Skinny Love

In 2008, Justin Vernon was promoting the debut album he had recorded with his band Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago, and its first American single was "Skinny Love". The song reached the United Kingdom as a single on April 28, 2008, and it was soon chosen as iTunes UK's single of the week, offered as a free download during that period. National Public Radio also picked it as track of the day. Television followed, with placements in the fifth season of Grey's Anatomy and in an October 2008 episode of Chuck, and Bon Iver performed the song on the Late Show with David Letterman that December.

Vernon wrote the song himself, and its title drew speculation about his relationship with his former girlfriend Christy Smith. He pushed back on that reading, saying it was not entirely accurate and explaining that it concerned a stretch in a relationship where a person stays because they need help, which he called skinny. Australian listeners took the song to heart, ranking it at number 21 in Triple J's Hottest 100 for 2008.

Three years later the British singer Birdy, born Jasmine van den Bogaerde, recorded her own version. She had won the competition Open Mic UK in 2008 at the age of twelve, and her cover of "Skinny Love" became her debut single and her breakthrough. It charted across Europe and went platinum six times in Australia. Both versions of the song later appeared on multiple television and film soundtracks and became fixtures on singing competition shows.