Drag Me Down

“Drag Me Down”
Information
Album	Made in the A.M.
Released	July 31, 2015
Format	Digital download
Recorded	2015
Length	3:12
Writers	John Ryan, Jamie Scott & Julian Bunetta
Producer	John Ryan, Julian Bunetta

"Drag Me Down"is the lead single for One Direction's fifth album Made In The A.M. It was the first song the band released since Zayn Malik's departure in March 2015, and introduced a more acoustic and funky sound.

Lyrically, the song is about a strong love encouraging the narrator to persevere against negativity.

"Drag Me Down" was released to iTunes and Spotify on July 31, 2015. The song's original release was scheduled for August 7th, 2015, but the band decided to release it earlier.

Background

On August 27, 2015, Julian Bunetta tweeted confirming the song was written in March 2015. On July 31, 2015, Liam Payne tweeted "Bit of a surprise" and linked to the iTunes download link for the new single. The rest of the band soon followed, with Harry tweeting another iTunes link and Niall and Louis linking to Spotify.

A few hours later, the band's official Twitter posted a video of the group announcing the song's release, while Spotify uploaded short clips of the band announcing the song, too.

The song was confirmed by Liam to be about the fans during One Direction's August 4 interview with The View.

Louis, Liam, Harry, and Niall have all performed this song live as a part of their solo tours.

Lyrics

[Harry]
I've got fire for a heart
I'm not scared of the dark
You've never seen it look so easy
I got a river for a soul
And baby you're a boat
Baby you're my only reason

[Louis]
If I didn't have you there would be nothing left
The shell of a man who could never be his best
If I didn't have you, I'd never see the sun
You taught me how to be someone, yeah

[Liam]
All my life
You stood by me
When no one else was ever behind me
All these lights
They can't blind me
With your love, nobody can drag me down

[Niall]
All my life
You stood by me
When no one else was ever behind me
All these lights
They can't blind me
With your love, nobody can drag me down

[Chorus]
Nobody, nobody
Nobody can drag me down
Nobody, nobody
Nobody can drag me down

[Niall]
I got fire for a heart
I'm not scared of the dark
You've never seen it look so easy
I got a river for a soul
And baby you're a boat
Baby you're my only reason

[Harry]
If I didn't have you there would be nothing left (nothing left)
The shell of a man who could never be his best (be his best)
If I didn't have you, I'd never see the sun (see the sun)
You taught me how to be someone
Yeah

[Niall]
All my life
You stood by me
When no one else was ever behind me
All these lights
They can't blind me
With your love, nobody can drag me down

[Chorus]
Nobody, nobody
Nobody can drag me down
Nobody, nobody
Nobody can drag me

[Liam]
All my life
You stood by me
When no one else was ever behind me
All these lights
They can't blind me
With your love, nobody can drag me down

[Niall]
All my life
You stood by me
When no one else was ever behind me
All these lights
They can't blind me
With your love, nobody can drag me down

[Chorus]
Nobody, nobody
Nobody can drag me down
Nobody, nobody
Nobody can drag me down

Nobody, nobody
Nobody can drag me down
Nobody, nobody
Nobody can drag me down

Reception

Reaction to the song was universally positive. #DragMeDown became the top trending topic on Twitter almost instantly, clocking over 1.6m tweets and staying at the top for more than ten hours. Radio added it to official rotation straight away, with some DJs revealing they had been waiting a while to be able to play the song.

Billboard called the "quick, unfussy" track "a graduation to the shimmering pop-rock melodies of the Police and Fleetwood Mac."

It reached #1 on the US iTunes within 30 minutes of being released, breaking the record for the fastest song to ever reach the top spot. Drag Me Down reached #1 on iTunes in 90 countries, making it the band's most successful single launch so far. It placed 65th on the Billboard Hot 100 Year End chart. The song won One Direction a Best British Artist award at the 2016 BRITs.

The song sold more than 300,000 digital copies within the first day of its release. It also debuted at the top spot of Spotify's worldwide streaming chart, receiving over 3 million listens in its first day of availability. Seven days after its release, Drag Me Down acquired 17.7 millions streams.

On August 5, 2016, the British Phonographic Industry announced the song had gone platinum.

Chart Performance

Drag Me Down was one of the most successful songs of 2015. On August 7, 2015, it was announced that Drag Me Down had debuted at #1 on the UK's official charts, marking their first #1 there since One Way Or Another in 2013 and their fourth in the UK, overall. It was the highest debut of 2015 in the USA, entering the Billboard charts at #3. The song officially sold over 500,000 copies in its first week of release. Harry and Niall both thanked fans on Twitter for the song's success, and the band thanked fans numerous times during various On The Road Again Tour concerts. The song debuted at #1 in Australia, making it the band's first ever Australian #1 and their highest charting song there since "Live While We're Young" which peaked at #2. It also made 1D the first UK group to land the top spot in Australia since 1998. As of August 2015, the single officially reached #1 in 13 countries, and reached #1 on iTunes in 90 countries.

Live Performances

Drag Me Down (First Live Performance)

One Direction - Drag Me Down (live at GMA)

One Direction Performs 'Drag Me Down'

One Direction – "Drag Me Down" (Live at GMA 2015)

One Direction Drag Me Down Live - the Jonathan Ross Show

One Direction Drag Me Down Premios Telehit 2015

Drag Me Down Jingle Ball Dallas

Drag me down - 1D London Session

Music Video

Music Video	Information
	Released	August 20, 2015
	Length	3:12
	Director	Ben and Gabe Turner
	Production Co
	Choreographer
	Filmed	2015
	Location	Houston, Texas
	VEVO views	1,043,249,402 (as of July 20, 2023)

Drag Me Down's music video depicts the band preparing for a rocket launch. It was filmed exclusively at NASA's headquarters in Houston, Texas on August 6, 2015. The first artists to do so. The band premiered the video via Vevo on August 20, 2015. The video was directed by Ben and Gabe Turner, who work for Ben Winston's company Fulwell 73.The music video broke the record for most likes in less than 24 hours, garnering a million likes and beating the previous record held by Taylor Swift's 'Bad Blood'. The video garnered 19.6 million views within 24 hours of release, the most by any male act on Vevo. The view count also broke One Direction's previous personal record. A week after officially premiering, Drag Me Down's music video had been viewed over 30 million times. In September 2015, the video was Vevo certified for passing 100 million views. In February 2016, the video won Best British Video at the BRIT Awards. In late July 2016, the video surpassed 500 million views.

On May 9th, 2022, almost seven years after its initial release, the video surpassed 1 billion views. It's the second music video to achieve this status, What Makes You Beautiful being the first with 1,450,675,818 views as of July 20th, 2023.