These Days

Album: Toast to Our Differences (2018)
Charted: 1
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Songfacts®:

  • Rudimental enlisted British songstress Jess Glynne and US rapper Macklemore for this uplifting gospel-tinged track, which features hand claps and a church choir. The post-break up tune follows the end of a romance as the pair look back at their relationship with fondness:

    I know you moved on to someone new, I hope life is beautiful
    You were the light for me to find my truth
    I just want to say thank you


    The song also features British R&B singer-songwriter Dan Caplen, who is signed to Rudimental's own label, Major Toms. His debut single on Major Toms, "Flat Champagne," featured BBC Sound of 2017 winner Ray BLK.
  • Rudimental's DJ Locksmith told the story of the song during a video interview with Heatworld: "We had a track with Dan Caplen, and we kinda put our Rudimental spice onto it - what we do. We thought it needed a bit more. So we went out, reached out to Jess Glynne, reached out to Macklemore. And we kinda got in a studio together and finished it off. And you know what, everyone put their each individual bit on it, their flavors, to get it to the point where it is today."
  • The song's filmic music video directed by Johnny Valencia, finds Macklemore and Glynne playing a young couple that falls in and out of love. The clip was shot in London and Seattle and finds the performers portraying all the phrases of a romance.
  • Following a mammoth seven consecutive weeks at #2 on the UK singles chart, a record jointly held with Maroon 5's "Moves Like Jagger," "These Days" finally climbed a place to become their third #1 on the chart dated April 1, 2018.

    Rudimental previously topped UK singles chart in 2012 with "Feel The Love" ft. John Newman and in 2013 with "Waiting All Night" featuring Ella Eyre.
  • The song was Jess Glynne's sixth UK chart topper, the most for a British female solo artist. The record was previously held by Cheryl Cole with five UK #1s.
  • The track was originally Dan Caplen's idea. Rudimental told Clash Music: "He came to us with this amazing idea and we loved the sentiment of the song."
  • In addition to the UK, the song also reached #1 in Austria, Czech Republic, Latvia, and Norway.
  • The track was named the most-performed song of 2018 in the UK at the prestigious Ivor Novello Awards.

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