"Wicked Games" is the debut single by Canadian singer

the Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Known for his sonic versatility and dark lyricism, his music explores escapism, romance, and ...

. It was recorded at Site Sound Studios and mixed at Liberty Studios in Toronto. Producers

Doc McKinney Martin "Doc" McKinney (born August 27, 1971) is a Canadian-American record producer and songwriter. McKinney is a Grammy-award-winning producer. He was formerly one half of the duo (now solo act) Esthero. His work with fellow Toronto artist The ...

and

Illangelo Carlo Montagnese (born July 29, 1987), known professionally as Illangelo, is a Canadian record producer, songwriter, musician and mixing engineer from Calgary, Alberta, who came to attention as long-time collaborator of the Weeknd. A Grammy Aw ...

co-wrote the song and performed all instrumentation. Originally recorded for The Weeknd's 2011 mixtape ''

House of Balloons ''House of Balloons'' is the debut mixtape by Canadian singer the Weeknd. It was released on March 21, 2011, by the artist's own record label XO. The mixtape was released for free on the Weeknd's website and was the subject of increased media d ...

'', the song was remastered and released as the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

for his 2012 compilation album ''

Trilogy A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wor ...

''. It was released as a

digital single In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separat ...

on October 22, 2012, by XO and Republic Records. Upon release, the single received widespread acclaim from music critics. On May 9, 2013, "Wicked Games" was certified

double platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for shipments of 2,000,000 units in the United States. The song was featured on the

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 ...

for the movie '' Southpaw'', the soundtrack's executive producer being American rapper Eminem who went on to produce a remix with The Weeknd on his later song " The Hills".

Music video

The music video for "Wicked Games" premiered on October 18, 2012, on the Weeknd's YouTube account on

Vevo Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, ...

. The video starts off with a woman dancing in a coat with no clothes underneath, before the camera pans to the singer, who is shown singing expressively. Since its release, the music video has received over 200 million views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and 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 Google, and is the second mo ...

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes for ''

''. *

The Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Known for his sonic versatility and dark lyricism, his music explores escapism, romance, and ...

– composer, primary artist *

– composer, instrumentation, producer *

– composer, instrumentation, mixing, producer * Rainer Millar Blanchaer – composer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

In other media

An orchestral cover version of the song was used in Westworld season 3 episode " The Mother of Exiles" arranged and composed by

Ramin Djawadi Ramin Djawadi (, fa, رامین جوادی; born 19 July 1974) is an Iranian and German score composer. He is known for his scores for the 2008 Marvel film ''Iron Man'' and the HBO series ''Game of Thrones'', for which he was nominated for Gramm ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2011 songs 2012 debut singles The Weeknd songs Songs written by the Weeknd Songs written by Illangelo Songs written by Doc McKinney Song recordings produced by Illangelo Republic Records singles XO (record label) singles Black-and-white music videos Songs about drugs Quiet storm songs