Soft Spot (song)

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"Soft Spot"
Single by Piri
from the album Froge.mp3
Released4 June 2021
GenreLiquid drum and bass
Length
  • 3:39 (original)
  • 3:43 (subsequent)
  • 3:51 (MJ Cole remix)
LabelDistroKid
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Tommy Villiers
Piri singles chronology
"It's a Match"
(2021) 		"Soft Spot"
(2021) 		"OMG I Rly Like U (Remix)"
(2022)
Piri & Tommy Villiers singles chronology
"Soft Spot"
(2021) 		"Beachin"
(2022)
Music video
"Soft Spot" music video on YouTube
"Soft Spot" acoustic music video on YouTube

"Soft Spot" (stylised in lowercase) is a liquid drum and bass song. It was first released independently on 4 June 2021, where it was credited to Piri. After she paid six TikTokers to promote the song, the song was used in a video of a creator making a Japanese bench, which caused the song to go viral on that platform; this, as well as virality on Spotify caused by it featuring on the platform's "Fresh Finds" playlist, prompted EMI to sign her and her producer Tommy Villiers, and re-release the track under the name Piri & Tommy Villiers. The song appeared on the pair's 21 October 2022 mixtape Froge.mp3.

Critical reception for the song was overwhelmingly positive, with Pitchfork comparing Piri's voice with Ariana Grande, Rolling Stone listing it as the fifty-ninth best dance song of all time, and NME noting that the song was "right up there with PinkPantheress and, er, sea shanties as one of [TikTok]’s biggest hits". In addition, the song spent a week on the UK Independent Singles Breakers Chart at No. 20, and Charli XCX, PinkPantheress, and Wet Leg are fans of the song.

Background[edit]

Piri met Tommy Villiers, a member of Porij and See Thru Hands,[1] in 2020,[2] after matching on Tinder, finding his band on Twitter, finding his Instagram account,[3] and asking him if she could "shoot [her] shot",[4] in that order.[3] She released a Villiers-produced single "It's a Match" on 12 March 2021[5] via DistroKid,[6] and then on 4 June released "Soft Spot",[5] also via DistroKid,[7] a liquid drum and bass song[8] with loon birds on it.[9] She told 1883 in September 2021 that she wrote the song about "feeling completely powerless to the person of your affections, but still being almost foolishly optimistic that it will all work out", and about Villiers.[9] According to a September 2022 interview for Apple Music, the song was "made across two student houses", and its vocals were recorded under a duvet.[10] PinkPantheress was a big inspiration for the record;[11] Piri used a December 2021 NME article to state that the former had direct messaged the pair to tell them the song's "beat goes stupid".[12]

Promotion and release[edit]

Piri told Unity Radio in October 2021 that she paid six TikTok creators £20 to use the song in one of their videos, and took out adverts on Instagram and TikTok.[13] The song went viral on TikTok after being featured in a video of a creator making a Japanese bench, which acquired 1,000,000 views,[14] and eventually appeared in over 130,000 videos,[15] including those for pregnancy cravings,[2] laminate floor fitting,[16] gym workout montages,[2] Korean scrambled eggs,[13] and dysmenorrhea advice.[16] The song also went viral on Spotify after being featured on its "Fresh Finds" playlist.[15] For this, EMI signed them, and re-released "Soft Spot"[12] on 13 September 2021 under the name Piri & Tommy Villiers.[17] EMI also released an official remix from MJ Cole, who provided the remix after Piri and Villiers sent a long list of suggested artists to their label, including bigger artists such as Cole, without expectation of a response;[12] his version was released on 15 October 2021.[5] Cole would later be namechecked in Piri & Tommy's "Can We" from froge.mp3,[18] and he and the pair would later release "Feel It" on 20 January 2023,[5] by which time Piri and Villiers had split up.[19]

Reception[edit]

"Soft Spot skips and bites on a shuffled, stuttered beat that draws the ear in a series of funky coughs and snaps. Heavily filtered pads pulse deep in the ambient, sunken deep into reverb, providing harmonic resonance throughout. A vox sample erupting into dub-style delay, scattered feedback cranks into the production; the bass line shifting and working the grind, holding a heavy dancehall groove."

