Five Nights At Freddy's (song)
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"Five Nights at Freddy's" is an
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song by
electronic rock Electronic rock (also known as electro rock and synth rock) is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s when rock b ...
band
The Living Tombstone The Living Tombstone (TLT) is an electronic rock group and YouTube channel, originally created in 2011 by Israeli-American recording producer Yoav Landau and later including American singer Sam Haft in 2020 as a musical duo. The group is notable ...
, based on the 2014 video game of the same name. It was produced and sung by Yoav Landau, and was released as a single on August 30, 2014. The song was popular on
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
, reaching over 300 million views by 2024, along with over 500 million plays. It was featured in the
end credits Closing credits, aka end credits or end titles, are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television show, or video game. While opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to or at the ve ...
of the video game's
film adaptation A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...
released in 2023, and has been credited with creating a musical subgenre oriented around the ''
Five Nights at Freddy's ''Five Nights at Freddy's'' (''FNaF'') is a video game series and media franchise created by Scott Cawthon that includes video games, novels, graphic novels, and films. The story arcs typically follow a night guard or other character trying t ...
'' franchise.


Background and release

The song was created by
The Living Tombstone The Living Tombstone (TLT) is an electronic rock group and YouTube channel, originally created in 2011 by Israeli-American recording producer Yoav Landau and later including American singer Sam Haft in 2020 as a musical duo. The group is notable ...
, who had previously been involved in creating songs based on the ''
My Little Pony ''My Little Pony'' (''MLP'') is a toy line and media franchise developed by American toy company Hasbro. The first toys were developed by Bonnie Zacherle, Charles Muenchinger, and Steve D'Aguanno, and were produced in 1981. The ponies feature ...
'' franchise. After previously being involved in that franchise's fandom, producer
Yoav Landau The Living Tombstone (TLT) is an electronic rock group and YouTube channel, originally created in 2011 by Israeli-American recording producer Yoav Landau and later including American singer Sam Haft in 2020 as a musical duo. The group is notable ...
learned about the release of the horror game ''
Five Nights at Freddy's ''Five Nights at Freddy's'' (''FNaF'') is a video game series and media franchise created by Scott Cawthon that includes video games, novels, graphic novels, and films. The story arcs typically follow a night guard or other character trying t ...
'' in 2014, and the popularity it gained. After Landau played the game for himself, he decided to create a song based on it. Landau primarily composed the song with
synthesizers A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
, which were described as being similar to those used by
100 gecs 100 gecs () is an American musical duo formed in 2015 that consists of Dylan Brady and Laura Les. They self-released their debut album, '' 1000 gecs'', in 2019 to positive reviews, followed by a companion remix album, '' 1000 gecs and the Tre ...
by CT Jones of ''
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''. Commenting about the creation of the song, Landau said "the culture of the internet is about being there first, being the first one to make a meme about a thing. In the case of ''FNAF'', when I started to see people talking about it, it was easy to make a post with a song and lyrics about the game, see this thing catch fire, and then it goes on YouTube." When the band asked game creator Scott Cawthon for permission to release the song due to being unaffiliated with the property, Cawthon gave them permission to publish the song as long as they gave some of their profit to
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. The song was uploaded to
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
only three weeks after the game, and garnered millions of views shortly afterwards. In 2023, during the marketing of the game's film adaptation, the song was performed live during an event at
Jim Henson's Creature Shop Jim Henson's Creature Shop is an American animation and special/visual effects company founded in 1979 by Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets. The company is based in Hollywood, California, United States. History Jim Henson's Creature Shop was ...
. Following fan speculation over its inclusion, the song was featured in the movie during the
end credits Closing credits, aka end credits or end titles, are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television show, or video game. While opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to or at the ve ...
. On the day of the film's release in North America, The Living Tombstone released a new version of the song, titled the "Goth Remix". In addition, a jazz cover was performed and released by the 8-Bit Big Band in 2020. For the song's 10th anniversary, The Living Tombstone released an orchestral version of the song arranged by Charlie Rosen.


Reception and legacy

On YouTube, the song had gained around 69 million views by March 2016, 220 million by June 2021, 312 million by 2023, and 372 million by 2024. The Living Tombstone released follow-up songs based on the
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and
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''Five Nights at Freddy's'' games, titled "It's Been So Long" and "Die in a Fire" respectively. Jef Rouner of ''
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'' considered the first song to be the weakest in this trilogy, but that it was still a "damned spooky bit of music and a worthy place to begin". According to CT Jones of ''Rolling Stone'', the song started a
sub-genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a Category of being, category of literature, m ...
of music oriented around the franchise, "retain ngthe hyper-pop influences popularized by Landau"making the song a "defining part of the ''Five Nights at Freddy's'' fandom." The song was credited with inspiring several artists, such as JT Music and CG5. JT Music described creating songs based on the game to be "another way fans could recontextualize and reexperience the game and its story from a different perspective". The song's inclusion in the game's film adaptation was described by ''/Film'' as "a testament to the grassroots popularity" alongside the inclusion of several YouTube
Let's Play A Let's Play (LP) is a video (or screenshots accompanied by text) documenting the playthrough of a video game, often including commentary and (in some cases) a camera view of the gamer's face. A Let's Play differs from a video game walkthrough ...
ers, writing further that the production team behind the movie "hasn't forgotten the people who made the IP such a valuable sensation in the first place".


Charts


Certifications


Notes


References

{{Five Nights at Freddy's 2014 singles 2014 songs Five Nights at Freddy's Internet memes introduced in 2014 The Living Tombstone songs Music based on video games