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Beautiful Girls (Sean Kingston song)

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"Beautiful Girls"
Song

"Beautiful Girls" is the debut single by reggae-influenced musician Sean Kingston from his eponymous debut; it was first released in 2007. The song samples Ben E. King's classic "Stand by Me". The song is about a boy who is suicidal (or rather "in denial" in the edited version) over the failure of his relationship with a "beautiful girl". It is Kingston's signature song.

The music video featured actor Tom Hardy who became friends with Kingston whilst living in Los Angeles in his early years of acting.

Rapper Lil Mama and actors Kenny Vibert and Lil' JJ are featured in the music video directed by Marcus Raboy.

Lyrics controversy

Certain radio stations (mostly AC or hot AC stations, including Radio Disney), play the censored version of the song, which replaces "you had me suicidal, suicidal" with "you got me in denial, in denial." On MTV the word "suicidal" is completely removed with no replacement. On BET, Fuse and MuchMusic, as well as several top 40, urban and rhythmic top 40 and AC stations, "suicidal" was left intact.

Due to the lyrics containing references to suicide, the track has been removed from many radio playlists including FM104 in Dublin, where complaints were phoned in on a late night chat show, The Adrian Kennedy Phoneshow, and Wild 102 in Roseau, Minnesota. It was allegedly pulled from 2FM although a spokesperson said the song is currently not on its playlist but could not confirm if it had been in the past.[1] FM104 replaced "suicidal" with "in denial", a change Sean Kingston made for the radio station.

Track listing

US promo CD

  1. "Beautiful Girls" (main version) – 3:45
  2. "Beautiful Girls" (instrumental) – 3:45
  3. "Beautiful Girls" (a cappella) – 3:45

UK CD single

  1. "Beautiful Girls" (album version) – 4:02
  2. "Beautiful Girls" (a cappella) – 3:41
  3. "Beautiful Girls" (instrumental) – 3:40
  4. "Beautiful Girls" (remix) (featuring Fabolous and Lil' Boosie) – 3:27
  5. "Beautiful Girls" (video)

Official remixes

  1. Official remix featuring Fabolous and Lil' Boosie – (3:28)
  2. Official remix featuring AC – (4:12)
  3. Official remix featuring Lil Mama – (3:50)

Official versions

  • Main version, radio edit – 3:43
  • Album version, LP version – 4:02
  • Clean radio edit – 3:43 (credited also as 'Radio Disney version' or 'Nickelodeon mix' on the iCarly soundtrack)
  • Extended version, video version – 4:17

Chart performance

The song benefited from extensive airplay before its digital release, reaching as high as number 17 on the Hot 100. On July 24, "Beautiful Girls" was accidentally leaked onto the US iTunes Store, two days before the planned release date. The week after the song's digital release it hit number one on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs, debuting with 260,000 downloads in its first week (the second highest digital sales for a new song of 2007, only behind Rihanna's "Umbrella").[2] Kingston became the first artist born within the 1990s to top the Hot 100, beating rapper Soulja Boy Tell 'Em to it by six weeks.[3] It has also gone on to occupy the top spot on the US Hot 100 Airplay and the Canadian Hot 100. It remained on top of the UK Singles Chart for four weeks before being knocked off by the Sugababes' first single from their fifth studio album Change, "About You Now". The song ended 2007 as the year's 15th biggest-selling single in the UK.[4] On the official ARIA charts in Australia, it debuted at number one but fell to number two the following week when Delta Goodrem's comeback single took the top spot. "Beautiful Girls" returned the next week and remained for a month before being replaced by Timbaland's "The Way I Are".

Charts and certifications

Covers

A few months after "Beautiful Girls" was released in 2007, a new online video service called Votigo began a cover contest in which fans could submit covers of the song for a chance to get a call from Sean Kingston. After an online vote user Mallory Robbins won with an a cappella version of the song. Top honors also went to a rock cover of the song performed by the Ailan Christopher Project. Shortly afterward, singer JoJo released a cover response version of the track which was released on Myspace, however will not be featured on her upcoming album. Chris Moyles also released a parody cover, however it was about the song describing how bad it was in his opinion.

