'Rather Be': From global hit to Grammy nominee
U.K. electro-string quartet Clean Bandit danced its way up the charts last year, scoring one of the biggest songs of 2014 with the infectious Rather Be, featuring British singer Jess Glynne. Now nominated for best dance recording at Sunday's Grammy Awards, here are a few of the song's other impressive feats:
- The most Shazamed song worldwide last year
- 286 million streams on Spotify to date
- 224 million views on YouTube
- Peaked at No. 10 on Billboard's Hot 100
Before the Grammys, we caught up with violinist Neil Amin-Smith of Clean Bandit (also made up of cellist Grace Chatto, bassist/keyboardist/producer Jack Patterson, and his brother, drummer Luke):
Learning they were nominated: "I was with our manager, and I think Kylie Minogue announced it on Twitter," Amin-Smith says. "I saw it, and I said to our manager, 'I think we've been nominated for a Grammy,' but I think he was a bit worse-for-wear at the time, it was his Christmas party. He was like, 'No, Neil, sorry. You didn't. Maybe next year.' But eventually I persuaded him that we had been."
Story behind the song: "The first really early four-beat instrumental that kind of spawned the rest of the track, Jack started that when he was on the Tube (in London)," Amin-Smith says of Rather Be, co-written by Jimmy Napes (Sam Smith's Stay with Me, Disclosure's Latch). After recording instrumentals and strings, Glynne came on board to sing it. "We'd been performing it live for quite a few months and had been recording it with quite a few people, and then we were introduced to Jess through our record label and she killed it."
Why Glynne was right for Rather Be: "It's hard to say what it was about Jess's voice in particular," Amin-Smith says. "Her voice is so huge and it's kind of, like, hoarse. None of us, when we heard it, thought it was perfect for the song. Then she recorded it, and it just kind of changed the song and made it something else."
Most unexpected place he's heard the song: "I often hear Rather Be in really budget supermarkets near where I live, and that's quite weird, because it feels like it's become such a big song that it's already one of the songs that's playing in the background," Amin-Smith says. "You sort of know what it is, but you don't really care. You're too busy thinking about your groceries."
Banner year: "I guess we did have quite a big year, and that's nice that that's kind of being recognized in a way," Amin-Smith says. "We've never been to the Grammys before, and to receive a nomination, it really feels like people have noticed that's happened for us." And with the chance to take home two Brit Awards for best group and British single (Rather Be) Feb. 25, "this month really feels like a summation for us."