"Say Yes to Heaven" (also known as "Yes to Heaven") is a song by the American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey. She wrote the track with its producer Rick Nowels in 2012 for her third studio album, Ultraviolence (2014), but left it out of the final track-list. After leaking online and becoming viral on TikTok, "Say Yes to Heaven" was released as a singlewithout prior promotion on May 19, 2023.
Lana Del Rey's third studio album, Ultraviolence, was released in 2014.[1] It featured a number of collaborators, including Rick Nowels, who previously worked with her on the songs "Summertime Sadness" (2012) and "Dark Paradise" (2013). He was the first person to collaborate with Del Rey on Ultraviolence and co-wrote the tracks "West Coast" and "Shades of Cool" with her.[2][3] Following its release, the album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, where it became Del Rey's first chart-topper.[4]
Del Rey wrote "Say Yes to Heaven" with Nowels in 2012.[5] It was recorded in November 2013[5] during the sessions of Ultraviolence, but did not make the final track-list.[1] The song began to spread in around 2016.[5] In October 2020, "Say Yes to Heaven", also known as "Yes to Heaven",[6] was fully leaked onto the internet and went viral during the next two years;[7] 2022 in particular saw the rise of a sped-up snippet of the song in TikTok.[5] In March 2023, the song was claimed for copyright by UMG and Polydor Records, sparking speculation that an official release was imminent.[8] Polydor and Interscope Recordssurprise-released the song as a single on May 19, 2023, with a sped-up version as its B-side.[9][10][11] Interscope sent the song to US adult alternative radio on June 5, 2023,[12] followed by alternative radio on June 6.[13]
Composition
"Say Yes to Heaven" runs for three minutes and twenty-nine seconds.[11] Nowels produced the song, and played electric guitar and Hammond organ. Other musicians include Patrick Warren (guitar, marimba, strings), Tim Pierce (electric guitar), and Brian Griffin (percussion). Dean Reid and Roy English provides drum programming for the song, which was engineered by Kieron Menzies, John Christopher Fee, Trevor Yasuda, and Rocci. It was mixed by Reid and mastered by Ruairi O'Flaherty.[14]
"Say Yes to Heaven" is an ambient[10] and downbeatballad[15] about a narrator encouraging her lover to run away with her.[16] The acoustic production[17] incorporates muted drums,[18] tambourine,[15] and reverbed, finger-picked guitar arpeggios.[19][8][15] Del Rey's vocals throughout the song is laid back but sharp according to critic Ted Davis of American Songwriter.[20] The lyrics features romantic imagery and motifs that were previously used in Del Rey's other songs, such as red dress, heaven and dancing.[8] Jo Vito of Consequence[18] and Jonathan Cohen from Spin found "Say Yes to Heaven" to be distinct from the leak but thought the song maintains its overall tone.[19]
"Say Yes to Heaven" opens with gentle acoustic guitar strumming and electronic chords, with the narrator's submission to her lover: ("If you dance, I'll dance / And if you don't, I'll dance anyway / Give peace a chance / let the fear you have fall away").[20] In the chorus, Del Rey sings in a more breathy voice as she describes the narrator's plead to her lover: ("I've got my eye on you / Say yes to heaven / Say yes to me").[8] Towards the end, the narrator's yearning comes out more resolute than desperate to her lover: ("If you dance, I'll dance / I'll put my red dress on, get it on").[20]
Reception
"Say Yes to Heaven" was praised for its lyrics and the production. They described it as "dreamy",[10][15][20] "heavenly",[10] and "melancholy".[20] Davis praised Del Rey's "playful" vocals and her songwriting for capturing a sense of "stoic, timeless, and implicitly flawed yearning" in the song.[20] Vito commended Del Rey's "signature, poetic ambiguity" and the sonic pallette that "[she became] so good at crafting".[18]Nylon's Sophia June called the song a "simple gut-punch about submission and yearning"[8] and Alternative Press' Sadie Bell called the song a "sweet, lovelorn ballad".[9]
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 21. týden 2023 in the date selector. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 21. týden 2023 in the date selector. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
