Losing My Religion

"Losing My Religion" is a collaborative single by alternative-rock duo Dresden & Bareilles and pop singer Danelle Becker. It is a cover of the R.E.M song originally recorded for the "Fall From Grace" soundtrack, and later released as the third single from the album, following hit singles "Out Of My Mind" and "A Word You Left Behind". The single is infamously known as Dresden & Bareilles' worst single ever, and saw the decline of Danelle's music career in full effect.

Background
"Losing My Religion" is a song by R.E.M, which was covered by Danelle for the "Fall From Grace" soundtrack, featuring additional instrumentation and production work from Dresden & Bareilles. Later, when the song was announced as a single, the duo re-recorded parts of the song to turn it into a fully-fledged duet for release as the third single from their movie soundtrack. A new version of the soundtrack was planned for a Christmas release to coincide with the DVD release of the film, but this was ultimately scrapped. While working together on the single, Danelle was again forced into vocal coaching, which was put to use on even further material recorded for another re-release of her debut album.

Reception
Music fans and critics were greatly opposed to the song as a single; as just an album track on the soundtrack it was fine but as a single it was a major misstep for Dresden & Bareilles, with many feeling that the dance-rock version ruined the song. The reaction was disappointing after the trio had worked so well together on "Out Of My Mind" earlier that same year. The collaborators' popularity was enough for the single to chart in the top 10 despite the critical failure of the single, however it is Dresden & Bareilles' worst-performing single ever, not even making it anywhere near certification and being widely ignored by radio. Due to the single's failure in the UK, it was not released in the US where it was believed it would perform even worse.

Promo CD

 * 1) Losing My Religion (Single Version)
 * 2) Losing My Religion (Danelle Original Version)
 * 3) Losing My Religion (Call-Out Hook)

CD1

 * 1) Losing My Religion (Radio Edit)
 * 2) A Word You Left Behind (Acoustic)
 * 3) Out Of My Mind (Acoustic)

CD2

 * 1) Losing My Religion (Radio Edit)
 * 2) Requiem (Suite from ‘Fall From Grace’)
 * 3) A Question Of Faith (Suite from ‘Fall From Grace’)
 * 4) Losing My Religion (Extended Mix)

Digital EP

 * 1) Losing My Religion (Radio Edit)
 * 2) Out Of My Mind (Acoustic)
 * 3) Requiem (Suite from ‘Fall From Grace’)
 * 4) Losing My Religion (Extended Mix)
 * 5) Losing My Religion (Lost Daze Deeper Vocal Mix)
 * 6) Losing My Religion (Jeff Barringer Tribal Club Mix)
 * 7) Losing My Religion (Solar City Club Anthem)

Music Video
The video opens with a shot of an abandoned church in ruins; this is the same one seen in the artwork for the single. It is empty. We then cut to the exterior shot of a brick building, then inside we see a fire alarm as the camera travels through. There is an underground fight club, which we are shown as Jean-Luc is engaged in combat with a darker man as the song starts. We see performance shots of Danelle at a trailer park, singing her opening lines of the song as the fight progresses. We also see shots of Danelle in the crowd around the fight in progress, watching. We see performance shots of Gabriel singing his lines of the first verse from the drivers’ seat of a car as Jean-Luc from the fight gets beaten down by his opponent. Danelle rounds off the verse as Jean-Luc gets up. Performance shots of Jean-Luc singing against a wall are intercut with shots of him in the fight, looking bloodied and bruised but determined to win. The crowd roars and cheers at the spectacle, many having money in their hands – bets have been made on who is going to win the fight.

On a lower level of this seedy establishment, we see Gabriel coming down the stairs and meeting with a trashy woman made-up and dressed like a hooker. She pushes him against the wall and begins to undo his pants. This is intercut with more performance shots of Gabriel singing in his car. While Gabriel is busy having sex (off-screen) we’re shown a gambling room where Danelle has retreated to play poker, not interested in the fight anymore (which Jean-Luc is losing). It appears to be a little later, as Gabriel and the hooker are both present playing at the table. We see Danelle’s hand from over her shoulder – a royal flush. The hooker cries foul and declares that Danelle is cheating – and that she slept with Gabriel. We see the church again during the end of the first chorus; Gabriel is now there, having ‘lost his religion’ (his infidelity with a hooker, as in real life Gabriel is a happily married man and father). We’re also shown performance shots of Jean-Luc as he leads the second verse. The other Jean-Luc in the fight club is meanwhile getting badly beaten, suffering a spinning kick to the face from his opponent. More performance shots of Danelle in her trailer as we’re also shown shots of her at the card table fighting with the hooker. Back upstairs, Jean-Luc has lost his fight as we see his unconscious body dragged away.

Jean-Luc has joined Gabriel in the church now, having experienced ‘lost’ his own religion – for Jean-Luc, it is his total weakness in succumbing to the power of a stronger opponent, in contrast to his own personal strength when dealing with the bullying he received in high school. With his fight over, Danelle and the hooker have taken their confrontation upstairs, providing themselves as the challengers for the next fight. We see more performance shots of Gabriel as Danelle smacks the hooker across the face, and we see the bruise on her face with her smeared make-up. More performance shots of Jean-Luc are shown. Danelle has delivered a brutal beating to the hooker; we see her completely wasting her opponent; and once the hooker is down, Danelle turns her over and gets in her face telling her that she’s lost. During all this, we’re shown an ever-quickening barrage of performance shots of all three singers in their respective sets, the video ending with Danelle joining the other two in the church. The religion that Danelle has ‘lost’ is her bad bitch care-for-no-one attitude; she only fought with the hooker to defend Gabriel’s honour, something she never used to even consider doing, back when she was hated by everyone and before she started making friends.

Chart Performance
Due to Dresden & Bareilles' popularity, it was expected that the single would be a top 5 hit, but backlash from the poor reception of the single greatly hindered its chart success, with the single barely making the top 10. It charted at #9 with opening sales of 35,426, and then free-fell down the charts, only spending four weeks on the chart and not even breaking 100k in sales, a major critical failure for Dresden & Bareilles, and also an obvious sign of decline for Danelle. Radio ignored the single, with it spending a single week in the top 40. The song did not perform any better digitally. Being a complete failure on all counts, the single was never released in America or any other territory, for fear that its performance would be even more lacking.

Chart Run
TOTAL: 73,250
 * Week 1: #9 - 35,426
 * Week 2: #14 - 18,319
 * Week 3: #21 - 12,121
 * Week 4: #35 - 7,384