"Sorry" is a song recorded by Canadian singer Justin Bieber for his fourth studio album, Purpose (2015). Written by Bieber, Julia Michaels, Justin Tranter, Skrillex, and BloodPop; the song was produced by the latter two. It was released on October 23, 2015, as the second single from the album. A dancehall pop, tropical house and moombahton song, "Sorry" contains in its instrumentation "brassy horn bleats", warm island rhythms and a bouncy dembow riddim drum beat. Lyrically, "Sorry" is a plea for a chance to apologize to a lover, with Bieber asking forgiveness and a second chance to redeem himself. Bieber has since said that the lover was Selena Gomez.
Commercially, the song topped the charts of thirteen countries. It spent seven weeks at number one on the Canadian Hot 100 and three weeks at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100; "Sorry" was replaced by third single "Love Yourself" on the chart dated February 13, 2016, making Bieber the 12th act in the Hot 100's history to succeed himself at number one. He also accomplished the same feat in the United Kingdom, becoming the third act ever to self-replace at the top of the UK Singles Chart. Globally, the song became one of the best selling digital music releases with over 10 million in sales in 2016 alone. It is certified Diamond in Australia, Brazil, France, Mexico, Poland, and the United States.
Background While working on his then-upcoming fourth studio album, Justin Bieber enlisted American DJ Skrillex to produce songs for the record after successfully working with him on "Where Are Ü Now", which he sent to Skrillex and Diplo for their project Jack Ü and that became a worldwide hit and helped to revamp his career. Regarding his will to work with the producer, Bieber commented: "Skrillex is a genius. He’s super futuristic and I just love his sounds. I think being able to incorporate that sound with what I’m doing has been super cool because it’s like new and fresh, and I feel like no one’s done it before." Regarding his involvement, Skrillex commented: "I heard some well-written songs that were really good that they wanted me to do production on and from there, we wrote some new songs. It was an opportunity to try some stuff that I had never done before and we ended up making something really unique." Skrillex also invited Michael Tucker, under his producer name BloodPop, to help him produce some tracks for the album. The producer wrote "Sorry" with other songwriters and immediately felt it was a relatable song. Later, he needed to convince Bieber's team that "Sorry" was "the song".
Release On October 18, 2015, Bieber announced the release of "Sorry", and a day later, the song was promoted through a Vine video that played the song in the background and featured King Bach and Michelle Obama. On October 21, 2015, Bieber posted an acoustic 13-second sample of the song, while on October 22, 2015, the song was officially released as Purpose second single. In the same day, Bieber posted a video on his Instagram, where he appeared in the studio with BloodPop and Skrillex, listening to the song and riding around on hoverboards. A "Latino remix" of the song, featuring Colombian singer J Balvin, was released worldwide on November 6, 2015.
Recording and writing "Sorry" is the result of a studio collaboration between Michael Tucker, under his producer moniker BloodPop, with songwriters Justin Tranter and Julia Michaels. Tucker was responsible for writing the music, while Tranter and Michaels contributed to the song's lyrics. Michaels and Tranter, who had already worked together in a handful of tracks and became songwriting partners, were asked to go write with Tucker in a session. Tucker created the song's melody with Bieber in mind, while Michaels was in a vocal booth with Tranter and the word "sorry" "popped out" of her head, as she recalled. After that, they came up with the lyrics, inspired by a personal event Michaels had, sent the demo to Bieber's team, and Bieber himself loved the track and "changed a couple things to make it feel more like him." Skrillex was responsible for the beat and claimed that he also acted as a support "for what Justin was saying and help[ed] keep it simple, and record good, memorable songs." Initially, Bieber thought the song was too safe and simple, but Skrillex told him it has a very refined simplicity about it.
BloodPop commented in an interview about the song, stating: "From the perspective of the producer, I find the muffled vocal chops to represent the people or situations in which Justin or the listener could be apologetic towards. The vocal manipulations make an ambiguous sound and a moment later Justin replies, Sorry. I love that narrative. Justin's vocal delivery and the triumphant key of the song gave the narrative a warm color. I am most excited by music that allows the beat to tell a story as much as the vocal and in 'Sorry,' the beat is saying moving forward, and apologizing, can be exciting and fun." Bieber, on the other hand, opined that "the more he listened to it the more he fell in love with it." He continued: "The melodies are really catchy and some people would misinterpret that for being safe but it's like The Beatles' 'Let It Be', simple melodies but it's so effective "music right now is missing those effective real songs."
