Hopes and Fears

Album: The Hits (2009)
Charted: 65
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Songfacts®:

  • This is the lead single from British singer-songwriter Will Young's first greatest hits album, The Hits.
  • The song was written by Stew Jackson and Yolanda Quartey of the Bristolian country/soul band Phantom Limb, who supported Young on his 2009 UK tour. Young explained to Digital Spy: "The song was written by a friend of mine, Stuart, who I worked with on the last record too. I liked it and needed something for the Greatest Hits, but the stuff I've been working on for my next album is much more dance-pop and didn't really fit in."
  • The song was produced by the Bristol production team Robot Club who persuaded legendary '70s session drummer Skip Wiseman out of retirement for this track.
  • The video was shot in London's Millennium College during the second week of September 2009 and features Young as a pregnant man. He explained to BBC News: "Director Chris Sweeney had the idea. It's always nice to do something different and challenging. I can't really do those normal videos. I like to give the audience a bit more credit. I really like the idea of a man doing pregnancy, I think it's really interesting. I spoke to a great friend of mine who'd just had a daughter, I'm the god dad. Now I find I have a lot more empathy with the hormones. It's all the emotions everyone feels in one intense nine months."

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