Songfacts®:

• If modern dance tracks had visitor books, "Release the Pressure" would sign in somewhere between a late-night therapy session and a very polite riot. Calvin Harris and Kasabian built the collaborative single around the simple idea that sometimes the only sensible response to life's mounting anxieties is to turn the volume up until it leaves the building.
• The track revolves around the mantra-like refrain "Release the pressure," catharsis wrapped in a four-on-the-floor beat. It follows a proud musical lineage that includes the communal uplift of club anthems like Robin S' "Show Me Love" and the euphoric, hands-in-the-air release of tracks such as Stardust's "Music Sounds Better With You." Like those songs, it understands that sometimes the best form of emotional housekeeping involves bass frequencies that could gently rearrange your internal organs.
• Kasabian frontman Sergio Pizzorno is the vocalist. While Kasabian are credited as performers, the recording is largely Harris's musical playground. True to his collaborative blueprint, Harris handles the instrumentation and production, constructing a sleek electronic framework into which Pizzorno drops his distinctive rock-leaning vocal presence.
• Harris and Pizzorno co-wrote the song with songwriter and producer Fraser T. Smith, whose CV includes Adele's "Set Fire To The Rain," Stormzy's Gang Signs & Prayer album and multiple projects with Dave.
• Harris and Pizzorno had been circling each other creatively for about two decades before finally teaming up. "I first saw him perform at Lollapalooza in South America and was absolutely blown away," Pizzorno told NME. "We recently reconnected, exchanged numbers and decided it was finally time to collaborate in the studio."
• The genesis of "Release the Pressure" began when Pizzorno and Smith started experimenting with dance-driven ideas. "We sent it to Calvin and two weeks later I received a message: 'Banger incoming. Hotel vibes,'" said Pizzorno. "I played it and it blew my mind."
  
  Harris delivered a revised version two weeks later. "I was in the West End strutting down the street listening to it," recalled Pizzorno. "It must have looked crazy, but I knew straight away it was going to be a big hit."
• Intriguingly, planet Earth gets a credit. This stems from the EarthPercent initiative, an environmental charity co-founded by Brian Eno. The program allows artists to credit "The Earth" as a co-writer, with at least one percent of royalties directed toward climate and environmental causes. Fraser T Smith was among the early supporters of the initiative, which has also attracted artists such as Aurora, Jacob Collier, Mount Kimbie, Anna Calvi and Rostam Batmanglij. It is perhaps the only songwriting credit where the contributor has technically been present at every recording session in human history.