"Drowning" is a song by American boy band Backstreet Boys. It was released on October 16, 2001 as the first and only single from their compilation album The Hits – Chapter One. The song was written by Andreas Carlsson, Rami and Linda Thompson and produced by Rami and Kristian Lundin. The song was initially recorded for the Black & Blue album, but there was not any room on the tracklist for it.

It was released as an iTunes Exclusive Play on January 14, 2008. It features member Kevin Richardson on piano and was also their last release before a two-year-hiatus from 2002 - 2004.

The song reached #28 in the US on November 13, 2001 and also did moderately well in the international charts, peaking at #3 in Sweden and #5 in Norway. The song also did exceptionally well on TRL, and the video for it was retired on February 26, 2002. The song was featured on the 2002 compilation album Now That's What I Call Music! 9.

Parts of the song, e.g. the piano intro and the chorus, are very similar to "Långsamt farväl" released by the Swedish artist Mauro Scocco in 1997. Andreas Carlsson, co-writer of "Drowning", actually sang backing vocals on Lisa Nilsson's version of "Långsamt farväl" released in 2003.

The official music video was directed by Paul Boyd. It featured the five Boys gathered around some monuments and an old building which resembles a church.

The video is notable for its frequent used of the contre-jour technique, which puts the subject directly against the source of light, thus giving a clear, dark outline of the figure. In the video, the Boys are often seen as dark figures dancing and singing against a beautiful background. This was filmed in Los Angeles in November 2001.

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