Hollywood (Marina and the Diamonds song)

"Hollywood"
Single by Marina and the Diamonds
from the album The Family Jewels
B-side "Bad Kidz"
Released 29 January 2010 (2010-01-29)
Format
Recorded
Genre
Length 3:50
Label 679
Songwriter(s) Marina Diamandis
Producer(s)
Marina and the Diamonds singles chronology
"Mowgli's Road"
(2009)		 "Hollywood"
(2010)		 "I Am Not a Robot"
(2010)

"Mowgli's Road"
(2009)		 "Hollywood"
(2010)		 "I Am Not a Robot"
(2010)
Music video
"Hollywood" on YouTube

"Hollywood" is a song by Welsh recording artist Marina and the Diamonds from her debut studio album, The Family Jewels (2010). It was released digitally on 29 January 2010 and physically on 1 February 2010 as the album's second single,[1][2] followed by the album's release three weeks later on 22 February.[3][4]

Background

When asked why "Hollywood" was chosen as a single in an interview with the BBC News website, Diamandis said:

"I'm saying: "This is who I was. Hollywood infected my brain and I really valued the wrong things in life, but I changed dramatically."

"This obsession with celebrity culture is really unhealthy. I don't want to live my life like that, and I don't want to be a typical pop star".[5]

Diamandis told The Sun: "That track is a sarcastic and cynical take on everything that's commercial about America. I love the country and people dearly and can't wait to tour there but I hate the way it brainwashes you. I am seduced by its pop culture but I don't want my brain to be infected."[6]

Critical reception

Fraser McAlpine of the BBC Chart Blog called "Hollywood" a "properly amazing pop song" and stated that "the level of insight displayed about America, culturally and politically, is on a par with the Razorlight song about America [...] Marina, for all that she's spotted that Hollywood is something of an upsettingly fake place, with scope for quite exciting things to happen, seems to get as much enjoyment out of just singing the word as she does from puncturing its ego."[7] The Guardian called it "perky".[8]

Commercial performance

"Hollywood" debuted at number twelve on the UK Singles Chart, selling 25,746 copies in its first week.[9] As of March 2014, the song has sold almost 180,000 in the United Kingdom.[10] The single entered the Irish Singles Chart at number forty-five, Diamandis's first single to chart in Ireland.[11] In its third week on the chart, it reached a new peak position of number twenty-one.[12]

Music video

A scene from the music video for "Hollywood"

The music video for "Hollywood" was directed by Kinga Burza and released onto YouTube on 30 November 2009.[13] It was filmed in "a house which is basically like a palace" in West London.[14] The video shows an American patriotic party with multiple American flags used as decorations and clothing. There are a number of characters and objects that symbolise the stereotype of American culture featured in the music video such as cheerleaders, jocks, American football players, a pageant queen, paparazzi, a cowgirl, baseball players, look-alikes of Elvis Presley, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and President Barack Obama, hot dogs, popcorn and an Academy Award.

Chilly Gonzales made a "stripped-down" remix of the song, for which Dan Knight filmed a video. Knight wanted his video to be the opposite of Burza's "super high glossy" work and to instead have the appearance of 1980s performances on programmes such as Top of the Pops. In his video, Gonzales and Diamandis perform on a fictional Estonian programme called Pop!, complete with subtitles in the nation's language.[15]

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of The Family Jewels and the "Hollywood" CD single.[16][17]

Charts

Chart (2010) Peak
position
scope="row"Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[18] 17
Czech Republic (IFPI)[19] 27
scope="row"Denmark Airplay (Tracklisten)[20] 10
scope="row"Germany (Official German Charts)[21] 15
scope="row"Ireland (IRMA)[12] 21
Slovakia (IFPI)[22] 68
scope="row"UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[23] 12

References

  1. ↑ "Hollywood". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  2. ↑ "Hollywood – EP by Marina and The Diamonds". iTunes Store UK. Apple. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  3. ↑ "Marina And The Diamonds announce debut album details and release date". NME. IPC Media. 1 December 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
  4. ↑ Cochrane, Greg (1 December 2009). "Marina unveils The Family Jewels". BBC News Online. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
  5. ↑ Savage, Mark (1 June 2009). "BBC Sound of 2010: Marina and the Diamonds". BBC News Online. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
  6. ↑ Hollywood Songfacts
  7. ↑ McAlpine, Fraser (25 January 2010). "Marina & The Diamonds – 'Hollywood'". BBC Chart Blog. BBC Online. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  8. ↑ The Guardian Marina and the Diamonds Review
  9. ↑ "US acts rule UK charts". Music Week. Intent Media. 8 February 2010. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  10. ↑ http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/official-charts-pop-gem-51-marina-and-the-diamonds-hollywood__4748/
  11. ↑ "Top 50 Singles, Week Ending 4 February 2010". Chart-Track. Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  12. 1 2 "Chart Track: Week 7, 2010". Irish Singles Chart.
  13. ↑ "Marina and the Diamonds | "Hollywood"". YouTube. 30 November 2009. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
  14. ↑ "Behind the Scenes of Hollywood Video by Marina and the Diamonds". Myspace. 11 December 2009. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
  15. ↑ Brown, Dan (10 February 2010). "Marina & The Diamonds’ Hollywood Viral (feat. Gonzales) by Dan Knight". Promo News. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  16. ↑ The Family Jewels (CD liner notes). Marina and the Diamonds. Atlantic Records. 2010. 825646836253.
  17. ↑ "Hollywood" (UK CD single liner notes). Marina and the Diamonds. 679 Recordings. 2010. 679L170CD.
  18. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Marina & The Diamonds – Hollywood" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  19. ↑ "RADIO TOP100 Oficiální: Marina and the Diamonds – Hollywood" (in Czech). IFPI Czech Republic. Retrieved 24 March 2010.
  20. ↑ "Marina & The Diamonds – Hollywood Hitlisten.nu" (in Danish). Tracklisten.
  21. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Marina & The Diamonds – Hollywood". GfK Entertainment Charts.
  22. ↑ "RADIO TOP100 Oficiálna: Marina and the Diamonds – Hollywood" (in Slovak). IFPI Slovakia. Retrieved 24 March 2010.
  23. ↑ "Archive Chart: 2010-02-13" UK Singles Chart.
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