King (Years & Years song)

In an interview with Rolling Stone, frontman Olly Alexander said: "When we recorded [the song], no one felt good about it. It sounds lame! And we could never fix it. We shelved it for awhile. When we came back to it, we just took a different approach: 'Let's try to make it an Eighties dance-pop track.' And we just started out with that, cut it all up, arranged it. Used that balearic flute vibe, like a bird in the forest." Synth player Mikey Goldsworthy revealed that the backing track "[is] actually Olly's voice sampled and fucked up."^[3]

"King" was released as the album's fourth single on 27 February 2015. The song debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, ending the prolonged run of Ellie Goulding’s single, “Love Me Like You Do” (2015). with a combined sales-streaming figure of 101,000 copies. It also reached number 3 on the Irish Singles Chart. Alexander has stated many times that the song has a much darker meaning: "I was going out with a guy that was kind of a douche bag, but I still really liked him". He further stated "I know lots of people can relate to this. It's a song about how it feels good to be treated badly by someone".

"King" received critical acclaim. Billboard included "King" in its "Top 10 Songs of 2015 (So Far)" list in June 2015, stating "U.K. alt-pop trio Years & Years has yet to find a radio foothold in the States, but "King" sounds like it's destined to be played at arenas for years to come. When frontman Olly Alexander extends his arms and cries "Let go, let go, let go of everything" at the end of the single, it's almost impossible not to indulge in some type of uninhibited dance breakdown."^[4] Time named "King" the best song of 2015.^[5]

The song's music video was directed by Nadia^[6] and choreographed by Ryan Heffington.^[6]

The video features Olly in an empty house with a couch being surrounded by backup dancers. The two other band members, Mickey and Emre are playing an electric keyboard in an empty pink room being surrounded by dancers. Olly levitates out of the house and walks down the street with the dancers following him. As they fumble with him, he plunges into an underground river where the dancers rise him back up to the house and they struggle with him until he is able to break them free and learn they were a hallucination.

The band have performed the song on multiple TV shows including The Graham Norton Show (10 April), The Voice of Italy (27 May). They also performed the song as part of their set at Radio 1's Big Weekend (23 May), Glastonbury Festival (27 June), Wireless (5 July), T in the Park (11 July) and Latitude Festival (19 July). It is also the closing number on their Palo Santo Tour and Night Call Tour.

In April 2015, Nick Jonas performed an acoustic version of the song during Live Lounge on BBC Radio 1. The song was featured on the accompanied album.^[7] In September 2015, Canadian pop star Carly Rae Jepsen covered the song on BBC Radio 1.

• Digital download^[8]

1. "King" – 3:34

• Digital download – Remixes^[9]

1. "King" (The Magician Remix) – 4:00
2. "King" (TCTS Remix) – 3:45
3. "King" (Oceaán Remix) – 3:25

• Digital download – Remixes^[10]

1. "King" (Until the Ribbon Breaks Re-Imagination) – 4:02
2. "King" (Gryffin Remix) – 4:42
3. "King" (The Magician Remix) – 4:00
4. "King" (Arty Remix) – 4:23
5. "King" (Anevo Remix) – 3:28
6. "King" (Lenno Remix) – 5:16
7. "King" (TCTS Remix) – 3:45
8. "King" (Oceaán Remix) – 3:25