War Paint

"War Paint" is a song by British recording artist Iris, taken from her fourth studio album, The Asylum Pt. 2 (2014). It was released as the album's lead single via digital download on 02 June 2014, in the United Kingdom. A teaser version of the song had previously been included on The Asylum Pt. 1, in January 2014. The song was written and produced by Iris herself. The alternative rock song carries a club beat, with synth arpeggios and energetic bass. Lyrically, it speaks of falling in love and compares it to a war, showing the battle of two hearts.

The song was met with generally positive reviews from critics, who compared it to her previous single "Poison Ivy" as a more "club orientated" sound. The single reached number ? in the United Kingdom. The accompanying music video was directed by Max Vitali and shows Iris within a pure black surrounding, whilst scenes of war are projected across her body. The concept behind the video was Iris wanting to make a simple video to emphasise the simplicity of love.

Background
"War Paint" was written and produced by Iris. Iris claimed that "War Paint" was one of the first songs recorded for The Aslyum series, but she decided to save it for a later release to give it a chance of becoming a single.

The song was announced as the first single from The Asylum Pt. 2, in January 2014, when a teaser of the song was included on The Asylum Pt. 1. The single artwork was posted on Iris' official website on the 26 May 2014. The single was released in the United Kingdom on 02 June 2014, two weeks before the album. The single received an On Air / On Sale release, meaning it premiered on it's day of release, on Capital FM. Iris performed the song on Week 4 of the third season of The Uraps Factor.

Composition
"War Paint" is an electropop/alternative rock song which was written and produced by Iris. Genevieve Koski of The A.V. Club noted the similar "anthemic, emotional beats" of "All This Blood" from The Aslyum Pt. 1. Tom Ewing of The Guardian compared its musical style to that of the Paramore meets Pet Shop Boys. Comparisons were also drawn towards her previous single, "Poison Ivy". "War Paint" carries a "fierce, club-wrecking beat", with "relentlessly energetic bass" and synth arpeggios. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Universal Music Publishing Group, "War Paint" is set in common time with a metronome of 115 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of D major and has the sequence of Bm–A(add4)–D as its chord progression. Iris' vocals in the song span from the note of B3 to the note of B4.

Lyrically, the song speaks of how much of a struggle and battle it can be to love someone. Fraser McAlpine of BBC Music called the song a "fairly straightforward early-days relationship song about trust, from the perspective of someone who's a bit too tightly buttoned-up to let her defences down." According to Nick Levine of Digital Spy, Iris "urges on this ode to friendship, mutual support and generally not being a fool who rushes in." Tyler Grisham of Pitchfork noted that Iris' "vocals are echoed by a robotic self-harmony" and that "she seems to be encouraging herself twice as hard to believe the song's words." Speaking of the song, Iris said, "It’s a sweet song. Beautiful and bitter sweet, It’s about falling in love and being scared."

Critical reception
Erika Berlin of Rolling Stone said that the song proves that Iris "can crank out catchy jams as fast as pop's biggest hitmakers." Tyler Grisham of Pitchfork noted Iris' ability to synthesize "disparate moods and feelings in a single track." He concluded by saying that "it would take lesser pop artists an entire album to explore the wide spectrum of emotions that she can express in less than four minutes." Robert Ballantyne of music website Popjournalism described it as "both a peppy pop track and a ballad", and called it Iris' best single yet, stating, "Iris' growing ability as a producer adds just the right amount of au courant electro-pop into the mix, but not too much to doom the track to the dance-club ghetto." Nick Levine of Digital Spy gave the song four out of five stars, and wrote that "What began life as a subdued-but-beautiful strings 'n' piano ballad is now a strident electropop tune that percolates as enviably as your next door neighbour's brand new coffee maker."

In her review for Daily Star, Sarah-Louise James wrote that the "rousing pop gem could be the prequel to Iris' earlier tearduct-tickling 'You Can't Lose Me'."[18] Tom Ewing of The Guardian referred it to as the "perfect counterpoint" to "Poison Ivy", and praised it for "sound[ing] like one of the most simplistic yet complex record in 15 years." MTV News named the song the twenty-first best of 2014, with James Montgomery calling it a "rather fragile, heartbreaking exploration of those first tentative steps into (or out of) love". Montgomery pointed out that "Iris cautions us not to delve into love, but when she makes songs as good as “War Paint,” it's sort of difficult not to love her."

Music video
The music video was uploaded to Iris' Vevo channel the day after it's official release.

The video is quite simplistic. It features Iris naked in a plain black surrounding. Scenes of war and break ups are projected across her body, keeping her dignity intact, yet showing Iris at her most vulnerable state. Towards the end of the song, coloured powder bombs explode around the setting and all over Iris, eventually leaving the place looking like a coloured battleground. The video fades to black.

Charts
The single is due to be released on 02 June 2014. The song charted at #16 on the Digital chart, becoming Iris' only single to ever miss the top ten on the chart. It also debuted at #33 on the Airplay chart and rose to #26 the next week.