"Drift Away"
Single by Sons of Zion
from the album Vantage Point
Released16 March 2018 (2018-03-16)
GenrePop
Length3:00
LabelSons of Zion, Sony Music Entertainment New Zealand
Songwriter(s)Matthew Sadgrove
Sons of Zion singles chronology
"Is That Enough"
(2017)		 "Drift Away"
(2018)		 "So Bright"
(2018)
Music video
"Drift Away" on YouTube

"Drift Away" is a song by New Zealand band Sons of Zion, released as a single in March 2018. The song was a hit in New Zealand, becoming double platinum certified and was nominated for the Single of the Year at the New Zealand Music Awards. In 2019, the band re-recorded the song in Māori as "Pōtere Ana / Drift Away", which was included on the compilation album Waiata / Anthems.

Background and composition

Sons of Zion's bassist Matt Sadgrove created the song's initial demo in 30 minutes, recording it as a voice memo.[1] The song was inspired by the imagery of film Inception (2010), specifically the scene where Dom Cobb, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, mourns the death of his wife on a beach.[2] Sadgrove wrote the song as a simple, sad song, noting that it had a vibe of a Tracy Chapman song,[3][2] but the song developed an upbeat vibe.[2] Sadgrove wrote the song to cater to band vocalist Caleb Haapu's voice.[3] Lyrically, the song reminisces the loss of a summer romance.[4]

The band were nervous to send an acoustic song to commercial pop radio.[3] The song was stylistically different to their previous singles, and the band began to feel more fearless and able to release genreless music.[5]

Release and promotion

"Drift Away" was released as a single on 16 March 2018.[6] A music video was released for the song in April, which featured a couple enjoying the end of summer at the beach.[4] The song was a commercial success, becoming the number one most performed song on New Zealand radio for 11 weeks,[7] and becoming double platinum certified.

On the band's album Vantage Point released two months later, Sons of Zion included both the original and a pop remix version of the song,[8] and in the same year released a remix version by Otosan.[9] In 2019, the band re-recorded the song in Māori language as "Pōtere Ana / Drift Away", with the help of Tīmoti Kāretu, who translated the song's lyrics. This version of the song was released on Waiata / Anthems, a compilation album.[10] Vocalist Caleb Haapu found recording the song a difficult process, as he does not speak Māori.[11]

"Drift Away" featured as the first track on the band's 2022 compilation album First XV.[12]

Critical reception

Anzel Singh of NZ Musician described "Drift Away" as the "most stripped song on [Vantage Point], feeling that the Māori strum guitar and backing vocals created "flashback[s] to moments of sweet escapes".[8] The song was nominated for Single of the Year at the 2018 New Zealand Music Awards, losing to "Woke Up Late" by Drax Project.[13]

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal.[14]

  • Matthew Sadgrove – engineer, mixing engineer, producer, songwriter
  • Sons of Zion – performer

Charts

Certifications

Certifications and sales for "Drift Away"
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
New Zealand (RMNZ)[17] 2× Platinum 60,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ↑ Robertson, Kate (4 July 2018). "Sons of Zion hit 'Drift Away' was originally just 'a crappy voice memo'". Stuff. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 Black, Taroi (9 May 2018). "Interview with Sons of Zion before world tour". teaomaori.news. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 Kidd, Sarah (31 August 2018). "JOEL LATIMER of SONS OF ZION: Fearless Creation Processes". Ambient Light Blog. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Sons Of Zion Salute The Summer With 'Drift Away'". More FM. 4 April 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  5. ↑ Tebbutt, Leah (31 July 2021). "Bay Dreams 2022 introduces 'fresh new look' plus Sons of Zion exclusive". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  6. ↑ "Drift Away - Single". iTunes. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  7. ↑ "Sons of Zion Release New Single 'Come to Bed' Out Today". New Zealand Music Commission. 29 July 2022. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  8. 1 2 Singh, Anzel (2018). "Sons Of Zion: Vantage Point". NZ Musician. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  9. ↑ "Drift Away (Otosan Remix)". Spotify. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  10. ↑ "Waiata / Anthems". iTunes. 6 September 2019. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  11. ↑ Adams, Josie (21 August 2019). "Stand up and be counted: Sons of Zion on te reo Māori and refusing to be tied down". The Spinoff. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  12. ↑ "First XV". JB Hifi. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  13. ↑ "Six60 dominates the 2018 VNZMAs, winning five Tuis". Newshub. 15 November 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  14. ↑ "Credits / Drift Away". Tidal. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  15. ↑ "Sons of Zion – Drift Away". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  16. ↑ "END OF YEAR CHARTS 2018". NZ Music Charts. RMNZ. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  17. ↑ "New Zealand single certifications". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
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