The Promise Lyrics

"The Promise" is a song performed by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, written and produced by Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania. Released as the first single from the group's fifth studio album Out of Control on 19 September 2008,[2][3] the single became their fourth number one on the UK Singles Chart. "The Promise" won Best British Single at the 2009 BRIT Awards, Girls Aloud's first win at the prestigious ceremony. Background and release The backing track for the song was composed by two Australian musicians, Jason Resch and Kieran Jones, who would later play the song for Higgins.[4] Higgins and Miranda Cooper, afraid they'd "ruin the moment", waited weeks to write the song's lyrics; they wrote the song in seven minutes.[4] As soon as Girls Aloud heard the song, they decided it should be the first single from Out of Control.[4] The day before the song was due to be delivered to Fascination Records, the entire backing track was ditched and replayed.[4] "The Promise" premièred on Switch on BBC Radio 1 on 14 September 2008,[5] and has been described by the band's website as a "stormer of a track".[2] Originally scheduled for release on 27 October 2008,[2] the release was inexplicably brought forward a week.[3] Girls Aloud performed "The Promise" on Jo Whiley's Live Lounge, as well as a cover of Timbaland and OneRepublic's "Apologize".[6] Nadine Coyle was not present, as she was ill with shingles.[7] Sarah Harding had originally wanted to perform "Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon.[8] "The Promise" was also remixed by Dave Audé and Jason Nevins. The album version of "The Promise" is around fifteen seconds longer.[1] The song was released in Germany on 16 January 2009 as a digital download.[9] [edit] Critical reception The song is notable for its 1960s influence.[10] "The Promise" has been called "a 60s-influenced pop gem given a contemporary Girls Aloud twist",[11] and "more interesting than the average retro-pop nugget."[12] Digital Spy referred to the single as "a cute, wistful pop song" with "some nice Spectorish touches in the production and a lovely, classic-sounding melody" that "grows more persuasive with every listen."[10][12] It was criticised for being "a shameless attempt at trying to cash in on the Duffy and Winehouse favoured 60's femme pop."[13] On the other hand, Slant Magazine said that while it "suggests the girls have [...] shallowly jumped aboard the retro-soul bandwagon led by Duffy and Amy Winehouse, [...] the song's go-for-broke, very modern re-imagining of Spector's Wall of Sound proves to be more authentic and entertaining than most other recent attempts".[14] Peter Robinson stated in the liner notes for an official Girls Aloud singles boxset that the song "also hinted at a mellower side of 70's New York disco, as if it were some sort of long soundtrack from a deleted scene in Saturday Night Fever.[4] The Guardian, however, felt the song was "disappointing" because "Girls Aloud's producers have always been capable of making exciting and innovative pop music".[15] It has also received comparisons to Girls Aloud's previous single, "Can't Speak French".[10] Terry Wogan has also claimed that the tune features the melody from the theme song of Blankety Blank, a British TV quiz show from the 1980s.