Hunger (song)

Hunger
Single by Florence + The Machine
Released	May 3, 2018
Writer(s)	Florence Welch Emile Haynie Thomas Bartlett Tobias Jesso Jr.
Producer(s)	Florence Welch Emile Haynie
Genre	alternative pop, soul
Length	3:34
Album
Label	Virgin EMI
Singles chronology
Previous	Sky Full of Song
Current	Hunger
Next	Big God
High As Hope chronology
"June"
"South London Forever"
Music Video

"Hunger" is the second single and track from Florence and the Machine’s fourth studio album, High As Hope.

Background and release

Florence Welch revealed "Hunger" was originally a poem, without thinking to turn out into a song. Katherine St. Asaph, a reviewer from Pitchfork, thought that the poem was originally meant for Welch's collection book Useless Magic before becoming a song.

“Hunger" was written by Welch, Emile Haynie, Thomas Bartlett, and Tobias Jesso Jr. and produced by Welch and Haynie. The song was recorded at the Beacon House, Los Angeles, and 123, London. Additional recording was provided by Tim Montague, Morgan Stratton, and Michael Harris at the Dairy in London, Sunset Sound and Electro-Vox Recording Studios, the latter two located in Los Angeles. Tom Elmhirst mixed the track at Electric Lady Studios, London; Bob Ludwig was in charge of the mastering, which was made at Gateway Mastering, Portland.

On April 30, 2018, the band teased through their Instagram the release of the second single from their fourth album High As Hope. "Hunger" was released on May 3, 2018 as the album's second single, alongside its release date. The song impacted US hot adult contemporary radios on June 18, 2018. A remix by German DJ and producer Claptone was released on March 27, 2019 through the duo's YouTube account.

Lyrics

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

At seventeen, I started to starve myself
I thought that love was a kind of emptiness
And at least I understood then, the hunger I felt
And I didn't have to call it loneliness

We all have a hunger
We all have a hunger
We all have a hunger
We all have a hunger

Tell me what you need, oh, you look so free
The way you use your body, baby, come on and work it for me
Don't let it get you down, you're the best thing I've seen
We never found the answer but we knew one thing

We all have a hunger (we all have a hunger)
We all have a hunger (we all have a hunger)
We all have a hunger (we all have a hunger)
We all have a hunger (we all have a hunger)

And it's Friday night and it's kicking in
In that pink dress, they're gonna crucify me
Oh, and you in all your vibrant youth
How could anything bad ever happen to you?
You make a fool of death with your beauty, and for a moment

I thought that love was in the drugs
But the more I took, the more it took away
And I could never get enough
I thought that love was on the stage
You give yourself to strangers
You don't have to be afraid
Then it tries to find a home with people, or when I'm alone
Picking it apart and staring at your phone

We all have a hunger
We all have a hunger
We all have a hunger
We all have a hunger

Tell me what you need, oh, you look so free
The way you use your body, baby, come on and work it for me
Don't let 'em get you down, you're the best thing I've seen
We never found the answer but we knew one thing

We all have a hunger (we all have a hunger)
We all have a hunger (we all have a hunger)
We all have a hunger (we all have a hunger)
We all have a hunger (we all have a hunger)

And it's Friday night and it's kicking in
In that pink dress, they're gonna crucify me
Oh, and you in all your vibrant youth
How could anything bad ever happen to you?
You make a fool of death with your beauty, and for a moment
I forget to worry

Music video

A music video for "Hunger" was uploaded through the band's YouTube channel the same day of the song's release. It was directed by Andres Gonzalez Rojas, who had previously collaborated with Florence and the Machine on the video for "Sky Full of Song". The video was uploaded to the band's channel the same day of the song's release. The clip sees Welch "letting loose and break out into dance at an art museum." At the end of the video, a shot of a statue buried in a desert appears with flowers growing in it, reminiscent of the scenery of Percy Bysshe Shelley's Ozymandias. As of June 2022 the video has received over 45 million views.

Composition

"Hunger" is an up-tempo alternative pop and soul song. According to sheet music website Musicnotes.com, the song runs at 116 beats per minute (BPM) and is played in the key of D minor. Welch's vocals range between F₃ to D₅. Its instrumentation was described by Pip Williams of The Line of Best Fit to consist of reverberated staccato strings, driving percussion and deliberate piano. The Independent critic Roisin O'Connor commented that "the delicate shimmer of the tambourine and the cello gliding sweetly at the start of the build on the chorus also make this one of the best-structured songs on the record." The A.V. Club reviewer Katie Rife claimed that "Hunger" is "the closest the record comes to a 'Dog Days Are Over'-style anthem."

Welch described the song to be "about the ways we look for love in things that are perhaps not love, and how attempts to feel less alone can sometimes isolate us more," adding that "I guess I made myself more vulnerable in this song to encourage connection, because perhaps a lot more of us feel this way than we are able to admit. Sometimes when you can't say it, you can sing it." Part of the song deals with Welch's teenage struggles with an eating disorder, opening with the lyrics "At 17, I used to starve myself, I thought that love was a kind of emptiness;" while also mentioning her alcohol addictions. Ryan Reed of Rolling Stone wrote that throughout "Hunger", Welch meditates on the correlation between beauty, romance and mortality. In an interview with BBC Radio 1, Welch said the song is "also a celebration of how much I see young people changing things", citing her inspiration from young women for the track.

Reception

The track received positive reviews from music critics, with several calling it a standout. Williams praised "Hunger" for "hitting a sweet spot Welch has courted for years" and called it a standout of High as Hope. O'Connor also agreed to be a standout, complimenting "the sense of purpose both in the instrumentation and Welch's determined vocal work." Writing for Drowned in Sound, Nina Bertok noted that the song covers "one of the grimmest themes" throughout the album despite its "radio-friendly festival anthem" sound. Christopher Roberts from Under the Radar ranked the track as the second of the "Ten Best Songs of the Week".

"Hunger" reached number 41 on the UK Singles Chart in the United Kingdom. The single received a silver certification by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), which denotes track-equivalent sales of two hundred thousand units based on sales and streams. In the United States, the song debuted at number one on the Billboard Adult Alternative Songs, becoming the band's fifth non-consecutive number one single on that chart. The song was also certified gold by Music Canada (MC) for shipments of over 40,000 copies in Canada.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of High as Hope.

Recording and management

• Recorded at Beacon House, The Dairy, Sunset Sound, Vox Recording Studios (Los Angeles), 123 (London)
• Mixed at Electric Lady Studios (New York)
• Mastered at Gateway Mastering (Portland)
• Published by Universal Music Publishing Ltd, Universal Music Corp/Heavycrate Music (ASCAP), Domino Songs Ltd

Personnel

• Florence Welch – vocals, composition, production, additional drums
• Emile Haynie – composition, production, synths, additional drums, recording
• Thomas Bartlett – composition, piano, Mellotron, organ
• Greg Leisz – pedal steel guitar
• Rob Ackroyd – guitars
• Jonathan Wilson – additional guitar
• Carla Azar – drums
• Tom Monger – harp
• Brett Shaw – recording
• Tim Montague – additional recording
• Morgan Stratton – additional recording
• Michael Harris – additional recording
• Zachary Zajdel – assistant engineering
• Christopher Cerullo – assistant engineering
• Tom Elmhirst – mixing
• Bob Ludwig – mastering