"Swan Song" is anelectropop song set to muted electronics, cinematic horns and orchestral stabs. In the song, Lipa references 1980s AIDS activist groupACT UP and sings about new beginnings and society using their voices to fight for what they believe in. Several critics praised the song for the production. It was nominated forBest Original Song at the24th Satellite Awards. Commercially, the song reached number 24 on theUK Singles Chart and also reached the top 50 of charts in Belgium (Flanders), Ireland, Lithuania and Scotland. The song was awarded a silver certification in the UK and a gold one in Poland.
Themusic video for "Swan Song" was directed byFloria Sigismondi and accompanied the song's release. A blockbuster visual, it follows a loose synopsis ofAlita: Battle Angel, specifically with the self-discovery themes. The video features Lipa and her crew in the fictional Iron City of the film. They encounter a giant robot and eventuallyAlita, before Lipa transforms into her towards the end. Several critics complimented the video's sci-fi themes. An acoustic version and a remixesextended play were released for further promotion.
At the end of 2018,Dua Lipa was contacted about an opportunity to create a song for the new filmAlita: Battle Angel, whichJames Cameron andRobert Rodriguez had been working on.[2][3] She accepted as she was instantly drawn to the film's titular character,Alita, and wanted to be a part of the film.[4] The film team thought that Lipa would be a perfect fit forAlita: Battle Angel after seeing hermusic video for "New Rules". They thought her performance had the "kick-ass strength, power and attitude" Alita embodies in the film.[5] Lipa was given the film's trailer and synopsis to begin, while she later got to see it prior to working on the song.[6]
Lipa wrote "Swan Song" alongsideJustin Tranter, Kennedi Lykken, Mattias Larsson, Robin Fredriksson andTom Holkenborg.[7] The singer found it exciting to write a song she already had a concept for and experiment with sounds that were different from what she was working on with her album.[8] Holkenborg had composed the score for the film; the writers decided to take the orchestrations he created and use them in the song.[3] The production was handled byMattman & Robin. "Swan Song" was recorded atConway Studios in Los Angeles, TaP Studio in London andWolf Cousins Studios in Stockholm.Serban Ghenea mixed the song at MixStar Studios inVirginia Beach, Virginia andRandy Merrill mastered it atSterling Sound in New York.[7]
"Swan Song" is anelectropop track that features vocal chants, cinematic horns and orchestral stabs while Lipa uses triumphant vocals. Thebridge paraphrases "silence equals death", the motto of advocacy groupACT UP, and the lyrics are about standing up for what one believes in.
Musically, "Swan Song" is anelectropop track.[9] It is constructed inverse–chorus form and composed in thetime signature of4 4 time in thekey ofC minor, with atempo of 96 beats per minute and achord progression of A♭–B♭–Cm–Gm7.[10] The song begins with a burst of horns and heavy drums.[11] The production features muted electronics, airysynths, stabbing brass samples, vocal chants,[12] percolating percussion,[13] cinematic horns, orchestral stabs,[14] a driving melody, powerfulstrings and a mechanized, cybernetic and pulsating beat.[15][16][17] Lipa builds on an urgency feeling in thebridge.[12] The synths build up to the minimal chorus, while the sections progress to the final booming hook.[18]
Lipa uses triumphant vocals,[11]ranging fromG3 toD5.[10] In the song, Lipa sings about new beginnings and mentions a series of obstacles she has had to overcome.[19] The writers were inspired by how Alita fights for the lives of marginalized people. They wrote the song about how society constantly needs to speak up about what they believe in and the injustices of the world, as well as how their voices always need to be used; this message was also inspired by the film's empowering message.[2][3] The song additionally took inspiration from the 1980s advocacy groupACT UP, who formed in response to the HIV/AIDS crisis at the time.[3][20] The bridge paraphrases the group's motto "silence equals death"[21] and thesong's title contradicts its meaning.[19] "Swan Song" ends with an abrupt climax that leads to a two-second fade out.[22]
On 17 December 2018, it was announced that Lipa would record "Swan Song" forAlita: Battle Angel and that the song would be released ahead of the film's 14 February 2019 release.[5] The same day, Lipa revealed the cover art.[23] Also in December 2018, the film's trailer was released, featuring clip of the song.[24] The following month, it was announced that the song would be released on 25 January 2019.[25] Lipa began teasing the song on social media thereafter.[26][27] Prior to the song's release, it was previewed in a TV spot forAlita: Battle Angel.[28]
InTime, Raisa Bruner viewed "Swan Song" as a "clear battle anthem" where Lipa's "mellifluous" voice adds "weight and smoothness, and a welcome human element". She concluded by stating it echoes a "mix of electronic rhythms and a touch of the real".[15] Writing forThe New York Times,Jon Pareles compared the backup chants to "remnants of past civilizations" and thought the song "puts human aspiration in electronic armor".[16] Brennan Carley ofGQ thought Lipa treated the song as a "proper" solo single instead of a soundtrack song while also stating it could be nominated for anAcademy Award. Additionally, he said the song "feels properly high stakes, but also kind of weird and murky until its head-rattling chorus kicks in".[36] Ryan Reed ofRolling Stone called the song "cinematic" whileUproxx's Chloe Gilke named "Swan Song" a "powerful", "confident, anthemic banger" and Lake Schatz ofConsequence viewed it as a "defiant number".[12][13][37]
