| "SOS" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Rihanna | ||||
| from the album A Girl like Me | ||||
| Released | February 7, 2006 | |||
| Format | 12" maxi single, digital download, CD single | |||
| Recorded | October 2005 Barmitzvah Hall Studios (Century City, California) The Loft Recording Studios (Bronxville, New York) |
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| Genre | Dance-pop, R&B | |||
| Length | 3:59 | |||
| Label | Def Jam | |||
| Writer(s) | J. R. Rotem, Evan "Kidd" Bogart, Ed Cobb | |||
| Producer | J. R. Rotem | |||
| Rihanna singles chronology | ||||
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"SOS" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna from her second studio album, A Girl like Me. The song was produced by J. R. Rotem and written by Rotem and Evan "Kidd" Bogart. It was released as the lead single from the album. The song is an uptempo dance song that samples the key section, bass line, and drum beat from Soft Cell's 1981 single "Tainted Love".
The song was well-received by some critics for sampling "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell while others compared it to "Pon de Replay". It became Rihanna's first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 and also topped the charts in Australia and Canada as well as reaching the top five in other music markets such as Germany, Republic of Ireland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In the UK, SOS was nominated for The Record of the Year, but lost to "Patience" by Take That.
Contents |
"SOS" was written by J. R. Rotem, Evan "Kidd" Bogart and Ed Cobb, with production helmed by Rotem.[1] The song was recorded at Bartmitzvah Hall Studios, Century City, California, and Loft Recording Studios, Bronxville, New York.[1] "SOS" contains a sample of "Tainted Love", written by Ed Cobb in 1965.[1] In an interview with HitQuarters, Rotem explain the song's conception, saying "I heard 'Tainted Love' and wanted to take the bass line and update it with a new swing. When I gave the track to Evan [Bogart], the 80s feeling was already in the track."[2] In an interview with William E. Ketchum for HipHopDX in May 2011, Rotem was asked how he felt about working with singer's who became successful international recording artists after he had worked with them, and referred to Rihanna and writing "SOS" in his response, saying,
I did [Rihanna]'s song “[SOS],” and it wasn't her first song, but it was her first number one. Since then, she's obviously one of the biggest stars in the world. But I never look at it like that's because of me or something like that. I just look at it like it was amazing to have worked with her at that time, and I would like to work with her again.[3]
Originally, "SOS" was intended to be given to and recorded by former Def Jam Recordings label mate Christina Milian, for her third studio album, So Amazin' (2006), but Milian turned down the song and former Def Jam CEO and chairman LA Reid offered the song to Rihanna instead.[4] After the release of So Amazin', Milian was dropped from Def Jam due to poor album sales.[5]
The background vocals in the song were compressed using a compressor program called Waves Renaissance Compressor, which was used in order to create an enhanced polished effect.[6] In an interview with SoundOnSound, mixing engineer Phil Tan, who carried out the audio mixing on "SOS", explained that the reason why he compressed the background vocals was because "SOS" is a "high energy track," and he wanted the vocals to compliment it.[6] Tan also noted that the background vocals were pitch shifted, so that they tonal quality could be increased and to create an enhanced effect during the chorus.[6] The pitch shifting consisted of making the left vocals flat and the right vocals sharp, with varying degrees of delay, and were then mixed together.[6] When asked about the production of the lead vocals, Tan explained that "'SOS' Is a pounding type of song, and the lyrics are a cry for help, so the vocals need to be 'in your face', almost aggressive," and said that he wanted the vocals to remain constant.[6] As with the background vocals, the lead vocals were compressed using the Waves Renaissance Compressor.[6] Tan continued to note that there is not a lot of reverb included in "SOS", largely due to the fact that there was not a lot of room left to add anything else to the song, due to it being a up-tempo song.[6] Tan explained the production process of sampling "Tainted Love", as well as the changes which were made:
