| "Ain't It Funny" | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Jennifer Lopez | ||||||||
| from the album J.Lo | ||||||||
| Released | July 3, 2001 | |||||||
| Format | CD single, 12" single | |||||||
| Recorded | 2000; Sony Music Studios (New York City, New York) |
|||||||
| Genre | Latin pop | |||||||
| Length | 4:06 | |||||||
| Label | Epic | |||||||
| Writer(s) | Jennifer Lopez, Cory Rooney, Ashanti Douglas | |||||||
| Producer | Cory Rooney, Dan Shea | |||||||
| Jennifer Lopez singles chronology | ||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
"Ain't It Funny" is a song recorded by American recording artist Jennifer Lopez. The song was written by Lopez and Cory Rooney, and produced by Rooney and Dan Shea for Lopez's second studio album, J.Lo (2001). The song was released as the album's third single on July 3, 2001.[1]
Contents |
| Chart (2001) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[2] | 9 |
| Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 75)[3] | 16 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[4] | 8 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 40 Wallonia)[5] | 5 |
| Denmark (Tracklisten)[6] | 16 |
| Germany (Media Control AG)[7] | 13 |
| Ireland (IRMA)[8] | 9 |
| Italy (FIMI)[9] | 17 |
| Netherlands (Mega Single Top 100)[10] | 2 |
| New Zealand (RIANZ)[11] | 31 |
| Norway (VG-lista)[12] | 9 |
| Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[13] | 3 |
| Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[14] | 9 |
| UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)[15] | 3 |
| Country | Certification (sales thresholds) |
|---|---|
| Australia | Gold[16] |
| Sweden | Gold[17] |
Although originally set for European and Australian release only, promotional singles of the song were sent out to U.S. radio stations in the autumn of 2001 after the success of "I'm Real" in the United States. Lopez even stopped by MTV's Total Request Live to premier the video and explain the concept of the song. She said she had written the song while filming The Wedding Planner. The song was originally intended for the film's soundtrack, but did not make the final cut.
Due to lack of promotion and radio airplay, the single did not receive a proper U.S. commercial release and was therefore ineligible to chart on any of the Billboard charts. It nevertheless became an international hit, reaching the top five in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Sweden, and the top ten in Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Norway, and Switzerland. Lopez also performed the song at the Royal Variety Performance on November 26, 2001, in front of Queen Elizabeth II.
"Ain't It Funny" later received a hip hop-oriented remix entitled "Ain't It Funny" (Murder Remix), which appeared on Lopez's 2002 remix album J to tha L-O!: The Remixes; it went on to be far more successful than the original track in the United States. Unlike "I'm Real", "Ain't It Funny"'s original version and its remix charted separately.
"Que Ironía" (meaning "What an Irony"), the Spanish-language version of "Ain't It Funny", was released to Spanish-speaking countries in 2001. This version is commercially available on all Latin American copies of the J.Lo album, and it is also available on some international CD singles.
The music video was filmed in sepia tone and directed by Herb Ritts. It opens with Lopez traveling on a road where she finds a fortune-teller who shows Lopez her future with the cards. A group of female gypsies (one of them played by former Pussycat Dolls member Carmit Bachar) shows up and makes over Lopez so as to make her one of their own. Then Lopez finds a man (played by Mexican soap opera actor Eduardo Verástegui) she could not resist, falling in love with him. In the middle of the video, there is an extended dance sequence, in which she performs a flamenco-influenced routine. Eventually all the people there start dancing together, including Lopez and her lover. The video debuted the week of July 2, 2001 internationally and in the autumn of 2001 in the U.S.
The video is in two parts which frequently interchange back and forth throughout the song. The first part of the video shows Lopez having a small party in her home with guests including Ja Rule and Ashanti. This part of the video is from the point of view of the guy who is being mentioned in the song. His face is not seen, and Lopez addresses the camera throughout this section of the video. This section begins with the guy knocking on the door, Lopez inviting him in, and then eventually showing him the door when she sees him attempting to look/flirt with other women at the party. As he leaves, she goes on entertaining the other guests.
