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Shake It Out

"Shake It Out" is a song by English indie rock band Florence and the Machine, released as the first official single from their second studio album, Ceremonials (2011). It was written by Florence Welch and Paul Epworth, while production was handled by Epworth. The song was digitally released in Australia on 14 September 2011, and it was available in the United States on 19 October. It had its radio debut on XFM on 14 September 2011 in the United Kingdom. Welch revealed that the song was written within an hour and according to her it talked about shaking the regrets and the things that were haunting her.

"Shake It Out" is a gothic pop song with gospel elements which contains organs, bells, and tambourines as its main instrumentation. The song received acclaim from music critics who praised Welch's vocals and its anthemic nature. An accompanying music video for the song premiered on 19 October 2011 and it was directed by Dawn Shadforth. It showed Welch attending an old party in England, evoking references to Eyes Wide Shut. It received acclaim from critics who praised its imagery and compared it to videos by Annie Lennox and Madonna.

"Shake It Out" was nominated for the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards. It was featured on the television series How I Met Your Mother, at the end of the episode "No Pressure".

"Shake It Out" was written by Florence Welch and Paul Epworth, while production was handled by Epworth. The song was recorded in London at Abbey Road Studios where the whole second album was finished. On 14 September 2011, Florence Welch went to XFM to premiere Florence and the Machine's second single from their second upcoming album Ceremonials. Welch elaborated the songwriting process of the song adding that it can be compared to a really good hangover cure. She stated, "I wanted to just shake something out, shake out these regrets, shake out these things that haunt you. It was one of those songs that came in about half an hour and when you've got a hangover, it is almost like a hangover cure. You're like, thank you! I don't want everyone to think that I always write songs with a hangover! Cause I don't, I really don't. But with this one I have to say there was a bit of one lurking in my mind as I wrote it. It was like I was trying to write a hangover cure." During an interview with MTV News she described the recording process:

"I think I came to the studio with a bit of a hangover, and it was one of those strange days where you're not really sure where a song comes from. [Producer] Paul [Epworth] just had these chords on the organ, and they sounded optimistic and sad at the same time. And I was thinking of regrets, like, you know when you feel like you're stuck in yourself, you keep repeating certain patterns of behavior, and you kind of want to cut out that part of you and restart yourself. [...] So this song was kind of like, 'Shake yourself out of it, things will be OK,'. [Because] sometimes I have to write songs for myself, reminding me to let it go. But then, the end refrain of 'What the hell' is really important as well, because you'll dance with the devil again at some point, and maybe it will be fun. I've heard he does a really good foxtrot."

Welch also said that "Shake It Out" was a "... magic one. I feel weird because I'm always talking about how I'm writing songs when I'm hung over most of the songs weren't but 'Shake It Out' was. Like 'Cosmic Love' (it was) written when you're not feeling too great. It became the ultimate hangover cure, and then it became about something bigger. Like trying to get rid of 'hangover ghouls'."

"Shake It Out" is a four-and-a-half-minute baroque pop song which contains "swelling, gospel-flavored pop, with churchy organ and pounding drums setting a cathartic scene for Welch's fiery singing" in the lines "It's hard to dance with the devil on your back. So shake him off!" Digital Spy's Robert Copsey stated: "earthy drums are dressed with bells and tambourines before Flo chants 'Shake it out, shake it out, ooh-waaoah!' on the song's anthemic and dangerously addictive chorus." Consequence of Sound's Alex Young concluded that the song "takes approximately 37 seconds to build up before a pulsating drum enters". AllMusic's James Christopher Monger commented that when the swelling guitars, organs, and strings, staccato percussion, and Florence Welch's "air-raid siren of a voice" start in the song, begins a "battle over which one is going to launch itself into the stratosphere first." In the song, Welch sings about dancing with a devil in the lyrics "It's hard to dance with a devil on your back". Lewis Corner of Digital Spy found references to "exorcism of demons and regrets with a backdrop of village church organs and ritualistic thuds and jingles courtesy", while Ryan Dombal of Pitchfork Media found lyrics talking about "getting past one's troubles."

Rolling Stone's Jody Rosen wrote, "'Shake It Out' is a treatise on heartbreak and spiritual rebirth. I am done with my graceless heart/So tonight I'm gonna cut it out and then restart, she cries, over guitars and keyboards that heave and chime. This is the sound of a human turbine – a wind machine." In his review of Ceremonials, Rob Harvilla of Spin wrote: "Consider rapturous call to arms 'Shake It Out,' a feast of droning organs and concussive drums that begins as an assassination/martyrdom attempt, throwing Flo to the clichés instead of the lions: 'It's always darkest before the dawn,' 'Damned if I do and damned if I don't,' 'At the end of my rope,' 'It's a shot in the dark,' and all-time Catholic-hymn classic 'It's hard to dance with a devil on your back.' Yet she rips the throat out of every line with that bazooka alto, turns even the banalities into profundities."

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