Songfacts®:

• This is the first single from Girls Aloud singer and X Factor judge Cheryl Cole's second solo album, Messy Little Raindrops. According to The Daily Star, the lyrics are a tribute to the singer's dancer boyfriend Derek Hough, who supported Cole through her marriage breakup with footballer Ashley Cole and subsequent battle with malaria. The singer spent 10 days in the hospital, including several in intensive care, after picking up the disease on a trip to Tanzania with Hough in June 2010. She sings: "Though I am walking through the shadows, you were with me and you comfort me."
• According to a MTV UK source, the song was actually written before Cole fell sick with malaria. Said the source in late August 2010: "It was actually written months ago and although it's not directly talking about her illness, there is a strange lyrical twist that ironically relates to her recent near-death experience. It is similar to the way Fight For This Love related to her marriage drama."
• The music video was shot in Los Angeles just six weeks after Cole overcame her bout of malaria. It was directed by Sophie Muller, who has worked with the likes of No Doubt, Beyoncé, Leona Lewis, Duffy and Kings of Leon. When Cole was a child she won a sponsorship to study at the Royal Ballet Summer School in London and this clip sees the Fight For This Love singer returning to her dancing roots. A source told The Daily Mirror: "Cheryl is naturally athletic and has a dancer background so she found the shoot really enjoyable."
• "Promise This" was Cheryl Cole's second chart-topper in the UK as a solo artist (following her debut single "Fight For This Love"), but by this time she also had four #1s with Girls Aloud and another with the Helping Haiti charity cover of "Everybody Hurts."
• The song was penned by the American songwriters Priscilla Hamilton (Muni Long) and Christopher Jackson, along with the British music producer Wayne Wilkins, who previously wrote Cole's debut single "Fight For This Love." Wilkins also produced the track.
• The song sees Cole singing some of the lyrics in French, referencing the nursery rhyme "Alouette." Sound familiar? Mark Ronson also borrowed from the French children's song on his 2010 hit single, "Bang Bang Bang."
• "Promise This" was the first hit song written by Muni Long, who is credited under her real name, Priscilla Hamilton. She released her debut album in 2009 but for the next decade focused on songwriting with credits for the likes of Rihanna ("California King Bed"), Selena Gomez ("Who Says"), Chris Brown ("Don't Wake Me Up"), Fifth Harmony ("Worth It"), and Ariana Grande ("Imagine"). In 2022 she finally landed her own hit with "Hrs And Hrs."