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| Format = [[CD single]], [[Music download|digital download]]
| Format = [[CD single]], [[Music download|digital download]]
| Recorded = 2011
| Recorded = 2011
| Genre = [[Pop]] , [[Adult contemporary]]
| Genre = [[Pop]], [[R&B]]
| Length = 3:25
| Length = 3:25
| Label = [[Syco Music|Syco]], [[Sony Music Entertainment|Sony]]
| Label = [[Syco Music|Syco]], [[Sony Music Entertainment|Sony]]

Revision as of 00:29, 8 February 2013

"Cannonball"
Song

"Cannonball" is a song written and performed by Irish folk singer Damien Rice. It was released as the second single from his debut album O, following the release of the debut single "The Blower's Daughter" and was subject of many releases in 2003 (reaching #32 in British Singles Chart), 2004 (reaching #19) and 2011 (reaching #9).

The song was picked as the winner's song for the British The X Factor in its eighth series and was released by the series winners Little Mix on 11 December 2011, topping the British and Irish Singles Charts in the first week of release.

Release

In Ireland the single was issued as a CD maxi single in May 2002 on the artist's own label Damien Rice Music.[1] It contained a remixed version of the track by Paul PDub Walton and Mark "Spike" Stent, plus a demo, a live track and an instrumental of the A-side.[2] Unlike the album version, the single mix includes kit drums.

In Britain the single was released in October 2003 by 14th Floor Records, on a standard CD single and Enhanced CD. The Enhanced CD featured an exclusive B-side, "Moody Monday", and the music video for "Cannonball". It was packaged in a gatefold card sleeve with a poster.[3] The second CD contained live versions of "Cannonball", "Amie" and "The Blower's Daughter", recorded live at Union Chapel.[4] This release included four postcards. A limited edition one-track 7" single was also pressed.[3]

The single was re-released on 5 July 2004, with an additional DVD single containing two remixes and a filmed interview and a biography, rising to #19 on its re-release.

The single versions (of which there are two, with slightly differing production) are markedly different from the original version found on the album, with background production and a quicker vocal.

Chart performance

The song was originally released on May 17, 2002 and did not chart at the time.

In 2003, it reached #32 on the British Singles Chart on the chart of 1 November 2003, slipping back to #57 the following week for a total run of just 2 weeks in the charts.

On its re-release in 2004, the song had a limited success entering the British Singles Chart at #19 on 17 July 2004 and then slipping back in the charts. It had a total run of 7 weeks in the charts that year. It also peaked at #21 in the Irish Singles Chart.

The song was rereleased in 2011 reaching #13 on 22 September 2011 (week 38) in Irish Singles Chart.[5] Damien Rice reentered the British Singles Chart on 24 September 2011 at #39, and rising to #9 in the week of 1 October 2011[5] before slipping back in the charts.

As of December 2011, the song has sold 191,696 copies in the UK.[6]

Track listing

Irish CD
  1. "Cannonball" (Single Version)
  2. "Lonelily" (Original Demo)
  3. "Woman Like a Man" (Live Unplugged)
  4. "Cannonball" (Instrumental Album Version)
British CD
  1. "Cannonball" (live)
  2. "Amie" (live)
  3. "The Blower's Daughter" (live)
British Enhanced CD
  1. "Cannonball" (Radio Remix)
  2. "Moody Monday"
  3. "Cannonball" (Video)

Charts

Chart (2003) Peak
position
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)[7] 32
Chart (2004) Peak
position
Irish Singles Chart (IRMA) 21
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)[8] 19
Chart (2011) Peak
position
Irish Singles Chart (IRMA)[9] 13
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)[7] 9

Little Mix version

"Cannonball"
Song

British girl group Little Mix covered the track in 2011 as one of the finalists in the eighth series of The X Factor. Following the announcement that they had won the show, their version of "Cannonball" was released as the winner's single on 11 December 2011.[10] Little Mix and eventual runner-up Marcus Collins performed the song during the final show of the series. Third place runner-up Amelia Lily also pre-recorded her version in the studio, which made headlines when HMV made it available for pre-order on their site days before the final. HMV later apologised and stated that it was a technical issue.[11] The song debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the fastest-selling single of 2011 but the lowest-selling winner's single since 2004. The landmark was beaten by Military Wives the following week, and, although Cannonball sold 390,000 by the end of 2011, was only the 41st biggest selling song of 2011, 17,000 below Lego House by Ed Sheeran, making it the only ever X Factor winners single to miss the End Of Year Top 40 all together, despite it having an extra week of sales compared to the normal number of weeks that the winners single is released before the End Of Year Top 40 is counted. This is because of the very high sales other songs received, in spite of the fact Steve Brookstein's winners song only sold half Little Mix's sales and was 2004's 30th highest seller. Also the target market was predominantly young children, and ratings of that series X Factor were, whilst higher than most, lower than the previous series. In 2007, this total would have been the 5th highest selling. The song, however, was Christmas Number 1 in Ireland, its 2nd week of a 4 week spell in Rice's home country.

