Candyman (Christina Aguilera song)

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“Candyman”
“Candyman” cover
Single by Christina Aguilera
from the album Back to Basics
Released February 5, 2007 (2007-02-05) (U.S.)
April 7, 2007 (Europe, Australia)
Format CD single, digital download
Recorded 2006
Genre Soul, Swing jazz
Length 3:14
Label RCA
Writer(s) Christina Aguilera, Linda Perry
Producer Linda Perry
Certification Platinum (ARIA)
Gold (RIAA, RIANZ)
Christina Aguilera singles chronology
"Tell Me"
(2006)		 "Candyman"
(2007)		 "Slow Down Baby"
(2007)

"Candyman" is a Grammy Award-nominated swing jazz song written by Christina Aguilera and Linda Perry for Aguilera's third studio album, Back to Basics (2006). It was released as the album's third, and final American single in early 2007 (see 2007 in music).[1] On December 2007, it received a Grammy Award nomination for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance".

Contents

[edit] Background and writing

Perry and Aguilera have said that the song is new lyrics to music that is a new arrangement of the 1941 Andrews Sisters' hit "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy".[2] Critics usually compliment Aguilera for the authentic replication of the old style.[3][4][5]

The song includes the military cadence "Tarzan & Jane Swingin' on a Vine", sampled from the album Run to Cadence with the U.S. Marines, Volume 2.[6]

[edit] Release

Originally, "Candyman" was to be the second single off the album, but the label pushed for "Hurt" hoping it would have comparable success to 2002's "Beautiful"[7] and would become a holiday hit. The song was released on February 5, 2007 in the US, although Aguilera had already performed it on New Year's Rockin' Eve. The song debuted in the January 20, 2007 release of the Billboard Hot 100. "Candyman" peaked at #25 in its seventh week on the chart making it Christina Aguilera's 14th top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.[8] In the UK it was released on download only, peaking at #17 on the UK main singles chart and getting over 100,000 digital downloads. The song performed very well in Oceania, peaking #2 in both Australia and New Zealand and remaining in the Australian Top10 over 15 weeks.[9]

In December 2007, it received a Grammy Award nomimation for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at this years 50th Annual Grammy Awards.

[edit] Music video

Christina Aguilera singing in three different hair colors in the music video.
Christina Aguilera singing in three different hair colors in the music video.

The music video for the single "Candyman" was filmed on January 28, 2007. It was directed by Matthew Rolston and co-directed by Aguilera. It is based on a 1940s World War II theme, and Aguilera rented out an airport in Spain to film it. In the music video, Christina Aguilera is dancing and singing in three different hair colors - red, blonde and black, as if she were in a singing trio, a tribute to the Andrews Sisters.[10] In another scene, she appears as the famous biceps flexing factory worker Rosie the Riveter from Westinghouse's We can do it poster. Finally, she appears in scenes inspired by pin-up girls Judy Garland, Betty Grable, and Rita Hayworth.[11] The video also features product placement for Campari. Benji Schwimmer, 2006 winner of So You Think You Can Dance, makes a cameo appearance as Aguilera's GI dance partner. Lacey Schwimmer, Benji's sister and also a contestant on So You Think You Can Dance, had also appeared in the video as a jitterbugger.

Aguilera asked Rolston to direct the video after he worked with her for a photo shoot for the cover of Rolling Stone.[12] Shooting the sequences of Aguilera as a singing trio took the longest since they had to be shot for each hair color and camera angle, which was computer controlled for precision.[12] The choreography was carefully arranged so that none of the versions overlapped and the takes could be spliced together.[12] The color scheme is based on Technicolor films, focusing on primary colors and bright secondary colors.[12]

On February 22, 2007, MTV gave the World Premiere of "Candyman" live on TRL and later on MTV's Making The Video. The video debuted at number six on TRL[13] and reached the top of the countdown four times. The video has since gone on to retire at number three, making it Aguilera's ninth video to retire. "Candyman" has garnered Aguilera a MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best Director with co-director Mathew Rolston.

