Fingertips

Album: Oh My My (2016)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This airy piano ballad features The xx's Romy Madley Croft playing the guitar. OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder told NME the story of the collaboration:

    "We met through an A&R guy who sent me an email saying, 'Would you ever wanna work with Romy from the xx?' My immediate answer was 'Of course'. She was in town for two days doing a very limited amount of co-writes and I was on this shortlist of people she'd want to co-write with. So me, Romy and [songwriter/producer] Benny Blanco, who's one of my closest friends, went in [to the studio], just the three of us.

    We did this song super-fast and then it sat on the shelf for nine months before we rediscovered it, like, four months ago. I was like, 'Oh my God'. So I emailed her and said, 'Can we do a feature?' She replied saying, 'We're doing our own album now but definitely keep the song because that would be amazing'. She was super-sweet about it.

    They're not featuring on the track as such, but clearly I wrote it with her and I'm sure as s--t not re-recording her guitar part because no one else sounds like her. We did the melody together and it was a true collaboration, it wasn't just me taking the reins. It was a song that came about from going back and forth, back and forth."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Supertramp founder Roger Hodgson

Supertramp founder Roger HodgsonSongwriter Interviews

Roger tells the stories behind some of his biggest hits, including "Give a Little Bit," "Take the Long Way Home" and "The Logical Song."

Christopher Cross

Christopher CrossSongwriter Interviews

The man who created Yacht Rock with "Sailing" wrote one of his biggest hits while on acid.

Gary Lewis

Gary LewisSongwriter Interviews

Gary Lewis and the Playboys had seven Top 10 hits despite competition from The Beatles. Gary talks about the hits, his famous father, and getting drafted.

Butch Vig

Butch VigSongwriter Interviews

The Garbage drummer/songwriter produced the Nirvana album Nevermind, and Smashing Pumpkins' Gish and Siamese Dream.

Richard Butler of The Psychedelic Furs

Richard Butler of The Psychedelic FursSongwriter Interviews

Psychedelic Furs lead singer Richard Butler talks about their first album since 1991 and explains what's really going on in "Pretty In Pink."

Al Jourgensen of Ministry

Al Jourgensen of MinistrySongwriter Interviews

In the name of song explanation, Al talks about scoring heroin for William Burroughs, and that's not even the most shocking story in this one.