Critical reception

Robert Copsey of Digital Spy Blog gave the song three stars out of five and a positive review, stating: "Naturally the production has been given the deluxe valet, swapping the raw acoustics of the original for a Casio keyboard piano riff, fist-clenching strings and the inevitable key change. But credit where it's due, they've played around (or as Gary put it, "Little Mixed") with it enough to distance themselves from the original."[12]

Music video

The music video for "Cannonball" was uploaded onto Little Mix's official Vevo page on 20 December 2011. It depicts their best moments throughout The X Factor, and their performance of the single.[13]

Chart performance

For the first time since series 1, The X Factor winner's single was not released the week of the coveted Christmas number one chart battle. The Official Charts Company announced that 2011's Christmas number-one will be announced on Christmas Day,[14] meaning releases on 18 December 2011 will be new entries in the chart that week. The winner's single was released in shops on 14 December 2011,[15] which means it will have to maintain significant sales numbers in its second week to achieve the Christmas number-one.

The song debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart selling over 210,000 copies in its first week, becoming the fastest-selling single of the year.[16] It is the lowest-selling X Factor winner's single since Steve Brookstein cover version of "Against All Odds" sold 127,701 in its first week in 2005.[17] The song has sold 465,000 copies in the UK as of December 2012.[18]

In Ireland, the song was Christmas number one and remained at the top of the Irish Singles Chart for four weeks until it dropped to number four on January 13.[19]

Track listing

Digital download
No.TitleLength
1."Cannonball"3:25
2."Little Mix - Audio Message"0:22
CD single
No.TitleLength
1."Cannonball"3:25
2."Super Bass" (X Factor Performance)2:26
3."E.T." (X Factor Performance)2:13
4."Don't Let Go (Love)" (X Factor Performance)2:33

Credits and personnel

  • Damien Rice – songwriter
  • Richard "Biff" Stannard – producer, keyboards, programming
  • Ash Howes – producer, keyboards, programming
  • Steve Mac – producer, keyboards, programming
  • Chris Laws – keyboards, programming, mixing
  • Dann Pursey – lead vocals, bass and drums engineering
  • Jez Ashurst – programming, acoustic guitar
  • Cliff Masterson – additional programming, strings and choir arrangement, conductor
  • Seton Daunt – guitar
  • Steve Pearce – bass
  • Neal Wilkinson – drums
  • Rolf Wilson – strings leader
  • Diva Singers – choir
  • Emma Rohan – backing vocals
  • Jasette Amos – backing vocals

Credits adapted from CD single liner notes.[20]

Charts

Chart (2011) Peak
position
Ireland (IRMA)[21] 1
Scotland (OCC)[22] 1
South Korea International Singles (Gaon)[23] 92
UK Singles (OCC)[24] 1

Year-End Chart

Chart (2011) Position
UK Singles (OCC)[25] 41[26]

Release history

Region Date Format Label
United Kingdom 11 December 2011[27] Digital download Syco Music
14 December 2011 CD single
Ireland 11 December 2011 [28] Digital Download
14 December 2011 CD single
Germany 12 December 2011[29] Digital download

In popular culture

References

  1. ^ damienrice.com
  2. ^ Discogs
  3. ^ a b Irish Music Central
  4. ^ Discogs
  5. ^ a b aCharts.us: Page for "Cannonball" by Damien Rice
  6. ^ Jones, Alan (19 December 2011). "Official Singles Chart Analysis: Little Mix sell 210k units". Music Week. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  7. ^ a b [1]
  8. ^ ChartStats: UK Singles Chart: "Cannonball (2004) Retrieved 2010-04-04
  9. ^ Irish Singles Chart - week 38/2011 Retrieved 2011-12-11
  10. ^ http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/cannonball-single/id470639561
  11. ^ Magrath, Andrea (7 December 2011). "More Fix Factor accusations as Amelia Lily's 'winner's single' made available on HMV website". Daily Mail. London.
  12. ^ Robert Copsey. "Little Mix: 'Cannonball' - Single review". Digital Spy. digitalspy.co.uk/.
  13. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlxoG9gNZU4&list=PL1E47454555330BE2&context=C31f886aADOEgsToPDskKI4lOkWiwkK5LRJPlC-e94
  14. ^ "The Christmas chart battle starts here!". Theofficialcharts.com. 2011-10-25. Retrieved 2011-11-11.
  15. ^ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cannonball-Little-Mix/dp/B006DEXFW2/
  16. ^ "X Factor's Little Mix Cannonballs to Number 1!". The Official Charts Company. 18 December 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  17. ^ Plunkett, John (19 December 2011). "X Factor: Little Mix have lowest-selling winner's single since 2004". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
  18. ^ Lane, Dan (20 December 2012). "The Top 10 biggest selling X Factor debut singles and albums revealed!". The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
  19. ^ Corner, Lewis (13 January 2012). "Flo Rida claims Irish singles No.1 with 'Good Feeling'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  20. ^ (Media notes). {{cite AV media notes}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |Format= ignored (|format= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |PID= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |Type= ignored (|type= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |Year= ignored (|year= suggested) (help)
  21. ^ "Chart Track: Week 50, 2011". Irish Singles Chart.
  22. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  23. ^ "South Korea Gaon International Chart (Week: January 01, 2012 to January 07, 2012)". Gaon Chart. December 15, 2012. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
  24. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  25. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  26. ^ http://ukchartsplus.co.uk/UKChartsPlusYE2011.pdf
  27. ^ Cannonball - Single by Little Mix. iTunes
  28. ^ Cannonball - Single by Little Mix. iTunes
  29. ^ [2]. iTunes
  30. ^ IMDb

External links

Preceded by The X Factor winner's single (Little Mix version)
2011 		Succeeded by
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