Soft Spot (song) explained

Soft Spot
Type:single
Artist:Piri
Album:Froge.mp3
Released:4 June 2021
Genre:Liquid drum and bass
Length:
  • (original)
  • (subsequent)
  • (MJ Cole remix)
Label:DistroKid
Producer:Tommy Villiers
Prev Title:It's a Match
Prev Year:2021
Next Title:Feel It
Next Year:2023

"Soft Spot" (stylised in lowercase) is a liquid drum and bass song, first released independently on 4 June 2021, where it was credited to Piri. After she paid six TikTok creators to promote the song, the song was used in a video of a creator making a Japanese bench, which caused the song to go viral on that platform. Around this time, the track went viral on Spotify after featuring on the platform's "Fresh Finds" playlist. For this, EMI signed her and her producer Tommy Villiers and re-released the track under the name Piri & Tommy Villiers. The song appeared on the pair's 2022 mixtape Froge.mp3.

Critical reception for the song was overwhelmingly positive, with Pitchfork comparing Piri's voice with Ariana Grande, Rolling Stone listing it as the fifty-ninth best dance song of all time, and NME noting that the song was "right up there with PinkPantheress and, er, sea shanties" as one of TikTok’s "biggest hits". In addition, the song spent a week on the UK Independent Singles Breakers Chart at No. 20 and Charli XCX, PinkPantheress, Wet Leg, and Saint Etienne are fans of the song.

Background

In 2020, just before the second United Kingdom COVID-19 lockdown,[1] Piri matched on Tinder with Tommy Villiers,[2] a member of the band Porij.[3] A couple of weeks later, one of the band's photographers retweeted one of their photo shoots, prompting her to find his Instagram account and ask him out.[4] Piri wrote "Soft Spot",[5] a liquid drum and bass song[6] with loon birds on it,[5] about feeling powerless to Villiers and about feeling optimistic that their relationship would work out. PinkPantheress was a big inspiration for the record;[7] Piri used a December 2021 NME article to state that the former had direct messaged the pair to tell them the song's "beat goes stupid".[8]

Promotion and release

The track was released on 4 June. Piri told Unity Radio in October 2021 that she paid six TikTok creators £20 to use the song in one of their videos, and took out adverts on Instagram and TikTok.[9] The song went viral on TikTok after being featured in a video of a creator making a Japanese bench, which acquired 1,000,000 views,[10] and eventually appeared in over 130,000 videos[11] including those for pregnancy cravings, laminate floor fitting,[12] gym workout montages,[2] Korean scrambled eggs, and dysmenorrhea advice. The song also went viral on Spotify after being featured on its "Fresh Finds" playlist. For this, EMI signed them and re-released the track. EMI also released an official remix from MJ Cole, who provided the remix after Piri and Villiers sent a long list of suggested artists to their label, including bigger artists such as Cole, without expecting a response.

Reception

"Soft Spot" spent a week on the UK Independent Singles Breakers Chart, at No. 20.[13] Rani Boyer wrote for Undergroundunderdogs.com that the song was "as sweet as it is addictive"[14] and for Pigeons & Planes that the song was "infectious". Tobi, a reviewer for Tom Robinson's blog Freshonthenet.co.uk, noted that the song "dares you not to dance"[15] and Charli XCX used a 24 August 2021 edition of BBC Radio 1's Future Sounds to air it[16] and state that she ran to it at the gym. Reviewing subsequent single "Beachin", Dan Cairns of The Sunday Times noted that the song's "mix of skittering drum’n’bass and nostalgia-infused pop immediacy" stuck "like glue",[17] while Thomas Smith of NME wrote in May 2022 that the song was "right up there with PinkPantheress and, er, sea shanties as one of [<nowiki/>[[TikTok]]]’s biggest hits".[18] Writing for a July 2022 Rolling Stone listicle that named the track as the fifty-ninth greatest dance song of all time, Michelangelo Matos called it a "twee starburst of liquid drum-and-bass". In March 2023, Wet Leg named it one of five songs that had soundtracked their year and the band's Rhian Teasdale noted that it took them back to when they were shooting their video for "Ur Mum", in which Villiers played the anti-hero.[19]