The lead singer of Sublime, Rome, sang the acoustic version of "Beautiful Girls" on RAWsession on October 20, 2008.

The Plain White T's, whose song was knocked out of the charts by this one, did a cover version for Yahoo Music. Lead vocalist Tom Higgenson says that the group "started covering it as a joke almost. We started learning it because we were number one for a few weeks and then we got knocked out of the number one spot by Sean Kingston, by this song. It's kind of like an ode to Sean."[48] To close out the song guitarist Mike Retondo breaks into the chorus of "Stand by Me", which is also done in the cover version by Boyce Avenue, a nod to the fact that that song's bassline is used in "Beautiful Girls". Maverick Sabre did the same at BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge.[49]

Teddy Geiger covered the song on his 2007 tour, due to popularity a recorded version of the song will be featured as a bonus track on the iTunes version of his upcoming CD The March.

Lil' Brianna remixed the song and featured Kingston's vocals on her second mixtape, Princess of Miami.

Jesse McCartney covered "Beautiful Girls" during his Right Where You Want Me tour.

David Archuleta briefly sang the chorus of the song at the end of his May 6, 2008 performance on the US TV show American Idol. He was singing Ben E. King's original "Stand by Me" song.

Deer Tick recorded a cover of "Beautiful Girls", which can be found on Myspace.com.

Casey Crescenzo of The Dear Hunter recorded a cover of this song and has occasionally performed it live.

Boyband JLS performed a mashup of "Beautiful Girls" and "Stand by Me" as their bottom two performance on the fifth series of the UK TV show The X Factor. A year later on series six of the show, Lloyd Daniels sang the chorus and last verse of the song in his November 30, 2008 performance, also singing King's original "Stand by Me".

Bayside covers the song on Punk Goes Pop Volume Two.

BAMF! recorded a version entitled "Bootyfull Girl".

Russell Crowe, Kevin Durand, Scott Grimes, and Alan Doyle performed a cover version during the press tour for Robin Hood and at several benefit shows afterwards.

Beautiful Girls Reply

"Beautiful Girls"
Song

"Beautiful Girls" (also known as "Beautiful Girls Reply") is a song by American singer JoJo. It was released digitally on July 20, 2007 as a cover response to "Beautiful Girls" by Sean Kingston.[51] The song samples Ben E. King's classic "Stand by Me" and uses digital pitch correction technology on the vocals. Whereas Kingston's version is about a boy who is suicidal over the failure of his relationship with a "beautiful girl", JoJo speaks from a girl's perspective.

Chart performance

The song debuted at number 39 on the Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 chart one month after its release.

Chart (2007) Peak
position
US Rhythmic Top 40 (Billboard)[52] 39

Parodies

  • Chris Moyles and Comedy Dave from BBC Radio 1 have produced a popular parody, Sean Krapston – A Suicidal song.[53]
  • Kel Mitchell has produced a song on his Myspace called "Scariest Girl".
  • Panamanian reggae group Comando Tiburón made a parody of the song in Spanish, called "No Llores Más" ("Don't Cry No More").

Use in media

This song is also featured in the 2008 monster film Cloverfield, and on The CW's Gossip Girl. The "suicidal" version of the song, which ends differently from the single mix is also featured in the video game SingStar Hottest Hits.

