"
Bang Bang" is a song recorded by British singer
Jessie J, American singer
Ariana Grande, and Trinidadian rapper
Nicki Minaj.
[3] It was written by Minaj,
Max Martin,
Savan Kotecha and
Rickard Göransson, and produced by Martin, Göransson and
Ilya, with
Kuk Harrell serving as a vocal producer. The song was first sent to
hot adult contemporary radio on July 28, 2014 through
Republic Recordsand released as a
digital download the next day by
Lava and
Republic Records as the
lead single from Jessie J's third
studio albumSweet Talker (2014). It is also included on the deluxe version of Ariana Grande's second studio album
My Everything (2014), serving as the third single from that album.
[4] In August 2015, "Bang Bang" was certified 5× platinum by the
RIAA.
[5] As of 2016, the song has sold 3.2 million copies in the US.
[6]
Background[edit]
Jess played a demo of the song, which she decided to record. Following her recording, Martin informed her that Grande wanted to record a verse. Minaj later heard the song and decided to "jump right on it". Jessie added that "It was like a real females, coming together, empowering, supportive [vibe], and then Nicki jumping on it was like the icing on the cake."
[7]
On various dates in July 2014, each of the artists uploaded a snippet of the song on their
Instagram profiles: Jessie J on July 9,
[8][9]Minaj on July 23,
[10] and Grande on July 27.
[11]
Composition[edit]
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A 21-second sample of "Bang Bang", featuring Jessie J singing the bridge and the chorus.
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Problems playing this file? See media help. |
"Bang Bang" is an up-tempo, "soulful" song, that features a "clap-heavy" production, built over "big bouncy beats and horn blasts."
[12][13] It's in the key of
C minor, with the vocals making use of the C blues scale. The tempo is 150 BPM (Allegro). The melody of the chorus has been compared to that of "
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by
Wham!.
[14]
Critical reception[edit]
Rob Sheffield of
Rolling Stone called the song a "perfect Max Martin throwdown" that "fuses
Nelly's '
Country Grammar' with Wham!'s 'Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,' which is some truly twisted pop archaeology."
[15] Carolyn Menyes from
Music Times called the song "[a] Huge successful hit of Summer 2014" and thought that "[the] song is going straight to the top of the charts".
[14] Zach Frydenlund from
Complex praised Jessie J's and Ariana's heavenly vocals in the song but concentrated more on Nicki's "catchy killer verse" stating that "it's Nicki who really steals the show with her verse".
[16] Jason Lipshutz from
Billboard responded positively to the song, saying that the song itself "[is] composed of piercing vocals courtesy of two contemporary crooners, as well as rapid-fire spitting from the hottest female MC on the planet, "Bang Bang" rests tidily upon the Ariana Grande assertion, "See anybody could be good to you/You need a bad girl to blow your mind."
[17]
Vulture's Lindsey Weber thought the song was "no
Lady Marmalade" but praised it saying "it's catchy enough to make a huge splash in the music history".
[18] Chris Martins from
Spin stated that the song is "powerful", and credits Minaj for the song's noteworthy energy. "What makes the track so big? Well, um, ask Nicki Minaj." He goes on to further praise Minaj's performance on the song, affirming that "The "Anaconda"-taming MC rips a few mics on the loud and proud pop-soul song".
[19] Simon Cowell praised the song via his
Twitteraccount, writing, "The best pop single I have heard this year is Bang Bang. It is going to be huge".
[citation needed] Lewis Corner from
Digital Spy gave the song four and a half stars out of five and said that is "one of the year's most electrifying pop anthems".
[20]
Commercial performance[edit]
The song debuted on the US
Billboard Hot Digital Songs chart at number one with 230,000 digital downloads sold in its first week. This marked the third-largest sales debut for a song in 2014, behind
Ariana Grande's "
Problem" and
Taylor Swift's "
Shake It Off", both of which were co-written by
Max Martin.
[21] The song debuted on the US
Billboard Hot 100 at number 6, making it the third highest new entry of 2014 on that chart, also behind Grande's "Problem" and Swift's "Shake It Off".