—Freshonthenet.co.uk review[20]

"Soft Spot" spent a week on the UK Independent Singles Breakers Chart, at No. 20.[21] Pigeons & Planes described it as "infectious",[22] while DIY described it as "effortlessly catchy",[23] The Guardian described it as "feathery",[16] and Undergroundunderdogs.com called it "as sweet as it is addictive".[24] Charli XCX used a 24 August 2021 edition of BBC Radio 1's Future Sounds to air it[25] and noted that "it goes so hard" and that she "sometimes ... run[s] to [it] at the gym",[15] while Tom Robinson's blog Freshonthenet.co.uk noted that it "dares you not to dance".[20] Reviewing subsequent single "Beachin", Dan Cairns of The Sunday Times noted that the song's "mix of skittering drum’n’bass and nostalgia-infused pop immediacy" stuck "like glue".[26]

A May 2022 NME article described it as "right up there with PinkPantheress and, er, sea shanties as one of [TikTok]’s biggest hits",[27] while a 25 July 2022 Rolling Stone listicle called it a "twee starburst of liquid drum-and-bass" and named it as the fifty-ninth greatest dance song of all time[8] and a DORK article published the same day noted that its "genuine naivety and optimism ... prove[d] to be just the icing on the cake of future hits".[28] In March 2023, Wet Leg named it one of five songs that had soundtracked their year, and the band's Rhian Teasdale noted that it took them back to when they were shooting their video for "Ur Mum", in which Villiers played the anti-hero.[29]

Piri's voice came in for particular praise, with Pitchfork describing her voice as "light and hazy" and "skim[ming] over the fast-paced melody in the verses in a way that resembles Ariana Grande", and particularly enjoying the way she "sigh[ed]" the "I can't help it ... you're in my Soft Spot" chorus,[15] while Freshonthenet.co.uk noted that "Piri's voice dances in compelling vocal stack[, with] echoes cascading left/right, creating depth and ear candy", and noted that her "pop-sweet topline teas[ed] and contrast[ed] against the weight of the production".[20]

Later reviews complimented the song's percussion, with a November 2022 The Guardian review finding that "in its live incarnation at least, the breaks on big hit Soft Spot [we]re surprisingly tough",[30] while a Gigwise review of a Scala performance later that month noted that their performance of "Soft Spot" "end[ed] with a genuinely incredible breakbeat that [the reviewer] wish[ed] went on for way longer than it did".[31]

Music videos and other media[edit]

A music video was released on 4 June 2021, which features Piri singing, dancing, and pole dancing;[32] she used a 27 October 2021 Reform Radio interview to note that she had bought a projector especially for the occasion, that she filmed herself performing against the bedroom wall of the student house she was living in at the time and to "trippy liquid visuals" she had found on YouTube, and that she had edited the video herself.[1] On 27 October 2022, they performed a live acoustic version on Reform Radio,[1] and on 13 January 2022, they released a video to YouTube of them performing an acoustic version of the song.[33] The song was played on Sunday Brunch on 21 November 2021,[34] and on 21 October 2022, the song appeared on Piri & Tommy's mixtape, froge.mp3.[5] On 12 January 2023, Piri & Tommy performed the song on Radio 1's Sound Of...,[35] and on 27 May 2023, Piri performed the song at Radio 1 Big Weekend.[36]

Track listing[edit]

Digital single[5]

  1. "Soft Spot" (Piri) – 3:39

MJ Cole remix[5]

  1. "Soft Spot" (MJ Cole remix) – 3:51
  2. "Soft Spot" (Piri & Tommy Villiers) – 3:43

Personnel and credits[edit]

Recording locations

  • Piri & Villiers' student houses[10]

Personnel

  • Piri – vocals[18]
  • Tommy Villiers – production, mastering, mixing[18]

Charts[edit]

Chart performance for "Soft Spot"
Chart (2021) Peak
position
UK Independent Singles Breakers Chart[21] 20

Release history[edit]

