These Walls (Dua Lipa song)

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"These Walls"
Song by Dua Lipa
from the album Radical Optimism
Written16 January 2023
Released3 May 2024 (2024-05-03)
Genre
Length3:38
LabelWarner
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Andrew Wyatt
  • Danny L Harle
Visualiser
"These Walls" on YouTube

"These Walls" is a song by English-Albanian singer Dua Lipa from her third studio album, Radical Optimism (2024). It was written by Lipa, Andrew Wyatt, Danny L Harle, Billy Walsh and Caroline Ailin, and produced by Wyatt and Harle. "These Walls" received favourable reviews from music critics and reached top 40 in the United Kingdom and Norway.

Background[edit]

In an interview with Apple Music's Zane Lowe, Lipa said she wrote "These Walls" on 16 January 2023.[1] She said she got the idea of the track from being able to feel the energy of two people who have been arguing when you walk into a room.[1] "Rooms capture things and they hold on to things", she said. "I think this song is a really good example of addressing the inevitable, it's that conversation that no one really wants to have, but you have to do it".[1] "These Walls" was released on 3 May 2024 by Warner Records, on Lipa's third studio album, Radical Optimism.[2]

Composition[edit]

Lipa wrote "These Walls" with Billy Walsh, Caroline Ailin, and its producers Andrew Wyatt and Danny L Harle.[2] "These Walls" is a dance-pop,[3] indie pop,[4] and soft rock[5] breakup song.[1] It is the only track tacked with the "explicit" label on Radical Optimism.[1][2] It opens with Lipa illustrating a couple that's gotten used to shutting each other out. "Maybe we should switch careers'/ Cause, baby, you know no one beats our poker faces/ And when the night ends up in tears/ Wake up and we blame it all on being wasted", she sings.[1] But the chorus is where Lipa gets real, singing that "if these walls could talk" they'd say, "enough, give up, you're fucked". She continues, "It's not supposed to hurt this much/ Of, if these walls could talk/ They'd tell us to break up".[1]

Critical reception[edit]

"These Walls" received positive reviews from music critics. Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic wrote that "These Walls" is a chilled-out, dance-pop bop that lightens the spirit.[3] Writing for The Observer, Kitty Empire said that "These Walls" is the pithiest of the non-singles tracks. "If these walls could talk", sings Lipa of a fading relationship, "they'd say 'enough', they'd say 'give up', they'd say, 'you know you’re fucked'".[6] In Variety, Steven J. Horowitz wrote that "These Walls" is the album's most arresting song, on which Lipa bemoans the growing distance from a lover with a knowing nod: "They tell us go and face your fears / It's getting worse the longer that we stay together / We call it love but hate it here / Do we really mean it when we said forever?".[7] Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine said that pairing stinging lyrics like "If these walls could talk, they'd say you know you're fucked" with tropical rhythms and bubbly synths, "These Walls" is the most serenely devastating break-up song in recent memory.[8] According to Helen Brown of The Independent, there's a dreamy little American slide guitar gilding the lower key on "These Walls", whose melody is so sweetly peppy that non-Anglophones are unlikely to realise is a breakup song.[9]

Commercial performance[edit]

Within its first week of availability, "These Walls" became the most commercially successful non-single song from Radical Optimism. It debuted at number 40 in the United Kingdom,[10] becoming Lipa's 27th top 40 chart entry on the UK singles chart.[11] It also debuted at numbers 39 in Norway,[12] 44 in Ireland,[13] and 54 in Sweden.[14] In New Zealand, "These Walls" entered the Hot Singles chart at number seven.[15]

Charts[edit]

Chart performance for "These Walls"
Chart (2024) Peak
position
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[16] 65
France (SNEP)[17] 90
Global 200 (Billboard)[18] 68
Ireland (IRMA)[13] 44
Japan Hot Overseas (Billboard Japan)[19] 11
New Zealand Hot Singles (RMNZ)[15] 7
Norway (VG-lista)[12] 39
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[14] 54
UK Singles (OCC)[20] 40
US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (Billboard)[21] 1

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wang, Steffanee (3 May 2024). "Dua Lipa's Best Radical Optimism Song Is Also Its Most Scathing". Nylon. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "Radical Optimism - Album by Dua Lipa". Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via Apple Music.
  3. ^ a b Yeung, Neil Z. "Radical Optimism – Dua Lipa". AllMusic. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  4. ^ Hunt, El (3 May 2024). "Dua Lipa - Radical Optimism album review: some real dance pop gems up there with the singer's best". Evening Standard. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  5. ^ Wood, Mikael (2 May 2024). "Dua Lipa is a pop star with no lore on Radical Optimism". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 12 May 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ Empire, Kitty (4 May 2024). "Dua Lipa: Radical Optimism review – a banger-filled missive from dating land". The Observer. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  7. ^ Horowitz, Steven J. (4 May 2024). "Dua Lipa's 'Radical Optimism' Is a Joyous Blast of Pop Savvy: Album Review". Variety. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  8. ^ Cinquemani, Sal (2 May 2024). "Dua Lipa Radical Optimism Review: Finding Joy in the Details". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  9. ^ Brown, Helen (3 May 2024). "Dua Lipa review, Radical Optimism: Destined to get bodies on the dancefloor". The Independent. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  10. ^ Jones, Alan (10 May 2024). "Charts analysis: Dua Lipa scores second No.1 album with Radical Optimism". Music Week. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  11. ^ "Dua Lipa songs and albums - full Official Chart history". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  12. ^ a b "Singel 2024 uke 19". VG-lista. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  13. ^ a b "Official Irish Singles Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  14. ^ a b "Veckolista Singlar, vecka 19" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
  15. ^ a b "NZ Hot Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 13 May 2024. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  16. ^ "Dua Lipa Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  17. ^ "Top Singles (Week 19, 2024)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  18. ^ "Dua Lipa Chart History (Global 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  19. ^ "Billboard Japan Hot Overseas – Week of May 15, 2024". Billboard Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  20. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  21. ^ "Dua Lipa Chart History (Bubbling Under Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
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