remix # "Wolves" (Rusko remix) – 3:46 *Digital download – Owen Norton remix # "Wolves" (Owen Norton remix) – 4:28 *Digital download –

MOTi Moti or MOTI may refer to: Names * Mordecai (disambiguation), a Hebrew given name, abbreviated Moti * Motilal (disambiguation), an Indian given name often abbreviated Moti People * Moti (DJ) (Timotheus "Timo" Romme, born 1987), Dutch DJ and mu ...

remix # "Wolves" (MOTi remix) – 4:05

Credits and personnel

Credits and personnel adapted from '' Rare'' album liner notes. *

– lead vocals, songwriting *

– production, songwriting * Andrew Watt – production, songwriting *

– vocal engineering, songwriting *

– songwriting * Brian D. Lee – songwriting * Benjamin Rice – engineering *

Serban Ghenea Șerban Ghenea (born October 13, 1969) is a Grammy award-winning Romanian-Canadian audio engineer and mixer. Early life and education Ghenea was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1969. In 1976 he moved to Montreal with his family. He later attended ...

– mixing * John Hanes – mix engineering *

Chris Gehringer Chris Gehringer (born May 27, 1962) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered recordings such as Gwen Stefani's '' Love. Angel. Music. Baby.'' (2004), Rihanna's '' Loud'' (2010), Lady Gaga's '' Born This Way'' (2011) and Drake' ...

– mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2017 songs 2017 singles Electronic dance music songs Selena Gomez songs Marshmello songs Music videos directed by Colin Tilley Interscope Records singles Songs written by Selena Gomez Songs written by Ali Tamposi Songs written by Andrew Watt (record producer) Songs written by Brian Lee (songwriter) Number-one singles in Poland Songs written by Louis Bell Songs written by Marshmello Vertically-oriented music videos Songs about wolves