Air Balloon

Album: Sheezus (2014)
Charted: 7
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Songfacts®:

  • This tongue-in-cheek bubblegum pop tune finds Allen singing about escaping reality over a toy piano arrangement:

    "I'm not sure quite why we work all day
    I've been thinking and I've got this plan
    Let's go, right now
    Come meet me in the sky I'll be waiting for you."

    Allen penned the tune with Johann Shellback. The Swedish hitmaker's other writing credits include Maroon 5's "Moves Like Jagger" and Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble."
  • Speaking to Capital FM about the song, Allen said: "I suppose it's about escapism really, and daydreaming in a lot of ways. My husband is constantly infuriated with me, because he'll be talking to me when we're sitting down having dinner or something, and I'm looking at him, but I'm totally not paying any attention at all."
  • The video was shot in Cape Town and directed by That Go (Noel Paul and Stefan Moore). Allen was criticized by some religious groups for the end part where she is seen dodging a floating crucified Jesus on outer space and by animals rights organization PETA for the use of exotic animals.

    Allen commented to chat show host Graham Norton: "I signed up for it as it sounded like fun and then I am there with a cheetah thinking, 'what am I doing?'"

    "I had a steak wiped on my face," she added, "so that it would lick me but I had been warned not to eat steak the night before in case I burped and he might have eaten me!"
  • The Sheezus title references Kanye West's 2013 album Yeezus. "It's an homage, not a piss take," tweeted Allen.
  • "Air Balloon" was released as the second single from Sheezus, an album which was a critical and commercial disappointment. Allen said during a Q&A with fans in June 2018 that this is her least favorite song that she's ever recorded. When a fan commented that the track "stunk of label pressure as a lead single," Lily seemed to agree, replying "Bingo."

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