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Billionaire (song)

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Coladar (talk | contribs) at 20:38, 28 August 2018 (Corrected date on prior/debut single, as its page clearly shows a release of 2009, not 2010 as erroneously cited here.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about the Travie McCoy song. For the Peaches song, see I Feel Cream.

"Billionaire"
Song

"Billionaire" is the debut single by American recording artist Travie McCoy, featuring guest vocals from Bruno Mars. It is the lead single from McCoy's debut studio album, Lazarus. The song was produced by The Smeezingtons, which consists of Mars, Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine. Lyrically, McCoy imagines what would happen if he became a billionaire, referencing all the good he would do to others with the money along with his desire to be on the cover of Forbes magazine, "smiling next to Oprah and The Queen".[2] As of July 2011, the song has sold 3 million digital downloads, making it Mars' third single to do so.[3] The song was also included in Mars' performance in Super Bowl XLVIII halftime show in 2014. It was released in the UK via digital download on July 26, 2010.[4] It became McCoy's most successful single to date.

Background

Bruno Mars came up with the lyrical concept for "Billionaire" during a trip to London in which he was given £240 ($350) by his record label to live on for 11 days. He found the amount of money to be insufficient, and explained "We were like, 'Is this the biggest mistake we've ever made? We thought we were broke in California; what are we going to do here?' So we've got no money, and I'm walking the streets and came up with, 'I wanna be a billionaire, so frickin' bad.'"[5] With the song, McCoy intended to avoid "superficial" lyrics in the wake of an economic recession, and added "There’s something to sing about here; if I was in the position to have a ridiculous amount of money, would I be selfish or selfless?’ I just took that concept and ran with it."[6]

Later, Mars explained to Forbes that his own finances inspired him to write the tune.“I wouldn’t have to worry about, you know, ‘I can’t afford to get breakfast, so I’ll wait until lunchtime to eat,’” he said, explaining the song’s origins at his manager’s Hollywood Hills home. “If I was a billionaire, none of that would matter. I’d be eating diamond cereal.”[7]

During the summer of 2009, The Smeezingtons (Mars, Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine) were booked for a week of studio sessions writing for Lupe Fiasco, B.o.B and McCoy.[8] At the end of the week the group had created a scratch demo version of "Billionaire". The B.o.B song "Nothin' on You" was also conceived at this time.[8] McCoy later joined The Smeezingtons in the studio to complete the full song.[8] The radio edit of the song replaces the word Fucking with freaking and is 3:06 long instead of 3:30. The radio edit is available for download on iTunes.

The music video appeared in MTV animated series Beavis and Butthead in the episode "Whorehouse".

Composition

The song features a "reggae backbeat" and acoustic guitar.[9] "Billionaire" is "acoustic pop-reggae" and presages Mars' Doo-Wops & Hooligans, as "laid-back soft rock, with gentle reggae inflections, hang-loose sentiments and all."[10]

[11]

Controversy

In January 2014, Bruno Mars and Travie McCoy were sued by Demetrius Orlandus Procter regarding copyright infringement allegations made by Procter relating to "Billionaire"; Procter accused the song's authors of stealing the song from him, despite the fact that Procter didn't put any dollar amount on what he was owed. In the lawsuit, McCoy and Mars were requested to take charge to "destroy all copies of Plaintiffs' Recording that Defendants have downloaded onto any computer hard drive or server without Plaintiffs' authorization and shall destroy all copies of that downloaded recording transferred onto any physical medium or device."[12]

Remix

The official remix features Mars, his Nappy Boy labelmates T-Pain & R&B group One Chance, Jon A. Gordon, Michael A. Gordon and Atlanta-based rapper Gucci Mane. The remix was produced by Young Fyre.[13] There is also a Jawaiian remix done by a band called Big Every Time (known has B.E.T. for short) from Hawaii a DJ Mike D remix. UK rapper Professor Green also covered the song on BBC Radio 1.[14] In 2011, Only Won released a "Geeked out" remix video titled, "I Wanna Be An Engineer" which was a parody that reached viral status and caught the attention of CNN, Discovery Channel, and FIRST Robotics Competition.[15]

Music video

The music video was filmed in Los Angeles, California and was first broadcast on MtvU on May 6, 2010. It begins with Mars playing a guitar while sitting on a wall at Venice Beach and singing the opening chorus. The scene switches to McCoy rapping while driving a Mini Cooper with Mars in the passenger seat. Throughout the video, McCoy is shown helping four people, as well as one large group at the end. The first thing he does is give a guy a new skateboard after he broke his own in half; the second is buying an unknown, aspiring artist's CD; the third is getting out of the Mini Cooper and giving the keys to a teenager trying to hitchhike to Geneva, New York and the fourth is giving a graffiti artist some more spray paint after his ran out. The video then switches to Venice Beach, where the group in question run dry on beer in their cooler, but McCoy and Mars come in and hand out more beers to restore life to the party. Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz can also be seen in the video riding on the back of a scooter with McCoy.

