Calvin Harris: Facts you probably didn't know about his biggest hits

We all know and love Calvin Harris' hits, including this year's 'Lovers In a Past Life' with Rag'n'Bone Man, and last year's 'Desire' with Sam Smith and 'Miracle' with Ellie Goulding, back to huge tunes with Katy Perry, Rihanna and Dua Lipa.

As Calvin has now released his latest song called 'Free' with Ellie Goulding, here we take a look at some of Calvin Harris' biggest hits... The stories behind them and the facts that you might not know about them, such as who they were written by, what they're about and how they were created.

Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding's 'Miracle'

Calvin Harris' big hit of 2023 was 'Miracle' with Ellie Goulding. The BRIT Award-winning song was a trance-inspired hit and the DJ opened up in an interview about the inspiration behind his hit. As reported by Rolling Stone, Calvin said: "When I started making music, I was 14. It was 1998 and ’98, ’99, 2000, 2001 was for me kind of formative trance and house era.

"So what I did usually was just take bits from that and put it in a new context. But this time I thought maybe I’ll just try and maybe more recreate something that could be from back then… The only thing that I think makes it not sound like it’s from 1996 is the kick drum, because the kick drum’s pretty banging."

He went on to say: "I definitely have very defined sort of likes and dislikes for music and artists. And one of my likes is an Ellie Goulding angelic vocal. One of a kind. You’re not going to get this from anyone else. Ellie can do a lot of different things, for me, this is my absolute favourite thing that she does, and only she can do it, in my opinion."

In an interview with us, Calvin also revealed there were three good things about working with Ellie, he said: "(There are) three good things about working with somebody. A spectacular unique voice and delivery that can carry a song emotionally, and you’re a laugh!"

Ellie then added: "I feel like we just have a 'thing', I don’t know what it is, it’s hard to explain."

Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa's 'One Kiss'

Calvin Harris' collaboration with Dua Lipa, ‘One Kiss’, was the biggest selling single of 2018. So it’s no surprise at all the accompanying video for the track takes the title of the most played video of 2018.

The song is said to be about someone who falls in love after just one kiss. Calvin revealed in a behind the scenes video, how the collaboration came about. He said: "I first met Dua maybe two years ago, I think she had just put out 'Be The One'. Two years later I had this 'kinda' half finished song, and I thought it would be perfect for her."

Who wrote 'This Is What You Came For'?

'This Is What You Came For' was written by Calvin Harris along with Taylor Swift and sung by Rihanna. The song was originally released using the pseudonym Nils Sjoberg instead of Taylor's name, but it wasn't long before fans had worked out the true identity of Nils.

As well as co-writing the song and lyrics, Taylor also provides the backing vocals on the track.

Is 'My Way' about Taylor Swift?

Despite rumours that his 2016 song 'My Way' was written about his ex Taylor Swift, Calvin Harris revealed in an interview it's actually about leaving his job at a supermarket before he made it famous.

Speaking to an American radio station he said: "It’s breaking out of a situation. I thought of the concept years ago, when I left Safeway. I was trying to move to London and I was working in the store in Scotland, I was trying to go on and make music for a living but I couldn’t because I didn’t have any money. I was like, damn this grocery store! If I could break out of this I could have enough time to work on music and get good."

Calvin Harris once said in an interview that he doesn't write songs about his experiences, "I'm not an autobiographical singer. I'm very vague with my messages," he explained.

WATCH: Calvin Harris - 'My Way' (Official Video)

Who is the girl in 'How Deep Is Your Love'?

One of Calvin’s most iconic videos has to be for his 2015 hit with Disciples ‘How Deep Is Your Love'. The video has over 1.5 billion views on YouTube (and counting).

It features supermodel Gigi Hadid looking absolutely gorgeous as she awakes on a table before stumbling into a series of parties looking rather confused. Don’t sweat Gigi, your hair looks great. The singer's name is Ina Christine Wroldsen, who also sang on 'Breathe' by Jax Jones and 'Places' by Martin Solveig.

WATCH: 'How Deep Is Your Love' - Calvin Harris and Disciples (Official Video)

Calvin Harris and Rag 'n' Bone Man's 'Giant'

Calvin Harris released his epic Rag 'n’ Bone man collaboration, ‘Giant’ in January 2019, on release it quickly shot into the Top 10. The DJ posted on his Instagram that the track was his 40th Top 40 production. Writing ‘Giant is my 40th top 40 production! What a great birthday present. Thank you!!!’ Talk about dominating the game!

The song was written by Calvin along with Rag 'n' Bone Man, along with some songwriters. It was also produced by Calvin. The song was also nominated for a BRIT Award in the Song of The Year category, but it lost out to Lewis Capaldi's 'Someone You Loved'.

Calvin Harris and Katy Perry's 'Feels'

So what do you do when things have ended very badly with an ex? Well, if you are Calvin Harris, team up with their arch nemesis on a track that will become the sound of the Summer. Calvin recruited Taylor’s enemy Katy Perry for his album ‘Funk Wav Bounces Vol.1’, back in 2017.

Along with rapper Big Sean and Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry features on track ‘Feels’ which was released in June 2017. The song quickly claimed the top spot and stayed put for a number of weeks.

Calvin Harris: Songs with Rita Ora, Taylor Swift and Ellie Goulding

Calvin Harris has worked many of his former girlfriends. While dating Rita Ora back in 2013 to 2014 he wrote and produced her single ‘Never Let You Down’. However things turned a bit nasty when the pair split, with Calvin not giving Rita legal permission to perform the track. The decision pulled the plug on Rita's Teen Choice Awards performance just days before she was set to take the stage. Eek!

And who can forget all that ‘This Is What You Came For’ drama. As mentioned above, the song was written by Calvin and Taylor, however, there was drama following Calvin and Taylor's split.

Taylor quickly had a new romance with actor Tom Hiddleston, the pair were at war over who wrote Calvin’s hit ‘This Is What You Came For’, which features Rihanna on vocals. It finally emerged Taylor had co-written the track under the pseudonym Nils Sjoberg, but that’s not before a whole hell of mud was slug on Twitter (now X).

While things ended BADLY with a capital B when Calvin broke up with Taylor and Rita, he’s still good friends with ex Ellie Goulding.

The pair have worked on three songs now, ‘I Need Your Love’, 'Outside' and 'Miracle'. The pair dated briefly in 2013, Ellie even takes credit for setting Calvin up with Taylor! She told a newspaper in 2015: "I did play matchmaker that’s true. Calvin is a really great mate and he’s fantastic, and Taylor is such a cool person who I love."

Take a look through Calvin Harris' amazing collaborations:

Has Calvin Harris written songs for other artists?

Calvin has written a number of songs for other artists that you might not now about. He also is a very talented producer, musician, and singer, as revealed in a tweet.

He explained to a fan how he makes his money as he does pretty much everything himself.

You can hear Calvin Harris' songs on Downtown Radio.

Now read:

Everything you need to know about Calvin Harris

22 HUGE Calvin Harris career highlights so far 🎶

26 of Calvin Harris' fantastic collaborations 🎶

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