Only U
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| “Only U” | |||||
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CD 1 cover
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| Single by Ashanti from the album Concrete Rose |
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| B-side | "Turn It Up", "Spend the Night" | ||||
| Released | October 14, 2004 | ||||
| Format | CD single | ||||
| Recorded | Los Angeles, California | ||||
| Genre | R&B, pop, hip hop | ||||
| Length | 3:06 | ||||
| Label | The Inc. | ||||
| Writer(s) | Ashanti Douglas, Irv Gotti, Jerry Barnes, 7 Aurelius, Selan Lerner | ||||
| Producer | 7 Aurelius | ||||
| Certification | Gold (RIAA) | ||||
| Ashanti singles chronology | |||||
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| Alternate cover | |||||
CD 2 cover
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"Only U" is the first single from Ashanti's third studio album, Concrete Rose (2004). Released in October 2004, it reached number thirteen in the United States and number two in the United Kingdom.
Official remixes feature Cam'ron, Juelz Santana, Ja Rule, and Black Child. It has also been noted as the first opening single of any of Ashanti's previous albums that never topped any chart, particularly the Billboard Hot 100.
The song is introduced using a sample of Club Nouveau's 1986 song "Why You Treat Me So Bad".
Contents |
[edit] Music video
There are two official version of the video and both music video's were shot in Mexico City and Vancouver, and was directed by Hype Williams. It is notable for making use of a blue-hue effect in numerous shots. The first version is the original video (which has an alternate version itself) and the second version is the "Dance Version", which was only aired on BET.
The original video version starts off with a Blade Runner-inspired environment and imagery of Ashanti's face depicted on a skyscraper—similar to a scene in Blade Runner. In addition, there is a scene where she is sitting down on a seat while smoking as she appears to be watching something through a projector—again, a shot similar to that of a scene in Blade Runner. The rest of the video features Ashanti in various situations, posing and wearing a variety of outfits. Director Hype Williams featured his signature style of widescreen format in this version video, with the slots on the top and bottom of the screen being the color black.
In one scene, Ashanti is in the shower and in another she is inside a cocoon-like lamp. The video ends with her and a group of female dancers performing the song in concert.
7 Aurelius, who co-wrote and produced the song, with drums provided by Scott Storch makes an appearance at the beginning and at the end of the video as a guitar player. Over two thousand extras were used for the final scene of the video which was performed in a bullfighting Colosseum.[1] [2]
The original version had certain parts of the video which contained scenes of the video that flickered in between one another to make it seem like there were two scenes in one. The alternate version had the scenes just one after another instead of flickering in between on another.[3]
And the "Dance Version" of the video consisted of the dance scene that is also shown at the end of the original video. The video starts of with a very seductive melody. The song then begins with Ashanti saying her own name, similar to the way that she said it when the Only U song began in the first video. It then shows Ashanti and the back-up dancers, dancing throughout the whole video. "7 Aurelius" also makes a cameo appearance in this version as well at the beginning and at the end of the video as the guitar player. Director Hype Williams featured his signature style of widescreen format in this version of the video also, except the slots that are normally left blank on the top and bottom of the screen were replaced with upside down or reversed images of the main shot in the middle of the screen.[4]
[edit] Track listings
- CD 1
- "Only U"
- "Turn It Up" (featuring Ja Rule)
- "Spend the Night"
- CD 2
- "Only U"
- "Turn It Up" (featuring Ja Rule)
- "Only U" (Kelly G's Club Mix)
- "Only U" (Video)
[edit] Charts
| Chart (2004/2005) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart | 24 |
| Ö3 Austria Top 40 | 30 |
| Belgian Ultratop 50 | 17 |
| Chinese Singles Chart | 8 |
| Dutch Top 40 | 18 |
| Euro 200 | 5 |
| French Singles Chart | 33 |
| German Singles Chart | 12 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 4 |
| Japanese J-Wave Tokio Hot 100 | 6 |
| New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart | 14 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 43 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 12 |
| UK Singles Chart | 2 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 13 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs | 10 |
| U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40 | 11 |
| United World Chart | 17 |
| World R&B Top 30 Singles | 4 |
[edit] References
- ^ Ashanti. Net Music Countdown. Retrieved on 2007-05-26.
- ^ Only U official video.
- ^ Only U alternate version.
- ^ Only U dance version.
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