Daddy

Album: Our Version of Events (2011)
Charted: 21
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Songfacts®:

  • Emeli Sandé's second solo single is an impassioned, atmospheric tune, which according to the Scottish singer-songwriter is about "addiction to anything." She wrote the song with longtime friend and collaborator Naughty Boy, who also features on the track. It was released on November 20, 2011.
  • Set in Las Vegas, the video finds Sande in a relationship with a wayward lover and features images of drug addiction and criminal activity. The clip was directed by AG Rojas, who also worked on the promos for Chase & Status' "Hitz" and Calvin Harris' "Bounce." "Emeli wanted a video that dealt with addictions and personal demons," explained Rojas to Promo News. "The first thing that came to mind was Las Vegas, a place ripe with broken people. I decided to set this just outside of the Strip, and not create the stereotypical vision of Vegas. The track is simultaneously moody and explosive, so we crafted a montage of moments that would reflect this. The end result is worth the skin rashes from the shi--y Vegas hotels."
  • Sandé told Q magazine the song is "about obsession and addiction." She explained: "It signifies the one thing you keep going back to. People who are quite artistic usually get obsessive over very small things that aren't really conducive to what they need to do."
  • Sande admitted to Q that she doesn't "really know why" she titled the song "Daddy." "I guess when you're young your dad is the one who sets the boundaries in your life, and is in control to a certain point," she added.
  • Sandé wrote this during her first professional meeting with Naughty Boy back in 2009 when she was still studying medicine at Glasgow University. "He paid for me to fly to Luton Airport, came and collected me, played the beat for "Daddy" in the car, and I just sang the first melody that came out," she recalled to The Independent. "And he was like, 'yeah, remember that one'. I think we might have recorded it in the car. By the time we got to his studio, 'daddy' was the word that came out. And we built along that. We wrote three really good songs in that weekend."

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