Composition and lyrical interpretation "Sorry" is a dancehall pop, tropical house and moombahton song. It contains a "smooth but electrifying EDM beat, incorporating "brassy horn bleats", a reggaeton rhythm, warm island rhythms and a dembow riddim beat. It starts with a lone piano note before a distinct motif, most precisely a high-pitched coo, takes over. Bieber uses a smooth falsetto during the track. Bianca Gracie of Idolator drew parallels between "Sorry" and previous single "What Do You Mean?" for sharing "a similar tropical pop route" and found there were "a few more spritz of sweet, beachy and dancehall-inspired notes". Many critics also found sonic similarities between both songs.
Lyrically, the song is a plea "for a chance to apologize to an unidentified lover", with Bieber asking forgiveness, "saying that he misses more than just her body and "hoping they can 'both say the words and forget this. During the song, he sings: "I know you know that I made those mistakes maybe once or twice / By once or twice I mean maybe a couple of hundred times / So let me, oh, let me, redeem, oh, redeem, oh, myself tonight / Because I just need one more shot, a second chance." Andrew Unterbgerger of Spin noted that on the track, "Bieber's still a little too proud to beg he undercuts the penitence of his verses by deflecting 'You know there are no innocents in this game for two,' and never actually delivering the titular apology, merely asking if doing so would still be productive."
Regarding its lyrics, Sheldon Pearce of Complex found it to be "sincere", while Amy Davidson of Digital Spy thought the opposite, considering it an unapologetic song. Meanwhile, Jamieson Cox of The Verge wondered, "Is he singing to an ex or to listeners around the world?" Julia Michaels, one of its songwriters, claimed that, "We were just trying to capture that moment in a relationship or a particular moment in your life where you realize you made a mistake and you're finally ready to admit it and apologize." Later, Bieber admitted that the song was not an apology for his past transgressions, explaining: People ran with that that I was like, apologizing with that song and stuff. It really had nothing to do with that. It was about a girl." Later, he confirmed that the girl in question was his ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez.
Critical reception The song received positive reviews. Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly cited the song for being "stripped down for maximum aerodynamics, the vocals mentholated and sweetened with a brushstroke of bass here, a snake-charmer synth line there." Andy Kellman of AllMusic selected the song as one of the album's highlights, citing the song and "What Do You Mean?" as tracks that "showed him making a deeper connection with his material and that, yes, he was progressing from performer to artist." Brad Nelson of Pitchfork also praised both songs for being "vivid tropical house tracks that sound like sunlight drifting down through palm fronds. Bieber's voice often resembles a breath contorted inexpressively through notes; here, he lets it weightlessly fall through textures. They are his best performances to date, allowing him to flex a rhythmic playfulness without communicating an iota of legible emotion." USA Today Maeve McDermott wrote: "'Sorry' is just as much of an earworm as his previous single 'What Do You Mean?', with the same summery neon-hued electronic production." For Bianca Gracie of Idolator, the song "is a few notches above of its single predecessor" due to "the combination of dancehall flair and the continued trend of his 'come hither' laid-back vocals," considering it "one that has been unmatched this year."
Michelle Geslani of Consequence of Sound applauded the collaboration with Skrillex and BloodPop, saying "the results are beyond promising. It's a chill number marked by warm island rhythms." Brennan Carley of Spin wrote that the song "starts with a tropical drum-n-bass situation before exploding into a glorious, neatly wound chorus," calling it "a subdued step forward for the Biebs." Andrew Unterberger of the same publication noted: "Like any number of classic Motown songs, 'Sorry' understands that take-me-back songs are always more persuasive when they sound like fun you're missing out on, and the song's euphoric drop is a better second-chance argument than any the singer could present himself." Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times called it "airy tropical-house banger that makes the singer's first big hit, the puppyish 'Baby', seem like an artifact from a different era (which it pretty much is)." Time Nolan Feeney also appreciated the song saying: With a beat this breezy, though, that's nothing to be sorry about." Dee Lockett of Vulture.com wrote: "it's a Caribbean-flavored house beat over which Bieber flexes his best falsetto." Sam C. Mac of Slant Magazine opined that the song brought "a mini-resurrection of the house/reggaeton fusion Moombahton, along with Bieber's most grown-n'-sexy lyrics." Amy Davidson of Digital Spy concluded: "With its show-offy vocal distortions and tropical feel, 'Sorry' might not be a sincere attempt at forgiveness—but that's probably why it sounds so good."
Year-end lists Billboard ranked "Sorry" at number 9 on its year-end list for 2015, writing: "Justin Bieber should try apologizing more often. From the bright opening notes to the manipulated vocal loop in the chorus, the Biebs brought EDM to his pop palette and made fans out of haters with an unforgivably good single."
Critic/Publication List Rank Billboard 25 Best Songs of 2015 9 Complex The Best Songs of 2015 15 The New York Times The Best Songs of 2015 (by Jon Caramanica) 11 USA TodayThe 50 best songs of 2015 -Village Voice Pazz & Jop39
Chart performance North America