"Parachute" is a song by English recording artist Cheryl Cole. It was co-written by Marshall Altman and Ingrid Michaelson and recorded for Cole's debut studio album 3 Words (2009). The song was released on 11 March 2010 as the album's third and final single. "Parachute" became Cole's third consecutive solo UK top 5 hit, and her third Irish top 10 hit. It was nominated for a Brit Award in 2011.

"Parachute" is an up-tempo song written by Ingrid Michaelson and Marshall Altman which combines R&B rhythms with pop melodies. It also makes use of military percussion,strings and a big pop music-hook with quirky melodic verses that were compared to "3" by Britney Spears. The melody was said to resemble "beats from the Argentine Tango" whilst Cole makes use of auto-tuning for her vocals. It was initially put forward as one of the options for the lead single of the album but "Fight for This Love" was chosen instead.

Lyrically the song was criticised for being "mundane" but also well written enough to "get horribly stuck in everyone's heads". The song has an overall "tender and mourningful" theme. Critics noted that "Parachute" was one of several songs on the album where there "lurks a deeper undertow of paranoia". Cole also said that the song contains her favourite lyric from the album; "you are your own worst enemy, you'll never win the fight". Other lyrics such as "I don't need a parachute, baby if I got you" led to the song being labelled "sultry" as the subject of the lyrics appeared to be Cole's spouse Ashley though at the time the couple had announced their separation. The timing of the single release was described as "bittersweet" due to the "talk about being safe in the love of another person" in the lyrics.

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