"Almost Love" is a song recorded by American singer Sabrina Carpenter from her third studio album Singular: Act I (2018), served as the opening track of the album. Described as a dance-pop song, it was written by Sabrina Carpenter, Steph Jones, Nate Campany and Mikkel Eriksen and the production was handled by Stargate. It was released by Hollywood Records as the lead single from Singular: Act I on June 6, 2018.
It was accompanied by a music video directed by Hannah Lux Davis premiered on her Vevo channel on July 12, 2018. It was filmed in May 2018 at Pasadena Museum of History in Pasadena, California and it features Carpenter's romantic partner Noam Sigler. Carpenter promoted "Almost Love" with several live performances, including on Wango Tango on June 2, 2018 and on The Late Late Show with James Corden.
Background and recording
On May 13, Carpenter announced via Twitter that the single would be released on June 6, and a day later she revealed that she would perform the song at Wango Tango, four days before the official release. "Almost Love" was written and recorded on a Monday in early 2018 in three hours and was one of the last songs to be recorded for the album. The concept to the song started when Carpenter saw her phone and it had a note saying the title of the track. Carpenter explained in an interview with BUILD Series LND "I've had these encounters so many times in my life, these almost interactions that never quite turn into anything, and they're these, like, relationships and you never quite finish the story". Carpenter told Billboard that when she was writing the song, she wasn't thinking "I still gotta write that first single." Carpenter said "Listening back to the song when we were done, it had this confidence and this personality in my voice that I hadn’t really had before. Whenever I listened to it, it made me want to physically get up and dance, and I’ve never had a song like that."
The song was written in January 2018 by Sabrina Carpenter, Steph Jones, Nate Campany and Mikkel Eriksen and it was produced by Stargate. Tim Blacksmith and Danny D were the executive producers of the track while Mikkel Eriksen programmed and played all the instruments. Thomas Warren and Eriksen recorded the track at The Stellar House in Venice, California. The song was mixed by Eric J Dubowsky at Hercules St. Studios in Sydney and Tim Watt served as a mix assistant. The song was mastered at Sterling Sound in New York City by Chris Gehringer.
Composition and lyrical interpretation
"Almost Love" is a dance-pop song with an electropop beat. Lyrically, the song is about a relationship that isn't taken seriously by either party. The second verse was the last part to be written and the last lyric to be written, "I want you like a loner wants an empty room", turned out to be Carpenter's favorite lyric on the track.
Commercial performance
"Almost Love" peaked at number 21 on the US Mainstream Top 40 Airplay chart, and reached the summit of the Dance Club Songs chart, placing number three on the year-end tally there.
Music video
Background and release
A lyric video directed by Elias Tahan accompanied the song's release. It features Carpenter in a karaoke bar. The official music video was released through Vevo and YouTube on July 12, 2018. It was directed by Hannah Lux Davis and was filmed at the Pasadena Museum of History in May 2018.