"The Nights" is a song by Swedish DJ and record producer
Avicii, featuring uncredited vocals from singer/songwriter
Nicholas Furlong. On 1 December 2014, it was released as a
digital download by PRMD Music and
Universal Island on Avicii's The Days / Nights EP, then on 11 January 2015 in the United Kingdom.[1] The song peaked at number six on the
UK Singles Chart and number one on the
UK Dance Chart. On 23 January 2015, Avicii released "The Nights (Avicii by Avicii)", his own remix of the song.[2] The song appears on the UK version of Avicii's second studio album Stories (2015).
Background
Furlong noted that he began writing the song as an ode to his father. The inspiration for the "pirate-y fight song" sound came to him while at a bar in Ireland. Furlong sent the original idea, titled "My Father Told Me", to Arash Pournouri, Avicii's manager. Pournouri recognised an immediate draw to the track, saying that the song had that same sense of euphoria which characterises so much of Avicii's music.
In an interview with
Yahoo! Music, Pournouri said: "It made absolute sense to work on it with Nick...[Avicii and I just needed] to make it more 'us' and that's what [we] did."
On December 15, 2014, the official music video for "The Nights" was released on YouTube. The video was produced, directed by, and stars "professional life liver"
Rory Kramer, who filmed an exuberant action-packed recollection of his own life on
roller coasters,
surfing,
snowboarding,
skateboarding, balloon flying, making a four-door convertible out of a
Toyota, etc. – living a life to be remembered.[3][4] As of February 2023, the music video has over 900 million views.
The song was later
interpolated by British rappers SwitchOTR and
A1 x J1 in 2021 for their song "Coming For You", which peaked at number five on the UK Singles Chart[5] and was certified Gold by the
BPI.[6]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. † Streaming-only figures based on certification alone.
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