Piri's voice came in for particular praise. Freshonthenet.co.uk noted that "Piri's voice dances in compelling vocal stack[, with] echoes cascading left/right, creating depth and ear candy", and noted that her "pop-sweet topline teas[ed] and contrast[ed] against the weight of the production". Pitchfork's Cat Zhang, who particularly enjoyed the way she "sigh[ed]" the chorus, described her voice as "light and hazy" and "skim[ming] over the fast-paced melody in the verses in a way that resembles Ariana Grande", while Saint Etienne, who stated that it was one of their favourite tracks of 2021, wrote that Piri's voice sounded "like Shampoo".[20] Later reviews complimented the song's percussion. Alexis Petridis reviewed a November 2022 Froge.tour gig for The Guardian and wrote that "in its live incarnation at least", the track's breaks were "surprisingly tough",[21] while Alex Rigotti of Gigwise stated that the Scala gig of that tour ended "with a genuinely incredible breakbeat" and wished that it "went on for way longer than it did".[22]

Music video

A music video was released on 4 June 2021, which features Piri singing, dancing, and pole dancing. She used an October 2021 Reform Radio interview to note that she had bought a projector especially for the occasion and that she filmed herself performing against the bedroom wall of the student house she was living in at the time and to "trippy liquid visuals" she had found on YouTube. She also stated that she had edited the video herself.[4]

Track listing

Digital single[23]

  1. "Soft Spot" (Piri) – 3:39

MJ Cole remix[23]

  1. "Soft Spot" (MJ Cole remix) – 3:51
  2. "Soft Spot" (Piri & Tommy Villiers) – 3:43

Personnel and credits

Personnel

Charts

Chart (2021)!scope="col"
Peak
position
UK Independent Singles Breakers Chart20

Release history

Region! scope="col"
DateFormatVersionArtistLabel
Various4 June 2021Original versionPiri[25] DistroKid[26]
13 September 2021Re-releasePiri & Tommy VilliersEMI[27]
15 October 2021MJ Cole remix

