"Five Nights at Freddy's"[a] is an electronic song by electronic rock band The Living Tombstone, based on the 2014 video game of the same name. The song was produced and sung by Yoav Landau, and was released as a single in 2014. The song was popular on YouTube, reaching over 300 million views by 2024, along with over 500 million plays. It was featured in the end credits of the video game's film adaptation released in 2023, and has been credited with creating a musical subgenre oriented around the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise.
Background and release
The song was created by The Living Tombstone, who had previously been involved in creating songs based on the My Little Pony franchise. After previously being involved in that franchise's fandom, producer Yoav Landau learned about the release of the horror game Five Nights at Freddy's in 2014, and the popularity it gained. After Landau played the game for himself, he decided to create a song based on it. Landau primarily composed the song with synthesizers, which were described as being similar to those used by 100 gecs by CT Jones of Rolling Stone.[1] Commenting about the creation of the song, Landau said "the culture of the internet is about being there first, being the first one to make a meme about a thing. In the case of FNAF, when I started to see people talking about it, it was easy to make a post with a song and lyrics about the game, see this thing catch fire, and then it goes on YouTube."[2]
When the band asked game creator Scott Cawthon for permission to release the song due to being unaffiliated with the property, Cawthon gave them permission to publish the song as long as they gave some of their profit to charity.[3] The song was uploaded to YouTube only three weeks after the game, and garnered millions of views shortly afterwards.[1] In 2023, during the marketing of the game's film adaptation, the song was performed live during an event at Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Following fan speculation over its inclusion, the song was featured in the movie during the end credits.[1][4] On the day of the film's release in North America, The Living Tombstone released a new version of the song, titled the "Goth Remix".[4] In addition, a jazz cover was performed and released by the 8-Bit Big Band in 2020.[5] For the song's 10th anniversary, The Living Tombstone released an orchestral version of the song arranged by Charlie Rosen.[6]
Reception and legacy
On YouTube, the song had gained around 69 million views by March 2016,[7] 220 million by June 2021,[8] 312 million by 2023,[citation needed] and 372 million by 2024.[citation needed] After the song's release, The Living Tombstone created songs based on the second and third games in the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise, titled "It's Been So Long" and "Die In A Fire" respectively.[9] Jef Rouner of Houston Press considered the first song to be the weakest in this trilogy, but that it was still a "damned spooky bit of music and a worthy place to begin".[9]
According to CT Jones of Rolling Stone, the song started a sub-genre of music oriented around the franchise, "retain[ing] the hyper-pop influences popularized by Landau" – making the song a "defining part of the Five Nights at Freddy's fandom." The song was credited with inspiring several artists, such as JT Music and CG5. JT Music described creating songs based on the game to be "another way fans could recontextualize and reexperience the game and its story from a different perspective".[1] The song's inclusion in the game's film adaptation was described by /Film as "a testament to the grassroots popularity" alongside the inclusion of several YouTube Let's Players, writing further that the production team behind the movie "hasn't forgotten the people who made the IP such a valuable sensation in the first place".[4]
