Songfacts®:

• Rema is a singer-songwriter from Nigeria who calls his music "Afrorave," a type of Afrobeats sprinkled with Arabian and Indian sounds. In 2019, Rema signed a record deal with Jonzing World, a subsidiary of Mavin Records owned by record producer Don Jazzy. He released his self-titled debut EP Rema in 2019, and the following year MTV Europe nominated him for an award for Best African Act. This song is the second single from Rema's debut album, Rave & Roses.
• Rema sings the song in a mixture of English and Pidgin English. He recounts a true love story of his, which started with him meeting a girl at a party. Rema was immediately attracted to her and they chatted and danced, but she felt insecure and preferred to stick with her friends. The singer told her to "calm down," but her trust issues killed the vibe. However, they stayed in touch and later hit it off.
• The song originated when Rema was vibing and chilling with some folks from his Mavin label. They went into a studio where they hooked up with Andre Vibez, one of the in-house music producers signed under Don Jazzy's label imprint. "Vibez saw that our energy was up, and we just wanted to freestyle on beats," Rema recalled. "The next day, I recorded and brought up my experience where I met a girl at a party."
  
  So who was the party girl that inspired this song? When a couple of girls walked into the party, one of them, a girl in yellow, caught Rema's eye. "I wanted to talk to her and her friends were being really stuck up," he recalled to Billboard. "They didn't really want to chat. And I was like, 'Yo, just calm down. Let's have a chat.' And then she actually calmed down, and we started talking and dancing."
  
  "When she left the party, she was on my mind, and I wanted to see her again," Rema continued. "That was it. I walked in the studio fresh out of that emotion."
• Rema released "Calm Down" on February 11, 2022. It charted throughout Europe, reaching #1 in Belgium, The Netherlands and Switzerland.
• Selena Gomez hooked up with Rema for the song's remix, which the Nigerian released on August 26, 2022. Gomez sings from the perspective of Rema's love interest.
• Rema insisted the pairing with Gomez came from their friendship rather than his riding the coattails of an established pop star. "It was not on some label vibe," he told The Guardian. "She's been rocking with my music for a while. I dropped the offer and she embraced it."
• Though Rema and Gomez did the collaboration remotely, the American star double checked everything she did with the Nigerian singer. "She was very concerned about how the record was supposed to turn out," Rema told Billboard. "Every move she made on the song, she always wanted to know if I was good with it. Some artists just be like, 'Whatever I did is dope. Have it,' but she wanted to know if I resonated with whatever she did on it - and I did. I loved it."
• Rema and his producers made few changes to Gomez's contribution. "We touched more parts of the beat and let her verse breathe," he said, "but nothing else."
• After Andre Vibez and Rema started "Calm Down," the singer played it to Nigerian-British Platinum record producer, London, because he was executive producing his Rave & Roses album. Rema liked the song, but he felt it needed more emotion. So, they took everything apart, rearranged it, and added strings to make everything blend together.
  
  "I just helped beef it up a bit, "London told Billboard. "I helped him take the record to the next level."
• "Calm Down" won for Best Afrobeats at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards.
• "Calm Down" was the first Afrobeats hit to reach the Top 3 of the Hot 100.