Parachute (song)
Encyclopedia
"Parachute" is a song by American recording artist Ingrid Michaelson
Ingrid Michaelson
Ingrid Ellen Egbert Michaelson is a New York-based indie-pop singer-songwriter. Her music has been featured in episodes of several popular television shows, including Scrubs, Bones, Grey's Anatomy The Big C and One Tree Hill, as well as in Old Navy's Fall 2007 Fair Isle and Opel's/Vauxhall's...

. It was co-written with Marshall Altman & Cheryl Cole and was later recorded by British artist Cheryl Cole
Cheryl Cole
Cheryl Ann Cole is an English pop and R&B recording artist, songwriter, dancer, actress and model. She rose to fame in late 2002 when she auditioned for the reality television show Popstars: The Rivals on ITV. The programme announced that Cole had won a place as a member of the girl group, Girls...

 on Cole's debut studio album
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 3 Words
3 Words
3 Words is the debut studio album from British pop singer Cheryl Cole, released on 23 October 2009 by Fascination Records. The project is Cole's first solo release following a break from releasing material with her band Girls Aloud whom after seven years have enjoyed five successful albums and...

(2009). The song was released on 11 March 2010 as the album's third and final single. "Parachute" became Cole's third consecutive solo UK top 5 hit, and her third Irish top 10 hit. It was nominated for a Brit Award in 2011. It will be featured in an episode of Season 3 of Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...

.

Composition

"Parachute" is an up-tempo song written by Ingrid Michaelson
Ingrid Michaelson
Ingrid Ellen Egbert Michaelson is a New York-based indie-pop singer-songwriter. Her music has been featured in episodes of several popular television shows, including Scrubs, Bones, Grey's Anatomy The Big C and One Tree Hill, as well as in Old Navy's Fall 2007 Fair Isle and Opel's/Vauxhall's...

 and Marshall Altman
Marshall Altman
Marshall Noah Altman is a Nashville-based record producer and songwriter who owns the Galt Line studio in Nashville, Tennessee. He was formerly an A&R person for such labels as Capitol Records, Hollywood Records and Columbia Records, as well as the former frontman for the alternative band Farmer...

 which combines R&B
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...

 rhythms with pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 melodies. It also makes use of military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...

 percussion, strings and a big pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

-hook
Hook (music)
A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". The term generally applies to popular music, especially rock music, hip hop, dance music, and pop. In these genres, the hook is often...

 with quirky melodic verses that were compared to "3
3 (song)
"3" is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears, from her second greatest hits compilation The Singles Collection. It was released on September 29, 2009, as the only single of the album by Jive Records. The song was produced by long-time collaborator Max Martin and Shellback, and recorded...

" by Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...

. The melody was said to resemeble "beats from the Argentine Tango
Argentine Tango
Argentine tango is a musical genre of simple quadruple metre and binary musical form, and the social dance that accompanies it. Its lyrics and music are marked by nostalgia, expressed through melodic instruments including the bandoneon. Originated at the ending of the 19th century in the suburbs of...

" whilst Cole makes use of auto-tuning
Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune is a proprietary audio processor created by Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a phase vocoder to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It is used to disguise off-key inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed singers to perform apparently perfectly tuned vocal...

 for her vocals. It was initially put forward as one of the options for the lead single
Lead single
A lead single is usually the first single released by a musician or a band before the release of its home album.During the era of the grammophone record, all music arrived in the marketplace as what is now termed a single, one potential hit song backed by an additional song of generally less...

 of the album but "Fight for This Love
Fight for This Love
"Fight for This Love" is a song by British recording artist Cheryl Cole, taken from her debut studio album, 3 Words. Initially, the song was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland as the lead single on 16 October 2009 by Fascination Records however, in 2010 it was also released in Europe as the...

" was chosen instead.

Lyrically the song was criticized for being "mundane" but also well written enough to "get horribly stuck in everyone's heads". The song has an overall "tender and mourningful" theme. Critics noted that "Parachute" was one of several songs on the album where there "lurks a deeper undertow of paranoia
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...

". Cole also said that the song contains her favourite lyric from the album; "you are your own worst enemy, you'll never win the fight". Other lyrics such as "I don't need a parachute, baby if I got you" led to the song being labelled "sultry" as the subject of the lyrics appeared to be Cole's spouse Ashley
Ashley Cole
Ashley Cole is an Barbadian-English professional footballer who plays for Chelsea and the England national team. He plays as a left-back and has been named one of the best in the world....

 though at the time the couple had announced their separation. The timing of the single release was described as "bittersweet" due to the "talk about being safe in the love of another person" in the lyrics.

