"Don't Play" is a song by English musicians Anne-Marie, KSI, and Digital Farm Animals. It was written alongside Andrew Murray, S-X, Richard Boardman of the disbanded Delphic, Pablo Bowman, and Mojam, who produced it with Digital Farm Animals. The song was released for digital download and

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by Asylum Records and

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "Record label#M ...

on 15 January 2021 as the

lead single A lead single (or first 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. A similar term, "debut ...

from Anne-Marie's second studio album, ''

Therapy A therapy or medical treatment is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis. Both words, ''treatment'' and ''therapy'', are often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx. As a rule, each therapy has indications a ...

'' (2021) and the second single from KSI's second studio album, ''All Over the Place'' (2021). The

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was released on 15 January 2021. "Don't Play" received positive reviews from music critics. The song debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart and it has been

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platinum by the

British Phonographic Industry BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) Limited, trading as British Phonographic Industry (BPI), is the British recorded music industry's trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards; is home to the Mercury Prize; co-owns the Official Charts C ...

(BPI) for exceeding sales of 600,000 units in the UK. The song additionally entered the music charts of Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Romania, Sweden and the United States. "Don't Play" was nominated for the BRIT Award for Song of the Year at the 2022 ceremony.

Writing and production

Speaking about collaborating with Anne-Marie, KSI said, "I was just gassed man. I heard the song and thought, 'Anne-Marie has absolutely made this a hit'. It was a good song but she made it insane. I was so gassed." Speaking about collaborating with KSI, Anne-Marie said, ""I am very open and honest and I try to be as down to earth as I can be all the time, but meeting JJ SIopened my eyes even more. He is so real, it was very inspiring. He taught me to be myself and not to change myself for anyone. And his laugh is as crazy as mine. I was so happy about that." KSI and Anne-Marie confirmed shortly after the release of "Don't Play" that they had already started working on a second collaboration.

Music and lyrics

Musically, "Don't Play" is a

UK garage UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house and jungle production methods, but also incorporates elements from ...

and pop track. Constructed in

verse–chorus form Verse–chorus form is a musical form going back to the 1840s, in such songs as "Oh! Susanna", " The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze", and many others. It became passé in the early 1900s, with advent of the AABA (with verse) form in the T ...

, the song runs for 3 minutes and 8 seconds (3:08). In the song, Anne-Marie and KSI deliver emotive lyrics about heartache. Anne-Marie pleads with KSI to not play with her heart, before KSI responds with his own emotive out-pouring of how much he misses her, how much she means to him and how she's blanking him. The song is structured in an almost conversational arrangement. It is composed in a key of

F-sharp minor F-sharp minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative major is A major and its parallel major is F-sharp major (or enharmonically G-flat major). ...

with a tempo of 128 beats per minute.

Release and promotion

On 4 January 2021, KSI shared a snippet of the instrumental to

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with the caption, "What female artist do you think would work well for this?" On 6 January 2021, he revealed via

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

that the song is a collaboration with Anne-Marie and Digital Farm Animals, titled "Don't Play", and the song was made available for

pre-order A pre-order is an order placed for an item that has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came because people found it hard to get popular items in stores because of their popularity. Companies then had the idea to allow customers to r ...

. "Don't Play" was released for digital download and

as a single on 15 January 2021 at 00:00 ( UTC) by Asylum Records and Warner. The song was accompanied by the release of a

lyric video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to promote the sale of m ...

to Anne-Marie's

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channel on the same day.

Critical reception

"Don't Play" was met with positive reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

. ''Contact Music'' called "Don't Play" a "floor-filling banger" with "an infectious beat and some great vocal interplay between Anne-Marie and KSI". They found that Anne-Marie's "sweet harmonies contrast and compliment KSI's deeper, almost

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

delivery", and called the song "instantly likeable and radio friendly".

GRM Daily GRM Daily (Grime & Rap Music Daily), formerly Grime Daily, is a British urban music outlet and entertainment platform. As the name suggests, the platform is an outlet for UK rap and its various genres, such as UK drill, afroswing, trap, and Br ...

's Courtney Wynter called Anne-Marie's vocals "delicate" and said that "KSI switches things up by delivering some affectionate lyrics with a more melodic approach than we’re used to". ''CelebMix'''s Katrina Rees said that the song "showcases Anne-Marie’s distinct vocals" and "KSI’s effortless flow", calling the song "uplifting" and a "low-key banger."

Music video

The

for "Don't Play" was directed by Troy Roscoe. The music video was filmed in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in mid-December 2020. The music video premiered on KSI's YouTube channel on 15 January 2021 at 10:00 (UTC). The music video opens with Anne-Marie being bullied by a group of girls. In order to overcome the bullies and fight back, Anne-Marie is trained to

fight Combat (French language, French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent Conflict (process), conflict between multiple combatants with the intent to harm the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed (Hand-to-hand combat, not usin ...

by KSI. Anne-Marie becomes a fearless and take-no-prisoners fighter with a tough-girl mood, embodying the

underdog An underdog is a person or group in a competition, usually in sports and creative works, who is largely expected to lose. The party, team, or individual expected to win is called the favorite or wikt:top dog, top dog. In the case where an under ...

narrative. The video pays homage to Anne-Marie’s background in

Karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

and KSI's participation in numerous

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

fights against other YouTubers. Anne-Marie revealed that she broke her finger during the music video shoot. Four behind-the-scenes videos of the music video shoot have been released: the first video was released to Anne-Marie's YouTube channel on 16 January 2021; the second video was released to Digital Farm Animals' YouTube channel on 18 January 2021; the third video was released to KSI's YouTube channel on 19 January 2021, and the fourth video was released to Troy Roscoe's channel on 25 January 2021.

Commercial performance

In the United Kingdom, "Don't Play" was the country's most downloaded song in its first week of release. It debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart, making it the highest-placed new entry of that week, with first week sales of approximately 39,000 track-equivalent units. The song remained on the chart for a total of 27 weeks. On 24 September 2021, "Don't Play" was

platinum by the

(BPI) for exceeding sales of 600,000 track-equivalent units in the UK. In the Republic of Ireland, "Don't Play" debuted at number nine on the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are ...

, making it the highest-placed new entry of that week. It remained on the chart for a total of 23 weeks. In the United States, "Don't Play" debuted at number 12 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. It was the country's 98th highest-selling

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

track of 2021.

Awards and nominations

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal. * Anne-Mariesongwriting, vocals * KSIsongwriting, vocals * Digital Farm Animalsbass, drums, keyboard, percussion, piano, production, songwriting, sound effects, strings, synthesizer * Mojamdrums, keyboard, production, programming, songwriting, sound effects, synthesizer * Andrew Murrayharp, live strings, songwriting * Sam Gumbleyengineering, songwriting * Richard Boardmansongwriting * Pablo Bowmansongwriting * Kevin Graingerengineering, mastering, mixing *Rob MacFarlaneengineering * Cameron Gower Pooleengineering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* * * * {{KSI 2021 songs 2021 singles Anne-Marie songs KSI songs Digital Farm Animals songs Songs about heartache Songs written by Anne-Marie Songs written by KSI Songs written by Digital Farm Animals Songs written by Mustafa Omer Songs written by Richard Boardman Songs written by Pablo Bowman Songs written by S-X Song recordings produced by Digital Farm Animals Song recordings produced by Mojam Asylum Records singles Warner Music Group singles Male–female vocal duets