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Beautiful Now

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"Beautiful Now"
Single by Zedd featuring Jon Bellion
from the album True Colors
Released13 May 2015 (2015-05-13)
Recorded2014
GenreProgressive house
Length3:38
5:15 (Extended Mix)
LabelInterscope
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Zedd singles chronology
"I Want You to Know"
(2015) 		"Beautiful Now"
(2015) 		"Papercut"
(2015)
Jon Bellion singles chronology
"Woke the Fuck Up"
(2015) 		"Beautiful Now"
(2015) 		"All Time Low"
(2016)
Music video
"Beautiful Now" on YouTube

"Beautiful Now" is a song by Russian-born German musician Zedd from his second studio album, True Colors (2015), featuring vocals from American singer-songwriter Jon Bellion. It was written by Zedd, Bellion, Antonina Armato, David Jost, Tim James and Desmond Child. The song was released on 13 May 2015 as the album's second single. The song was commercially successful and has been featured on a number of worldwide music charts.

Background

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On 8 May 2015, as part of his True Colors promotional campaign, Zedd premiered "Beautiful Now" at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Illinois. Five days later, he announced that he would release the song onto iTunes at 9:00 PM PST.[1] A few hours prior to its release, he tweeted the lyrics from the song's beat break: "BAH BAH BAH BABABAH BAH BAH BABABAH BAH BAH BAH BABABAH BABABABA".[2] The official audio for the song was uploaded to Zedd's YouTube channel at that same time.[3]

Composition

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"Beautiful Now" is a progressive house song with influences of dance-pop written in the key of D major. It runs at 128 BPM.[4]

Music video

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The music video for "Beautiful Now", directed by Jonathan Desbiens, was released on 11 June 2015.

Synopsis

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The video intertwines five different stories together. The first is of a woman who supposedly drowned her female lover in a pool; the second involves an elderly Central American man who is journeying on an unsuccessful mountain climbing attempt; the third involves the son of a man whose home is invaded by armed robbers; the fourth involves Zedd portraying a liquor store robber who becomes hostile with the management by threatening him with a knife; and the fifth depicts a distraught girl laying down on a railroad.

As the song progresses, the video intercuts to scenes of family happiness, good times with friends, dancing and rejoicing before concluding the five stories. The first woman's lover is pulled from the water before drowning, and the ex realizes the gravity of the situation; the old man attempts to climb the mountain and falls, but survives, without reaching the summit; the armed robbery victim's son confronts the hostiles at gunpoint and subdues them; Zedd's character reflects over what sunk him to his current point in life and seems to change his ways; the suicidal girl is missed by the train and reflects on her life and why she chose such an extreme act. All five people in the stories see themselves in a reflection in various surfaces as their stories are closed and they all resolve to be better people.[5]

Reception

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As of November 9 2024, the video has over 235 million views and over 2 million likes on Zedd's YouTube channel.[6]

Track listing

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  • CD single and digital download[7]
  1. "Beautiful Now" (featuring Jon Bellion) – 3:38
  • Digital download (Remixes EP)[8]
  1. "Beautiful Now" (Zonderling Remix) – 3:55
  2. "Beautiful Now" (KDrew Remix) – 4:00
  3. "Beautiful Now" (Dirty South Remix) – 3:19
  4. "Beautiful Now" (Charlie Darker Remix) – 4:15
  • Digital download (Dirty South Remix) (iTunes)[9]
  1. "Beautiful Now" (featuring Jon Bellion) [Dirty South Remix] – 3:18
  • Digital download (Dirty South Remix) (Spotify)[10]
  1. "Beautiful Now" (featuring Jon Bellion) [Dirty South Remix] – 2:53

Grey remix

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On 29 July 2015, Los Angeles-based duo Grey released their remix of "Beautiful Now" on SoundCloud as a free download. The remix is known for its significant deviation in sound from the original, using a vocoder to give Bellion's vocals a different melody and robotic distortion, and accompanying them with a darker and melodically distinct background inspired by Egyptian music. The remix quickly began receiving coverage across electronic music websites and communities, and was acclaimed for its uniqueness and originality. It also became notable for only being Grey's first release despite its professionality, leading to speculation that the alias belonged to an experienced group of producers now going anonymous.[11] The alias belongs to brothers Kyle and Michael Trewartha, the former of whom previously operated under the alias Singularity.

