Silentó “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” charted

Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae) Silentó

Writer(s): Ricky Hawk, Timothy Mingo (see lyrics here) Released: May 7, 2015 First Charted: March 14, 2015 Peak: 3 US, 110 ST, 17 RR, 2 RB, 19 UK, 11 CN, 9 AU, 11 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 6.0 US, 0.4 UK, 7.04 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 2305.43 video, 373.35 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Rapper Richard Lamar Hawk (aka “Silentó”) was born in 1998 in Stone Mountain, Georgia. His only chart entry on the Billboard Hot 100 is his debut single, “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” which was released when he was just 17 years old. He released four mixtapes from 2018 to 2021 but never put out an official studio album. In 2021 he was indicted in the shooting death of his cousin. Songfacts.com called the song “the soundtrack to the biggest dance craze of 2015.” SF The song became a viral video because of the popularity of the accompanying dance – actually two dances. The Whip involved keeping one’s arms straight and swinging them in front of one’s face as if driving a car. The Nae Nae is a similar move, but involving an open hand. The latter is based on the character Sheneneh played by Martin Lawrence in his 1990s’ TV series Martin. When she got upset, she made exaggerated “talk to the hand” gestures, which the dance move replicates. SF The video shows Silentó in a high school gym dancing with cheerleaders, fans, and others. Much of the success of the video can be attributed to DanceOn, a digital media company which tapped 50 creators to make instructional videos on how to dance to “Watch Me.” The videos garnered more than a quarter million views in less than three months. WK The success of the video pushed the song to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and it topped the streaming chart for 10 weeks. Critics, however, weren’t complimentary. Complex.com called “Watch Me” “one of the most annoying things to ever exist.” WK RapRadar.com’s Elliott Wilson rated it the second worst single, saying “Give me silence, Silento.” RR Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Silentó RR Rapradar.com (1/8/2016). “15 Worst Singles” by Elliott Wilson SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 8/15/2023.

 

LMFAO hit #1 again with “Sexy and I Know It”

Sexy and I Know It LMFAO

Writer(s): Stefan Kendal, Gordy David, Jamahl Listenbee, Erin Beck, George M. Robertson, Kenneth Oliver (see lyrics here) Released: September 16, 2011 First Charted: July 30, 2011 Peak: 12 US, 2 RR, 15 DG, 27 A40, 5 UK, 14 CN, 19 AU, 6 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 8.0 US, 1.2 UK, 10.77 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 983.90 video, 423.92 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: LMFAO was an electronic dance duo comprised of Redfoo (Motown founder Berry Gordy’s youngest son) and Sky Bluu (Gordy’s grandson). They released their first album, Party Rock, in 2009. It generated three minor Billboard Hot 100 entries, none of which got past #51. However, their second album, 2011’s Sorry for Party Rockin’, went all the way to #5 on the Billboard album chart and reached sales of 1.7 million worldwide, thanks to a pair of #1 songs. “Party Rock Anthem” was their big breakthrough hit, reaching #1 in July 2011. After “Champagne Showers” failed to dent the Billboard Hot 100, it looked like LMFAO might have already come and gone. Then, however, “Sexy and I Know It” was released as the third single. It reached the top 10 within a month and by November was at #2. It looked like it might peak there, getting stuck behind Rihanna’s “We Found Love” for seven weeks, but finally in January 2012 “Sexy and I Know It” reached the pole position. The duo rap “in a comically boastful manner” SF “about how girls can’t resist their unorthodox style.” SF It is reminiscent of the 1992 #1 hit “I’m Too Sexy” by Right Said Fred. SF The video features Redfoo and some of the LMFAO crew dancing in Speedos. Redfoo said the song was inspired by “people who obviously think they are [attractive] but by normal standards are not, like the hairy old men in a Speedo on the beach with huge bellies, sunglasses, and a cigar.” SF No Ripcord offered a brutal review of the song, calling it “a repetitive, dull, bone-headed track, devoid of imagination, wit and charm.” NR Entertainment Weekly offered a somewhat nicer take, saying “as blithely brainless disco squiggles go, it does make the booties bounce.” EW Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for LMFAO EW Entertainment Weekly NR No Ripcord SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 6/24/2023; last updated 4/1/2024.

