Rita ZimmermanThree years after they scored a global hit with “Rather Be,” Clean Bandit has another hit on their hands with “Rockabye.” Like “Rather Be,” Anne-Marie, the female vocalist on “Rockabye” isn’t actually in Clean Bandit, and neither is the woman who wrote the lyrics, for that matter. Together, though, they’ve helped the track, about a struggling single mom, pack an emotional punch.
Clean Bandit member Jack Patterson co-wrote the song with Norwegian singer/songwriter Ina Wroldsen, and Jack explains why she was able to make the lyrics ring so true.
“When we wrote it, she put herself, I think in the place of a mother, with her real experience,” Jack tells ABC Radio. “She’s got a little boy, and I think she used her own emotional connection with her son to put herself in the right kind of emotional mindset.”
However, Jack says, “She’s not a single mum. Her husband’s a joker, but he’s still there!”
Landing the other guest vocalist on the track, Sean Paul, was a huge coup for Clean Bandit. They were longtime fans of the reggae star and wanted to work with him for years. Clean Bandit’s Grace Chatto says getting him for “Rockabye” was “a very big deal.”
“It’s still surreal,” she tells ABC Radio. “And just the sound of his voice, even….whatever he was saying would be so amazing. But then he came out with such great lyrics.”
After finishing their North American headlining tour, Clean Bandit is getting ready to hit the festival circuit overseas.
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