LA Devotee
"LA Devotee" is a song by American rock band Panic! at the Disco. It was released as the first promotional single from the band's fifth studio album, Death of a Bachelor, on November 26, 2015 (Thanksgiving Day) through Fueled by Ramen and DCD2. The song was written by Brendon Urie, White Sea and Jake Sinclair and was produced by Sinclair.
"LA Devotee" | |
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Promotional single by Panic! at the Disco | |
from the album Death of a Bachelor | |
Published | Listen to This Shhhh, Songs Music Publishing, BMG Platinum Songs, Manes and Reins Publishing |
Released | November 26, 2015 |
Recorded | 2015 |
Genre | |
Length | 3:16 |
Label | |
Songwriter(s) | |
Producer(s) | Jake Sinclair |
Death of a Bachelor track listing | |
11 tracks
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Background
The song's inspiration derives from Urie's passion for Los Angeles and is about someone who has fallen in love with L.A. and will stop at nothing to survive and succeed in the city.[4] A video of the audio for "LA Devotee" was uploaded to Fueled by Ramen's official YouTube channel on the day of its release, November 26, 2015.[5] It has been streamed over 48 million times on YouTube and over 165 million times on Spotify as of October 2020.
Music video
The song's official music video was released September 22, 2016, starring Noah Schnapp, a child actor known for his role as Will Byers in the Netflix series Stranger Things. The video starts with a young girl ((Anna Eylse))nervously trying to cross a field with a dog barking in the background. The girl falls down and gets kidnapped by an unknown cloaked figure as the camera shows a shot of the mysterious "Join Us" logo cropped into the field. Anna and Noah became close on set and this is how they met and now they are in a relationship. The next scene shows a young boy (Schnapp) being strapped to a chair singing the song while experiencing bizarre things, with Brendon also singing the song on a screen. The young girl also makes an appearance forcing the boy to drink something. The last scene shows four cloaked figures strapping two mechanisms to the boy, causing him to be electrocuted and then suffer a seizure. Afterwards, the video ends with Brendon walking up to him with rubber gloves in a menacing manner. It is unknown what Brendon is to do next. On "The Death of a Bachelor Tour" before "This Is Gospel" A video is shown, showing Urie's involvement and origins with the cloaked figures, showing the boy being tortured.
Between shots of Schnapp being tortured, several disturbing images can be seen, including men with animal heads, blood poured over a skull, children with black holes for their eyes, and a symbol of the Church of Satan (featuring Baphomet's head inside an inverted pentagon) projected over Urie's face.
Other references
The song references multiple places in the Great Los Angeles area, including:
Charts
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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Certifications
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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Canada (Music Canada)[8] | Gold | 40,000![]() |
United Kingdom (BPI)[9] | Silver | 200,000![]() |
United States (RIAA)[10] | Platinum | 1,000,000![]() |
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References
- Ridler, Faith (December 8, 2015). "Panic! At The Disco: 'LA Devotee' Single Review". Ppcorn. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
- Lucy, Evan (January 15, 2016). "Death Of A Bachelor channels Brendon Urie's inner Sinatra and vocal versatility - Reviews". Alternative Press. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
- Smith, Troy L. (January 14, 2016). "Panic! at the Disco feels more alive than ever on 'Death of a Bachelor'". cleveland.com. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
- Stumme, Clifford (2015-11-27). "What does "LA Devotee" by Panic! at the Disco mean?". Cliffordstumme.com. Retrieved 2016-01-04.
- "Panic! At The Disco: LA Devotee (Audio)". YouTube. 2015-11-26. Retrieved 2016-01-04.
- "Panic! At the Disco – Awards". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved December 21, 2014.
- "Hot Rock Songs – Year-End 2016". Billboard. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
- "Canadian single certifications – Panic! At the Disco – LA Devotee". Music Canada.
- "British single certifications – Panic! At the Disco – LA Devotee". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved October 25, 2019. Select singles in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type LA Devotee in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
- "American single certifications – Panic! At the Disco – LA Devotee". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved March 20, 2019. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH.