Beautiful Now

"Beautiful Now" is a song by Russian-born German musician Zedd from his second studio album, True Colors (2015), featuring vocals from American singer Jon Bellion. It was written by Zedd, Bellion, Antonina Armato, David Jost, Tim James and Desmond Child. The song was released on May 13, 2015 as the album's second single. The song was commercially successful and has been featured on a number of worldwide music charts.

"Beautiful Now"
Single by Zedd featuring Jon Bellion
from the album True Colors
ReleasedMay 13, 2015 (May 13, 2015)
RecordedDecember 2014
GenreProgressive house
Length3:38
LabelInterscope
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Zedd
Zedd singles chronology
"I Want You to Know"
(2015)		 "Beautiful Now"
(2015)		 "Papercut"
(2015)
Jon Bellion singles chronology
"Woke the Fuck Up"
(2015)		 "Beautiful Now"
(2015)		 "All Time Low"
(2016)
Music video
"Beautiful Now" on YouTube

Background

On May 8, 2015, as part of his True Colors promotional campaign, Zedd premiered "Beautiful Now" at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Illinois. Five days later, he announced that he would release the song onto iTunes at 9:00 PM PST.[1] A few hours prior to its release, he tweeted the lyrics from the song's beat break: "BAH BAH BAH BABABAH BAH BAH BABABAH BAH BAH BAH BABABAH BABABABA".[2]

Composition

"Beautiful Now" is a progressive house song with influences of dance-pop written in the key of D major. It runs at 128 BPM.[3]

Music video

The music video for "Beautiful Now", directed by Jonathan Desbiens, was released on June 11, 2015.

Synopsis

The video intertwines five different stories together. The first is of a woman who supposedly drowned her female lover in a pool; the second involves an elderly Central American man who is journeying on an unsuccessful mountain climbing attempt; the third involves the son of a man whose home is invaded by armed robbers; the fourth involves Zedd portraying a liquor store robber who becomes hostile with the management by threatening him with a knife; and the fifth depicts a distraught girl laying down on a railroad. As the song progresses, the video intercuts to scenes of family happiness, good times with friends, dancing and rejoicing before concluding the five stories. The first woman's lover is pulled from the water before drowning, and the ex realizes the gravity of the situation; the old man attempts to climb the mountain and falls, but survives, without reaching the summit; the armed robbery victim's son confronts the hostiles at gunpoint and subdues them; Zedd's character reflects over what sunk him to his current point in life and seems to change his ways; the suicidal girl is missed by the train and reflects on her life and why she chose such an extreme act. All five people in the stories see themselves in a reflection in various surfaces as their stories are closed and they all resolve to be better people.[4]

Reception

As of February 1, 2021, the video has over 179 million views on Zedd's Vevo channel.[5] It has received over 1.6 million likes and over 28,000 dislikes as of February 1, 2021.

Track listing
  • CD single and digital download[6]
  1. "Beautiful Now" (featuring Jon Bellion) – 3:38
  • Digital download (Remixes EP)[7]
  1. "Beautiful Now" (Zonderling Remix) – 3:55
  2. "Beautiful Now" (KDrew Remix) – 4:00
  3. "Beautiful Now" (Dirty South Remix) – 3:19
  4. "Beautiful Now" (Charlie Darker Remix) – 4:15
  • Digital download (Dirty South Remix) (iTunes)[8]
  1. "Beautiful Now" (featuring Jon Bellion) [Dirty South Remix] – 3:18
  • Digital download (Dirty South Remix) (Spotify)[9]
  1. "Beautiful Now" (featuring Jon Bellion) [Dirty South Remix] – 2:53

Grey remix

On July 29, 2015, Los Angeles-based duo Grey released their remix of "Beautiful Now" on SoundCloud as a free download. The remix is known for its significant deviation in sound from the original, using a vocoder to give Bellion's vocals a different melody and robotic distortion, and accompanying them with a darker and melodically distinct background inspired by Egyptian music. The remix quickly began receiving coverage across electronic music websites and communities, and was acclaimed for its uniqueness and originality. It also became notable for only being Grey's first release despite its professionality, leading to speculation that the alias belonged to an experienced group of producers now going anonymous.[10] The alias belongs to brothers Kyle and Michael Trewartha, the former of whom previously operated under the alias Singularity.

