The worldwide debut of "Victorious" (as well as fellow Victorious track "City Lights") came on 19 November 2015,[1] when radio DJ Zane Lowe played both songs on Apple Music station Beats 1 as part of his "World Record" feature.[2] The song was subsequently released as a single on music streaming service Spotify,[3] and was also included as a free digital download with every pre-order of Victorious on iTunes.[2]
Reception
Media response to "Victorious" was positive. Chad Childers of Loudwire dubbed "Victorious" a "full-on rocker", praising the "classic sounding riffs" as well as Andrew Stockdale's "instantly recognisable voice" and "upbeat and motivational lyrics".[4]Digital Trends writer Chris Leo Palermino claimed that the song takes influence from bands such as AC/DC and Guns N' Roses, dubbing it "anthemic" and "hard-hitting".[5]
Music video
The music video for "Victorious" was released on 25 January 2016, initially exclusive to digital media website Mashable.[6] Brother Willis directed the video, starring Aurelia Scheppers, which was filmed in Los Angeles, California.[2] Speaking in a behind the scenes feature, both Brother Willis and Andrew Stockdale described the video as "tongue-in-cheek", and Willis described it as a "homage to sci-fiB movies", particularly from the 1970s.[7] The spaceship-themed guitar used in the video was later given away in a competition by British music magazine Kerrang![8]
Speaking to Mashable, Stockdale explained that "the video is about a girl who's held hostage by evil alien folk [who] upon hearing the powers of Wolfmother's smash hit rock 'n roll extravaganza ... is set free from the dark forces of the universe".[6] Loudwire's Chad Childers described the story of the video as "an epic battle between a sword-wielding vixen and an evil ruler".[4]
