| "King of the Clouds" | |
|---|---|
| Promotional single byPanic! at the Disco | |
| from the albumPray for the Wicked | |
| Released | June 18, 2018 (2018-06-18) |
| Recorded | 2018 |
| Length | 2:41 |
| Label | |
| Songwriters | |
| Producers |
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| Audio video | |
| "King of the Clouds" onYouTube | |
"King of the Clouds" is a song byPanic! at the Disco released on June 18, 2018 as the second promotional single from their sixth studio album,Pray for the Wicked, throughFueled by Ramen andDCD2 Records.[1]
"King of the Clouds" was written by Panic! at the Disco's lead vocalistBrendon Urie,Sam Hollander, Jake Sinclair,Alex Kresovich, andSuzy Shinn. Production was handled byJake Sinclair,Alex Kresovich, and Suzy Shinn. The string section was composed and conducted byRob Mathes and recorded atAbbey Road Studios in London, England.
The song was released four days prior to its parent studio album,Pray for the Wicked, on June 18, 2018 throughFueled by Ramen. A snippet of the song was used at the end of a tour recap video on the band's officialYouTube channel on April 18, 2018.[2] "King of the Clouds" made its radio debut onBeats 1 asZane Lowe's "Hottest Record in the World Right Now" for June 18, 2018.[3]
In an interview withZane Lowe onBeats 1,Brendon Urie explained that the song almost didn't make the album due to timing. ProducerJake Sinclair brought the song to him the day before the album deadline and when Urie heard the track he called it "the dopest song I've ever heard".[4] Citing the last-minute nature of its completion, co-producer Alex Kresovich stated that, “I didn’t get the parts I needed to work on until 2:30 a.m. With it due in just a few hours, I was really sweating bullets and just trying to stay awake. We worked until 4:30 a.m. and got everything done and turned in for mixing just in time.”[5]
The lyrical concepts for the song came together during a writing session when Urie got "blitzed out of his mind" and was "verbal vomit(ing)" about "Carl Sagan, the multiverse, and inter-dimensional travel." Unbeknownst to Urie, songwriting partnerSam Hollander was writing down everything he was saying and came back to him with the song idea days later.[6][7][8]
In numerous interviews,Brendon Urie cited "King of the Clouds" as his favorite song onPray for the Wicked and the one he is "most excited to perform live."[9][6][7][8] Urie has described the song as "very Bohemian-esque," noting that it was inspired by "Bohemian Rhapsody" byQueen, a song the bandregularly performs.[6]
Forbes magazine described it as having "frenetic drumming" and "tasty electronic flourishes" with Urie "flexing his huge vocal range."[10]Billboard described it as similarly "manic" to the album's previous releases.[11]
| Chart (2018) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| USHot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard)[12] | 11 |
| Chart (2018) | Position |
|---|---|
| US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard)[13] | 71 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[14] | Gold | 500,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
