| "Almost Love" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single bySabrina Carpenter | ||||
| from the albumSingular: Act I | ||||
| Released | June 6, 2018 (2018-06-06) | |||
| Recorded | Early 2018 | |||
| Studio | The Stellar House (Venice, California) | |||
| Genre | Dance-pop | |||
| Length | 3:31 | |||
| Label | Hollywood | |||
| Songwriters |
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| Producer | ||||
| Sabrina Carpenter singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Almost Love" onYouTube | ||||
"Almost Love" is a song recorded by American singerSabrina Carpenter from her third studio albumSingular: Act I (2018), served as the opening track of the album. Described as adance-pop song, it was written by Sabrina Carpenter, Steph Jones, Nate Campany andMikkel Eriksen and the production was handled byStargate. It was released byHollywood Records as the lead single fromSingular: Act I on June 6, 2018.
It was accompanied by a music video directed byHannah Lux Davis premiered on herVevo channel on July 12, 2018. It was filmed in May 2018 atPasadena Museum of History inPasadena, California and it features Carpenter's romantic partner Noam Sigler. Carpenter promoted "Almost Love" with several live performances, including onWango Tango on June 2, 2018 and onThe Late Late Show with James Corden.
On May 13, Carpenter announced via Twitter that the single would be released on June 6,[1] and a day later she revealed that she would perform the song atWango Tango, four days before the official release.[2] "Almost Love" was written and recorded on a Monday in early 2018 in three hours and was one of the last songs to be recorded for the album.[3][4][5] The concept to the song started when Carpenter saw her phone and it had a note saying the title of the track. Carpenter explained in an interview with BUILD Series LND "I've had these encounters so many times in my life, these almost interactions that never quite turn into anything, and they're these, like, relationships and you never quite finish the story".[6] Carpenter toldBillboard that when she was writing the song, she wasn't thinking "I still gotta write that first single." Carpenter said "Listening back to the song when we were done, it had this confidence and this personality in my voice that I hadn’t really had before. Whenever I listened to it, it made me want to physically get up and dance, and I’ve never had a song like that."[4]
The song was written in January 2018 by Sabrina Carpenter, Steph Jones, Nate Campany and Mikkel Eriksen and it was produced byStargate.[7]Tim Blacksmith andDanny D were the executive producers of the track while Mikkel Eriksenprogrammed and played all the instruments.[7] Thomas Warren and Eriksen recorded the track at The Stellar House inVenice, California.[7] The song was mixed by Eric J Dubowsky at Hercules St. Studios in Sydney and Tim Watt served as a mix assistant.[7] The song wasmastered atSterling Sound in New York City by Chris Gehringer.[7]
"Almost Love" is a dance-pop song with anelectropop beat.[8][9] Lyrically, the song is about a relationship that isn't taken seriously by either party.[8] The second verse was the last part to be written and the last lyric to be written, "I want you like a loner wants an empty room", turned out to be Carpenter's favorite lyric on the track.[5]
"Almost Love" peaked at number 21 on the USMainstream Top 40 Airplay chart, and reached the summit of theDance Club Songs chart, placing number three on the year-end tally there.
A lyric video directed by Elias Tahan accompanied the song's release.[10] It features Carpenter in a karaoke bar. The official music video was released throughVevo and YouTube on July 12, 2018.[11] It was directed byHannah Lux Davis and was filmed at thePasadena Museum of History in May 2018.
The video begins with Carpenter sitting on a couch with her backup dancers reading a book titled "Almost Love". Her backup dancers seem to be giving her suggestions and comments. Carpenter then puts the book down and begins to get up and dance with her backup dancers. After a bit, her backup dancers sit down and she dances on her own. She then opens a glass box of lipstick. She chooses a red one and puts it on. In the next scene, Carpenter is seen walking down and dancing on a staircase and in a walkway with her female backup dancers where she is wearing the red lipstick she chose in the previous scene but has a new outfit on. Her female backup dancers are then seen seducing some men by playing polo and eating ice cream on a lawn. The next scene Carpenter in wearing a sparkly red blazer and dancing in a room with all her backup dancers. She later rips her blazer open. In the final scene, Carpenter is seen taking her love interest (played by Noam Sigler) into a private room. The room looks as though it is fromAncient Greece because of the architecture and plants. Carpenter then gets close with her love interest and they eventually kiss. As they kiss, Carpenter's love interest turns into stone. Specifically, the statue seen in the album artwork. Carpenters female backup dancers do the same thing with their love interests and the same thing happens. Carpenter is then seen in a nightclub scene where she is dancing with her backup dancers. The statue of carpenters "almost" love interest is then seen on display. The video ends with Carpenter pulling a black veil off in the scene on the walkway as well as Carpenter closing the book in the first scene.
Taylor Fields ofIHeartRadio compared Carpenter in the video to thegreek mythMedusa saying " While Carpenter does not have snakes for hair in this clip (her super blonde hair looks amazing), she does also turn men into stone — as does her girl squad — with one kiss."[12] Matt Moen ofPaper Magazine described the video as "The thrill of will-they-or-won't-they that builds up into that storybook climax."[13] Jordan Miller of BreatheTheHeavy described Carpenter as a "Stone Cold Femme Fatale."[14]
Carpenter first performed the song atWango Tango on June 2, 2018, four days before the release date.[15] On October 1, 2018, Carpenter performed the song onThe Late Late Show with James Corden.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Almost Love" | 3:31 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Almost Love" (featuringShanti Dope) | 3:31 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Almost Love" | 3:31 |
| 2. | "Almost Love" (R3hab remix) | 2:55 |
| 3. | "Almost Love" (acoustic) | 3:47 |
| Total length: | 10:13 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Almost Love" (Stargate Warehouse Mix) | 3:20 |
Recording and management
Personnel
Credits adapted fromSingular: Act I liner notes.[7]
| Chart (2018) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| USDance Club Songs (Billboard)[20] | 1 |
| USPop Airplay (Billboard)[21] | 21 |
| Chart (2018) | Position |
|---|---|
| USDance Club Songs (Billboard)[22] | 3 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil)[23] | Gold | 20,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
| Region | Date | Format | Version | Label | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | June 6, 2018 | Digital download | Original | Hollywood | [24] |
| June 19, 2018 | Contemporary hit radio | [25] | |||
| Various | July 13, 2018 | Digital download | R3hab Remix | [26] | |
| Philippines | August 10, 2018 | Shanti Dope version | [27] | ||
| Various | August 24, 2018 | Digital EP | [18] | ||
| September 28, 2018 | Stargate Warehouse Mix | [19] |
In the club-ready "Almost Love," she pushes against her impulse control. "We could give it a minute, but what's the fun in a minute?" she muses, her breathy vocals cascading over a seductive electro-pop beat