White Flag (Dido song)


"White Flag" is a song by English singer-songwriter Dido, released as the lead single from her second studio album Life for Rent on 1 September 2003. The song is considered one of her signature songs and helped Life for Rent sell over ten million copies worldwide. It fared very well on record charts around the world, peaking at number one in Australia, Austria, Germany, Italy, Norway and Portugal. In Dido's native UK, it reached number two on the UK Singles Chart, and in the United States, it climbed to number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100. The music video, directed by Joseph Kahn features actor David Boreanaz as Dido's love interest.
"White Flag" was nominated for the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 46th Grammy Awards but lost to Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful". It won the Best British Single at the 2004 Brit Awards. The song ranked on Blender's list "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born" at number 317.
The song has been used in several TV series, Smallville, The Inbetweeners, Medium, The Sopranos, Tru Calling, Cold Case, Winners & Losers, and films Perfect Stranger, Mommy and Bad Education. Carly Rae Jepsen performed a cover version of the song on Canadian Idol.

Background and composition

"White Flag" was written and produced by Dido, Rollo Armstrong and Rick Nowels. In the song, the protagonist is unwilling to give up, even if she knows her relationship is over.
"White Flag" features "multi-layered" sound, delicate piano outro, and strings. The song is written in the key of F major with a tempo of 90 beats per minute, and Dido's vocals range from the low note of A3 to the high note of C5.

Critical reception

David Jeffries from AllMusic praised "Dido's sweet delivery" and stated that "It’s all very beautiful, the perfect soundtrack for weeping, and the definition of "wistful" in a song." Derryck Strachan wrote for BBC Music that the song is "engaging to the extent that you could easily be humming along without it registering in your brain. There's something unconscious, pleasantly innocuous about it. It's comfort food for the ears and it could be easily on a Tom Hanks–Meg Ryan romantic comedy." Alexis Petridis from The Guardian wrote that the song "is a superb, confidently written pop song, possessed of a chorus that is impossible to dislodge from your memory without the aid of hypnotherapy."

Awards and success

The song was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 2004 Grammy Awards, but lost to Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful". The song won the award for "Best Single" at the 2004 BRIT Awards.

Music video

The music video, directed by Joseph Kahn, features actor David Boreanaz as Dido's love interest.
The video tells a story about a relationship that is over, but where Dido is obviously still smitten with her ex, who is oblivious to her. They have numerous occasions where they are near each other without him noticing. Dido is clearly still not over him, while he doesn't seem to really notice she is there.
At the end of the video, they return to their apartments and Dido's room is filled with photos of him and, in a twist ending, his apartment is also filled with Dido's photos The screen rotates throughout the entirety of the video, never standing still. The song's opening is also cut out entirely from the video.

Track listings

UK CD single
  1. "White Flag" – 3:40
  2. "Paris" – 3:24
  3. "White Flag" – 6:17
UA CD single
  1. "White Flag" – 3:36
  2. "Stoned" – 4:02
  3. "Paris" – 3:24
  4. "White Flag" – 3:40
US DVD single
  1. "White Flag" – 3:40
  2. "Life For Rent" – 3:41
French CD single
  1. "White Flag" – 3:58
  2. "Paris" – 3:24

    Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
Hungary 2
US Billboard Hot 10036

Certifications

Release history