[edit] Critical response

Most critics reserved high-praise for the single, while commenting on its highly-sexualized lyrics. Billboard magazine called the single "right raunchy", but praised it, saying that "Few popular vocalists could pull off such a laudable feat," and that it has such an "irresistible tempo that radio will have no choice but to sweeten airwaves with 'Candyman.'"[14] Bill Lame with About.com found that "listeners may want to be alerted to the sexual content," but concluded "Aguilera continues to demonstrate she is one of the top female artists in the business."[15] Yahoo! Music called the song "a good-time 1940's big band romp," and gave it eight out of ten stars.[16]

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Candyman" (Album Version) - 3:14
  2. "Hurt" (Snowflake Radio Remix) - 4:05

[edit] Official versions

  • "Album version" - 3:14
  • "Squeaky Clean Radio Edit" - 3:14
  • "Offer Nissim Remix" - 8:34
  • "RedOne Remix" - 3:19
  • "RedOne UltiMix" - 4:20

[edit] Charts

Chart (2007)[17] Peak
position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart 2
Ö3 Austria Top 40 14
Belgian Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) 11
Belgian Ultratop 40 Singles (Wallonia) 13
Bulgarian National Top 40[18] 16
Canadian Hot 100 9
Dutch Top 40 12
Euro 200[19] 15
German Singles Chart 11
Global Dance Tracks[20] 38
Hungarian Airplay Chart[21] 3
Chart Peak
position
Irish Singles Chart 12
Italian Singles Chart[22] 8
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart 2
Swedish Singles Chart 24
Swiss Singles Chart[23] 11
UK Singles Chart 17
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 25
U.S. Billboard Pop 100 19
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play 18
United World Chart 13

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/ask_bb/index.jsp. Retrieved July 22, 2007.
  2. ^ MTVAsia.com - Welcome!
  3. ^ Christina Aguilera: Back To Basics : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone
  4. ^ CANOE - JAM! Music - Artists - Album Review: BACK TO BASICS
  5. ^ http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/music/ny-ledesing4851075aug15,0,368145.column?coll=ny-music-headlines
  6. ^ Booklet for Back to Basics; Mili Documentary Recordings website
  7. ^ Christina Aguilera – Candyman | Reviews | Mansized
  8. ^ Christina Aguilera
  9. ^ australian-charts.com - Christina Aguilera - Candyman
  10. ^ Vineyard, Jennifer. "Avril, Christina's Multiple-Personality Clips Copy A Page From Madonna's Handbook". MTV News. March 28, 2007. Retrieved April 4, 2007.
  11. ^ Jobling, John. "Christina Aguilera – Candyman". Mansized. March 24, 2007. Retrieved April 5, 2007.
  12. ^ a b c d "Candyman". Making the Video. MTV. February 21, 2007.
  13. ^ "The TRL Archive - Debuts". Popfusion. Retrieved April 4, 2007.
  14. ^ Taylor, Chuck (2007-03-03), "Candyman". Billboard. 119 (9):46
  15. ^ Lamb, Bill (2006). "Christina Aguilera - Candyman" About.com Retrieved 2007-11-09
  16. ^ Gennoe, Dan (August 17, 2006). "Christina Aguilera - Back To Basics" Launch.Yahoo.com. Retrieved November 9, 2007
  17. ^ "Christina Aguilera - Candyman: Charts". αCharts.us. Retrieved June 9, 2007.
  18. ^ Bulgarian National Top 40
  19. ^ http://home.planet.nl/~laar2337/apc2/index.htm
  20. ^ Global Dance Tracks
  21. ^ Hungarian Airplay Chart
  22. ^ Classifica
  23. ^ http://swisscharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Christina+Aguilera&titel=Candyman&cat=s
v • d • e
Christina Aguilera
Studio albums
Christina Aguilera (1999) · Stripped (2002) · Back to Basics (2006) · TBA (2008)
Other albums
Mi Reflejo (2000) · My Kind of Christmas (2000) · Just Be Free (2001)
Singles
Other singles
Collaboration singles
"All I Wanna Do" • "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" · "Lady Marmalade" · "What's Going On" · "El Ultimos Adiós" · "Car Wash" · "Tilt Ya Head Back" · "A Song for You" · "Somos Novios (It's Impossible)" · "Tell Me"
DVDs
Tours
Perfume
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