The second part of the video involves scenes with Lopez and Ja Rule in a white room, Ja Rule in a recording studio in Lopez's home, Lopez sitting in a chair singing bits of the song, and Lopez and Ja Rule singing the parts of the final verse against a gold backdrop.
|
CD single (671202 1)
2-track CD single[18]
|
CD maxi single (671202 2)
|
| "Ain't It Funny (Murder Remix)" | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Jennifer Lopez featuring Ja Rule and Caddillac Tah | ||||||||
| from the album J to tha L-O!: The Remixes | ||||||||
| Released | March 11, 2002[19] | |||||||
| Recorded | 2000–01; Sony Music Studios, Crack House Studios, The Hit Factory (New York City, New York) |
|||||||
| Genre | R&B, hip hop | |||||||
| Length | 3:50 | |||||||
| Label | Epic | |||||||
| Writer(s) | Jennifer Lopez, Cory Rooney, Irving Lorenzo, 7, Ja Rule, Caddillac Tah | |||||||
| Producer | Irv Gotti, 7 | |||||||
| Jennifer Lopez featuring Ja Rule and Caddillac Tah singles chronology | ||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
An alternate version of "Ain't It Funny", called the Murder Remix was recorded by Lopez and American rapper Ja Rule. The remix was written by Lopez, Cory Rooney, Irv Gotti, Ja Rule, Caddillac Tah, and 7 Aurelius, and was produced by Gotti and 7 Aurelius. The song was released on the same day as the original version of the song. The remix later appeared on J to tha L-O!: The Remixes (2002). The song was also included on the 2002 compilation album Irv Gotti Presents: The Inc. as well as on Ja Rule's greatest hits album Exodus.
The single topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 becoming Lopez's third number-one single and Ja Rule's third number-one single; it also peaked at number four in the United Kingdom. Caddillac Tah also performs on the song and appears on the song's music video, and even has a longer part than Ja Rule. The remix samples Craig Mack's 1994 hit "Flava in Ya Ear". The song spent six weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 from March 9, and followed another Ja Rule duet, "Always on Time" with Ashanti. Ashanti's "Foolish" replaced it at the number-one spot. Ashanti also appears in the video alongside Lopez, Ja Rule, Irv Gotti, Caddillac Tah, and other Inc. members.
The original version of the song appears on Lopez's second studio album, 2001's J.Lo, and was also a single of its own. It was written by Cory Rooney for the soundtrack to Lopez's film The Wedding Planner, but it was felt that the timbales gave it too much of a Latin sound, and the song was not used for the soundtrack. After the success of "I'm Real (Murder Remix)", a previous Lopez–Ja Rule collaboration, they decided to remix "Ain't It Funny" as a duet and release it as a follow-up. Unlike "I'm Real", the two versions of "Ain't It Funny" were released on different dates, and so charted separately. The songs also charted separately because Billboard instituted a new chart policy.
In the Murder Inc. studio then-upcoming artist Ashanti dropped by the studio. "Everyone was there and Ja (Rule) was on the floor playing video games, and they had the beat playing in the background. Chris Gotti, Irv Gotti's brother, said 'Ja's supposed to be writing this record for J-Lo, but it doesn't look like he's going to be doing anything tonight. Why don't you go in there and see what's happening?' So that's exactly what I did", says Ashanti, who wrote three verses and demoed the new "Ain't It Funny" for Lopez. Ashanti recalled, "I got a call from Gotti in Los Angeles. He asked me to write another verse [...] I had to write it over the phone and two-way Irv the lyrics."[20] Virtually the entire hook on the final version of the song consisted of Ashanti's vocals.
| Chart (2002) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| European Hot 100 Singles[21] | 13 |
| Ireland | 8 |
| Canadian Singles Chart | 12 |
| Dutch Top 40[22] | 7 |
| German Singles Chart[23] | 18 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 7 |
| Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[24] | 7 |
| UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)[25] | 4 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[26] | 1 |
| US Pop Songs (Billboard)[27] | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs | 4 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay | 3 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play | 8 |
| U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Top 40 Tracks | 1 |
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||