ForIdolator, Mike Nied named "Swan Song" a "soaring anthem" with a "suitably epic production" that "could easily be [Lipa's] next song to dominate the charts".[19] Chris DeVille ofStereogum complimented how Lipa experimented with the track and compared it toLorde's "Yellow Flicker Beat" (2014).[38] InPopjustice, Peter Robinson praised the "creative and luxurious production" that is "sparse where it needs to be and full of dramatic and unpredictable little flourishes" while also complimenting how the song fades out at the end.[22] Writing forAudacy, Michael Cerio viewed the song as a "sweeping epic, building like a battle hymn into a post-apocolyptic [sic] banger".[39] "Swan Song" was nominated forBest Original Song at the24th Satellite Awards.[40]
In February 2019, "Swan Song" debuted at number 25 on theUK Singles Chart. In its third week, the song reached a peak of number 24. It spent a total of eight weeks on the chart.[41] TheBritish Phonographic Industry (BPI) awarded the song a silver certification in November 2021 for selling 200,000 track-equivalent units in the UK.[42] In Ireland and Scotland, the song had respective peaks of numbers 24 and 27.[43][44] Additionally, the song reached number 50 in Belgium (Flanders),[45] 63 in Portugal,[46] 67 in Sweden[47] and 96 in Switzerland.[48] In 2020, the song was awarded a gold certification from thePolish Society of the Phonographic Industry (ZPAV) for track-equivalent sales of 10,000 units in Poland.[49] It reached number 99 in both Canada and Germany.[50][51] In the United States, the song spent five weeks on theBillboardBubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, peaking at number four.[52] In Oceania, it reached number 68 in Australia and entered the NZ Hot Singles chart at number five.[53][54]
The music video is set in the Iron City fromAlita: Battle Angel and features Lipa transforming into the titular character.
The music video for "Swan Song" was directed byFloria Sigismondi and filmed in December 2018.[8][55] Lipa described filming the video as different from ones she had done before as a movie team was working on it andCGI was used. She knew she wanted to do a fighting scene and had people fromAlita: Battle Angel come and help her out and teach her how to do the fighting. The only time Lipa had to rehearse for the videos shoot was while she was inToronto writing for her album so she would spend the entire day in the studio and then go and practice the moves every night for two to three hours.[4] Sigismondi wanted the video to showcase the self-discovery themes ofAlita: Battle Angel.[12] She thought that the film is a powerful story for any girl who does not know her power, a notion the director wanted to play with by putting Lipa into Alita's world and using Alita to help Lipa on a journey to discover she's stronger than she knew.[56] Along with the song's announcement, Lipa revealed that it would also receive a music video.[23] The video accompanied the single's release on 24 January 2019.[57] It follows a loose synopsis of the film and is a blockbuster production.[9][37]
The visual is set in the fictional Iron City fromAlita: Battle Angel.[58] It begins with Lipa and her crew rummaging through ruins and picking through mountains of trash, looking for items of value.[12][39] The singer wears a chain mail dress with a black leather corset alongside heavy gold and silver chain necklaces, chunky lace-up platform boots, black pants and dark eye makeup.[59][60] Lipa and her crew eventually perform dance and martial arts choreography in the city.[12][61] Following this, a giant robot pops up to attack them but they escape.[9][62] Lipa reemerges in another setting as if she had woken up from a nightmare and makes her way to a mirror.[60] She encounters Alita in the mirror and performs a martial arts inspired dance break with her.[39] The singer then transforms into Alita wearing a skin-tight black crop top.[59] To close the video, she puts her cyborg fist into the air, posing in front of the Iron City.[59][62]
Elizabeth Aubrey ofNME described the video as "sci-fi, futuristic".[58] Robinson thought it marked "the best rubbish dump-based pop video" since "Keep Your Head Up" (2009) byGirls Can't Catch.[22] ForClash, Robin Murray viewed the video as "ambitious" and noted the sci-fi theme reminiscent of the film.[63] Cerio compared the video to the 2008 filmWALL-E.[39] Nied called the music video "dramatic" and thought it does "a great job integrating Dua into the film's world".[19] Gilke viewed the video as "cinematic" and thought it is "a perfect match" to the song.[37]
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic.Note: Select 17. týden 2019 in the date selector. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic.Note: Select 05. týden 2019 in the date selector. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic.Note: Select 05. týden 2019 in the date selector. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
