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"Doin' It Right" is the twelfth track by Daft Punk from the album Random Access Memories. Its length is 4:05. The song features Panda Bear on lead vocals, and was the last to be recorded for the album. The song was distributed to American alternative radio stations on 3 September 2013 as the third single from Random Access Memories. Prior to this, it appeared on record charts in France, the United States and the United Kingdom due to digital downloads of the album. "Doin' It Right" received a positive critical reception, with some reviewers opining it as the group's best work out of the entire LP.

Background[]

"Doin' It Right" was the last song to be recorded for Random Access Memories.[1] Noah Lennox, better known by his stage name Panda Bear, had first heard of Daft Punk through the music video of the song "Around the World", which introduced him to many aspects of electronic dance music. He later asked the duo to remix an Animal Collective song, which they declined. A request to remix a solo Panda Bear track was also refused by Daft Punk as they no longer had interest in doing "that kind of thing". The duo however would keep Panda Bear in mind for a collaboration, and invited him to the Random Access Memories sessions in Paris a year and a half later.[2][3]

Lennox's contribution was recorded within a three-day window, which went against his usual approach of gestating an idea over a long period. He recalled that after the microphones in the studio were prepared and tested for his voice, he was instructed to simply "do something good". He initially tried several ideas, none of which resonated with the group in the studio. The idea that became "Doin' It Right" came about very late in the sessions on a whim, to which Daft Punk reacted positively.[2][3] Lennox remarked that his intention was to make neither a Panda Bear track nor a Daft Punk song, but to "hit a target that was perfectly in the middle of us. I definitely felt like I was out of my comfort zone, but that's ultimately what the whole song is about."[4]

Composition[]

Daft Punk referred to "Doin' It Right" as the only purely electronic piece on the album, with a modern style.[1] Unlike the rest of Random Access Memories, the instrumental accompaniment was achieved without session musicians and consists solely of a modular synthesizer performed by Daft Punk.[5] Jeremy Abbott of Mixmag noted that, "Light and airy synths are introduced half way through to make this a fantastic understated ballad."[6] The song is in the key of G♭, and performs in common time at a tempo of 90 beats per minute. The vocals range exactly two octaves. The chord progression of A♭sus2—A♭m—G♭/B♭—C♭sus2—C♭—D♭—E♭sus2—E♭m—D♭—C♭sus—C♭ is followed throughout.[7]

"Doin' It Right" is a [snare-and-vocoder-driven track[8] with vocals by Panda Bear, and a vocoder loop singing the lyric "Doing it right/everybody will be dancing/and we'll feeling it right/everybody will be dancing/and be doing it right/everybody will be dancing/and we'll feeling it right/everybody will be dancing tonight", which is a similar cloth of their previous song "Something About Us." The vocoder part stops when Panda Bear sings the lyric "If you lose your way tonight/ That's how you know the magic's right," which, according to Pitchfork Media, is "presumably for emphasis, and we know that magic is important to Daft Punk.'[7][9] Regarding the musical style, a Clash review noted that the song has "a bit of an Afrika Bambaataa-proto-electro vibe"[10] while Pitchfork called it "a terrifically uplifting bit of electro-pop."[11] Critics have also noted that the rhythmic structure resembles that of trap music.[12][13]

Track listing[]

Promotional CD single/digital download
  1. "Doin' It Right" – 4:14

Personnel[]

Credits adapted from Random Access Memories liner notes.[5]

  • Daft Punk – production, vocals, modular synthesizer
  • Panda Bear – vocals

Release history[]

Region Date Format Label
United States 3 September 2013 Alternative radio[14] Columbia

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Ghosn, Joseph, and Wicker, Olivier (16 August 2013). Daft Punk Revient Avec Random Access Memories (French). Obsession. Retrieved on 17 August 2013. “Exclu: Les morceaux de Random Access Memories commentés par Daft Punk.”
  2. 2.0 2.1 Lachman, Ed (24 April 2013). Daft Punk | Random Access Memories | The Collaborators, Episode 5: Panda Bear. The Creators Project. YouTube. Retrieved on 17 August 2013.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Cubarrubia, RJ (24 April 2013). Panda Bear: Daft Punk Make Old Sound New (YouTube video). Rolling Stone. RollingStone.com. Retrieved on 17 August 2013.
  4. Dombal, Ryan (15 May 2013). Daft Punk: Cover Story Outtakes. Pitchfork. Pitchfork Media. Retrieved on 18 August 2013.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Template:Cite AV media notes
  6. Abbott, Jeremy (30 April 2013). Jeremy Abbott: Random Access Memories Review. Mixmag. Retrieved on 18 August 2013.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Daft Punk "Doin' It Right" Sheet Music – Download and Print. musicnotes.com. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  8. Mincher, Chris (21 May 2013). Daft Punk: Random Access Memories. The A.V. Club. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
  9. Fitzmaurice, Larry (15 May 2013). Daft Punk: "Doin' It Right" [ft. Panda Bear]. Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  10. Bennett, Matthew (30 April 2013). Track-By-Track: Daft Punk - Random Access Memories Clash. Retrieved on December 11, 2013.
  11. Richardson, Mark (20 May 2013). Daft Punk Random Access Memories Pitchfork Media. Retrieved on December 11, 2013.
  12. Ben Hebert, Daft Punk – Random Access Memories (Full Album Review). Retrieved on 18 August 2013.
  13. Ryan Schreiber, Handwritten Notes from My First Listen to Daft Punk's Random Access Memories. Retrieved on 18 August 2013.
  14. Alternative > Future Releases. All Access Music Group. Archived from the original on 25 August 2013. Retrieved on 25 August 2013.
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