"Drift Away" is a song by New Zealand band Sons of Zion, released as a single in March 2018. The song was a hit in New Zealand, becoming double platinum certified and was nominated for the Single of the Year at the New Zealand Music Awards. In 2019, the band re-recorded the song in Māori as "Pōtere Ana / Drift Away", which was included on the compilation album Waiata / Anthems.

Background and composition

Sons of Zion's bassist Matt Sadgrove created the song's initial demo in 30 minutes, recording it as a voice memo.[1] The song was inspired by the imagery of film Inception (2010), specifically the scene where Dom Cobb, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, mourns the death of his wife on a beach.[2] Sadgrove wrote the song as a simple, sad song, noting that it had a vibe of a Tracy Chapman song,[3][2] but the song developed an upbeat vibe.[2] Sadgrove wrote the song to cater to band vocalist Caleb Haapu's voice.[3] Lyrically, the song reminisces the loss of a summer romance.[4]

The band were nervous to send an acoustic song to commercial pop radio.[3] The song was stylistically different to their previous singles, and the band began to feel more fearless and able to release genreless music.[5]

Release and promotion

"Drift Away" was released as a single on 16 March 2018.[6] A music video was released for the song in April, which featured a couple enjoying the end of summer at the beach.[4] The song was a commercial success, becoming the number one most performed song on New Zealand radio for 11 weeks,[7] and becoming double platinum certified.

On the band's album Vantage Point released two months later, Sons of Zion included both the original and a pop remix version of the song,[8] and in the same year released a remix version by Otosan.[9] In 2019, the band re-recorded the song in Māori language as "Pōtere Ana / Drift Away", with the help of Tīmoti Kāretu, who translated the song's lyrics. This version of the song was released on Waiata / Anthems, a compilation album.[10] Vocalist Caleb Haapu found recording the song a difficult process, as he does not speak Māori.[11]

"Drift Away" featured as the first track on the band's 2022 compilation album First XV.[12]

Critical reception

Anzel Singh of NZ Musician described "Drift Away" as the "most stripped song on [Vantage Point], feeling that the Māori strum guitar and backing vocals created "flashback[s] to moments of sweet escapes".[8] The song was nominated for Single of the Year at the 2018 New Zealand Music Awards, losing to "Woke Up Late" by Drax Project.[13]

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal.[14]

  • Matthew Sadgrove – engineer, mixing engineer, producer, songwriter
  • Sons of Zion – performer

Charts

Certifications

Certifications and sales for "Drift Away"
Region Certification Certified units/sales
New Zealand (RMNZ)[17] 2× Platinum 60,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ Robertson, Kate (4 July 2018). "Sons of Zion hit 'Drift Away' was originally just 'a crappy voice memo'". Stuff. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Black, Taroi (9 May 2018). "Interview with Sons of Zion before world tour". teaomaori.news. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Kidd, Sarah (31 August 2018). "JOEL LATIMER of SONS OF ZION: Fearless Creation Processes". Ambient Light Blog. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Sons Of Zion Salute The Summer With 'Drift Away'". More FM. 4 April 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  5. ^ Tebbutt, Leah (31 July 2021). "Bay Dreams 2022 introduces 'fresh new look' plus Sons of Zion exclusive". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  6. ^ "Drift Away - Single". iTunes. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  7. ^ "Sons of Zion Release New Single 'Come to Bed' Out Today". New Zealand Music Commission. 29 July 2022. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  8. ^ a b Singh, Anzel (2018). "Sons Of Zion: Vantage Point". NZ Musician. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  9. ^ "Drift Away (Otosan Remix)". Spotify. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  10. ^ "Waiata / Anthems". iTunes. 6 September 2019. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  11. ^ Adams, Josie (21 August 2019). "Stand up and be counted: Sons of Zion on te reo Māori and refusing to be tied down". The Spinoff. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  12. ^ "First XV". JB Hifi. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  13. ^ "Six60 dominates the 2018 VNZMAs, winning five Tuis". Newshub. 15 November 2018. Archived from the original on 16 November 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  14. ^ "Credits / Drift Away". Tidal. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  15. ^ "Sons of Zion – Drift Away". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  16. ^ "END OF YEAR CHARTS 2018". NZ Music Charts. RMNZ. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  17. ^ "New Zealand single certifications". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
Allikas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drift_Away_(Sons_of_Zion_song)
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