Autumn Leaves

Album: X (2014)
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Songfacts®:

  • This smooth, reflective cut finds Brown opening up about a difficult relationship behind producer BAM's echoing soundscapes. Brown explained the intended metaphor in the title to MTV News. "It's basically saying [that] you put in so much to get so little," he said. "Whether it be in relationships or just in life, you work hard for something all the time and get so little, but you still hold on, like the last leaf in autumn."
  • Kendrick Lamar jumps in halfway through to close the track with some rhymes of resilience. "I think people automatically assumed [that] with me and Kendrick Lamar, if we actually collaborated, it's gonna be a club joint, but for me, I always like to change and switch the envelope," he noted.

    Brown added this is something he's always tried to do when working with rappers. "Even when I did Juelz Santana on 'Run It!,' at that time, real hard-core [rap music] wasn't really fusing with R&B like that. I try to change it up as much as possible. It's what I love to do."
  • Directed by Colin Tilley (Enrique Iglesias, Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake), the song's music video was shot in Hawaii. The Japanese-inspired clip features Chris Brown as a forlorn Samurai roaming tropical feudal scenery. We see him pursuing the affection of a beautiful geisha, who is played by Breezy's on-and-off girlfriend Karrueche Tran.
  • Kendrick Lamar doesn't appear in the video. Instead, we see Brown lip sync along to his verse.

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