The Chainsmokers reveal their biggest hit ‘Closer’ almost never happened

Alex Pall, one-half of The Chainsmokers, took to LinkedIn to tell an intriguing story behind their biggest hit, Closer, which reveals that the song almost never saw the light of day.

Closer, by the American duo The Chainsmokers, is arguably the biggest hit they have ever produced. And for good reason. The track currently sits at over 3.2 billion streams on Spotify and is regularly played on radio stations all over the world, even after 9 years since its release. But the original idea almost never came to fruition. Alex Pall, one-half of the record-breaking duo, revealed that Closer almost never got released officially.

In a LinkedIn post, Alex revealed that the original vocalist for Closer was none other than Camila Cabello, who sang together with the other half of The Chainsmokers, Drew Taggart. The duo should’ve premiered the track together with Camila at Coachella, but she never showed up because she allegedly hung out with Taylor Swift. They played Drew’s part to a Coachella crowd that went wild. After the dust settled, Camila withdrew from the project, stating that the whole song wasn’t for her after all. Panic engulfed The Chainsmokers as they were met with a difficult task: to find a worthy replacement in 5-6 weeks.

That replacement was none other than Halsey, for whom Alex Pall stated “came out of nowhere”. He and Drew were massive fans of her previous projects, and after working with her, they realized she was the perfect fit for Closer. Fast forward 9 years, and the track has reached heights the trio could’ve never imagined. As Alex said in his LinkedIn post, if you keep trusting the process unconditionally, it will work out in the end. For him, Drew, and Halsey, it certainly did.

If you want to read the complete retrospective from Alex Pall on the situation, check out the full LinkedIn post.