"Thrift Shop" is a contemporary hit from the American duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.
According to Macklemore, the song was supposed to be the opposite of regular rap song, to go against the grain.
As most of the rap songs refer to ways of spending big amounts of money on clothes and different accessories, this song tries to send a completely different message, of spending less money and buying cheaper clothes.
It was written by Ben Haggerty and Ryan Lewis and also produced by the latter.
"Thrift Shop" is part of the "Macklemore LLC" label and has a length of 3:55 minutes. The song is composed in A minor with 96 beats per minute. A mixture of the hipster hop and comedy hip hop genres, it features a saxophone melody throughout its duration. It stands as the fifth single from Macklemore's debut album, "The Heist".
Vocals fro the singer Wanz are featured during the song.
The duo recorded the track in the first part of 2012 and released it on August 27th, 2012 with the B-Side "Ten Thousand Hours".
"Thrift Shop" was very well received by the music critics whom appreciated it as "original" and "eclectic". It was rated five stars out of five by Robert Copsey from Digital Spy. It was number 18 on the list of the best singles of the year, made by Entertainment Weekly and number one on the list of "Hottest 100 countdown of 2012", made by Triple J magazine.
The popularity of the song was so high that it even led to an increase in sales of various thrift shops.
The video for the song was directed by the duo along Jon Jon Augustavo and released on August 29th, 2012. It was filmed at real thrift shops including Red Light Vintage, Goodwill Outlet, Fremont Vintage Mall and Value Village, all in Seattle. It has over half a billion views on YouTube and it received a nomination for "Video of the Year", at the MTV Video Music Awards.
The single over 7 million copies in the US alone and it was certified seven times platinum. It received a nine times platinum certification in Australia, eight times platinum in Canada, four times platinum in Sweden and New Zealand and numerous other certifications.
"Thrift Shop" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as on the US Rhythmic, US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, US Mainstream Top 40 and US Hot Rap Songs charts. It topped the charts in many countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, Sweden, Belgium, France, Ireland, Brazil, Italy and many others.
"Thrift Shop" has proved to be the breakthrough song for the duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, as well as a huge contemporary hit.
Thrift Shop's piano sheet can be downloaded for free below. Stay tuned!
