"Close to Me" is a song by English singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding with American DJ and music producer Diplo and American rapper Swae Lee, released on 24 October 2018 from the former's fourth studio album, Brightest Blue (2020). It was premiered by Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1 as the "Hottest Record in the World".
Background
Goulding told Billboard that the song came about when she and co-writer Savan Kotecha were in a Los Angeles studio where they came up with the guitar melody and Goulding sang what would become the first line of the pre-chorus, "don't let me down", which they decided to keep in the song. Goulding, feeling that the song was "missing something", eventually sent it to Diplo who sent his version back to her within a short amount of time. Diplo suggested adding Swae Lee as a featured guest vocalist.
Composition The song is recorded in the key of E major with a tempo of 72 beats per minute in common time. The song follows a chord progression of E–Cm7–G–A, and the vocals span from E3 to C5.
Music video The music video for "Close to Me", directed by Diane Martel, was filmed in Budapest, Hungary, and premiered on 14 November 2018.
Promotion Goulding wiped her social media accounts and began promoting the track on 22 October 2018, first sharing a cartoon image of hers, Diplo and Swae Lee's arms locked in a triangle, displaying their tattoos against a cheetah print background, captioning it "CLOSE TO ME". She then later confirmed this would be the title, and along with posting an audio clip of the track, announced the release date and time.
Red Velvet remix On 5 April 2019, a remix featuring South Korean girl group Red Velvet was released, which replaces Swae Lee's verse with a version of the verse and chorus sung in Korean and English. Their chorus was written by Red Velvet's Wendy and Yeri. The song won the "Choice Electronic / Dance Song" award at the 2019 Teen Choice Awards. The remix appears as a bonus track on the Japanese edition of Goulding's fourth studio album Brightest Blue (2020).
Live performances Goulding performed an acoustic version of the song during On Air with Ryan Seacrest on 16 November 2018. She later performed the song during BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge Month on 28 November. Her first televised performance of the song was on the final of The X Factor on 2 December.
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts + Chart (2018–2019) Peakposition Bolivia (Monitor Latino) 18 Croatia (HRT) 43 Estonia (Eesti Tipp-40) 27Finnish Airplay (Radiosoittolista) 10 Greece International Digital Singles (IFPI) 52 Israel (Media Forest TV Airplay) 1 Lebanon (Lebanese Top 20) 15 Malaysia (RIM) 17Netherlands (Global Top 40)28 Romania (Airplay 100) 63 Singapore (RIAS) 10 Slovenia (SloTop50) 12
Year-end charts + Chart (2018) Position Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) 84 US Hot Dance/Electronic Songs (Billboard) 92
+ Chart (2019) Position Australia (ARIA) 88 Belgium (Ultratop Flanders) 72 Belgium (Ultratop Wallonia) 47 Canada (Canadian Hot 100) 45 CIS (Tophit) 58 Iceland (Tónlistinn) 46 Latvia (LAIPA) 70 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) 79 Poland (ZPAV) 91 Portugal (AFP) 143 Russia Airplay (Tophit) 51 US Billboard Hot 100 58 US Adult Contemporary (Billboard) 50 US Adult Top 40 (Billboard) 13 US Hot Dance/Electronic Songs (Billboard) 3 US Mainstream Top 40 (Billboard) 18
Decade-end charts + Chart (2010–2019) Position US Hot Dance/Electronic Songs (Billboard) 17
Certifications
Release history + Region Date Format Version Label Italy 26 October 2018 Radio airplay Original Universal United States 6 November 2018 Contemporary hit radio Interscope Various 1 February 2019 The Remixes 5 April 2019 Red Velvet Remix Polydor
References