| "Big Girls Don't Cry" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Fergie | ||||
| from the album The Dutchess | ||||
| B-side | "Pedestal" | |||
| Released | May 15, 2007 | |||
| Format | CD single, digital download | |||
| Recorded | 2006 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 4:28 (Album version) 4:14 (Radio edit) 9:28 (Extended version) |
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| Label | A&M | |||
| Writer(s) | Stacy Ferguson, Toby Gad | |||
| Producer | will.i.am | |||
| Certification | 3x Platinum (RIAA), (ARIA) Platinum (RIANZ) |
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| Fergie singles chronology | ||||
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"Big Girls Don't Cry" is a song written by Fergie and Toby Gad for singer Fergie's debut solo album The Dutchess. The song was released as the album's fourth single in 2007 (see 2007 in music) and topped the charts in several countries, most notably in Australia (for nine consecutive weeks—also becoming the number-one single in the ARIA's Year End Charts for 2007), and in the United States. It was the most downloaded track in the U.S., with sales of more than 3,080,000 copies sold. In July 2007, Fergie performed the song at the Concert for Diana and Live Earth. By the end of August 2007, the song became Fergie's third number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was nominated in the 'Best Female Pop Vocal Performance' category at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards, which was held February 10, 2008. The song appears in Dance Dance Revolution X, Singstar Pop Vol 2, and Karaoke Revolution Presents American Idol Encore 2. The song was listed at #89 on Billboard: All-Time Hot 100 Top Songs[1] and the 13th most successful song of the decade at the end of 2009 on the Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Decade. It was also named the 8th most successful pop song of the decade (Mainstream Top 40).[2]
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After "Big Girls Don't Cry" was written, Fergie and her management felt that the song did not fit the theme of her album and decided not to record it. However, her management felt that the song was too strong to let go, so they decided to shop the song around to different record labels. Eventually, the song was sold to Bad Boy Records, where it was handed to Jordan McCoy. McCoy's team felt they had a huge hit on their hands and quickly recorded the song, assuring Fergie and her management that they were going to release it as a single. However, according to McCoy, after Fergie heard their finished version, she had a change of heart and recorded the song as well. Without the knowledge of Bad Boy Records, Fergie went ahead and tagged it on to her album at the last minute. Jordan and her team were upset by Fergie's decision, scrapped the entire project and considered suing Fergie. However, because Fergie co-wrote the song, she had partial ownership and they could not sue her.
"Big Girls Don't Cry" is a moderate pop song written in the key of G major.[3] The tempo is composed in common time and the verse follows the major chord G/B-Csus2-D5, the chorus C-G-D-(Em).[3] The song was compared to as an exact 2006 version of Wild Orchid.[4]
The song has achieved high success worldwide, topping the charts in over ten countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Mexico, Austria, Romania, Croatia and the U.S. In Brazil the song was the most played on the radio in 2007. In the UK it surpassed "London Bridge" as her highest charting solo single thus far, peaking at number two (behind only Rihanna's 10 week chart topping "Umbrella"); the single has spent 23 weeks on the UK Singles Chart Top 40 and 9 weeks in the Top 10.[5] After spending several weeks in the number two and three positions on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, "Big Girls Don't Cry" finally ascended to number one, becoming Fergie's third Hot 100 number-one single, and second consecutive after "Glamorous" in early 2007. Thanks to this achievement Fergie has become only the second American female solo artist in the '00s to have three chart-toppers from one album after Christina Aguilera in 1999-2000.[6] In addition to the Hot 100, the song topped the Billboard Pop 100, Pop 100 Airplay, Hot 100 Airplay, and Hot Digital Songs charts. It also became her first number one on both the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart and the Adult Top 40, where she later became the first female artist to top that chart after 52 weeks of number ones by male artists. The song is one of the most successful singles of 2007 in the U.S., as it stayed in the top ten of the Hot 100 for 21 consecutive weeks, 18 of those in the top five.[6] The song also became the 13th most successful hit of the decade on the Billboard Hot 100. [7]
It is the most played song of 2007 on U.S. Mainstream Top 40 radio (becoming the number-one single of 2007 on the and the eighth most successful track of 2000s on the same tally), and the most successful song of 2007 by peak position on American Top 40 (eight weeks at number one). The song debuted at number 32 and reached number one on its 13th week, staying there for five consecutive weeks. The song stayed in the chart for 49 weeks, 26 of which were in the top ten. In Australia it was certified 2x Platinum by ARIA for combined sales of over 140,000 copies, and ended as the year's biggest hit, ranked at number-one on the ARIA Year-End singles chart for 2007. It was also the longest running number one single at the top spot with 9 consecutive weeks (10 in the Download Chart) and the last to do so. Also, despite only spending a week at #1 on the New Zealand RIANZ singles chart, "Big Girls Don't Cry" has become the fourth most successful single in RIANZ music history and the second best seller in the country for 2007. It spent a total of 38 weeks on the chart.[8]
The music video was directed by Anthony Mandler and began production on March 30, 2007. The video had a 'First Look' on MTV's TRL on May 16, 2007 and peaked at #5 on May 24, 2007. The video topped VH1's Top 40 Videos of 2007 list. Milo Ventimiglia plays Fergie's love interest. The video begins with Fergie getting out of her car (a red 1969 Mustang fastback) and going inside a warehouse where she meets her band and practices. Meanwhile, she is seen singing next to her boyfriend, who is sleeping. She starts walking through the house, and is then watching herself and her boyfriend from a different point of view getting out of her car. They go into the house, and her boyfriend gets out a guitar and starts playing, while Fergie is singing. Later on, she sees her boyfriend out the window with several guys, one of whom passes him a small package, which is presumably drugs, and it upsets her. Fergie then starts singing the chorus while she is taking her clothes off a clothes line and putting them into a suitcase. As the third verse begins, Fergie is walking around a warehouse singing while wearing a tan-gray baby doll dress. At the end of the song, she is seen getting into her car and driving down the road.
There are other music videos for this song as well. The one described above is the so-called "Personal" version; it is approximately 5 minutes in length and the song is played once. There is also the so-called "Extended" version; it is approximately 9 minutes in length and the song is played twice. It begins with Fergie driving to the warehouse, then uses flashbacks which include the plot scenes run in sequence. At the conclusion of this first playing of the song, Fergie has arrived at the warehouse and, with her band, the song is played again, this time with all of the warehouse scenes run in sequence.
A remix was made of the song in late 2007, which retained the vocals of the original, but with a new, 1980s-reminiscent sound, with none of the acoustic guitars present in the original. Titled the "Big Girls Remix", it featured reggae star Sean Kingston, who records his vocals over the new beat and after his verses, it goes into the chorus of the original and basically maintains Fergie's vocals for the rest of the song. A video was also made for this version.
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