Promises

“Promises” is the 2018 summer track from DJ and producer Calvin Harris (real name Adam Richard Wiles) and pop artist Sam Smith.

The track was met with an extremely positive response, peaking at #1 on the UK iTunes chart just one day after its release. Both Smith and Harris announced the single via Twitter on the 13th August 2018, with Harris tweeting: “Very excited about this one”, while Smith stated: “Surprise! I’m so excited for you all to hear this song”, as well as: “it has always been a dream of mine to work with @calvinharris and I’m so proud and in love with this song. I had so much fun writing this tune with Calvin and @Jessiereyez and I hope you can hear that. Turn it up and let’s dance our way into tonight.” “Promises” is a track about loving someone in the moment and not thinking about the future. The release of the track came after Smith had broken up with his boyfriend of nine months, and sung the track to an audience at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn, New York. ““I know that everyone in this room right now is going through some sh*t. I know I’m going through some sh-t. And tonight I want all of us to just leave all of our worries and all of our heartache aside and let’s have some fun. Let’s sing as loud as we can.”

The music video was directed by Emil Nava, and was released via Calvin Harris’ YouTube channel on the 4th September 2018. It features Smith singing the track and scenes of nightclubs and dancing, which is intended to honour the LGBTQ+ community with references to ball scenes and “voguing” which is a popular dance move in the community. As of May 2019, the video has over 117 million views and over 816k likes.

Release Date: 17th August 2018

Songwriter/s: Sam Smith, Calvin Harris & Jessie Reyez

Producer/s: Calvin Harris

Label/s: Columbia, Sony

Music Video Release Date: 4th September 2018

Music Video Director: Emil Nava

Chart Rankings & Certifications: Since its release, “Promises” has gone to #1 in many different countries: Australia, Belgium, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Mexico, Poland, Scotland, Slovenia, the UK and the US. The track also went Platinum in Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and the UK. It went triple Platinum in Australia and double Platinum in Poland, as well as receiving Gold certification in Austria, Canada, Germany and the US.