Don't Leave
by Snakehips (featuring )

Album: Single release only (2017)
Charted: 27
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Released on January 6, 2017, this song marks the first time that British duo Snakehips' have worked with with Danish pop singer MØ. The collaboration started when Snakehips' Oliver Lee and James Carter sent a scratch demo of the song to MØ when she was touring. She recalled in a NME video:

    "I remember when I got the first kind of draft, I guess. I was on tour and I was in my bunk and I was drunk. We had just played a show in Slovakia or something like that, and I heard the draft and I was just feeling it so hard and I was texting the people back: 'We need to get on this one like so much.'"
  • Snakehips worked further on the track with British singer-songwriter Joe Janiak (Ellie Goulding's "Beating Heart," Britney Spears' "Make Me") and RAYE (aka Rachel Keen), who featured on hit singles by Jonas Blue' ("By Your Side") and Jax Jones ("You Don't Know Me.") Oliver Lee recalled:

    "We kind of wrote it with an old buddy of ours called Joe and this girl Rae, as well. And, I mean, we didn't write the lyrics but it's kind of like a relationship type thing. Yeah, it was kind of cool to do something different, it was kind of a different sound for us a little bit, and it was just cool to get the new vibe going."
  • The Snakehips duo continued to send MØ their work in progress. The Danish songstress was especially taken in by the lyrics in which she pleads to her lover not to end their relationship, as what they have is special. MØ explained: "It's just really playing out the love story. I remember, again, when I heard the song for the first time, I was so striked by the lyrics because I felt like I've lived that story."

    Finally, when the song was ready, MØ recorded her vocals in James Carter's kitchen.
  • The music video was directed by Malia James, whose other credits include the clips for Troye Sivian's "Youth" and Hailee Steinfeld's "Rock Bottom." Said MØ: "I feel we tried with the video to just really make the raw emotion of the song and the lyrics come through."

Comments: 1

  • Sb from Australia Wow
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Devo

DevoSongwriter Interviews

Devo founders Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale take us into their world of subversive performance art. They may be right about the De-Evoloution thing.

Francesca Battistelli

Francesca BattistelliSongwriter Interviews

The 2011 Artist of the Year at the Dove Awards isn't your typical gospel diva, and she thinks that's a good thing.

Phone Booth Songs

Phone Booth SongsSong Writing

Phone booths are nearly extinct, but they provided storylines for some of the most profound songs of the pre-cell phone era.

Butch Vig

Butch VigSongwriter Interviews

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

Pam Tillis

Pam TillisSongwriter Interviews

The country sweetheart opines about the demands of touring and talks about writing songs with her famous father.

Marvin Gaye

Marvin GayeFact or Fiction

Did Marvin try out with the Detroit Lions? Did he fake crazy to get out of military service? And what about the cross-dressing?