Here’s one that youngsters will undoubtedly enjoy. For those who knew the consequences of a one-night stand, Zedd and Hayley Williams from Paramore have teamed up on a song that is undoubtedly a night-ending dancefloor hit. The song “Stay the Night,” with its catchy chorus, is about a couple splitting up but sticking together for one passionate last night, featuring the oft-repeated chorus: “Are you going to stay the night? / Doesn’t mean we’re bound for life.”
The year 2013 was quite significant for electronic dance music. You weren’t attending the right parties if you weren’t having a good time. The best song to wrap up the night was undoubtedly “Stay the Night,” We are about to journey back almost a decade to the time this song was released.
The Making
As part of the deluxe edition of his debut studio album, Clarity (2012), Zedd, a Russian-German electronic dance music producer, released the song “Stay the Night” in 2013. Hayley Williams, the lead singer of the American rock band Paramore, performs vocals for it, and Zedd, Williams, Carah Faye, and Benjamin Eli Hanna contributed to the song’s composition.
Zedd claims that the initial concept was for a male lead singer. As for finding a singer, Zedd explained to MTV News, “At first, we thought it might be better to have a male singer, but then, since I know Hayley’s voice, we had the idea to use her for the track… I think it’s more sexy and interesting with her singing it.”
Hayley Williams first heard the song during Paramore’s European festival appearances and was immediately moved by the ideas Zedd expressed. The day before she recorded her vocals, Williams finished writing the song’s lyrics in a hotel room in Paris. “I was actually getting into the shower, and it just happened,” she told Radio.com. “The words just came to me, and I got out immediately and wrote everything down.” Her lyrics are about a couple splitting up but staying together for one last night of passion.
Although the song is about a couple who know they’re not compatible but can’t resist their chemistry, we don’t see Hayley Williams and Zedd getting intimate in the music video. Instead, while vocal vixen Hayley puts on her usual excellent performance amongst a dramatic set of blurred lights and prism beams, Zedd takes a seat at the piano to provide the delicate musical magic against the dancing-on-tables-worthy electro.
But how did this song receive so much appreciation and recognition?
“Stay the Night” Represents our Generation
The song’s lyrics provide a window into the thoughts of many millennials and how we perceive romantic relationships. The song’s success, which included hitting the top spot in Billboard’s Hot Dance Club Songs and the top twenty in fifteen countries, is evidence of how relatable the song is to its target listening audience, primarily young people.
The lyrics “I know that we are upside down, So hold your tongue and hear me out, I know that we were made to break, So what? I don’t mind” establish the straightforward mood for the entire song. Before the other person says anything about how “this would never work,” the singer says they already know the potential risks and don’t care. These opening lines do an excellent job of capturing the concept of youthful recklessness, a theme that spans many generations.
But what distinguishes this song from others is that the singer, a woman, is encouraging her partner to think the same way while singing about how “she doesn’t mind” if she makes a mistake. It contrasts dramatically with most songs where the male vocalist tries to persuade a woman to go home with him. A distinctive feature of millennial society is that women can freely express their sexual ambition.
In this regard, “Stay the Night” will always be the soundtrack to our failed romances and untamed feelings.
