![]() ![]() The song is beloved and has been heard millions (perhaps billions) of times at this point. Ed Sheeran’s “Shape Of You,” the most popular all-time song on Spotify, has nearly 3 billion spins, and it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that the YouTube premiere song - across every YouTube premiere ever, music video or otherwise - has been heard more times than that. The odd thing, though, is that the story behind the YouTube premiere song and the identity of the person (or people, or something else) who made it is mostly a mystery. Update (March 3, 2022): As of January 2022, the mystery has been solved. Keep reading for context and find an update about Silent Partner’s true identity at the end of this feature. Some answers about the track can be easily found: A quick Google search for “YouTube premiere song” reveals that the tune is called “Space Walk” and it’s credited to an artist named Silent Partner. Beyond that, it’s not immediately obvious where the song comes from. One thing we can tell is that the song wasn’t specifically made to be used for YouTube countdowns: The oldest uploads of the song on YouTube date back to early 2015, which pre-dates the premiere feature by over three years. But without “One,” there’d be no Achtung Baby … and without Achtung Baby, there’d be no U2.YouTube themselves offers a free download of the song as part of the audio library in their YouTube Studio, a set of back-end tools for video creators to freely use. Other transformations followed, including an eventual return to the anthems that kicked off U2’s career. “One” was the group’s first major transformation, the song that blasted through a decade’s worth of self-serious rock and roll and signaled something different. People tend to attribute U2’s success to an ability to adapt, change and reinvent, often one step ahead of the mainstream. Recently, “One” has also been linked to Bono’s work as a social activist, even lending its name to the ONE Campaign. Blige scored a hit six years later with her own version, which turned the tune’s fragility into an anthem of unity. Johnny Cash covered it on 2000’s American III: Solitary Man, and Mary J. Every U2 concert since 1992 has featured the song. It may have been cooked up in a frenzied half-hour of inspiration, but “One” has enjoyed a long shelf life. The two parts support one another, perhaps taking their cues from the song’s own words (“We’re one, but we’re not the same / We get to carry each other”). ![]() The Edge, who ended “With Or Without You” with a simple guitar pattern instead of a traditional solo, does the same thing here, chiming his way around Bono’s vocals with ringing, slightly delayed quarter notes. Still, “One” is Achtung Baby’s most vulnerable moment, the human heart that beats between the glitzy, industrial gloss of “Even Better Than The Real Thing” and “Until The End Of The World.” Bono sings the lyrics in a half-broken voice, sounding worn out and dejected until the last 30 seconds, where he flips into a gorgeous falsetto. Bono even began hamming it up onstage in leather jackets and oversized sunglasses, finally embracing the “rockstar” persona that his job afforded. The God-fearing boys who’d appeared so earnest, so unapologetically self-righteous during the Rattle And Hum days had grown into clever, comfortable men who could laugh at their own success. They tied up some loose ends in Berlin, flew back to Dublin and finished Achtung Baby, which reinvented the band’s sound, image and audience. I tell them, ‘Are you mad? It’s about splitting up!’”īut U2 didn’t split up. I have certainly met a hundred people who’ve had it at their weddings. “The song is a bit twisted,” Bono explained in Neil McCormick’s U2 By U2, “which is why I could never figure out why people want it at their weddings. “One” isn’t about love, after all it’s about resignation. Keeping things deliberately vague, Bono lobs his inquiries into thin air, aiming them at his band, his spouse, the Edge’s estranged wife, or maybe even none of the above. Each verse poses new questions – Is it getting better? Did I disappoint you? Have you come here for forgiveness? – without offering any answers in return. On an album filled with irony, sex and self-deprecation, “One” cuts through to the heart of a relationship. ![]()
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