Critical reception

BBC Music
BBC Music
BBC Music is a team working in the department of Audio and Music Interactive at the BBC. Responsible for the BBC Music website - the portal site to music content across the BBC website....

's Mike Diver said, in the album's review, that the "Parachute" is "memorable" due to its use of "military percussion
Military band
A military band originally was a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the title of Bandmaster or Director of Music...

" and Nick Levine of Digital Spy
Digital Spy
Digital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....

 claimed that the track contains a "cute combination" of "strings
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...

 and sweet nothings
Flirting
Flirting is a playful, romantic, or sexual overture by one person to another subtly indicating an interest in a deeper relationship with the other person, and can involve verbal communication as well as body language...

". Tom Ewing of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

said that the song was "an austere take on modern pop that gives Cole's voice the space it needs" and Louise McCudden of In The News said that, despite having "possibly the most lyrically mundane chorus [she had] ever heard", "Parachute" is a "well-calculated song" that gets stuck in the listener's head. MusicOMH
MusicOMH
musicOMH is a United Kingdom-based website which publishes independent reviews, featues and interviews from across all musical genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B.-History:...

 writer Sam Shepherd voiced his belief that the song includes's Cole's best vocal from the album and he praised the "deftly orchestrated production" and Andy Gill of The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

said that there is an "undertow of paranoia" in the piece. Later Fraser McAlpine, during his chart blog review of the song, awarded "Parachute" five out of five stars, saying "Cheryl's pleading voice strikes home. Hard. [..] It's nothing to do with anything which is happening in her personal life, I don't need the back-story to get carried away, it's simply that she sings these tender, mournful lyrics as if she means every word." 4 Music described the track as an "instant stand-out" from the album and claimed that Cole's "well-executed vocal performance", together with the mix of "military-style percussion with delicate strings", meant the track would be "another huge hit". It was named as Single Of The Week by Ram FM
RAM FM
Ram FM was an Independent Local Radio station, which broadcast to central and southern parts of Derbyshire on 102.8 FM. The station merged with two other East Midlands stations, Trent FM and Leicester Sound to form Capital FM East Midlands on Monday 3 January 2011.-History:The station began life...

, described as "sultry pop at its finest".

Chart performance

Following the initial broadcast of Cheryl Cole's Night In, the song entered the UK Singles Chart at number 65 because of digital downloads, on the issue dated 26 December 2009.

The song re-entered the chart at eighty-eight on 9 January 2010. On 14 February 2010, The single made its Top-forty debut by appearing at number twenty-six. By the end of March 2010 the song reached its current peak of five giving Cole her third consecutive top-five UK hit and third consecutive top-ten hit in Ireland. According to sales data, the song has sold 600,000+ units, resulting in all of Cheryl Cole's solo singles, released to date, passing the 600,000 mark, with "3 Words" equaling the success of Parachute, whilst Fight For This Love was certified platinum and has sold 900,000 copies in excess. In Ireland it had a similar chart trajectory although it did manage to peak at number four, one position higher than in the UK.
The song debuted at number 11 on August 15 2010 in New Zealand. The song only peaked at 11, staying in the charts for 3 weeks.

Music video

The accompanying music video for "Parachute" was filmed in early January 2010 at Eltham Palace
Eltham Palace
Eltham Palace is a large house in Eltham, within the London Borough of Greenwich, South East London, England. It is an unoccupied royal residence and owned by the Crown Estate. In 1995 its management was handed over to English Heritage which restored the building in 1999 and opened it to the public...

 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and made its debut on T4
T4 (Channel 4)
T4 is a scheduling slot on Channel 4 from about 09:00 until 14:00 on Saturdays and 17:00 on Sundays. It also airs on weekdays in the school holidays. The slot has a separate station identification on screen graphic from Channel 4 and E4. The logo of T4 is noticeably the top right segment of the...

 at 12.20 GMT on 31 January 2010. The concept of the video is very much the same of that of the performance on Cheryl Cole's Night In; Cole performs a Latin dance routine with Derek Hough
Derek Hough
Derek Hough is an American dancer, choreographer, musician and actor. A world champion in Latin American Dance, Hough has appeared since September 2007 on the hit U.S...

 and a group of other dancers. The video was directed by AlexandLiane
AlexandLiane
Alex Large and Liane Sommers are a British directing team who have been based in Berlin since 2000. They have made music videos for Kylie Minogue, La Roux, Tiga, Take That, Cheryl Cole, Scissor Sisters, Dido, Mika, Bloc Party, The Ting Tings, Sam Sparro, Armand Van Helden, Tocotronic and...

 and produced by Factory Films.

