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Song

"He Like That" is a song recorded by American group Fifth Harmony for their self-titled third studio album. The song was written by its producers Ammo, DallasK and Ester Dean and contains a portion of the song "Pumps and a Bump" performed by rapper MC Hammer. The song was released to US Contemporary Hit radio as the album's second single on September 19, 2017. On October 20, 2017, a remix of the song featuring rapper French Montana was released. The music video for the single premiered on August 25, 2017, during a Vevo Watch Party live stream celebrating the release of the group's album.

Background and release

Written and produced by Ammo, DallasK and Ester Dean, the song was initially offered to Fifth Harmony when their A&R executive, Chris, played a demo during the recording sessions for the album. After reading the lyrics for the first time, Fifth Harmony responded positively to it. In interview with Billboard, Dinah Jane said she played the song to her mother who had a surprising reaction: "I didn’t know where 'Pumps and a Bump' came from. I didn’t know what it meant, and then I told my mom about it and she was like, ‘Girl, you don’t know nothing about this. This is from my time -- "Pumps and a Bump"!'". According to Jane, the fact it was written by Ester Dean was one of the reasons why the record was so special:

Ester Dean wrote the song as well, and it made the song even more special to me because I’m a huge fan of hers. She just flavored it up, and we couldn’t help but take the chance on it. Once we all tried out the song, we were like, ‘This is the one we’re going to ride with for this next album.’ It just shows — it’s different.

The vocals were recorded and produced by Chris "TEK" O'Ryan. Phill Tan mixed the track, while Josh Cadwin was the audio engineer. Michelle Mancini mastered the audio. "He Like That" was released to US contemporary hit radio on September 19, 2017.

Composition

"He Like That" fuses reggae with elements of urban contemporary genres such as R&B, dub music and old-school hip-hop sampling "Pumps and a Bump" performed by MC Hammer as foundation of its production and lyrical content. Its danceable, uptempo groove is resulted of a combination of a bass surf guitar and a programmed drum kit. Raisa Brune of Time praised its production noting that the track "turns into a catchy, almost tropical hip-hop tune that lets each member of the foursome stretch her voice." Entertainment Weekly’s Marc Snetiker wrote "He Like That" flits along with "a strident tropical bounce."

Lyrically, the song is written from a female perspective who praises an attractive male figure describing his characteristics. The song opens with a low-key bass while Dinah Jane starts appreciating the physicality of her love interest: “You got that good boy attitude, and yeah I kinda like it. You got the tats on your arm, got a bad girl excited.” Kordei then appears on the pre-chorus using an interpolation of "Pumps and a Bump". Mike Wass of Idolator, who described the song as a "sexy earworm" commented that it finds the group in a "seriously loved-up mood." The chorus performed by Lauren Jauregui exhibits Dean's writing characteristics using repetitive words in the end of each line: "He like that bang, bang, bang, he like that bomb, bomb, bomb / He like that love, love, love, / I’m like that drug, drug, drug." For the second verse, Ally Brooke continues singing about the atractive man: ”He got that rough neck swaggy, but he know how to hide it/He got that dope boy cash, but he get it nine to five-ing."

Reception

Mike Nied from Idolator cited "He Like That" as one of the best tracks on the album Fifth Harmony. According to him, the song "oozes confidence and sex appeal" in a way that their previous single “Down” failed to achieve. Spin’s Katherine St. Asaph said that "He Like That" envokes the songs performed by Barbadian singer Rihanna, especifically those written by Ester Dean. She further felt that the use of guitar in the song suggests a version of Britney Spears’ “Make Me...” (2016) "without G-Eazy". Variety's editor Cris Willman believed that "He Like That" as well as another Fifth Harmony song "Sauced Up" became "deep pleasures".

Sabrina Boderick of The Daily Nebraskan for example, considered it as a "step down" from their previous single "Down", she criticized the lyrical part for telling "less of a story and for being "basically just words to a beat", which for her, was made for a "boring listen." In a review for The Daily Mississippian, Hannah Willis criticized its repetitive hook. Cameron Cook of website Pitchfork appreciated its "sensual groove" but like Eillis, Cook was not enthusiasmatic over the repetitivement present in the chorus, the editor felt that the MC Hammer's interpolation "convey playground fumbles" rather than the raw sexuality they were clearly going for.

Commercially, "He Like That" did not appeared on Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States but managed to debut at number one on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 after its full-tracking week, a component chart listing the top singles which have not yet charted on the Hot 100. It became the first single off an album released by Fifth Harmony to do not visit the Hot 100, as all of their singles since "Boss" entered the main component chart. "He Like That" additionally charted and peaked at 33 on the Mainstream Top 40. It also debuted at number 95 in Portugal, 75 in Canada and 53 in the Philippines.