[22] The song is Jessie J's second, Grande's fourth, and Minaj's tenth top 10 single in the United States, peaking at number 3. It became Grande's second consecutive top ten hit of 2014, after Problem peaked at number two. It was kept off the top spot by
Meghan Trainor's "
All About That Bass" and Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off". Internationally, the song has since peaked within the top ten in Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Israel, Netherlands, New Zealand, and South Korea. In the UK, "Bang Bang" debuted at number 1 on the
UK Singles Chart with 92,000 downloads, becoming Jessie J's third, Grande's second, and Minaj's first number one single in the UK.
On
Billboard's
Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) chart, the song reached number two, becoming Minaj's highest charting single on that chart since her appearance on Canadian artist
Justin Bieber's 2012 single "
Beauty and a Beat" peaked at two, Jessie J's highest since her 2012 single "
Domino" also peaked there, and Grande's second-highest peak after "
Problem" hit number one.
Music video[edit]
The song's accompanying video was shot over two days in
Los Angeles,
California and was directed by
Hannah Lux Davis.
[23] The video was officially previewed and teased in a
Beats by Dr. Dre commercial that aired on August 20, 2014.
[24] Following the ad's airing, it was announced that the music video would arrive shortly after the trio's performance at the
2014 MTV Video Music Awards. On August 24, 2014 the official video was uploaded on MTV's website and was available for international viewing.
[25] On August 25, 2014, the video was released via Jessie J's
Vevo account, and was Vevo-certified on November 5, having surpassed 100 million views.
[26] As of June 2017, it has accumulated more than 940 million views.
[27]
Live performances and media appearances[edit]
The song was performed in the seventh episode of the
South Korean music reality program
Produce 101; the performance became a trending topic on social media with Jessie J sharing its video on her
Facebook page. Jessie J's response later made the program's
executive producer Han Dong-chul proud in an interview on March 10, 2016, saying: "It’s such an honor that the original singer of the song has mentioned our show. And I’m also proud that our contestants performed it so well."
[32][33]
Formats and track listings[edit]
- "Bang Bang" – 3:19
- "Bang Bang" (Jessie J solo version) – 3:11
- "Bang Bang" – 3:19
- Digital download – Remixes EP[36]
- "Bang Bang" (Dada Life Remix) – 3:34
- "Bang Bang" (Kat Krazy Remix) – 3:57
- "Bang Bang" (3LAU Remix) – 3:06
- "Bang Bang" (Imanos and Gramercy Remix) – 3:44
- "Bang Bang" (Super Stylers Remix) – 3:33
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- "Bang Bang" (Dada Life Remix) – 3:34
- "Bang Bang" (Kat Krazy Remix) – 3:57
- "Bang Bang" (3LAU Remix) – 3:06
- "Bang Bang" (Imanos and Gramercy Remix) – 3:44
- "Bang Bang" (Super Stylers Remix) – 3:33
- "Bang Bang" (iLL BLU Mix Radio Edit) – 3:44
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Credits and personnel[edit]
Credits adapted from
My Eveyrthing deluxe edition liner notes.
[38]
- Recording
- Management
- Personnel
- Jessie J – lead vocals
- Ariana Grande – lead vocals
- Nicki Minaj – lead vocals, songwriting
- Max Martin – songwriting, production for MXM Productions, programming, keyboards
- Rickard Göransson – songwriting, production for MXM Productions, programming, guitars, bass, keyboards, percussion, background vocals
- Savan Kotecha – songwriting
- Ilya – production for Wolf Cousins Productions, programming, background vocals
- Peter Carlsson – vocal engineering, drums, percussion
- Johan Carlsson – keyboards
- Kuk Harrell – vocal production, vocal engineering for Suga Wuga Music, Inc.
- Paul Norris –
- Jonas Thander – horns
- Joi Gilliam – background vocals
- Taura Stinson – background vocals
- Chonita Gillespie – background vocals
- Paul Norris – vocal production assistant, vocal engineering assistant
- Sam Holland – engineering
- Cory Bice – engineering assistant
- Serban Ghenea – mixing
- John Hanes – mixing assistant
- Tom Coyne – mastering
- Aya Merrill – mastering
Weekly charts[edit]
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Year-end charts[edit]
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Certifications and sales[edit]
Since May 2013 RIAA certifications for digital singles include on-demand audio and/or video song streams in addition to downloads.[111]
Radio and release history[edit]
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