Green Light (John Legend song)
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| Single by John Legend featuring André 3000 | |||||||||||||||||
| from the album Evolver | |||||||||||||||||
| Released | July 29, 2008 | ||||||||||||||||
| Format | Digital download, CD single | ||||||||||||||||
| Recorded | 2008 | ||||||||||||||||
| Genre | R&B, Hip hop, Dance | ||||||||||||||||
| Length | 4:44 (Album Version) 4:19 (US Radio Edit) 3:54 (International Radio Edit) |
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| Label | Sony Music | ||||||||||||||||
| Writer(s) | John Stephens, Andre Benjamin, Rick Nowels, Fin Greenall | ||||||||||||||||
| Producer | Malay and KP | ||||||||||||||||
| Certification | Platinum (RIAA) | ||||||||||||||||
| John Legend singles chronology | |||||||||||||||||
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"Green Light" is the first single from John Legend's album Evolver. The song is produced by Malay and KP[1] and features André 3000 of OutKast. The song was released as a single download on July 29, 2008.[2][3] The single was mixed by Manny Marroquin, and there is an official remix featuring T.I. with production by Swizz Beatz,[4] the release of which is shelved. MSTRKRFT, the electronic music group who worked with Legend on "Heartbeaker" for their album Fist of God, also produced a remix. Patrick Stump (lead singer of Fall Out Boy) posted an A Capella style version of the song, singing the lyrics live, accompanied by a prerecorded background beat and his own backing vocals.[5]
The song became Legend's third top 40 hit in the UK Singles Chart after all singles from previous album Once Again failed to chart well there. It is his third biggest hit in the UK and his first single to chart in the top forty since "Ordinary People". The song is also his second top 40 hit in U.S. (after "Ordinary People").
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[edit] Background
Speaking in July 2008 to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning Blues & Soul, Legend explained how the track first came about: "Initially I was working in the studio with a guy called Rick Nowels, who's not known for making a buncha dance songs but is a good writer! And one of the songs we worked on turned out to be 'Green Light'. He started playing this guitar groove, put a beat to it... And, because it was uptempo and felt good, the melody and lyric came to me pretty quickly. So I played it for my A&R guy, who then helped me re-produce it with this producer named Malay. Then, after we listened to the finished track, we thought it would be really cool if Andre 3000 became part of it. 'Cause it just sounded like something he'd do! So we played it for him; he loved it; he wanted to get on it right away... So he wrote and recorded his rap very quickly. And, from the moment I heard Andre on it, to me it straightaway felt like the album's first single!"[6]
BET J placed the music video at #13 on the year-end Last Call 2008! Top 50 Countdown.
[edit] Music video
A music video has been filmed and was released on August 22, 2008 on FNMTV. André 3000 appears in the video along with Legend. Singer Estelle also makes an appearance in the video. Visual effects and editorial for the video were created by Baked FX, previously Baked Goods. The video starts with John Legend singing on the piano to his best-selling single, "Ordinary People". After that, the video proceeds to a wild party. At the end of the video, a snippet from Legend's song "Good Morning", also on Evolver, is played during the morning after, while Legend and André 3000 leave the house and other party guests remain asleep.
"The song is simple. It's just me trying to pick up a girl at a club and convince her to come have some fun with me. [The video] definitely has that story line in it, but we just take it kind of different places to do some unexpected visual things. We have this surreal kind of dance sequence, and it features synchronized swimmers and showgirls. We just throw a little extra twist on it. We wanted to mix a current, modern feel with an old-school, classic Hollywood feel because the song has kind of a big-band quality to it as well as a more modern dance-song quality. We wanted to mix the two different parts."—John Legend, MTV [7]
[edit] Formats and track listings
- UK CD
- "Green Light" (International radio edit)
- "Green Light" (Johnny Douglas radio edit)
[edit] Charts
| Chart (2008-09) | Peak position |
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| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[8] | 24 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs [8] | 6 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play [8] | 4 |
| U.S. Billboard Pop Songs [8] | 21 |
| Canadian Hot 100 | 80 |
| Italian Singles Chart [9] | 19 |
| UK Singles Chart[10] | 35 |
| Dutch Bubbling Under Top 40 | 6 |
| Japan Hot 100 [11] | 9 |
[edit] End of year charts
| Charts (2009) | Position |
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| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 92[12] |
[edit] References
- ^ "Okayplayer.com Interview". Okayplayer. http://www.okayplayer.com/content/view/5795/123/. Retrieved 2008-05-28.
- ^ "Connecting to the iTunes Store". Phobos.apple.com. http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=285831744&s=143441. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
- ^ "Green Light (Album Version): John Legend featuring Andre 3000: MP3 Downloads". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001CXC3BI. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
- ^ John Legend Gives T.I., Swizz Beatz The 'Green Light' For Remix
- ^ "Patrick Stump A Cappella Green Light (John Legend+Andre 3000 cover)". YouTube. 2011-01-26. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXRULxLuI_A&feature=player_embedded. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
- ^ John Legend interview by Pete Lewis, Blues & Soul October 2008
- ^ Ochoa, John (2008-07-23). "John Legend Says Synchronized Swimmers, Showgirls Set 'Green Light' Video Apart - Music, Celebrity, Artist News". MTV. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1591359/20080722/legend_john.jhtml. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
- ^ a b c d Artist Chart History - John Legend, Billboard.com
- ^ Italian Singles Chart
- ^ "The Official UK Singles Chart for the week ending 9 August 2008". ChartsPlus (Milton Keynes: IQ Ware Ltd) (363): 1–4.
- ^ Japan Hot 100 Singles
- ^ "Year End Charts - Year-end songs - The Billboard Hot 100". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/charts-year-end/hot-100-songs?year=2009#/charts-year-end/hot-100-songs?year=2009. Retrieved November 7, 2010.
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