"Walk Me Home" is a song recorded by American singer Pink for her eighth studio album, Hurts 2B Human (2019). The track was announced during an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show broadcast on February 6, 2019, and it was released as the lead single from the album on February 20, 2019, by RCA Records. "Walk Me Home" was written by Pink, Scott Friedman, and Nate Ruess, while the production was handled by Peter Thomas and Kyle Moorman.
Upon its release, critical response was positive towards the track, with music critics commending the optimistic departure from Pink's previous singles. Commercially, "Walk Me Home" achieved moderate success and charted within the top-ten charts of several countries, including Croatia, Ireland, Latvia, Poland, Slovenia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In the United States, the single peaked at number 49 on the Billboard Hot 100, and reached number-one on the Adult Pop Songs chart, extending Pink's lead as the soloist with the most number-ones on the chart. For promotion, an accompanying lyric video was uploaded onto Pink's official YouTube channel simultaneously with the song's release, followed by the release of a music video directed by Michael Gracey on March 21, 2019. The singer performed "Walk Me Home" at the 2019 Brit Awards and on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Background and release
Pink started to produce the song in 2018. Later on January 25, 2019, it was reported that Pink will receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; the ceremony was held on February 5, 2019, and she was joined by her two children and husband, Carey Hart. The following day, Pink appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and stated that "Walk Me Home" would be released in two weeks, while the album, titled Hurts 2B Human, was believed to be released around April 2019. She also talked about shooting a music video with Michael Gracey, the director of The Greatest Showman, and the album's release. Pink sang a snippet of the song a cappella. A snippet of the track was released on social media, along with a release date announcement. "Walk Me Home" became available for digital download and streaming on February 20, 2019, and its lyric video was also released on YouTube the same day. It was serviced to hot adult contemporary radio and contemporary hit radio on February 25, 2019, and March 5, 2019, respectively.
Composition
The song was written by Pink, Scott Friedman, and Nathaniel Ruess, while the production was handled by Peter Thomas and Kyle Moorman. Jon Blistein from Rolling Stone stated that the instrumentation of the track includes "heavy drums" and a "steady twang of an acoustic guitar." Aimee Cliff of The Guardian found "flourishes of digitised vocal production" and considered them "a fresh touch" in Pink's discography, consisting mainly of pop-rock" songs, while Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times felt that its structure contains "Lumineers-style stomp-folk" elements. According to the music sheet published at Musicnotes.com by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, "Walk Me Home" is performed in the key of D major with a moderate tempo of 88 beats per minute. The song is composed in an irregular time signature that changes measure to measure, and Pink's vocals span from D3 to D5.
Critical reception
Rob Bailey-Millado from New York Post called "Walk Me Home" a "drum-driven" track that "rides [her] signature muscular vocals". In a review for Chicago Sun-Times, Maeve McDermott wrote that the single is a "foot-stomping anthem" and marks an "optimistic departure" from Pink's previous singles that were centered around "dysfunctional" love. Mike Wass from Idolator described the sound as "a vocoder-laden Mumford-folk anthem" and said that the song's chorus is "big enough to swallow you whole". Amy O'Connor of Irish Times believed that the track is "admittedly catchy" and felt that it was "made to soundtrack the climax of an episode of Grey's Anatomy." In a review for Hurts 2B Human, Sarah Grant of Rolling Stone considered that "Walk Me Home" is a "jacked-up" sequel to "Just Give Me a Reason", while Toby Bryant from CelebMix called it a "fist-pumping" ballad. Sean Maunier from Metro Weekly called the track a "remarkable standout hit" and said that Pink succeeds to balance the "combination of swagger and vulnerability" with "a stomping, triumphant" song. Conversely, Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic felt that the record is "strident" and "a bit too insistent in its anthemic reach".