| "Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)" | |||||||||||
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| Single by Jay-Z, Bono, The Edge, and Rihanna | |||||||||||
| from the album Hope for Haiti Now | |||||||||||
| Released | 23 January 2010 (see release history) |
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| Format | Digital download | ||||||||||
| Recorded | January 2010 | ||||||||||
| Genre | Hip hop, R&B, rock | ||||||||||
| Length | 4:20 | ||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Shawn Carter, Bono, The Edge, Swizz Beatz, R. Fenty | ||||||||||
| Producer | Swizz Beatz, Declan Gaffney | ||||||||||
| Jay-Z singles chronology | |||||||||||
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"Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)" is a song performed by Jay-Z, Bono, The Edge, and Rihanna.[1] It is a charity single for the Hope for Haiti Now campaign[2] and was released on 23 January 2010, in the wake of the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake.
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The genesis of the song came with Jay-Z collaborator Swizz Beatz sending simultaneous text messages to Jay-Z and Bono.[3] They agreed to collaborate on a single, and Bono wrote the hook for "Stranded" while on the phone with Beatz.[3] The latter said, "The idea of the song is 'We're not gonna leave you stranded' and that's what the chorus is. So me and Bono started going back and forth with ideas, and he was like, 'You know this word stranded keeps standing out to me' and I asked him to sing it, and he put me on hold 'cause he's recording the ideas on a Dictaphone — so he did it there and then on the phone."[3] Bono and The Edge then did further writing work on it together.[4]
The recording was done over diverse geographic locations and melded together, with The Edge helping out with extra production work.[3] Beatz then added Rihanna into the effort, later saying, "I knew that Jay would be able to tell a story, and that Bono would be able to sing and bring it home. The last component that I added was Rihanna, and she's kinda like the angel that's on the track, softening it up and giving it that caring feeling, because this hook is so powerful."[3] The final recording was produced by Beatz and Declan Gaffney.[4][5]
In the song, Jay-Z narrates the tale, invoking questions of religion and government while urging action and resolve:[4]
Bono and Rihanna sing the vocal hook, with Rihanna taking the lead.[4][6]
"Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)" was debuted and first performed live in London on 22 January 2010, and was shown hours later as part of the Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief telethon.[3][7] The performance also featured The Edge on guitar and was one of the more upbeat ones of the event.[4]
"Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)" was released to the UK iTunes Store on 23 January 2010. All profits from the sales will go towards the Hope For Haiti Now campaign. It is Rihanna's second charity single for the Haiti campaign (a take on "Redemption Song" being the first). Also, an album Hope for Haiti Now, including the live performance and the studio version, was released to iTunes on the same date.[4]
A hybrid mix of the song was also included on the U2 Duals compilation album in 2011.
The New York Times felt that the artists behind "Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)" deserved credit for creating an original song for the occasion but that the results were of mixed quality: "The sound was muddy, and the concept undercooked, but it was an implicit acknowledgment that a situation this dire demanded something more than squeezing meaning out of a pre-existing song that lacks it."[8] Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times said the song's performance was the most newsworthy of the event, and described its musical flavoring as partly derived from the 1995 U2 side project Passengers and partly derived from modern rap.[6] The Hartford Courant described it as the most high-powered combination of the telethon, but said that Bono did not seem fully integrated into the performance.[9]
On 27 January 2010, the song debuted on the Norwegian Singles Chart at Number 6. It also debuted at Number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and Number 6 on the Canadian Hot 100.[1] On 28 January 2010, 'Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)' debuted on the Irish Singles Chart at Number 3. The following day, the song made yet another appearance, this time on the Swedish Singles Chart at Number 3. On 31 January 2010, the song entered the UK Singles Chart at Number 41 and UK Indie Chart at Number 3. It has also made appearances on the Belgian Singles Charts, Danish Singles Chart, Finnish Singles Chart and Spanish Singles Chart with all of the positions currently peaking within the top 40.
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| Country | Date | Format |
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| Worldwide | 23 January 2010 | Digital download |
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