After Carpenter released her debut album, she started writing new songs for her second album. Ido Zmishlany collaborated with Carpenter in several songs such as "No Words", "Feels Like Loneliness" and "Smoke and Fire" the latter being the supposed first single from Evolution. In November 2015, Carpenter filmed a snippet from the song chorus. Carpenter explained that the song is quite ironic because it appeared accidentally. She also said that the song was meant to be a piano ballad, but it became something more fun and energetic. On July 22, 2016, Carpenter revealed on her social media that the song will be released on July 29, and before that, she had already performed the song live. In addition to producing "On Purpose", Ido Zmishlany engineered the track and do the additional vocal engineering. Nolan Wescott played the piano and do the vocal engineering. Serban Ghenea mixed the track and Chris Gehringer did the audio mastering at Sterling Sound in New York. The vocals were recorded at UMPG Studios in Santa Monica and the additional vocals were recorded at Faculty Studios.
Composition and lyrical interpretation
Musically, "On Purpose" is a three minutes and fifty-eight seconds piano-driven midtempo pop song with a tropical house chorus. In terms of music notation, "On Purpose" was composed using common time in the key of D minor, with a moderately tempo of 100 beats per minute. The song follows the chord progression of Gm/B–Dm-C-Gm-Gm/B–Dm-C in the verses, B-C-Dm-Cadd4 in the pre-chorus and Dm-C-F-B in the chorus. Carpenter's vocal range spans from the low note F3 to the high note of D5, giving the song one octaves and five notes of range. Lyrically, "On Purpose" talks about a relationship that Carpenter didn't expect to arise.
Music video
The music video was directed by James Miller. It was premiered on Vevo and YouTube on August 12, 2016. The music video was filmed in July 2016 and shows Carpenter touring London and Madrid.
Critical reception
Brittany Goldfield Rodrigues of ANDPOP said "The lead single off of the record hinted at more of an indie sounding Sabrina — matched with the same emotional lyrics and powerful vocals. The sweet and endearing love song is the perfect balance between ballad and up-tempo dance track. The lovely lyrics and beat-heavy chorus make for the perfect unique track to set the tone for the record". Big City said "“On Purpose,” an excellent move as it makes a true trademark of what the album is and where it is going. Everything happens for a reason, and the track perfectly portrays that EVOLution is purposefully meant to be a major success preparing to break down the barriers of Disney".
Live performances
The first time Carpenter performed the song was in May 2016. She performed the song at Elitch Gardens on June 11, 2016 and at Magic Springs before she released the song. After the song was released, she performed the song at MusikFest 2016. Carpenter performed the song on the Honda Stage at the iHeartRadio Theater in Los Angeles on August 25, 2016, along with other new music before the release of Evolution. The song was part of her debut headline tour, being one of the last songs to be performed.
Credits and personnel
Recording and management
Recorded at UMPG Studios
Additional vocals recorded at Faculty Studios
Mastered at Sterling Sound
Seven Summits Music obo Itself and Pink Mic Music, Songs of Universal, Inc/Music of Liberal Arts Publishing/Zmishlany Music
