Golden Hour (song)

The song, three minutes and twenty-nine seconds long, is in the key of E major, changing at the end to B minor, with a tempo of 94 beats per minute. It uses many orchestral musical styles and instruments, primarily piano and strings.

It makes lyrical references to Donald Glover, and Frank Ocean's 2016 album Blonde.

The song received critical acclaim. Jason Lipshutz of Billboard wrote, "'Golden Hour' has a winning formula: semi-rapped verses full of romantic observations and modern music references, boiling into an enormous, crooned-from-the-gut chorus. Jvke, to his credit, nails the push-pull at the heart of the song—nimble enough to sound nonchalant during the lead-up, then giving his absolute all on the hook — while the racing piano line beneath him is a memorable piece of production that simultaneously doesn't distract from the vocal take." Other Billboard writers called the song an "incredibly well-crafted, fresh-sounding, lush pop ballad by a prodigious singer-songwriter, with a frantic piano hook, soaring vocals, ornate production, majestic presentation and a sense of orchestral drama."^[1]

Erica Campbell of NME called the song a "glittery ballad", and a "slow-burn love song, brimming with keys and strings".^[2]

George Griffiths of the Official Charts Company described the song as a "tender piano ballad with a succinct hip-hop influence, that sees JVKE recount the hopeful blossoming of a relationship."^[3]

The song reached the top 10 in the United States, in addition to charting in Canada, Australia, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the Global 200.

Remixes were also released by Illenium & Nurko, Jungle, Ruel, Anton Powers, Shirley Setia, Henry Lau, A7S, blond, Leon Leiden, Vertile, Fujii Kaze, minLee, R3HAB, Seven Kayne, Xplosn and SB19.

Jvke performed the song for MTV on October 7, 2022,^[4] at the iHeartRadio 2022 Jingle Ball on December 9,^[5] as well as on Good Morning America on January 23, 2023.^[6]

Bodie Kuljian, a contestant for season 22 of The Voice, performed the song onstage on November 28, 2022.^[7]

• Jake Lawson – vocals, backing vocals, piano
• Zac Lawson – synthesizers, programming, synth bass, percussion, drum programming