Gecko (Overdrive)

Story of Song

It took two releases for DJ Oliver Heldens to make this single a hit. When talking to Official Charts Company, Heldens told the story behind Gecko (Overdrive), saying: “I had a track for one of my film projects which was really outstanding, it was Gecko. I first sent it to a few friends, they really liked it, one of them was like ‘I’m going to slap you in the face if you don’t release this’ so I was like… ok ok… I’m going to do something with it. So the first DJ I sent it to was Tiesto, and within 15 minutes I got a reply that he wanted to meet me and wanted to release it. It was really awesome especially because I never felt that… Gecko was so different from all the EDM stuff. For me, it was a whole new chapter.” About Becky Hill, Heldens says: “The first time I heard Becky was from the track ‘After Glow’. I really like that track. Thanks to the Internet she’s on the track now because you send the track to a few vocalists and then they work at their own studios with some writers and stuff. Becky wrote (Overdrive) together with Emenike as she sung it and it was…  just the best, it felt really good.”

Release date

First release was on December 30, 2013. Second release was on June 22, 2014.

Songwriter/s

Oliver Heldens – Becky Hill – Uzo Emenike

Label

Musical Freedom – Spinnin – FFRR – Ministry of Sound

Chart Rankings

AUSTRALIA – 71

UK – 1

GERMANY  – 23

It is the last number one in the UK to be based on sales alone, as streaming was subsequently incorporated into the charts. The single topped the charts in Latvia and peaked at number two in Scotland. In Australia, it reached number 71 and made it to number six in Poland. ‘Gecko’ (Overdrive) was also featured in the video game Forza Horizon.

Artist’s age on release date

19 (Heldens) and 20 (Hill)

Cover Versions

Very few amateur artists covered this single on YouTube.