This song uses a stereo two-bar loop from Soft Cell's song 'Tainted Love' as its basis. JR played the additional parts with a combination of soft and hardware synths. There were probably 30 to 40 tracks in total. JR tends to give you [Pro Tools] Sessions that have a clear direction: there's not much guesswork. I didn't change or add much, just a bass drum and taking out the loop a couple of times for additional breaks. There was never any doubt that it was going to be a clubby song, so it had to be very immediate and hard-hitting.[6]
"SOS" is an up-tempo[6] R&B, dancehall and dance music song,[7][8][9] which also draws influence from dance-pop and tropical music.[8] The song includes synth riffs and machine beats as part of its instrumental.[7] The lyrical content of the song is based around the theme of a "boy meets girl" scenario; Quentin B. Huff of Popmatters provided a synopsis of the lyrical content, writing that "SOS" is a "classic tale of girl-sees-boy, girl-falls-head-over-heels, girl-dreams-of-boy-so-much-she-loses-herself, girl-sings-catchy-pop-song-about-boy, girl-sells-lots-of-records."[10] "SOS" contains a sped up sample[11] of "Tainted Love", which was originally written by Ed Cobb in 1965 and popularised by English synthpop duo Soft Cell, when they released their cover version in 1981.[12][13]
Ruth Jamieson of The Observer commented that the sample was an "outrageously hooky Soft Cell rhythm."[14] Jazzily Bass of Contactmusic.com complimented the inclusion of the "Tainted Love" sample, describing "SOS" as "superbly infectious."[13] Bass continued to praise the song for not making the sample too obvious, writing "I was accepting it to sound like every other song that has sampled the hook."[13] Jake C. Taylor of Sputnikmusic noted that although "SOS" was "yet another exploitation of Soft Cell’s 1981 rendition of Ed Cobb's 'Tainted Love,'" Taylor wrote that Rihanna's version was one of the better ones to be composed, writing, "Rihanna’s is one of the better ones. Why? Because it’s not just a bastardised version trying to claim success of the exact same song structure."[15] Kelefah Sanneh of The New York Times described the inclusion the "Tainted Love" sample as being "brazen" and "astute."[16]
"SOS" was first released in France on March 27, 2006, as a physical maxi single.[17] The maxi single included both the radio edit and instrumental versions of "SOS", as well as album track "Break It Off", which features Sean Paul.[17] In Australia, the song was released to download digitally through the iTunes Store on April 3, 2006, with non-single track "Let Me" featuring as the B-side.[18] In the United States, "SOS" was released on April 11, 2006, as a CD single.[19] In Germany, the song was released on April 15, 2006, also as a physical maxi single.[20] The package consisted of the radio edit and instrumental versions of "SOS" and "Break It Off", in addition to the music video for "SOS".[20] In the United Kingdom, "SOS" was released on April 17, 2006, as a CD single.[21]
Upon the release of the album, "SOS" garnered positive reviews from music critics. Bill Lamb of About.com praised the sampling of Cobb's "Tainted Love" and Rihanna's vocal performance, with specific regard to her lower register.[12] However, Lamb criticized Rihanna for not displaying any sense of originality or being unique.[12] Additionally, Lamb compared Rihanna's vocal performance in the song to Beyoncé Knowles, writing "The echoes of Beyonce in the higher register are weaker."[12] Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine praised the sample and noted that "SOS" rivals Rihanna's debut single "Pon De Replay" (Music of the Sun, 2005).[22] Despite praising "SOS", Cinquemani continued to write that it was the only song on A Girl Like Me which displayed a high level of "audacity".[22] David Jeffries of Allmusic described "SOS" as a "sexy club tune."[23] Quentin B. Huff of Popmatters was complimentary of the song, writing, "all things considered, '[SOS]' is a decent song, brimming with energy and perfectly suited to Rihanna’s layered vocals."[10]