Digital Spy
Digital Spy
Digital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....

 was complimentary about Cole's choice of attire in the video, whilst the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...

praised the choreography. Promo News also gave the video a good review and called it "a top-notch pop vid". The video caused some controversy after it was claimed that Cole was using imagery associated with the Hindu goddess Kali
Kali
' , also known as ' , is the Hindu goddess associated with power, shakti. The name Kali comes from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death, Shiva. Kali means "the black one". Since Shiva is called Kāla - the eternal time, Kālī, his consort, also means "Time" or "Death" . Hence, Kāli is...

.

Live performances

Cole debuted "Parachute" on the television special Cheryl Cole's Night In
Cheryl Cole's Night In
Cheryl Cole's Night In was a one-off television special, starring British singer Cheryl Cole, produced for ITV, that aired on 12 December 2009 at 6:30 pm. The programme was hosted by Holly Willoughby, featured a host of other performers and acted as a lead-in to the final of the sixth series of The...

, which was broadcast on 12 December 2009 on ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...

. During the performance, Cole wore "a hot pink tiered skirt and asymmetrical sequinned body" and she performed a Latin dance with Derek Hough
Derek Hough
Derek Hough is an American dancer, choreographer, musician and actor. A world champion in Latin American Dance, Hough has appeared since September 2007 on the hit U.S...

, a professional champion of Dancing with the Stars. The Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...

was complimentary of the performance, saying that Cole "looked every inch the Spanish Señorita as she performed the sexy sequence". Rick Fulton of the Daily Record
Daily Record (Scotland)
The Daily Record is a Scottish tabloid newspaper based in Glasgow. It had been the best-selling daily paper in Scotland for many years with a paid circulation in August 2011 of 307,794 . It is now outsold by its arch-rival the Scottish Sun which in September 2010 had a circulation of 339,586 in...

was complimentary of the performance as he compared the dance routine that accompanied "Parachute" to a routine from the programme Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing is a British television show, featuring celebrities with professional dance partners competing in Ballroom and Latin dances. The title of the show suggests a continuation of the long-running series Come Dancing, with an allusion to the film Strictly Ballroom...

.

Cole was due to perform the track on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross was a British comedy chat show presented by Jonathan Ross. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 2 November 2001. The programme featured Ross's take on current topics of conversation, guest interviews and live music from both a guest music group and the house band...

on Friday 12 March 2010 and on the BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...

 Live Lounge
Live Lounge
The Live Lounge is a segment on the British radio station BBC Radio 1. Originally hosted by Jo Whiley on her mid-morning radio show and now hosted by Fearne Cotton, it exhibits well-known artists usually performing one song of their own and one by another artist, in an acoustic format...

 however pulled out after contracting bronchitis
Bronchitis
Acute bronchitis is an inflammation of the large bronchi in the lungs that is usually caused by viruses or bacteria and may last several days or weeks. Characteristic symptoms include cough, sputum production, and shortness of breath and wheezing related to the obstruction of the inflamed airways...

. Parachute was performed live on Sport Relief
Sport Relief
Sport Relief is a biennial charity event from Comic Relief, in association with BBC Sport, which brings together the worlds of sport and entertainment to raise money to help vulnerable people in both the UK and the world's poorest countries...

 on 19 March 2010. On 23 March 2010, Cole re-scheduled her performance of the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge, where she performed Parachute, as well as a cover of Owl City
Owl City
Owl City is an American electronica musical project by singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Adam Young formed in 2007 in Owatonna, Minnesota. Young created the project while experimenting with music in his parents' basement...

's "Fireflies".

