The Cigarette Duet

"The Cigarette Duet" is a song by New Zealand recording artist Princess Chelsea featuring Jonathan Bree for her debut studio album, Lil' Golden Book (2011); it appears as the sixth track on the album. The song was written by Chelsea Nikkel. "The Cigarette Duet" was released as the album's third single on 9 June 2011.

Writing and recording

The song is about a couple who fight over the health risks of smoking. The female in the song is the smoker while the male is trying to encourage her to stop smoking. In the song, we learn the male was a previous smoker, but later quit. The lyrics are often compared to Nancy & Lee with its dialogue. In an interview, she said "I sort of knew when I wrote it if any of my songs are going to get big, it’s probably this one that’s going to be successful and it has put a lot of people onto my music."^[1]

Release and critical response

The song was released on 9 June 2011 as a single with B-Side "Positive Guy Meets Negative Man". The song gained popularity once its music video was released. The video was acknowledged by Welsh singer/songwriter Marina and the Diamonds, which also gave it a boost in popularity. The song also led to her being featured on The Guardian's "New Band of the Day".^[2]

"The Cigarette Duet" reached 19 million views on YouTube.^[3] Chelsea said in an interview that some responses were not entirely correct. "Some people think Princess Chelsea is a male/female duo because they’ve watched the YouTube clip and they’re like 'Oh yeah this is pretty cool. They do 60’s pop' and I’m like 'kind of, but not really!'"

The song is noted for its consistent 420 references. Once in the length of the song, on the European Tour Edition cover, and lastly at the end of the video.

Music video

The music video is the main reason the song gained popularity. The video is referred to as an "anti-music video" by Bree. The video was directed by Jonathan Bree and released on June 7, 2011. In an interview, Chelsea said the video took about 70 takes before it was perfect. The first twenty takes featured Chelsea without the wig, but said she disliked her hair. She also said the "deadpan, bored" expression was true because they were exhausted after all of the takes.

The video opens with Bree and Chelsea sitting in a pool with a tropical background. Chelsea is wearing a short pink wig. No movement happens for about one minute. Chelsea then looks at the pool thermometer and continues not to move. When the lyrics start, they proceed to sing the song, not moving anything but their lips. When the first verse ends, a guitar floats to the couple carrying a glass of beer for Bree and a glass of wine for Chelsea. When the second verse ends. the scene cuts to Chelsea leans back smoking a cigarette and coughing as Bree is cleaning out the pool. When the third verse ends, the video cuts to an underwater scene in which Bree is swimming while attempting to play the electric guitar. A silhouette of Chelsea then shows her lighting and smoking a cigarette. As the video returns to the pool scene, the video fades to the fact "In 2010, over 420 couples in New Zealand split due to problems associated with cigarettes" typed across the screen.^[4]

Tracklisting

Digital download
No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Cigarette Duet"	4:20
2.	"Positive Guy Meets Negative Man"	2:06