See also

References

  1. ^ Independent.ie - Station bans hit song about suicide (September 21, 2007)
  2. ^ BillBoard.com - Kingston Has 'Beautiful' View Atop Revamped Hot 100 (August 2, 2007)
  3. ^ Breaking Music News - Music Business Information - Music Industry Sales
  4. ^ BBC Music. "Top 40 Singles of the Year 2007 ". Retrieved 2007-12-30
  5. ^ "Sean Kingston – Beautiful Girls". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  6. ^ "Sean Kingston – Beautiful Girls" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  7. ^ "Sean Kingston – Beautiful Girls" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  8. ^ "Sean Kingston – Beautiful Girls" (in French). Ultratop 50.
  9. ^ "Brazil" (PDF). ABPD. October 6, 2001. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
  10. ^ "Sean Kingston Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard.
  11. ^ "ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 39. týden 2007 in the date selector.
  12. ^ "Hitlisten.NU – Sean Kingston – Beautiful Girls" (in Danish). Tracklisten.
  13. ^ "Sean Kingston – Chart Search" Billboard European Hot 100 Singles for Sean Kingston. [dead link]
  14. ^ "Sean Kingston: Beautiful Girls" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat.
  15. ^ "Sean Kingston – Beautiful Girls" (in French). Les classement single.
  16. ^ "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Rádiós Top 40 játszási lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége.
  17. ^ "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Dance Top 40 lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége.
  18. ^ "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Single (track) Top 40 lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége.
  19. ^ "Chart Track: Week 37, 2007". Irish Singles Chart.
  20. ^ "Sean Kingston – Beautiful Girls". Top Digital Download.
  21. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 38, 2007" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
  22. ^ "Sean Kingston – Beautiful Girls" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  23. ^ "Sean Kingston – Beautiful Girls". Top 40 Singles.
  24. ^ "Sean Kingston – Beautiful Girls". VG-lista.
  25. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  26. ^ "ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: insert 200738 into search.
  27. ^ "Sean Kingston – Beautiful Girls" Canciones Top 50.
  28. ^ "Sean Kingston – Beautiful Girls". Singles Top 100.
  29. ^ "Sean Kingston – Beautiful Girls". Swiss Singles Chart.
  30. ^ "Sean Kingston: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company.
  31. ^ "Sean Kingston Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  32. ^ "Sean Kingston Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard.
  33. ^ "Sean Kingston Chart History (Pop Songs)". Billboard.
  34. ^ "ARIA Charts - End Of Year Charts - Top 100 Singles 2007". Archived from the original on 2010-12-05. Retrieved 2012-04-15. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  35. ^ [1] Archived January 24, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  36. ^ "Official UK Singles Chart of 2007" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-04-15.
  37. ^ [2]
  38. ^ "Promusicae 2008" (PDF) (in Spanish). PROMUSICAE. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 9, 2013. Retrieved September 15, 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  39. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2007 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association.
  40. ^ "Brazilian single certifications – Sean Kingston – Beautiful Girls" (in Portuguese). Pro-Música Brasil.
  41. ^ a b "Canadian single certifications – Sean Kingston – Beautiful Girls". Music Canada. Cite error: The named reference "CanadaSean KingstonBeautiful GirlssingleCertRef" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  42. ^ "Guld og platin i November" (in Danish). IFPI Denmark. Archived from the original on January 23, 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  43. ^ "New Zealand single certifications – Sean Kingston – Beautiful Girls". Recorded Music NZ.
  44. ^ "Top 20 Canciones - Semana 33: del 11 al 17 de agosto de 2008" (PDF) (in Spanish). PROMUSICAE. Retrieved January 5, 2012.
  45. ^ "British single certifications – Sean Kingston – Beautiful Girls". British Phonographic Industry. Select singles in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type Beautiful Girls in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  46. ^ a b "American single certifications – Sean Kingston – Beautiful Girls". Recording Industry Association of America.
  47. ^ "Top 20 Tonos Originales - Semana 31: del 28 de julio al 3 de agosto de 2008" (PDF) (in Spanish). PROMUSICAE. Retrieved January 5, 2012.
  48. ^ "Yahoo Music - Beautiful Girls: Pepsi Smash Exclusive Cover Art by Plain White T's". Retrieved 28 February 2008.[permanent dead link]
  49. ^ "Maverick Sabre - Beautiful Girl/Stand By Me in the Live Lounge". YouTube. 2012-06-21. Retrieved 2014-08-20.
  50. ^ "JoJo (3) – Beautiful Girls (Unreleased) (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  51. ^ Brian (July 20, 2007). "WHO SANG IT BETTER? JOJO VS. SEAN KINGSTON". Concrete Loop. Archived from the original on September 12, 2007. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  52. ^ "JoJo - Chart history". Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 for JoJo. Retrieved 28 August 2016. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  53. ^ Download of Sean Krapston – A Suicidal song
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