"Set Fire to the Rain" is a song by English singer-songwriter Adele from her second studio album 21. Written by Adele and Fraser T. Smith and produced by Smith, the power ballad was released as the second single from the album in Europe. It was released as the third single in the United Kingdom on 4 July 2011, where the song has peaked at number 11. The song has peaked at number one in Belgium, Poland, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. The song has charted within the top 10 of Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland. "Set Fire to the Rain" was released on 21 November 2011 as 21's third official single in the United States.
"Set Fire to the Rain" was written by Adele and Fraser T. Smith while the production was handled by Smith. On 28 October, during an interview with Billboard, Columbia Records revealed that "Rumour Has It" will be released as the third single from the album and serviced to pop and adult contemporary radio. However, the release of the song was scrapped and "Set Fire to the Rain" was released as the third US-single on 21 November 2011. A spokesperson for Columbia, Pete Cosenza stated: "Our research found more programmer preference for 'Set Fire to the Rain'. Both 'Rumour' and 'Fire' came back strong, but 'Fire' was a bit stronger. It's a better plan to go with 'Fire' over 'Rumour' at pop and adult radio. Everyone, from radio to the buying public, seems to be on board."
"Set Fire to the Rain" is the fifth track on Adele's second album 21. It was written with producer Fraser T. Smith with whom she has worked on various tracks. It is written in the key of D Minor and Adele's voice expands from Bb3-D5. The song describes the contradictory elements of a relationship, and the impossibility of letting go which is displayed in the lyrics "You and me together, nothing gets better/But there’s a side to you that I never knew, never knew/All the things you'd say, they were never true, never true/And the games you play, you would always win." One of the most pop-influenced of the album, the song is characterized by John Murphy of MusicOMH as a "power ballad". In contrast to the understated production of most songs on the album, the song features lush instrumentation and a swelling string arrangement over a mid-tempo rhythm, creating a wall of sound for the singer's mourning vocals. Dave Simpson of The Guardian concluded that the song was inspired "when mah lightah stopped workin'" in the wet.
"Set Fire to the Rain" has charted at many charts enjoying moderate success especially in Europe, where the song has charted within the top 10 of Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland and topping the charts in Belgium, Poland and the Netherlands. The song debuted at number 79 on the UK Singles Chartand it moved to number 44 the next week selling 6,286 copies. It later peaked at number 11 on the chart on the week ending 16 July 2011 and it stayed on the same position for two weeks selling another 24,978 copies. A Moto Blanco remix of the song received some airplay in Spain.
FX used "Set Fire to the Rain" to promote the final season of Rescue Me along with the show's series finale. The song was also featured in promotionals to the new TV series Ringer and Revenge which caused an airplay in the United States without being serviced to radio stations. Before being released as a single, the song has charted on the Billboard Hot 100 for 6 weeks and re-entered 3 times, peaking at number 72 on 13 September. As of November 2011, it has sold over 683,000 downloads in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan. When the song was released in the United States, it re-entered the chart at number 89. So far, the song has peaked at number 21.
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