Nothin' on You

"Nothin' on You"
Single by B.o.B featuring Bruno Mars
from the album B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray
Released	February 2, 2010
Format	Digital download CD single
Recorded	2009
Genre	Pop rap R&B
Length	4:29 (album version) 3:37 (radio edit)
Label	Rebel Rock Grand Hustle Atlantic
Writer(s)	Bobby Ray Simmons, Jr. Peter Hernandez Philip Lawrence Ari Levine
Producer(s)	The Smeezingtons
Certification	3x Platinum (RIAA)[1]
B.o.B singles chronology
"Hood Dreamer" (2009) "Nothin' on You" (2010) "Don't Go There" (2010)
Bruno Mars singles chronology "Nothin' on You" (2010) "Billionare" (2010)

"Nothin' on You" is the debut single by American rapper B.o.B. The song features vocals from Bruno Mars. The song is included in B.o.B's debut studio album, B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray. An official remix version of this song, which features Big Boi, debuted on March 21, 2010.^[2] The song reached number one in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. The song was nominated for three Grammys, including Record of the Year, on December 1, 2010 for the 53rd Grammy Awards.

Background

During the summer of 2009, The Smeezingtons (Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine) were booked for a week of writing sessions for Lupe Fiasco, B.o.B and Travie McCoy.^[3] Atlantic A&R Aaron Bay-Schuck told HitQuarters that one of his responsibilities is in encouraging Mars and Lawrence to develop the best of the original melodies he often heard them casually humming, and it was one of these melodies that formed the inspiration to "Nothin' on You". By the end of the week the group had created a scratch chorus-only demo of the song featuring Bruno Mars singing on a guitar track.^[3] The Travie McCoy song "Billionaire" was also conceived at this time.^[3] Several weeks later B.o.B joined The Smeezingtons in the studio to complete the full song.^[3] In an interview with MidWeek, Mars explained the lyrical inspiration for the song, "Every song I write has to do with a real-life experience, whether it's at the time or me back-tracking to how I felt at another moment. So, yeah, it was about someone; let's leave it at that."^[4]

In an interview to MTV News Mars and Philip explained how the song was created: "Me and Phil always had that hook," Mars told MTV News, spontaneously breaking out into the chorus that is helping to make him one of music's buzzed-about names. "It was a different melody at first, though," Lawrence added. "So one day our other partner — the Silent Bob of the Smeezingtons — Ari, he walked into the studio and said he programmed the drums [over]," Mars explained. "It had this old-school hip-hop beat. I said, 'Gimme the piano,' and that was the first thing I started playing. Magically, that melody worked with this track we were doing."^[5]

According to Jim Jonsin, the track was originally supposed to be sent to Lupe Fiasco, but Jonsin pressured Atlantic Records exec Craig Kallman to give the beat to B.o.B.^[6] Lupe says that Kallman told him his lyrics and performance on the record were "wack", and ultimately Lupe did not get the beat. He claims that this was a breaking point and drove him to be lightly suicidal.^[7] Lupe Fiasco's version of the song leaked on June 18, 2010. The song's drum beat is a sample taken from Joe Tex's "Papa Was Too" and is prominent throughout the song.^[8] On June 27, 2010, B.o.B performed the single with Fantasia Barrino's brother Ricco Barrino, who is also signed to Atlantic and Grand Hustle Records, at the BET Awards. With the release and initial success of "Nothin' On You" in 2010, the music careers of B.o.B and Bruno Mars made a jumpstart, with both artists scoring a few number one hits in the United States and European countries like "Airplanes", "Billionaire", "Magic" and the debut solo single from Bruno Mars "Just The Way You Are" later on. In 2011, "Weird Al" Yankovic recorded a parody of the song called "Another Tattoo", which is featured on his album Alpocalypse. On June 15, 2010, B.o.B released a duet single of "Nothin' on You" with Korean-American singer Jay Park, where he replaces Bruno Mars' vocals. Warner Music Korea explained that Park's featuring was made possible by music distribution company, Warner Music America's Asian counterpart, SEA, as well as his YouTube cover contributing to much of the song's success in Korea with more than 5 million hits.^[9]

Composition

It is composed in B-flat major, with the common time signature (4/4) and follows a chord progression of Eb 9-Cm 9-Dm-F, with B.o.B's/Bruno Mars's vocal range spanning from F4 to Bb5. The tempo is 104 beats per minute.

Music video

The music video was directed by Ethan Lader (with animation done by George Rausch) and was filmed in the city of Los Angeles. It features both performers and premiered on March 9, 2010.^[10] The video features multiple collages of women taping over each other, in addition to a scene where B.o.B plays guitar and sings while Mars plays the drums and Philip Lawrence also plays the piano. The second runner-up of America's Next Top Model, Cycle 7, Eugena Washington, appears as one of the many girls in the video.

