"Burning House" is a song recorded by American country music singer Cam. It was released on June 16, 2015, as the second single from her second album Untamed. Co-written by Cam along with Tyler Johnson and Jeff Bhasker, the song was inspired by a dream that she had about attempting to rescue her boyfriend from a house that was on fire.
According to Billboard, the idea for the song came when Cam learned that an ex-boyfriend of hers would be at a party that she was attending, and that night, she had a dream that she was trying to rescue him from a burning house. She recounted the dream to producer Tyler Johnson via Skype, and he offered a guitar riff inspired by Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters" while she came up with "two off-the-cuff opening lines that alternate between standard 4/4 time and 3/4 bars".[3] When they recorded the song with producer Jeff Bhasker, Johnson played acoustic guitar on the recording, with a few notes spliced in from Cam's touring guitarist Doug Showalter due to Johnson having difficulty playing the last four notes of the riff. The song also features a piano, a muted bass, and a small string section arranged by Hamilton Ulmer.[3]
The song has a play length of 3 minutes and 51 seconds. It is composed in the key of A minor, and alternates between 4/4 and 3/4 time signatures. Cam's vocal ranges just over an octave, from G3 to A4.[4]
Billy Dukes of Taste of Country praised Cam’s voice and the musical arrangement, saying “The newcomer’s performance is stark and personal. Her production team does a great job of not getting in the way.” He also said that “Cam is the one who wronged her man, not vice-versa. The other way around is an over-told story, but there’s nothing unoriginal” about "Burning House".[5]
Billboard ranked "Burning House" at No. 24 on its year-end list for 2015: "In one four-minute track, Cam manages to pack in frustration, despair, anguish, and torment. But what makes it beautiful is the wounded vocal melody set against gentle guitar strumming and understated strings. This is the rare quiet breakout hit of 2015."[6] At the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, "Burning House" was nominated for Best Country Solo Performance but lost to Chris Stapleton's "Traveller".[7]
The song was released after Cam performed it twice on The Bobby Bones Show, and the song entered the Hot Country Songs chart at No. 43 on the song release (chart date June 27, 2015), selling 13,000 copies.[8] It debuted at No. 48 on the Country Airplay chart dated for July 11, 2015.[3] It then entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 94 on the chart date of August 1, 2015. The song later went on to peak at No. 2. on both Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay in January 2016.
The song was certified Gold by the RIAA on October 14, 2015, Platinum on December 16, 2015, and double Platinum on August 28, 2018.[9] The song reached over a million in sales in the US in March 2016.[10] The song has sold 1,231,000 copies as of November 2019.[11]