Eventually, the remix came to the attention of Zedd, who liked and reposted the remix to his official SoundCloud page, and later released the track for purchase on iTunes on 11 September 2015.[12] Zedd has since continued to actively support Grey, playing their remix of Skrillex and Diplo's "Where Are Ü Now" featuring Justin Bieber at his True Colors Tour. He also went on to call Grey "hands down the best electronic music act right now" on Twitter.[13] Grey has since officially remixed two other songs from True Colors; "Papercut" and "True Colors", and toured with Zedd in 2017 as part of his Echo Tour.

Charts

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Certifications

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Certifications for "Beautiful Now"
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil)[30] Platinum 60,000‡
Italy (FIMI)[31] Gold 25,000‡
Japan (RIAJ)[32] Gold 100,000*
Poland (ZPAV)[33] Platinum 20,000‡
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[34] Gold 30,000‡
United States (RIAA)[35] Platinum 1,000,000‡
Streaming
Japan (RIAJ)[36] Gold 50,000,000†

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
† Streaming-only figures based on certification alone.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Zedd confirms on twitter album's next single". Twitter. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  2. ^ "Zedd post on twitter the song's chorus". Twitter. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  3. ^ "Zedd - Beautiful Now ft. Jon Bellion (Official Audio)". YouTube. 14 May 2015.
  4. ^ "Zedd "Beautiful Now" Sheet Music". musicnotes.com. 7 July 2015. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  5. ^ "What does Zedd's "Beautiful Now" music video mean?". JeffGluck.com. 11 June 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  6. ^ "Zedd - Beautiful Now ft. Jon Bellion". 11 June 2015. Retrieved 9 November 2024 – via YouTube.
  7. ^ "Beautiful Now [feat. Jon Bellion]". Amazon. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  8. ^ "Beautiful Now (Remixes) [feat. Jon Bellion] - EP by Zedd". iTunes. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  9. ^ "Beautiful Now (feat. Jon Bellion) [Dirty South Remix] - Single by Zedd". iTunes. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  10. ^ "Beautiful Now (Rock Mafia Remix)". Spotify.
  11. ^ Lucas (22 August 2015). "Zedd Uploads Gorgeously Dark "Beautiful Now" Remix From Mysterious New Artist - Your EDM". Your EDM.
  12. ^ "Beautiful Now (Grey Remix) [feat. Jon Bellion] - Single". iTunes.
  13. ^ "Zedd on Twitter". Twitter.
  14. ^ a b "Zedd feat. Jon Bellion – Beautiful Now" (in Dutch). Ultratip. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  15. ^ a b "Zedd feat. Jon Bellion – Beautiful Now" (in French). Ultratip. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  16. ^ "Zedd Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  17. ^ "Zedd feat. Jon Bellion – Beautiful Now" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  18. ^ "Zedd Chart History (Japan Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  19. ^ "The Official Lebanese Top 20 - Zedd". The Official Lebanese Top 20. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  20. ^ "Top 20 Inglés Del 28 de Septiembre al 4 de Octubre, 2015". Monitor Latino. 28 September 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
  21. ^ a b "Zedd feat. Jon Bellion – Beautiful Now" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  22. ^ "Listy bestsellerów, wyróżnienia :: Związek Producentów Audio-Video". Polish Airplay Top 100. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  23. ^ "Veckolista Heatseeker, vecka 33, 2015" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  24. ^ "Zedd Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  25. ^ "Zedd Chart History (Hot Dance/Electronic Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  26. ^ "Zedd Chart History (Dance Club Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  27. ^ "Zedd Chart History (Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  28. ^ "Dance Club Songs – Year-End 2015". Billboard. Archived from the original on 14 December 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  29. ^ "Hot Dance/Electronic Songs – Year-End 2015". Billboard. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  30. ^ "Brazilian single certifications – Zedd – Beautiful Now" (in Portuguese). Pro-Música Brasil. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  31. ^ "Italian single certifications – Zedd feat. Jon Bellion" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 23 August 2016. Select "2016" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Type "Zedd feat. Jon Bellion" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Singoli" under "Sezione".
  32. ^ "Japanese digital single certifications – Zedd" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved 20 May 2021. Select 2018年5月 on the drop-down menu
  33. ^ "Wyróżnienia – Platynowe płyty CD - Archiwum - Przyznane w 2016 roku" (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  34. ^ "Spanish single certifications – Zedd feat. Jon Bellion – Beautiful Now". El portal de Música. Productores de Música de España. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
  35. ^ "American single certifications – ZEDD – BEAUTIFUL NOW (FEAT. JON BELLION)". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  36. ^ "Japanese single streaming certifications – Zedd feat. Jon Bellion – Beautiful Now" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved 28 May 2023. Select 2023年4月 on the drop-down menu
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