Lift Off (song)
"Lift Off" is a song by American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West featuring the former's wife and American singer Beyoncé. It was written by Kanye West, Jay-Z, Jeff Bhasker, Mike Dean, Bruno Mars and Seal, while production was handled by West, Bhasker, Mike Dean, Pharrell, Q-Tip, and Don Jazzy for Jay-Z's and West's collaboration album, Watch the Throne (2011). The song was rumored to be released as the lead single from the album containing additional vocals by Bruno Mars. However, Mars never appeared on the song and it was sent to urban contemporary radio on August 23, 2011.
"Lift Off"
August 23, 2011
4:26
Musically, "Lift Off" is a pop song which uses baroque strings. It contains a chorus sung by Beyoncé, while other verses are sung by West and Jay-Z in a rap style. Instrumentally, the song is completed with synthesizers, martial drums and horns. "Lift Off" received mixed to positive reviews from music critics who generally highlighted the song and praised its hook as well as Beyoncé's vocals, though some criticized the vocals by West and Jay-Z. The song peaked at number one on the South Korea Gaon International Chart and number twenty one on the US Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. "Lift Off" was performed live by Jay-Z and Kanye West during their tour in promotion of Watch the Throne titled Watch the Throne Tour (2011–12). The song's instrumental was used as the outro at the end of Jay-Z and Beyoncé's On the Run Tour (2014) and Beyoncé performed her part of the song during her Renaissance World Tour (2023).
Live performances[edit]
"Lift Off" was included in the set list of the Watch the Throne Tour (2011–12) by Jay-Z and Kanye West.[39][40] David Peisner of Spin magazine noted that the rappers didn't sing their lines during the performance, but ad-libbed over the backing track.[41] The Orange County Register's Ben Wener noted that the song was "annoyingly abbreviated: [it] barely registered a blip toward the end".[42] "Lift Off" was also part of the set list of Beyoncé and Jay-Z's co-headlining On the Run Tour (2014) where it was played as the tour's outro following the finale.[43] West performed the song for one of his "Sunday Service" concerts on March 10, 2019.[44] Beyoncé included the song as part of her setlist for the Renaissance World Tour in 2023.[45]
Chart performance[edit]
Before its release as a single, the song charted at number eighty one on the Australian Singles Chart for the week of August 15, 2011,[46] and peaked at number one on the South Korea Gaon International Chart.[47] "Lift Off" became the forty third best-selling single in South Korea in 2011.[48] On the chart issue dated August 20, 2011 "Lift Off" debuted at number forty eight on the UK Singles Chart.[49] It did not enter the US Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number twenty on the August 27, 2011 issue of the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, which acts as a twenty five-song extension to the Hot 100.[50]