Track listing

  • Digital download[16]
  1. "Billionaire" – 3:29
  2. "Bad All By Myself" – 3:24
  3. "Superbad (11:34)" – 3:12
  • Digital download – Deluxe single[17]
  1. "Billionaire" – 3:29
  2. "Billionaire" (Acoustic) – 3:32
  3. "Billionaire" (Music Video)
  4. "Billionaire" (Party Rock Remix) (featuring LMFAO & Gucci Mane) – 3:14
  1. "Billionaire" – 3:29
  2. "Bad All By Myself" – 3:24

Glee version

The song was covered on the television show Glee during the second-season premiere episode "Audition". Sung by Chord Overstreet, Cory Monteith, Harry Shum, Jr., Kevin McHale and Mark Salling, the song debuted and peaked at No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Credits and personnel

  • Production – The Smeezingtons
  • Drum Programming: The Stereotypes
  • Live Drums: Eric Hernandez
  • Bass: Brody Brown and Charles Monez
  • All other music and instruments by The Smeezingtons
  • Recorded by Ari Levine at Levcon Studios, Los Angeles, CA
  • Mixed by Ari Levine at Levcon Studios, Los Angeles, CA
  • Mastered by: Chris Gehringer at Sterling Sound, New York, NY

Charts and certifications

Claudia Leitte version

"Billionaire"
Song

"Famosa" (English: Famous) is a song by Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte featuring Travie McCoy. It was released on May 7, 2010 as the second single from the album As Máscaras. The stylized title features a dollar sign and S.A. (which generally designates corporations) – in this case, used to indicate the strong money appeal of the song and its storyline. The song is a version of McCoy's "Billionaire", consisting of the same original lines by McCoy while Leitte adds new verses in Portuguese of her own instead of Mars’.

Its new lyrics make references to Jô Soares' talk show, the reality show Big Brother Brasil, the social network Twitter and the late TV hostess Hebe Camargo, a dear friend of Leitte.[61]

A solo version of the song was also promoted by Sony Music, with alternate rap verses sung by Leitte replacing those of McCoy.

Music video

The video for the song was filmed in São Paulo and was released in July, 2010. It features footage of McCoy from the original "Billionaire" music video interpolated with scenes Leitte of Leitte portraying a character who has to choose between fame and love. The famous Oscar Freire street, known to contain numerous sophisticated stores and to be the point of buying for artists and millionaires, is heavily featured.

Chart positions

Chart (2010) Peak
position
BR Billboard Hot 100 Airplay[62] 3

See also

References

  1. ^ "Billionaire (feat. Bruno Mars) – Single by Travie McCoy – Download Billionaire (feat. Bruno Mars) – Single on iTunes". Itunes.apple.com. March 9, 2010. Retrieved December 18, 2010.
  2. ^ "Billionaire Songfacts". Songfacts.com. Archived from the original on June 13, 2011. Retrieved December 18, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ Grein, Paul (July 20, 2011). "Week Ending July 17, 2011. Songs: Demi's Breakthrough | Chart Watch – Archives – Yahoo! Music". New.music.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on July 24, 2011. Retrieved December 5, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ "Travie McCoy ft. Bruno Mars: 'Billionaire'". digitalspy.com. July 22, 2010. Archived from the original on January 1, 2017. Retrieved April 27, 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ Lipshutz, Jason (April 10, 2010). "Bruno Mars Steps Into Spotlight on 'Doo-Wops & Hooligans'". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on March 30, 2013. Retrieved May 8, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
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  7. ^ Zack O'Malley Greenburg (January 6, 2014). "From Cereal To Super Bowl: The Evolution of Bruno Mars". Forbes. Forbes, Inc. Archived from the original on February 9, 2014. Retrieved March 1, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ a b c "Interview with Aaron Bay-Schuck". HitQuarters. December 13, 2010. Archived from the original on July 8, 2012. Retrieved December 14, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ Paine, Kelsey (May 6, 2010). "Pete Wentz in New Travie McCoy Video". Spin. SpinMedia. Archived from the original on May 12, 2016. Retrieved May 9, 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ Petridis, Alexis (January 20, 2011). "Bruno Mars: Doo-Wops & Hooligans – review". The Guardian. Archived from the original on February 19, 2014. Retrieved August 26, 2011. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Lyle, Ashley (October 4, 2016). "Bruno Mars' Best Hip-Hop Collaborations". Billboard. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
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  15. ^ Onlywon (January 18, 2011). "I Wanna Be An Engineer – (Billionaire Geeked Out Mix) by: Only Won – the Lyrical Engineer". YouTube. Archived from the original on October 10, 2011. Retrieved December 5, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
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