Almost Love
A dance-pop song about a relationship that isn't taken seriously by either party.
"Almost Love" is a song recorded by American singer Sabrina Carpenter from her third studio album Singular: Act I (2018), serving as the opening track. Described as a dance-pop song, it was written by Sabrina Carpenter, Steph Jones, Nate Campany and Mikkel Eriksen, with production handled by Stargate. It was released by Hollywood Records as the lead single from Singular: Act I on June 6, 2018. The song was accompanied by a music video directed by Hannah Lux Davis that premiered on her Vevo channel on July 12, 2018, filmed at the Pasadena Museum of History in Pasadena, California.
- Artist
- Sabrina Carpenter
- Album Era
- Singular: Act I
- Genre
- Pop, Dance-Pop
- Release Status
- Single
- Theme
- Unrequited Potential
Lore & Background
The concept for "Almost Love" started when Carpenter saw her phone and it had a note saying the title of the track. Carpenter explained in an interview with BUILD Series LND, "I've had these encounters so many times in my life, these almost interactions that never quite turn into anything, and they're these, like, relationships and you never quite finish the story." The song was written and recorded on a Monday in early 2018 in three hours and was one of the last songs to be recorded for the album. Carpenter told Billboard that when she was writing the song, she wasn't thinking "I still gotta write that first single." Carpenter said, "Listening back to the song when we were done, it had this confidence and this personality in my voice that I hadn't really had before. Whenever I listened to it, it made me want to physically get up and dance, and I've never had a song like that." The second verse was the last part to be written, and the last lyric to be written, "I want you like a loner wants an empty room," turned out to be Carpenter's favorite lyric on the track.
In Their Own Story
The music video begins with Carpenter sitting on a couch with her backup dancers reading a book titled "Almost Love." Her backup dancers seem to be giving her suggestions and comments. Carpenter then puts the book down and begins to get up and dance with her backup dancers. After a bit, her backup dancers sit down and she dances on her own. She then opens a glass box of lipstick, chooses a red one, and puts it on. In the next scene, Carpenter is seen walking down and dancing on a staircase and in a walkway with her female backup dancers where she is wearing the red lipstick she chose in the previous scene but has a new outfit on. Her female backup dancers are then seen seducing some men by playing polo and eating ice cream on a lawn. The next scene shows Carpenter wearing a sparkly red blazer and dancing in a room with all her backup dancers. She later rips her blazer open. In the final scene, Carpenter is seen taking her love interest (played by Noam Sigler) into a private room that looks as though it is from Ancient Greece because of the architecture and plants. Carpenter then gets close with her love interest and they eventually kiss. As they kiss, Carpenter's love interest turns into stone — specifically, the statue seen in the album artwork. Carpenter's female backup dancers do the same thing with their love interests and the same thing happens. Carpenter is then seen in a nightclub scene where she is dancing with her backup dancers. The statue of Carpenter's "almost" love interest is then seen on display. The video ends with Carpenter pulling a black veil off in the scene on the walkway as well as Carpenter closing the book in the first scene.
Reader's Guide
"Almost Love" peaked at number 21 on the US Mainstream Top 40 Airplay chart and reached the summit of the Dance Club Songs chart, placing number three on the year-end tally there. Carpenter first performed the song at Wango Tango on June 2, 2018, four days before the release date. On October 1, 2018, Carpenter performed the song on The Late Late Show with James Corden. A lyric video directed by Elias Tahan accompanied the song's release, featuring Carpenter in a karaoke bar. The official music video was directed by Hannah Lux Davis and was filmed at the Pasadena Museum of History in May 2018. Taylor Fields of IHeartRadio compared Carpenter in the video to the Greek myth Medusa, saying, "While Carpenter does not have snakes for hair in this clip (her super blonde hair looks amazing), she does also turn men into stone — as does her girl squad — with one kiss." Matt Moen of Paper Magazine described the video as "The thrill of will-they-or-won't-they that builds up into that storybook climax." Jordan Miller of BreatheTheHeavy described Carpenter as a "Stone Cold Femme Fatale."
Did You Know?
- "Almost Love" was written and recorded in three hours on a Monday in early 2018.
- The song's concept started when Carpenter saw a note on her phone with the title of the track.
- Carpenter's favorite lyric on the track is "I want you like a loner wants an empty room," which was the last lyric written.
- The music video was filmed at the Pasadena Museum of History in May 2018.
- Carpenter performed "Almost Love" at Wango Tango on June 2, 2018, four days before its official release.