Dear Darlin'

"Dear Darlin'" is a song by English recording artist Olly Murs, from his third studio album, Right Place Right Time (2012). The song was released as the third single from the album on 26 May 2013. It was co-written by Murs, Paul Flowers, Ed Drewett and Jim Eliot. Drewett and Eliot also co-produced the song. No further works by Paul Flowers are known.

"Dear Darlin'"
Single by Olly Murs
from the album Right Place Right Time
Released	26 May 2013
Genre	Pop breakbeat
Length	3:25
Label	Epic
Songwriter(s)	Olly Murs Ed Drewett Jim Eliot
Producer(s)	Ed Drewett Jim Eliot
Olly Murs singles chronology
"Army of Two" (2013) "Dear Darlin'" (2013) "Right Place Right Time" (2013)

The song reached number five on the UK Singles Chart. On 2 September 2013, Murs released a new version of the song for its release in France which featured French vocals from singer Alizée, and was later included on the Special Edition of the album.

Background

On 18 April 2013, Murs revealed via Twitter that "Dear Darlin'" would be the third single released from Right Place Right Time.[1][2]

"Dear Darlin'" was co-written by Murs, Ed Drewett and Jim Eliot. Of the track, Murs said: "Writing with Ed and him being my friend helped, as we sat there for hours before writing, going over old relationships and recalling their scenarios. It's about writing to someone to tell them how I feel about losing someone. It's not the kind of song you'd expect me and Ed to write, as we're bubbly characters, but we were able to open up to each other."[3]

Murs has said that the song was inspired by Eminem's song "Stan".

Critical reception

"Dear Darlin'" was one of the three songs that was previewed prior to the album's release. Robert Copsey of Digital Spy gave the song a positive review commenting, "it's reassuringly familiar without feeling dated." He ended his review writing, "There are Christmassy chimes to be heard throughout, so we wouldn't be surprised if this is the next pre-Christmas single."[4]

Chart performance

The song reached number 196 on the UK Singles Chart, with downloads from the album only. After the premiere of the song's video, further album-only downloads helped the song to reach a peak of number 18, before it then climbed the following week to number 9, then to #6, and then finally to its current peak of #5, becoming Murs' ninth UK top 20 hit overall and his first single (aside from his number ones) from an album to reach the top 10 since "Thinking of Me" in 2010.

The song has so far reached a peak of #8 in the Irish Charts, #4 on the Australian Charts and #29 on the New Zealand Charts. The song peaked number one in Austria, marking his first number one there and it also peaked number two in Germany.

Music video

On 18 April 2013, Murs tweeted that the music video would be shot the following week in Los Angeles.[1] It was shown on Murs' Vevo channel on 13 May. It shows Murs thinking about when he and his girlfriend (played by model Jessica Cook) moved into their new home and later after a falling out the girl moves out. It then shows Murs and the girl walking around the town with the girl been given a coffee saying 'I ♥ You' in it, then walking by a busker playing the guitar with a cardboard sign saying 'I Miss You' next to him. She is later seen walking by a wall saying "These Arms Are Yours To Hold" and is last seen writing 'Dear Olly, I Miss You Too' in a notebook before ripping the page out and scrunching it up whilst Murs is seen on top of a tower.

Live performances

Olly Murs and Alizée singing the French version of Dear Darlin’ – Le Trianon, Paris, 2013.

Murs' first live performances of the song were during promotion of the Right Place Right Time album at the end of 2012, when he performed it acoustically for the ninth series of The Xtra Factor and This Morning. It was subsequently performed on his UK and Ireland arena tour for the album in March 2013. In May 2013, he was briefly interviewed and performed the song on Alan Carr: Chatty Man, and as part of his set on the final day of BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend in Derry. The song was also performed at the 2013 Royal Variety Performance.

Track listing

Digital EP[5]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Dear Darlin'" (Single Mix)	3:26
2.	"Don't You Worry Child" (BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge)	3:39
3.	"Dear Darlin'" (Live from The O2 – video)	3:38

France single[6]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Dear Darlin'" (featuring Alizée)	3:27