 

50 years ago: The Isley Brothers “Shout” charted

Shout The Isley Brothers

Writer(s): O'Kelly Isley Jr., Ronald Isley, Rudolph Isley (see lyrics here) Released: August 1959 First Charted: September 7, 1959 Peak: 47 US, 28 CB, 19 GR, 38 HR, 2 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 13.50 video, 103.51 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Ronald Isley and his brothers formed a gospel group in the early ‘50s transitioned to singing doo-wop. They started touring before they’d even made a record and released their first single, “Angels Cried,” in 1957 after going to New York. They eventually became an R&B vocal group and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.. In 1959, they were touring the Northeast appearing in R&B revues. Producers started putting them last on the bill “to ensure that audiences left the theater on a high note.” MM They used to close with a cover of Jackie Wilson’s “Lonely Teardrops.” During a performance at either the Uptown Theater in Philadelphia MM or in Washington D.C. SS (depends on the source), Ronald Isley sensed that the audiences were too worked up to sit down and improvised an extension of the song by calling out “shout.” MM He said, “the band picked right up on it with that galloping beat…That song just took over.” MM While it lacked “any real lyrical content, [it sported] pure, unbridled passion, taking the frenzied call-and-response of black gospel into the secular realm..” SS Producers and cousins Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore read about the performance in the newspaper and, once the revue’s run was over, encouraged the brothers to record the song. They brought friends into the studio to simulate a live audience during the recording. MM It had “deep roots in black tradition as a physical manifestation of being possessed by the spirit, losing oneself in religious ecstasy.” SS While the single only peaked at #47, it was their first chart hit and “proved…important in shaping the future of R&B” TB and “helped definte the very meaning of soul.” SS It “starts where [Ray Charles’] ‘What’d I Say’ leaves off; goes nowhere and has a great time doing it.” DM A cover by Joey Dee & the Starliters reached #6 in 1962. It was also a party anthem in the 1978 movie National Lampoon’s Animal House. It was also used as a commercial jingle for the laundry detergent of the same name. DJ Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for The Isley Brothers AH Andrew Hickey (2021). A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs: Volume 2. Pages 337-44. DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 173. DM Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New American Library: New York, NY. Page 356. MM Marc Myers (2016). Anatomy of a Song. Grove Press: New York, NY. Pages 23-7. SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 621-2. TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 36. First posted 8/8/2023.

 

Miley Cyrus “Party in the U.S.A” released

Party in the U.S.A. Miley Cyrus

Writer(s): Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald, Jessica Cornish, Claude Kelly (see lyrics here) Released: August 4, 2009 First Charted: August 9, 2009 Peak: 2 US, 16 DG, 11 RR, 13 A40, 11 UK, 3 CN, 6 AU, 21 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 12.0 US, 1.2 UK, 14.54 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.3 radio, 950.71 video, 1254.57 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Miley Cyrus, the daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, was born in 1992 in Franklin, Tennessee. She became a child star in the Disney TV show Hannah Montana (2006-2011). During that time, she charted as Hannah Montana, reaching #1 on the album chart three times and reaching a #10 peak on the Billboard Hot 100 with “He Could Be the One.” In 2007, she released an album under her own name. That album, Meet Miley Cyrus, and its follow-up, Breakout, gave her two more chart-topping albums as well as two more top-ten hits with “See You Again” and “7 Things.” However, in 2009 she reached her highest peak with “Party in the U.S.A.,” a twelve-time platinum smash from her EP The Time of Our Lives. The song debuted and peaked at #2 behind the Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling.” The song was written and produced by Dr. Luke with Jessie J and Claude Kelly. It was originally intended for Jessie J, but she thought “its cheerful tone was at odds with the darker, edgy material she preferred.” WK It was given to Miley instead. The lyrics initially reflected on Jessie J’s move from the UK to Los Angeles, but were reworked to reflect Miley’s move from Nashville to Hollywood. WK Cyrus has said she also preferred songs with more of an edge and that “Party in the U.S.A.” was not the best reflection of her musically. WK The song references Jay-Z and Britney Spears and, coincidentally, the three artists were back-to-back-to-back on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated October 31, 2009. “Party in the U.S.A.” was #3 while Jay-Z was at #4 with “Run This Town” and Spears was at #5 with “3.” SF Miley said at the time of her song’s release that she’d never even heard a Jay-Z song. The Guardian’s Michael Hann called it “a cute pop song” and said “that manufactured pop need not be a bad thing – if the manufacturing is good enough.” WK Erik Ernst of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said the song was “ridiculously catchy.” WK Yahoo! Music’s Jaime Gill called it a “breezily brilliant hit” WK and AllMusic.com’s Heather Phares described it as “a brothy party anthem.” WK The video was shot as an homage to the movie Grease and included tributes to Miley’s parents and their courting days. The drive-in featured in the video was named Corral Drive-in after the Kentucky drive-in her parents went to when they were first dating. In the video, Miley is featured in a 1979 black Pontiac Trans Am, the car her mom used to drive. SF Resources: SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 7/27/2023.