Background Information on the Song

Safe & Sound" is a song by Taylor Swift featuring country/folk duo The Civil Wars, and a promotional single from the soundtrack for the 2012 film, The Hunger Games. Safe and Sound was written by both Taylor Swift and The Civil Wars. The song also went platinum in the USA with over 1,000,000 sales.

Premier of the Single and the Music Video

Swift premiered the song via Twitter. Even before the release of the song, Swift had tweeted "Something I've been VERY excited about for a VERY long time is going to be happening VERY soon (and I'm not referring to Christmas)," later adding: "And this is it, the big surprise... Go get it!". The day of the release date (December 23rd 2011), Swift tweeted the link to the song, which is being sold exclusively on iTunes.
Not long after tweeting the link to the song, "Safe & Sound" became the top-trending topic on Twitter in the US and number two worldwide.
The song's music video, which is directed by Philip Andelman, premiered on February 13, 2012 at 7:54 p.m. ET on MTV.The video features Swift, walking barefoot through a forest in Watertown, Tennessee, wearing a long white gown. In between scenes, The Civil Wars are seen inside a cottage house sitting in front of a fireplace as they sing along to the song.

Critical reception

Amy Sciarretto of Pop Crush said the song is "breathy, ethereal and heady, not frothy and lite. Swift writes her confessional and heartfelt songs for a young audience, but here, she's exploring her dark side. The song's twangy guitars, and the icy, layered vocals make it sound like it could be sung around a campfire in the woods when you are telling scary stories that aren't exactly fake."Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone gave the song four out of five stars, calling it Swift's "prettiest ballad."

Chart performance

The song entered the Billboard Hot Digital Songs tally at number 19 with 136,000 sold in two days.The song debuted at number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100. In its second week it dropped to number 31.
After the release of the song's music video, it re-entered the Hot 100 at number 56. Prior from the released of the album, the song rebounds from number 71 to number 35 in its 11th week. As of April 2012, the song has sold more than a million copies in the United States.
"Safe & Sound" also appeared in some countries outside the U.S. The song peaked in Canada at number thirty-one, in Australia at number thirty-eight, and in UK at number sixty-seven. "Safe & Sound" attained its highest position worldwide in New Zealand at number eleven.