Track listing

• CD single^[11]

1. "Nothin' on You" (Album Version)
2. "Haterz Everywhere" (Album Version) (featuring Wes F.I.F)

• Digital download - EP^[12]

1. "Nothin' on You" (Album Version)
2. "Nothin' on You" (TC Swift Radio Edit)
3. "Nothin' on You" (TC Swift Remix)
4. "Nothin' on You" (Instrumental Version)
5. "Nothin' on You" (A Capella version)

• Digital download - Remixes

1. "Nothin' on You" (Album Version)
2. "Nothin' on You" (Short Radio Edit)
3. "Nothin' on You" (The Son of Chico Dusty Remix) (featuring Big Boi)
4. "Nothin' on You" (Warren G Remix) (featuring Warren G)
5. "Nothin' on You" (Villains Remix) (featuring Bei Maejor)
6. "Nothin' on You" (featuring Jay Park)

Live performance

B.o.B. and Bruno Mars performed a medley of "Nothin' on You" and "Airplanes" along with Hayley Williams at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010.^[13]

Cover versions

• Mac Miller
• Jay Park
• XV
• "Weird Al" Yankovic (Parodied as "Another Tattoo" on his 2011 album Alpocalypse.)
• Wonder Girls
• Inch Chua (performing Bruno Mars' hook, later sampled for a duet by rapper Shigga Shay)
• 360 used the instrumentation and a rewritten version of the chorus for his song "Nothing On You" on his mixtape Please Be Seated.
• Vandarth
• EXO's D.O. featuring his band mate Chanyeol on guitar.
• Super Junior's Leeteuk featuring fellow band mate Sungmin on guitar during their 6th tour, Super Show 6, which also included a Korean verse.

Chart performance

The single reached number one in the Dutch Top 40, making the Netherlands the first country where it reached the top spot on a national chart. It went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending May 1, 2010, and certified double-platinum by the RIAA on June 28, 2010.^[1][14] On the Hot 100 year-end chart, "Nothin' on You" placed at number 11. In 2010 its sold 2,668,000 digital copies,^[15] and by September 2012 it has sold a total sales of 3,062,000.^[16] In the United Kingdom, the single debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart on May 23, 2010 ― for the week ending date May 29, 2010 ― with sales of 85,333 copies, replacing Roll Deep's "Good Times" at the top of the chart. In the same week, it also debuted at number one on the UK R&B Chart.

On June 15, 2010, B.o.B released a duet single of "Nothin' on You" with Korean-American singer Jay Park. The song immediately reached #1 on Cyworld's real time charts in an hour of its release.^[17] The song was given the Best International Artist Award in June 2010's Cyworld Digital Music Awards.^[18]

Credits and personnel

Mixing and mastering

• Mixed and engineered at Levcon Studios, Hollywood, California; mastered at Sterling Sound, New York, New York.

Personnel

• Songwriting – Bobby Ray Simmons, Jr., Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine
• Production – The Smeezingtons
• Mixing – Ari Levine
• Mastering - Chris Gehringer
• Engineer – Ari Levine
• Recording – Ari Levine
• All instruments played by – Ari Levine, Bruno Mars, Brody Brown (bass)

Credits adapted from the liner notes of B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray, Grand Hustle, Rebel Rock, Atlantic^[19]

Charts and certifications

Release history

See also

• List of Dutch Top 40 number-one singles of 2010
• List of number-one singles in Scotland
• List of number-one singles from the 2010s (UK)
• List of number-one R&B hits of 2010 (UK)
• List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 2010 (U.S.)
• List of Mainstream Top 40 number-one hits of 2010 (U.S.)

References

External links

• B.o.B Rules Hot 100, Doubles Up In Top 10 by Billboard
• "Nothin' on You" on YouTube

Bruno Mars Awards and nominations Discography Songs written Songs recorded Studio albums Doo-Wops & Hooligans Unorthodox Jukebox Extended plays It's Better If You Don't Understand Singles "Just the Way You Are" "Grenade" "The Lazy Song" "Marry You" "Count On Me "It Will Rain" "Locked Out of Heaven" "When I Was Your Man" "Treasure" "Gorilla" "Young Girls" Featured singles "Nothin' on You" "Billionaire" "Lighters" "Mirror" "Young, Wild & Free" "Bubble Butt" "Uptown Funk" Promotional singles "Liquor Store Blues" "Runaway Baby" "Talking to the Moon" "Moonshine" Other songs "Natalie" Concert tours The Doo-Wops & Hooligans Tour The Moonshine Jungle Tour Filmography Rio 2 Related articles The Smeezingtons Super Bowl XLVIII halftime show Super Bowl 50 halftime show Book:Bruno Mars