Notes and References

  1. Web site: J . Trixie . 4 April 2023 . Piri and Tommy Rose from Viral Rookies to UK Dance's Next Big Ace . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230722235107/https://nexus.radio/news/piri-and-tommy-rose-from-viral-rookies-to-uk-dances-next-big-ace . 22 July 2023 . 22 July 2023 . Nexus Radio . en-US.
  2. News: Helm . Jake . Piri and Tommy: meet the rising stars of pop . https://archive.today/20221108175213/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/piri-and-tommy-meet-the-rising-stars-of-pop-xbsjrwl8t . 8 November 2022 . The Times.
  3. Web site: Best New Artists of the Month (Pigeons & Planes, November 2021). Complex. 27 May 2023. 27 May 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230527101605/https://www.complex.com/pigeons-and-planes/best-new-artists-november-2021. live.
  4. Web site: The Daisy Adams Show w/ Piri and Tommy Villiers 27th October 2021 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230213093946/https://www.mixcloud.com/reformradio/the-daisy-adams-show-w-piri-and-tommy-villiers-27th-october-2021/ . 13 February 2023 . 13 February 2023 . Reform Radio.
  5. Web site: Poole . Cameron . DIY dance duo, piri & Tommy Villiers, are the new kids on the block. . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20221117015123/https://1883magazine.com/piri-tommy-villers/ . 17 November 2022 . 17 November 2022 . 1883.
  6. 200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time . live . . https://web.archive.org/web/20230228160842/https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/200-greatest-dance-songs-of-all-time-41563/piri-tommy-villiers-soft-spot-2021-41706/ . 28 February 2023 . 28 February 2023.
  7. Web site: piri & Tommy: Dynamic Duo. 4 March 2022. Notion. 5 February 2023. 5 February 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230205141847/https://notion.online/piri-tommy-dynamic-duo/. live.
  8. Web site: December 2021 . Piri and Tommy Villiers: ambition and reinvention from vibrant drum 'n' bass duo . 15 January 2023 . . 9 December 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221209194257/https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-radar/piri-and-tommy-villiers-soft-spot-tiktok-interview-2021-3108691 . live .
  9. Web site: Piri & Tommy Interview: 'Soft Spot' and Tik Tok Strategy! Interview W/ Jasper Hopkins. Unity Radio. 1 February 2023. 1 February 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230201044655/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl1Vl4MR_NI&t=294s. live.
  10. Web site: Miz w/ Piri & Tommy Villiers . 1 February 2023 . Reprezent Radio . 23 February 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230223113044/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih_vgk6f_kg%3Ft%3D394 . live .
  11. Web site: The Zoomer Embrace of Drum 'n' Bass. 29 October 2021 . Pitchfork. 10 March 2023. 10 March 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230310111143/https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/drum-n-bass-pinkpantheress-tiktok-column/. live.
  12. News: Alexis. Petridis. 'It's just good energy!' How TikTok and Covid made drum'n'bass hot again. The Guardian. 22 April 2022. 30 May 2023. 1 April 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230401203642/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/apr/22/its-just-good-energy-how-tiktok-and-covid-made-drumnbass-hot-again. live.
  13. Web site: PIRI/TOMMY VILLIERS . 29 June 2023 . . 28 June 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230628235403/https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/61215/piri-tommy-villiers . live .
  14. Web site: The 10 Songs You Need To Hear This Week. 13 July 2021. Undergroundunderdogs.com. 27 May 2023. 27 May 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230527101607/https://undergroundunderdogs.com/2021/07/13/unleashed-villovilduvetta-surf-gang-kuttem-reese-young-don-haiyti/. live.
  15. Web site: Fresh Faves: Batch 408. 8 June 2021. Freshonthenet.co.uk. 27 May 2023. 27 May 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230527101606/https://freshonthenet.co.uk/2021/06/faves408/. live.
  16. Web site: Radio 1's Future Sounds with Clara Amfo, with Charli XCX. BBC Radio 1. 27 May 2023. 27 May 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230527181718/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000yzkg. live.
  17. Web site: 2022-01-30 . The best new albums to listen to this week Culture The Sunday Times . . 2023-12-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220130130915/https://www.thetimes.co.uk//article/the-best-new-albums-to-listen-to-this-week-3kncz7ktz . 2022-01-30 .
  18. Web site: 15 May 2022 . Piri and Tommy Villiers live at The Great Escape: banging bedroom beats from a couple in perfect harmony . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20221217180224/https://www.nme.com/reviews/live/piri-and-tommy-villiers-live-at-the-great-escape-radar-3225792 . 17 December 2022 . 5 February 2023 . NME.
  19. Web site: Awards, Harry Styles, and 'hand dick': the songs that scored Wet Leg's wild year. 3 March 2023. Abc.net.au. 1 June 2023. 1 June 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230601102337/https://www.abc.net.au/doublej/music-reads/features/wet-leg-wild-year-take-5-harry-styles-grammys-brits-awards/102032504. live.
  20. Web site: Saint Etienne tell us about their favorite music of 2021 . 21 September 2024 . Brooklyn Vegan.
  21. News: Piri and Tommy review – infectious, candy-striped pop fun. The Guardian. 6 November 2022 . 4 March 2023. 15 December 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221215103419/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/nov/06/piri-and-tommy-review-komedia-brighton. live. Petridis . Alexis .
  22. Web site: Screen To Stage: Piri + Tommy at Scala, 8/11/22. Gigwise. 15 January 2023. 17 November 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221117010242/https://gigwise.com/reviews/3427670/screen-to-stage--piri---tommy-at-scala--8-11-22. live.
  23. Web site: piri Singles and EPs discography . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230204123745/https://open.spotify.com/artist/4DpmPt7gfAAq7WEx0E1X8s/discography/single . 4 February 2023 . 4 February 2023 . Spotify.
  24. froge.mp3 . . 21 October 2022 . Polydor Records.
  25. Web site: Piri . deviated . https://web.archive.org/web/20210721123556/https://open.spotify.com/artist/4DpmPt7gfAAq7WEx0E1X8s . 21 July 2021 . Spotify.
  26. Web site: soft spot by piri, Tommy Villiers . https://web.archive.org/web/20210520174858/https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/piritommyvilliers/soft-spot . 20 May 2021 . 27 May 2023 . DistroKid.
  27. Web site: piri, Tommy Villiers - Soft Spot Album Reviews, Songs & More . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230303223258/https://www.allmusic.com/album/soft-spot-mw0003594847 . 3 March 2023 . 3 March 2023 . AllMusic.

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