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"Broken Arrows"
Single by Avicii
from the album Stories
Released	29 September 2015 (2015-09-29)
Length	3:52
Label	Universal Music
Songwriter(s)	Tim Bergling Zac Brown Rami Yacoub Carl Falk Niko Moon Eric Turner
Producer(s)	Avicii
Avicii singles chronology
"For a Better Day" / "Pure Grinding" (2015) "Broken Arrows" (2015) "Taste the Feeling" (2016)
Music video
"Avicii - Broken Arrows" on YouTube

"Broken Arrows" is a 2015 single by Avicii featuring uncredited vocals from Zac Brown of American country music group Zac Brown Band, released on Universal Music. The track appears on his album Stories.

Composition

"Broken Arrows" combines Brown's vocals with "thumping bass and twinkling synth lines".

Like one of Avicii's previous singles, "Hey Brother", "Broken Arrows" is a dance song containing elements of country music. It is written in the key of G major.

Reception

"Broken Arrows" received positive reviews from critics. Chris Parton of Rolling Stone described Brown's vocals as "crystal-clear" and the song's hook as "a cross between a game-show theme song and something from Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers", while Marcus K. Dowling noted similarities between this song and the Kenny Rogers song The Gambler in a review for Insomniac.

Music video

The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Julius Onah. It was released on 23 November 2015. It is inspired by the life of Dick Fosbury, who revolutionized the high jump by introducing a new technique known as the Fosbury Flop.

The music video starts with the caption: "Inspired by a True Story" and is located in Fairmont, a fictitious location in California in 1967, where a struggling athlete lives alone with his daughter in a trailer. The athlete is chastised by his trainer for not achieving enough on the field. The athlete is shown descending into alcoholism and despair. But the athlete is inspired again by his daughter's zeal and acrobatics to invent a new technique in jumping, leading to a gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics. Although talking about Fosbury, the video displays however a newspaper clipping, attributing it to a fictional American high jump Olympic athlete named Richard Radomsky in the video. The athlete also has Avicii's signature AV sign tattooed on his back.

The role of Richard Radomsky is played by Joshua Fredric Smith, and his daughter is played by Emily Skinner. Richard Neil plays the coach in the video.

Track listing

Charts

Certification

See also

• Zac Brown Band discography

References

1. Times, Music (1 July 2015). "Avicii Premieres 'Stories' Zac Brown Band Collaboration "Broken Arrows"". MusicTimes.com. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
2. "New Avicii Single \"Broken Arrows\" featuring Zac Brown Band". EDM Chicago. 1 July 2015. Archived from the original on 4 October 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
3. "Listen to Avicii's New Collab with Zac Brown Band, 'Broken Arrows'". Billboard.com. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
4. "Stories - Avicii". iTunes. 2 October 2015.
5. ^ "Hear Zac Brown Band and Avicii's Sparkling 'Broken Arrows'". RollingStone.com. 1 July 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
6. Dowling, Marcus (October 2, 2015). "Avicii 'Stories': A Track-by-Track Review". Insomniac. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
7. "Avicii - Broken Arrows (2015) - IMVDb". IMVDb. 23 November 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
8. Stutz, Colin (23 November 2015). "Avicii Releases Inspirational New 'Broken Arrows' Video: Watch". Billboard. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
9. EDM Topics: Avicii tells a new story with “Broken Arrows”
10. IMDb.com: Avicii: Broken Arrows (2015)
11. "Avicii – Broken Arrows". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
12. "Avicii – Broken Arrows" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
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15. ^ "Avicii – Broken Arrows" (in French). Ultratip. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
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19. "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Single (track) Top 40 lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
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28. "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Stream Top 40 slágerlista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
29. "Årslista Singlar – År 2015" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
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34. "Brazilian single certifications – Avicii – Broken Arrows" (in Portuguese). Pro-Música Brasil. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
35. "Canadian single certifications – Avicii – Broken Arrows". Music Canada. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
36. "Veckolista Singlar, vecka 12, 2016 | Sverigetopplistan" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 2017-11-09. Scroll to position 85 to view certification.

• 2015 singles
• 2015 songs
• Avicii songs
• Song recordings produced by Avicii
• Songs written by Avicii
• Songs written by Rami Yacoub
• Songs written by Zac Brown
• Songs written by Carl Falk
• Songs written by Eric Turner (singer)
• Universal Music Group singles