Die Young
"Die Young" is a song by American singer and songwriter Kesha. It was released on September 25, 2012, as the lead single from her second studio album, Warrior (2012). Kesha co-wrote the song with its producers, Dr. Luke, Benny Blanco, and Cirkut, with additional writing from Nate Ruess, the lead singer of Fun. Ruess wrote the words for the chorus, but Kesha wrote the lyrics after traveling around the world and embarking on a spiritual journey.
For other uses, see Die Young (disambiguation)."Die Young"
"Die Young" charted in multiple countries, debuting at 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. In its third week, "Die Young" broke into the Hot 100's top-ten, making it Kesha's seventh consecutive top-ten hit as a lead artist since her debut on the chart in 2010 with "Tik Tok" and ninth top-ten hit overall including her collaborations with 3OH!3, Britney Spears, and Nicki Minaj.[2] It eventually peaked at number two, continuing Kesha's string of top-ten singles. The song has also reached the top ten in multiple countries worldwide, including most of the English-speaking world and has received a Platinum certification in five countries.
In December 2012, the song was removed from some radio stations in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, rendering the title and chorus inappropriate for airplay. Radio heads stated that closer inspection of the song's content shows it has "nothing to do with what happened".
Commercial performance[edit]
On October 1, 2012, "Die Young" debuted on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 chart at number 21, marking Kesha's highest ranking debut on that chart.[24] "Die Young" entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 13, also debuting at number three on the Digital Songs chart with 188,000 digital downloads sold within its first week. On the Radio Songs chart, the song garnered 31 million hits.[25] On the week ending in October 27, "Die Young" debuted on Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart at number 45.[26] In its third week, "Die Young" rose to number eight on the Hot 100, earning Kesha her eighth consecutive top-ten hit on the chart since her debut with "Tik Tok" in 2010.[2] In its fifth week, the song jumped to number four on the chart.[27] For the week ending December 8, 2012, "Die Young" reached its eventual peak of number two, being kept off the top spot by Rihanna's "Diamonds".[28] On track to become her third number one in the country, she began to lose airplay in December 2012, when several radio stations petitioned to stop playing the song due to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting; the track subsequently began falling down the charts. Despite this however, "Die Young" became a number one hit on the Mainstream Top 40 chart, earning Kesha her third chart-topper on that chart along with "Your Love Is My Drug" and "Tik Tok" and her sixth top ten hit for that chart as well.[29] As of December 13, 2018, "Die Young" has been certified 4× Platinum in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling 4 million units in the country alone.[30]
In the United Kingdom, "Die Young" entered the chart at its peak of number ten on issue dated, December 2, 2012.[31] The following week it rose to number seven,[32] becoming her third solo top ten hit and fifth top ten hit overall in the nation.[33]
Music video[edit]
Background and release[edit]
The video was directed by Chris Applebaum and Darren Craig[45] but Applebaum withdrew his name from the official credits.[46] To promote the single, two teaser trailers were released online. The first showed a waffle waitress holding a slip of paper inscribed with a capital "R", which resembles the official logo of Rihanna, leading to rumors that Rihanna would possibly be featured on the song.[5] The second video appeared online, after the singer tweeted, "Wanna hint?". It displayed Kesha in the Tokyo Metro, whistling the chorus of "Die Young"[5][47] An official lyric video was posted to Kesha's Vevo account the day of the single's release.[19] On September 24, 2012, celebrity makeup artist and blogger for People Scott Barnes wrote that he was working with Kesha on the music video for "Die Young".[48] On the video itself and the makeup artistry behind it, he said:
In popular culture[edit]
The song was featured in the film Neighbors, appearing in the film's soundtrack.[60]
The song appeared uncredited in the second-season finale of the American adult animated sitcom Solar Opposites.[61] It was also featured in several editions of the Just Dance video game series by Ubisoft, including Just Dance 4, Just Dance 2014, and Just Dance 2015. Independent animator Vivienne Medrano, later creating Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, would make a fan animation for the song, posting it on her YouTube channel.[62] By November 2019, the animation would have over 50 million views.[63] On June 24, 2023, Kesha guest-starred in the Helluva Boss season one finale "Queen Bee", as Queen Bee-lzebub, a character physically designed after the focal character of Medrano's music video that had used her voice.
In 2021, the song became part of a popular TikTok trend in which a person plays the song over a speaker outside of another person's closed door, and the first person bangs on the door to the signature drum beats in the chorus, then flees before the other person can answer the door. Several college campuses have banned this activity due to noise complaints, and police have been called in residential neighborhoods with residents claiming either property damage or assuming a home invasion is happening.[64]
Parodies[edit]
In November 2012, the song was for example parodied by the YouTube channel The Key of Awesome. The parody mentions the similarity to "Good Feeling" by Flo Rida.[65]
Later in the same month, the song was also parodied by the Filipino radio station 93.9 iFM with the title "Amalayer" named after a viral video incident in a station of the Manila LRT System.[66][67]
Credits adapted from the liner notes on BMI.[75]