Track listing

  • Buzz Junkies Dub Single
  1. "Parachute" (Buzz Junkies Dub Remix) - 5:38

  • Buzz Junkies Radio Single
  1. "Parachute" (Buzz Junkies Radio Remix) - 3:52

  • Euphonix Single
  1. "Parachute" (Euphonix Instrumental Mix) - 3:12

  • Ill Blue Dub Single
  1. "Parachute" (Ill Blu Dub Remix) - 4:50

  • Ill Blue Radio Single
  1. "Parachute" (Ill Blu Radio Remix) - 4:06


  • CD single
  1. "Parachute" (Radio Mix) - 3:31
  2. "Just Let Me Go" - 3:07

  • Digital EP
  1. "Parachute" (Radio Mix) - 3:31
  2. "Parachute" (Buzz Junkies Club Mix) - 5:44
  3. "Parachute" (Ill Blu Remix) - 4:50
  4. "Parachute" (The Euphonix Remix) - 3:10
  5. "Parachute" (Self-Taught Beats Remix) - 3:41 [UK iTunes Only]


Credits and personnel

"Parachute" was recorded at Metropolis Studios; London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, UK and mixes at The Warehouse Studios; Atlanta, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

, USA.
  • Songwriter
    Songwriter
    A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

    s:
    • "Parachute" - Ingrid Michaelson
      Ingrid Michaelson
      Ingrid Ellen Egbert Michaelson is a New York-based indie-pop singer-songwriter. Her music has been featured in episodes of several popular television shows, including Scrubs, Bones, Grey's Anatomy The Big C and One Tree Hill, as well as in Old Navy's Fall 2007 Fair Isle and Opel's/Vauxhall's...

      , Marshall Altman
      Marshall Altman
      Marshall Noah Altman is a Nashville-based record producer and songwriter who owns the Galt Line studio in Nashville, Tennessee. He was formerly an A&R person for such labels as Capitol Records, Hollywood Records and Columbia Records, as well as the former frontman for the alternative band Farmer...

    • "Just Let Me Go" - Claude Kelly
      Claude Kelly
      Claude Kelly is an American singer-songwriter. He has a prolific discography, well known for writing for artists such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Toni Braxton, Whitney Houston, Jordin Sparks, Kelly Clarkson, Jay Sean, Adam Lambert, Jessie J and Charice.-Career:He began playing the piano...

      , Reggie "Syience" Perry
  • producer
    Record producer
    A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

     - Reggie "Syience
    Syience
    Reggie Syience Perry is a Grammy Award-winning American songwriter, record producer and musician. He has worked with a number of recognizable and respected artists, including Beyoncé, Cheryl Cole, Jay-Z, John Legend, Mary J Blige, Ne-Yo, and Nelly. Syience won two Grammys for his work on Mary J...

    " Perry
  • recording - Neil Tucker
  • mixing
    Audio mixing (recorded music)
    In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...

     - Kevin ‘KD’ Davis

Charts

> > > > > > > >
Chart (2010) Peak
position
New Zealand (RIANZ) 11
Poland (Airplay Chart
Polish Music Charts
The Polish Music Charts are two official album charts and seven singles charts in Poland, provided by ZPAV, the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry . The first, the Top 100, is a monthly chart based on data received from the album companies...

)
2
Romania (Romanian Top 100 (Nielsen)
Romanian Top 100
The Romanian Top 100 is the national airplay-based singles chart of Romania. It is weekly and it started running in 1996. It is recognized as an official chart by the European division of Billboard, Music & Media....

)
1

Year-end charts

Chart (2010) Position
Russian Love Radio Chart 50
UK Singles Chart 49

Certifications

Country Provider Certifications
United Kingdom BPI
British Phonographic Industry
The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...

Silver


Release history

Region Date Format Label
Ireland 11 March 2010 Digital EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

, Digital download
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...

: Remixes
Polydor Records
Polydor Records
Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...

Norway 14 March 2010 Digital: Buzz Junkies Remixes, Ill Blue Remixes,
Euphonix Instrumental Mix
Universal Music
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...

United Kingdom Digital EP Digital download; Ill Blu Remix Fascination Records
Fascination Records
Fascination Records is a UK-based record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as an imprint of Polydor Records. The label was launched in spring 2006, and is managed by former TOTP Magazine editor Peter Loraine...

15 March 2010 CD Single
CD single
A CD single is a music single in the form of a standard size Compact Disc, not to be confused with the 3-inch CD single, which uses a smaller form factor. The format was introduced in the mid-1980s, but did not gain its place in the market until the early 1990s...

31 August 2010 Digital download; Buzz Junkies Remix
Sweden 13 September 2010 Digital EP Universal Music
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