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts Chart (2013) Peak position scope="row" Australia (ARIA)[7] 4 scope="row" Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[8] 1 scope="row" Belgium (Ultratip Flanders)[9] 63 scope="row" Czech Republic (Rádio Top 100)[10] 7 scope="row" France (SNEP)[11] 127 scope="row" Germany (Official German Charts)[12] 2 Greece (IFPI)[13] 4 Iceland (Tónlist)[14] 2 scope="row" Ireland (IRMA)[15] 8 Lebanon (The Official Lebanese Top 20)[16] 2 Luxembourg Digital Songs (Billboard)[17] 1 scope="row" New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[18] 29 scope="row" Poland (Polish Airplay Top 100)[19] 10 Romania (Airplay 100)[20] 27 scope="row" Scotland (OCC)[21] 4 scope="row" Slovakia (Rádio Top 100)[22] 28 Slovenia (SloTop50)[23] 6 scope="row" Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[24] 38 scope="row" Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[25] 5 scope="row" UK Singles (OCC)[26] 5

Year-end charts Chart (2013) Position Australia (ARIA)[27] 64 Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[28] 26 Germany (Media Control AG)[29] 20 Slovenia (SloTop50)[30] 31 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[31] 52 UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[32] 20 Chart (2014) Position Slovenia (SloTop50)[33] 37 Certifications Region Certification Certified units/sales United Kingdom (BPI)[34] Platinum 701,000[35]

References

1. Murs, Olly (18 April 2013). "NEW UK single is.. (Drum roll) a little tune myself, @Eddrewett & Jim Eliot wrote 'Dear Darlin' fav song from album!! Doing Vid next wk". Twitter. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
2. Corner, Lewis (18 April 2013). "Olly Murs confirms new single 'Dear Darlin' – listen". Digital Spy. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
3. Corner, Lewis (18 April 2013). "Olly Murs confirms new single 'Dear Darlin' release details". Digital Spy. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
4. Copsey, Robert (8 October 2012). "Olly Murs's new album 'Right Place Right Time': First listen". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
5. Dear Darlin' [+video]: Olly Murs: Amazon.co.uk: MP3 Downloads. Amazon.co.uk. 2013-05-20. Accessed 2013-05-21.
6. Dear Darlin': Olly Murs: Amazon.co.fr: Téléchargement MP3. Amazon.co.fr. 2013-09-02. Accessed 2013-09-03.
7. "Australian-charts.com – Olly Murs – Dear Darlin'". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
8. "Austriancharts.at – Olly Murs – Dear Darlin'" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
9. "Ultratop.be – Olly Murs – Dear Darlin'" (in Dutch). Ultratip.
10. "ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – RADIO – TOP 100 and insert 201343 into search.
11. "Lescharts.com – Olly Murs – Dear Darlin'" (in French). Les classement single.
12. "Offiziellecharts.de – Olly Murs – Dear Darlin'". GfK Entertainment Charts.
13. IFPI Greece International Digital Singles Chart
14. "Netlistinn viku 27, 2013" (in Icelandic). Tónlist. Archived from the original on 22 September 2013. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
15. "Chart Track: Week 25, 2013". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
16. "The Official Lebanese Top 20". Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
17. "Luxembourg Digital Songs". Retrieved 13 October 2013.
18. "Charts.nz – Olly Murs – Dear Darlin'". Top 40 Singles.
19. "Listy bestsellerów, wyróżnienia :: Związek Producentów Audio-Video". Polish Airplay Top 100. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
20. "Airplay 100 – Cristi Nitzu | Kiss FM – August 4, 2013". Kiss FM. Archived from the original on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2018. Note: User may scroll down the 'Podcasturi' menu to play or download the respective podcast.
21. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
22. "ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: insert 201332 into search.
23. "SloTop50: Slovenian official singles weekly chart" (in Slovenian). SloTop50. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
24. "Swedishcharts.com – Olly Murs – Dear Darlin'". Singles Top 100.
25. "Swisscharts.com – Olly Murs – Dear Darlin'". Swiss Singles Chart.
26. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
27. "2013 Annual ARIA Singles Chart". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
28. "Jahreshitparade Singles 2013". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
29. "Top 100 Singles Jahrescharts 2013" (in German). VIVA. Viacom International Media Networks. Archived from the original on 20 January 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
30. "SloTop50 | Slovenian official year-end singles charts (2013)" (in Slovenian). Retrieved 31 December 2013.
31. "Schweizer Jahreshitparade 2013 – hitparade.ch". Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
32. Lane, Daniel (1 January 2014). "The Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Singles Of 2013". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
33. "SloTop50 | Slovenian official year-end singles charts" (in Slovenian). Retrieved 31 January 2018.
34. "British single certifications – Olly Murs – Dear Darlin'". British Phonographic Industry.
35. Myers, Justin (16 November 2016). "Olly Murs' Official Top 10 biggest songs revealed". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 May 2017.