Stoned in Love

"Stoned in Love" is a dance track by Chicane (Nick Bracegirdle), with vocals performed by famed pop singer Tom Jones. It was released as a single on April 24, 2006.

The song followed a number of genre crossover recordings for both musicians, Bracegirdle having recorded previous hits with Celtic folk singer Maire Brennan and rock singer Bryan Adams, and Jones having recorded the house music hit "Sex Bomb" with producer/DJ Mousse T.

1 History
2 Vocal performance
3 Single release
4 Music video
5 Track listing
- 5.1 UK enhanced CD single
6 Audio sample
7 Notes and references
8 External links

[edit] History

Having written the song, Bracegirdle was looking for a singer able to reach a high pitch in vocal range, without having to resort to falsetto. According to Bracegirdle, his initial candidates were Jones, James Dean Bradfield and Kelly Jones — all Welshmen.^[5] Jones has stated that he had never heard of Chicane before being approached with the song, but soon took a liking to the material: "It's a very well written song with good lyrics. It's a proper song structurally and not just a moody record."^[2]

The single was first announced in March 2006 in a press release on the official Chicane website,^[6] following three years of minimal recording activity and little publicity from Bracegirdle. Soon after, audio and video samples were hosted on the official Chicane and Tom Jones websites.^[7]^[8]

The single received play from various DJs on BBC Radio 1, including noted DJ Pete Tong on February 24 and March 10,^[9]^[10] and Dave Pearce on April 2.^[11]

Jones' knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II took place during this period of time, on March 29, 2006.

Two concerts were announced with the release of the single: the Manchester Academy on April 22, and the Islington Academy on April 24.^[7] At the April 22 concert, a number of new songs from the upcoming album were played to the public for the first time, including the next single, "Come Tomorrow".^[12]

Jones has performed the song live with Chicane on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on April 21,^[13] on April 24 at the Islington Academy and The Paul O'Grady Show, and on April 30 on Top of the Pops.^[14]

[edit] Vocal performance

Jones's singing in the song is noted for being "lighter" and quieter than usual during the verses, to the extent that listeners don't always recognize his voice at first listen. During the choruses, however, he switches to his traditional, high-register vocal style.^[15] Upon hearing Jones's live performances, some have come to the conclusion that the recorded vocals on the song were processed to achieve this higher pitch.

While on Top of the Pops, Jones's performance of the song was mandated by his record label, requiring a second performance to be recorded in order to get the song "right".^[16]

[edit] Single release

"Stoned in Love" entered the UK Singles Chart at #42 on the week starting April 24, 2006, simultaneous to its release date (prior to this, only digital downloads were available). The next week, the song rose all the way to #8 and on its third week, it climbed to #7, its peak. The single received remixes by Vertigo and The Young Punx.

On July 11, 2006, "Stoned in Love" was released in Canada as a digital download single on the Universal Music Canada imprint label GLOW Digital. Billed as "Canada’s first digital dance/pop label", GLOW was launched with "Stoned in Love" as its first release.^[17]

[edit] Music video

The music video, directed by Peter Griffin, was made available on the Top of the Pops website as of the April 16, 2006 show.^[18]

The video tells a caper story, showing a woman and a man driving through a desert and robbing gas stations, and two police officers in pursuit of them. The man is dubbed the "Tom Jones Bandit" on a wanted poster because he is always seen wearing a rubber Tom Jones mask. Filming took place in the United States.^[15]

The video ends with the man being arrested and unmasked, revealing the real Tom Jones underneath.^[15]