"After Midnight" is a song by Blink-182, taken from their sixth studio album Neighborhoods (2011). The song premiered on September 06, 2011, and was released digitally on a gaming site the same day. The track is the band's second new song to be released following Up All Night.
The song premiered September 06, 2011, on a radio show the UK hosted by Zane Lowe run by the BBC Radio 1. A digital single was released right after the song premiered on a site called "get182.com". The fan had to click, and try to fix the sign by making it end on 182. It wasn't easy though because the numbers scrolled quickly. After the person won, they were able to download the song via email. The proud fan could also share the amount of tries for 182.
Composition[]
"After Midnight" was one of four new songs birthed from a last-minute writing session after the band canceled their European tour in early 2011. The band said that "After Midnight" is like most of the old songs of the band, referring to the speed with which it was created, they said that creating this song was easier than the others. Tom DeLonge described the song as "our new I Miss You". The song was originally titled "Travis Beat", for being Travis Barker's favorite song, it was created based on a beat that Travis composed a day working in the studio while working on his solo album, Give the Drummer Some. Mark Hoppus said: As same as "I Miss You" lyrics were composed by Mark Hoppus that wrote the chorus and Tom DeLonge the verses, lyrics were written separately, according to the band they didn't necessarily know what the other was writing about, but it fit together pretty well. Tom DeLonge commented on an interview with MTV: "What's cool about this song and 'I Miss You,' when Mark and I both write lyrics in different places, they come together and they're both about the same thing. We end up writing super romantic songs. And I think it worked out really good on this one". "After Midnight" was played for the first time on the Honda Civic Tour along with "Ghost On The Dancefloor" before the release of the album. The first time the song was played live on TV was on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show on October 3, 2011. And on December 8 the band presented on the Conan O'Brien show where they played the song.
Reception[]
Critical response[]
The song got positive feedback from music critics. Some of them cataloging it as one of their best songs. Tom Goodwyn from the British magazine NME said that this song is one of the best from this album, A lovely subtle love song and the lightest moment on Neighborhoods. "We'll stagger home after midnight, sleep arm in arm in the stairwell" croons Mark Hoppus over a gentle riff. Whoever fancies themselves as the new John Hughes should be locking this down for the big kissing scene at the end of their new flick now. Consequence of Sound's web critic Chris Coplan said the song is "decidedly epic with an intimate touch, an effort that highlights each member’s strengths, Tom DeLonge’s romantic verses, Mark Hoppus’ grand chorus, and Travis Barker’s bangin’ drum skills, to make for one fairly anthemic effort". SPIN's critic Marc Hogan said: "It's a bittersweet midtempo rocker, and the most contemplative of the new songs Blink has unveiled so far. 'These nights go on and on' goes the chorus, perfect for bored teenagers shouting outside car windows". Thomas Nassiff from AbsolutePunk said: "After Midnight" is instantly a classic Blink-182 song. Scott Heisel from the US magazine Alternative Press wrote: "Is one of the finest moments of Blink's career, a song so simple, catchy and geniune that it's amazing it took them nearly two decades to write it".
Comercial success[]
On October 15 before "After Midnight" was a single, it debuted at number 52 on Bilboard's Hot Digital Songs and on Hot 100 at number 88. On October 22 the song debuted at number 39 on Billboard's Alternative Songs.
Trivia[]
Even though the single was released on September 06, 2011 in the UK. The song was premiered live during the Honda Civic Tour on August 5th in Holmdel Township, New Jersey.
Music Vídeo[]
On November 30, 2011 started the filming of the video in Tustin, California, with Isaac Rentz as the director of the video (previously worked on "Up All Night"), the same day Mark Hoppus twitted: "Shooting the video for After Midnight today! Sleep arm-in-arm in the stairwell!! Exclamation points!!!" In an interview with MTV Mark told that they wanted to do something different for the video "We wanted it to be something different than just a bunch of people having fun and having a party; we wanted it to be a little darker, a little more troubled, and Isaac's treatment did that", also told "We went through probably 30 different treatments for this video, and a lot of them were great, and a lot of them weren't so great but [director] Isaac [Rentz's] stuck out as a really cool idea." The video premiered December 24, 2011.