Play Hard


"Play Hard" is a song by French DJ and record producer David Guetta featuring vocals from American singers Ne-Yo and Akon. It was released on 15 March 2013 as a single from the re-release of Guetta's fifth studio album, Nothing but the Beat. This is the second collaboration between Guetta and Akon since "Sexy Bitch" in 2009. All three artists co-wrote the song along with Frédéric Riesterer and Giorgio Tuinfort, both of whom produced the song with Guetta. Akon's vocals were written and recorded at Sonic Vista Studios in Ibiza in July 2012. The song samples the 1998 Eurodance song "Better Off Alone" by Alice Deejay and "In My Dreams " by Noemi. "Play Hard" peaked at number six on the UK Singles Chart, thus becoming his fourteenth top 10 hit in the UK as a lead artist. It also charted within the top 10 of the charts in several other countries including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Scotland, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain and Switzerland; as well as the top 20 in Australia, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and New Zealand.
Guetta reported on Twitter shortly before the release that he planned to release an edited version of "Play Hard" as the next single from Nothing but the Beat 2.0 for a long while, which would make it the tenth single from Nothing but the Beat. This version never came to fruition, however.

Music video

An official music video was uploaded to Guetta's official Vevo channel on April 22, 2013. The video uses the New Edit version of the song. Directed by Swede Andreas Nilsson, it generated controversy for its stereotypical portrayal of Mexico. The video and an advertisement from Neon Mixr feature the popular dancers, Les Twins. The video has over 1.0 billion views as of August 2020.

Track listing

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
Hungary 30

Certifications

Release history