I Dare You

Album: I See You (2017)
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Songfacts®:

  • Perhaps I See You's most positive song in both subject matter and mood, "I Dare You" finds the xx's Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim exploring their feelings of strong infatuation.
  • The xx performed the song along with "On Hold", when they guested on the November 19, 2016 episode of Saturday Night Live.
  • The album title was inspired by Oliver Sim's issues with lack of confidence and alcohol. It was taken from a line in the Velvet Underground's "I'll Be Your Mirror."

    Please put down your hands
    Cause I see you


    A friend can sometimes see you better than you can see yourself," explained Madley Croft to Pitchfork. "There were so many times when I wanted to tell Oliver—and I tried—'You're amazing and there are so many things that are great about you.' Sometimes you have to find that yourself. And I really feel like he has done that, which I'm really proud of him for."
  • The video was directed by Alasdair McLellan in collaboration with Calvin Klein's Chief Creative Officer Raf Simons. The clip stars Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown, Michael Jackson's daughter Paris Jackson, Moonlight actor Ashton Sanders as well as models Lulu and Ernesto Cervantes, who appeared in Simons' debut runway show for the American fashion house.

    Alasdair McLellan is a frequent xx collaborator having also filmed their clips for "On Hold" and "Say Something Loving."

    The band described the video as a "love letter to Los Angeles."
  • Speaking to Beats 1 Radio's Matt Wilkinson about the clip, Remy Croft said:

    "We were excited to just have some actual actors, we've never worked with actor before in our videos. I'm thrilled with how it came out, you never know and you always hope for the best. Millie (Bobby Brown) is absolutely so intelligent and quick and really lovely, and came up to everyone and was really warm. She was singing the song on set, so I thought that was a good sign. It was connecting with her, and everyone was really sweet."

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