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Album: Playing Robots Into Heaven (2023)
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Songfacts®:

  • "Loading" is about a rave experience, maybe after taking drugs. The intricately crafted tune takes us on a wild ride, changing tempo on a dime. What starts as a minimalistic and personal melody transforms into a booming electronic landscape, matching its enigmatic, soul-searching lyrics.
  • Where are my wings?
    They're loading


    These "wings" aren't feathered – they're a symbol of Blake's wild, party-hard spirit. Yet, there's a twist. To really let loose, he's got to believe his love interest can unravel those emotional knots.
  • The chorus hammers home that Blake's self-worth is hitched to his mental state.

    Wherever I go
    I'm only as good as my mind
    Which is only good if you're mine


    Blake's mental serenity relies on being in a romantic relationship. His mind's only at peace only when he's united with a lover.
  • Blake released "Loading" through Republic and Polydor Records as the second single from his sixth album, Playing Robots into Heaven.
  • Blake co-wrote "Loading" with '70s new age singer-songwriter Judy Tzuke, her guitarist Mike Paxman, Dom Maker of the electronic music duo Mount Kimbie, and Chris Trowbridge.
  • Blake and Maker co-produced the track with Rob McAndrews and Blake's girlfriend, Jameela Jamil. It was Maker who made the loop that we hear at the beginning.

    Blake and Maker first worked together when Blake featured on Mount Kimbie's 2017 single "We Go Home Together." Maker then co-produced nine of the tracks on Blake's 2019 album Assume Form and five on Playing Robots into Heaven.
  • Blake's pitched-up vocals on "Loading" sound like a female artist. "I think the thing with that is, like when I pitch my vocal around, it's like, sometimes I remember, like early days, people would just be like, 'Why do you think so much suddenly sex on this voice?' Thing is as a producer when I'm putting effects on my voice and pitching it around and do all sorts like and kind of making it sound not like me," he told BBC Radio 1's Jack Saunders. "It gives me kind of license to make a rowdy obey underneath it sometimes and kind of make it a bit more club worthy."

    "I feel less self conscious when I'm working on my vocals like that," Blake added. "So, I guess it gives me a bit of freedom and that's kind of how this one started."
  • "Loading" is the second track on Playing Robots Into Heaven, following "Asking To Break."

    "The whole album is the arc of a rave, basically, or the arc of maybe some kind of drug experience that includes a high and a comedown," Blake told Apple Music. "'Asking to Break' sets that up and then 'Loading' starts to bring you up into more of that place, [with] a little bit more euphoria. That's why I liked it as a second tune. It's not crazy hyped, but it's suggesting it and you get that big release at the end."

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