Release history for "Soft Spot"
Region Date Format Version Artist Label Ref.
Various 4 June 2021
Original version Piri DistroKid [5]
13 September 2021 Re-release Piri & Tommy Villiers EMI [17]
15 October 2021 MJ Cole remix [5]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "The Daisy Adams Show w/ Piri and Tommy Villiers 27th October 2021". Reform Radio. Archived from the original on 13 February 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Helm, Jake. "Piri and Tommy: meet the rising stars of pop". The Times. Archived from the original on 8 November 2022.
  3. ^ a b MistaJam. 8 June 2022. Capital Dance.
  4. ^ "Radio 1's Dance Party with Danny Howard, MK & Paul Woolford Hottest Record". BBC Radio 1. Archived from the original on 28 May 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i "piri Singles and EPs discography". Spotify. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  6. ^ "it's a match by piri, Tommy Villiers". DistroKid. Archived from the original on 27 May 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  7. ^ "soft spot by piri, Tommy Villiers". DistroKid. Archived from the original on 20 May 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  8. ^ a b "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 28 February 2023. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  9. ^ a b Poole, Cameron. "DIY dance duo, piri & Tommy Villiers, are the new kids on the block". 1883. Archived from the original on 17 November 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  10. ^ a b "Apple Music Home Session: piri & tommy by piri & tommy on Apple Music". Apple Music. Archived from the original on 1 March 2023. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
  11. ^ "piri & Tommy: Dynamic Duo". Notion. 4 March 2022. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  12. ^ a b c "Piri and Tommy Villiers: ambition and reinvention from vibrant drum 'n' bass duo". NME. December 2021. Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  13. ^ a b "Piri & Tommy Interview: 'Soft Spot' and Tik Tok Strategy! Interview W/ Jasper Hopkins". Unity Radio. Archived from the original on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  14. ^ "Miz w/ Piri & Tommy Villiers". Reprezent Radio. Archived from the original on 23 February 2023. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  15. ^ a b c d "The Zoomer Embrace of Drum 'n' Bass". Pitchfork. 29 October 2021. Archived from the original on 10 March 2023. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  16. ^ a b c Petridis, Alexis (22 April 2022). "'It's just good energy!' How TikTok and Covid made drum'n'bass hot again". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 April 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  17. ^ a b "piri, Tommy Villiers - Soft Spot Album Reviews, Songs & More". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 3 March 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  18. ^ a b c piri & tommy (21 October 2022). froge.mp3 (Media notes). Polydor Records.
  19. ^ "piri & Tommy Reveal "Amicable" Break-Up". Clash. 11 January 2023. Archived from the original on 15 January 2023. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  20. ^ a b c "Fresh Faves: Batch 408". Freshonthenet.co.uk. 8 June 2021. Archived from the original on 27 May 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  21. ^ a b "PIRI/TOMMY VILLIERS". The Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 28 June 2023. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  22. ^ "Best New Artists of the Month (Pigeons & Planes, November 2021)". Complex. Archived from the original on 27 May 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  23. ^ "Hype List 2023: piri & tommy: "You've just got to take one thing at a time"". DORK. 30 November 2022. Archived from the original on 24 January 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  24. ^ "The 10 Songs You Need To Hear This Week". Undergroundunderdogs.com. 13 July 2021. Archived from the original on 27 May 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  25. ^ "Radio 1's Future Sounds with Clara Amfo, with Charli XCX". BBC Radio 1. Archived from the original on 27 May 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  26. ^ "The best new albums to listen to this week | Culture | The Sunday Times". The Times. 2022-01-30. Archived from the original on 2022-01-30. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
  27. ^ "Piri and Tommy Villiers live at The Great Escape: banging bedroom beats from a couple in perfect harmony". NME. 15 May 2022. Archived from the original on 17 December 2022. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  28. ^ "Fontaines D.C. set down a marker for their headline potential on the final day of Latitude 2022". Dork. 25 July 2022. Archived from the original on 28 May 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  29. ^ "Awards, Harry Styles, and 'hand dick': the songs that scored Wet Leg's wild year". Abc.net.au. 3 March 2023. Archived from the original on 1 June 2023. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  30. ^ Petridis, Alexis (6 November 2022). "Piri and Tommy review – infectious, candy-striped pop fun". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 15 December 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
  31. ^ "Screen To Stage: Piri + Tommy at Scala, 8/11/22". Gigwise. Archived from the original on 17 November 2022. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  32. ^ "piri & tommy villiers - soft spot (official music video)". YouTube. Archived from the original on 1 March 2023. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
  33. ^ "piri & tommy - soft spot (acoustic live)". YouTube. Archived from the original on 27 May 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  34. ^ 21 November 2021. Sunday Brunch. Channel 4.
  35. ^ "Radio 1s Sound Of - Sound Of 2023". BBC iPlayer. Archived from the original on 29 May 2023. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  36. ^ "BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend, Live in Dundee: 2023, piri". BBC Radio 1. Archived from the original on 27 May 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
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