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Porcelain is a song by electronica artist Moby, featured as the third track and released as the sixth single from his album Play. It was released on June 12, 2000 in the UK and reached number 5 in the UK charts, Moby's highest chart position there to date. The U.S. release was released two months later, on August 22, but the song could actually have been heard even earlier because it was first featured in 1998 film Playing by Heart. It also appeared on the soundtrack to the 2000 film The Beach.
Porcelain contains pulsating string samples, piano rhythms and wandering solos by Moby. The beginning is a reverse sound of sampled strings. Moby performs vocals, with additional vocals by Pilar Basso.
As part of a 10-year anniversary retrospective interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Moby said of the song: “Strangely enough, that’s probably the most signature song on the record, and I actually had to be talked into including it. When I first recorded it, I thought it was average. I didn’t like the way I produced it, I thought it sounded mushy, I thought my vocals sounded really weak. I couldn’t imagine anyone else wanting to listen to it. When the tour for Play started, “Porcelain” was the song during the set where most people would get a drink. But then Danny Boyle put it in the movie The Beach with Leo DiCaprio. It was Leo DiCaprio’s first film since Titanic and everyone went to go see it. He used the music so well in the movie. I think that’s when a lot of people became aware of the record”.
Talking to Billboard about the inspiration behind the song, Moby explained: “I was involved with this really, really wonderful woman, and I loved her very much. But I knew deep in my heart of hearts that we had no business being romantically involved. So, it's sort of about being in love with someone but knowing you shouldn't be with them," he says. Moby thinks that the track "is a much more delicate, melodic song than a lot of other things that are getting played on the modern rock stations. A lot of the songs I hear when I listen to modern rock radio tend to be very aggressive and really heavy. 'Porcelain' has a very warm, emotional quality to it, so I think that's why it stands out”.
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