In the United States, "SOS" hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, Pop 100, Hot Dance Music/Club Play, Hot Dance Airplay, Hot Digital Songs and Hot Digital Tracks; the song also hit number two on the Pop 100 Airplay, but could not get past the massive airplay of Sean Paul's single "Temperature". The song was made available as a digital download upon the release of the album and its first week of digital sales prompted a dramatic jump from number thirty-four to number-one, becoming one of the biggest jumps to the number one position in Billboard history. The single remained at number-one for three weeks. The reason for the large jump was that "SOS" was kept off most digital download services until her album was released to stimulate more album sales. "SOS" was Rihanna's fourth biggest radio hit in the United States. The song topped 2,000,000 paid digital downloads in the United States in January 2011, according to Nielsen Soundscan.[24]
Internationally, "SOS" became Rihanna's first number-one hit in Australia. It stayed at the top for eight consecutive weeks, making it the singer's biggest hit in Australia. The song also reached number two on the UK and German singles charts, number four on the Dutch chart, and number seven in Italy. In Romania the song competed with both "If It's Lovin' That You Want" and "Unfaithful" since "SOS" was pushed back due to the good performance of "If It's Lovin' That You Want", and when finally released, "Unfaithful" had already start gaining heavy radio airplay. "SOS" reached number twenty-eight in the Romanian Singles Chart.
"SOS" was removed from the UK charts after thirteen weeks because there was a remix of "SOS" contained on the "Unfaithful" single. Due to UK chart rules, a new single cannot have a remix of a previous single if the original song is still charting, which is why the song left the charts at twenty-seven. However, the song was still a huge hit, being the UK's ninth best-selling single of the year.[25] The song also hit number-one for two weeks on ECD:UK. in the United Kingdom the single sold over 300,000 copies to-date. "SOS" sold over 4.6 million copies worldwide.
The song spawned three music videos; one of them being an Agent Provocateur promotional video which features Rihanna walking into a hotel which turns into a nightclub. Another promotional video was done for Nike, featuring a dance contest in a gym. The official version was shot for music and music-related television stations and premiered on MTV's Total Request Live and MuchMusic's MuchOnDemand on March 23, 2006. The video reached number one on Total Request Live for the first time on April 14, 2006 and stayed on the countdown for twenty days.
In this clip, directed by Chris Applebaum, Rihanna wears a bikini and the video has her telling a guy she's going to call for help due to the desperate feelings caused by their relationship. She also uses a Nokia 3250 cellular phone, and she apparently seems to be listening to "Pon De Replay," and "Tainted Love," the song sampled in "SOS", as Soft Cell's album cover can be seen on the display. The next scene shows Rihanna in the spotlight with her friends and her dance partner. The other scene shows Rihanna on stage where she is seen wearing a black shirt and shorts along with shoes and one of the men grabs Rihanna's arms on a bass line near the end. Then, it shows Rihanna and her partner in a 2 way mirror separated which her partner breaked it near the end of the video.
| Year | Ceremony | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | |||
| Billboard Music Awards | Hot Dance Airplay Song of the Year[26] | Won | |
| Barbados Music Awards | Best Music Video[27] | Nominated | |
| Best Dance Single[27] | Nominated | ||
| MuchMusic Video Awards | Best International Artist Video[28] | Won | |
| MTV Video Music Awards | Best New Artist[29] | Nominated | |
| Viewer's Choice[29] | Nominated | ||
| MTV Europe Music Awards | Best Song[30] | Nominated |
These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "SOS". In some formats, "Break It Off" was released as the B-side to "SOS", even though it ended up being released as a single on its own later on.
Side A
Side B
Credits adapted from the liner notes of A Girl Like Me, Def Jam Recordings, SRP Records.[1]
The Chipettes covered this song for the Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked: Music from the Motion Picture album. In the "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" film, Jeanette Miller briefly sung the song's chorus.
|title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". http://www.billboard.com/#/charts/dance-club-play-songs?chartDate=2006-05-13.| Book: A Girl like Me | |
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