Eventually, the remix came to the attention of Zedd, who liked and reposted the remix to his official SoundCloud page, and later released the track for purchase on iTunes on September 11, 2015.[11] Zedd has since continued to actively support Grey, playing their remix of Skrillex and Diplo's "Where Are Ü Now" featuring Justin Bieber at his True Colors Tour. He also went on to call Grey "hands down the best electronic music act right now" on Twitter.[12] Grey has since officially remixed two other songs from True Colors; "Papercut" and "True Colors", and toured with Zedd in 2017 as part of his Echo Tour.

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Italy (FIMI)[27] Gold 25,000
Poland (ZPAV)[28] Platinum 20,000
United States (RIAA)[29] Platinum 1,000,000
Streaming
Japan (RIAJ)[30] Silver 30,000,000

Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
Streaming-only figures based on certification alone.

See also
  • List of number-one dance singles of 2015 (U.S.)

References
  1. "Zedd confirms on twitter album's next single". Twitter. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  2. "Zedd post on twitter the song's chorus". Twitter. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  3. "Zedd "Beautiful Now" Sheet Music". musicnotes.com. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  4. "What does Zedd's "Beautiful Now" music video mean?". JeffGluck.com. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  5. "Zedd - Beautiful Now ft. Jon Bellion". YouTube. June 11, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  6. "Beautiful Now [feat. Jon Bellion]". Amazon.com. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
  7. "Beautiful Now (Remixes) [feat. Jon Bellion] - EP by Zedd". iTunes. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  8. "Beautiful Now (feat. Jon Bellion) [Dirty South Remix] - Single by Zedd". iTunes. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  9. "Beautiful Now (Rock Mafia Remix)". Spotify.
  10. Lucas. "Zedd Uploads Gorgeously Dark "Beautiful Now" Remix From Mysterious New Artist - Your EDM". Your EDM.
  11. "Beautiful Now (Grey Remix) [feat. Jon Bellion] - Single". iTunes.
  12. "Zedd on Twitter". Twitter.
  13. "Ultratop.be – Zedd feat. Jon Bellion – Beautiful Now" (in Dutch). Ultratip. Retrieved June 26, 2015.
  14. "Ultratop.be – Zedd feat. Jon Bellion – Beautiful Now" (in French). Ultratip. Retrieved June 26, 2015.
  15. "Zedd Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  16. "Lescharts.com – Zedd feat. Jon Bellion – Beautiful Now" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  17. "Zedd Chart History (Japan Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved July 19, 2015.
  18. "The Official Lebanese Top 20 - Zedd". The Official Lebanese Top 20. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  19. "Dutchcharts.nl – Zedd feat. Jon Bellion – Beautiful Now" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved June 26, 2015.
  20. "Listy bestsellerów, wyróżnienia :: Związek Producentów Audio-Video". Polish Airplay Top 100. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
  21. "Zedd Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
  22. "Zedd Chart History (Hot Dance/Electronic Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved July 9, 2015.
  23. "Zedd Chart History (Dance Club Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
  24. "Zedd Chart History (Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  25. "Dance Club Songs – Year-End 2015". Billboard. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  26. "Hot Dance/Electronic Songs – Year-End 2015". Billboard. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  27. "Italian single certifications – Zedd feat. Jon Bellion" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved August 23, 2016. Select "2016" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Select "Zedd feat. Jon Bellion" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Singoli online" under "Sezione".
  28. "Polish single certifications – Zedd feat. Jon Bellion – Beautiful Now" (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  29. "American single certifications – ZEDD – BEAUTIFUL NOW (FEAT. JON BELLION)". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved March 19, 2018. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH. 
  30. "Japanese single streaming certifications – Zedd feat. Jon Bellion – Beautiful Now" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved January 25, 2021. Select 2020年12月 on the drop-down menu
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