Music video

Development and synopsis

The music video for "He Like That" was directed by James Larese who had previously directed the video of "Down", parts of the video were captured in an old club located in Los Angeles, California. Fifth Harmony's long-time collaborator Sean Bankhead served as the choreographer for the video. Similar to the music video for "Down", the visual of "He Like That" is colorful, with neon lights illumination and a balance of intense colors. The scenery is reminiscent of hip hop block parties of the 1990s and dancehall clubs. The video begins with a vinyl record that serves as an introduction for the video's title and presentation. Close up shots of each girl is shown, drenched in neon lights while shifting to the scene where Dinah Jane, sporting a long pink skirt, is seen performing a choreographed dance routine with a male dancer. The video then cuts with a particular scene of Kordei, who dances a sensual and intimate choreography with a back-up dancer; the singer wears a red latex top with pants. During the chorus, the group is shown with several men and women who are lying on a couch caressing each other.

File:He Like That - video screenshot.jpeg.

The video shows the "sensual" side of the group that some critics compared to Britney Spears' "I'm a Slave 4 U" video which contains similar scenery and choreography.

As the second verse begins, Brooke appears dancing with another male dancer. Kordei then keeps performing another dance routine, now with two men, backed by the same scene where she performed earlier. As the second chorus is introduced, the members are shown using different outfits performing on the center of the dance floor, backed with male dancers, intercepted with scenes of the members lying in the couch surrounded by several men. Jauregui is then seen performing her specified choreography with a backing dancer. The scene is cut with a shot where Hansen and Kordei are leaning against a wall and dancing with their partners, interspersed with scenes of the group still grinding in the club. The clip ends with a shot of Kordei and Hansen, sensually lying on their dance partners' backs who are doing push up exercises.

Reception

Alexandra Holterman from Billboard described the video as "sweaty, confident, and unapologetically sexy." Deepa Lakshmin of MTV News blog viewed the video as "hotter" than their video for "Work from Home" and praised the group's coordination. The video received comparisons to that for "I'm a Slave 4 U" (2000) performed by American singer Britney Spears due to their similar location and choreography. Allison Bowsher of Much.com pointed out that the group offered a "little something for all viewers" as they play with the male and female cast. As she opined, Fifth Harmony have never been shy about "turning up the sexy factor" in their videos, exemplifying the visuals for “Work From Home” and “All In My Head (Flex)", but in “He Like That,” they look more like women who know "what they want, and what they want is to rule the charts" rather than "young girls trying on their older sister’s outfits." Jeniffer Drysdale of website Entertainment Tonight who described it as a "sizzling music video", felt that the group's fashion matched the song's suggestive lyrics, as they showed "plenty of skin."

Live performances and remix

Fifth Harmony performed "He Like That" during the self-titled release parties in Los Angeles, California. The tevelised first live performance of "He Like That" was during the Good Morning America on August 29th, 2017. To Mike Nied of Idolator, the performed was a little "stripped back" with their vocals shining over the simple staging. On September 2, 2017, Fifth Harmony appeared as the main performers on RocksCorps event at Makuhari Messe in Tokyo, Japan, where they performed "He Like That" along with other songs in front of 4,000 people. At the TIDAL X benefit concert on October 17, 2017, the group performed "Down" and "He Like That" wearing pink latex boots and bodysuits. They were backed by a live drummer, guitarist and keyboardist for the performance, Ryan Reed of Rolling Stone praised the "flashed colorful static" on the performance and said that the live band gave some "extra muscles" for the performance. On September 12, 2017, Fifth Harmony recreated the set of the music video for their performance on the The Late Late Show with James Corden. They also played a game called “Flinch,” in which each singer stood behind a pane of glass and attempted not to spill a martini glass while being pelted with liquified fruit. On October 27, 2017, the group performed "He Like That" live during their appearance on MTV's reboot of Total Request Live alongside "Don't Say You Love Me" on October 27, 2017. The performance marked a change of scenery for TRL live performances, with the group singing in the studio instead of on a stage set up in Times Square, which was where the bulk of performers were situated in the first week. Billboard's Caitlin Kelley wrote positively about their vocal performance and synchronized harmonization, similarly, Mike Wass of Idolator felt that their vocals were "on point".

An official remix featuring rapper French Montana was released on digital plataforms on October 20, 2017. In the remix, Montana sings the second verse - originally sung by Brooke - around the song's bubbling bass line with double-time bars while pays homage to The Notorious B.I.G.’s “One More Chance / Stay With Me (Remix)."(1995): "Montana, you know what it is when you hear that haaa/ Bang, bang, bang, bang/ Hold up, rang rang, go watch chain gang/ My story change lanes (skrrt skrrt)/ Bring four girls, I'm up for a challenge (skrrt skrrt)/ French vanilla, keep your balance/ I lost my check and time, my flight lands at nine/ Your flight lands at eight, my game just rewind." Gil Kaufman of Billboard felt that the rapper did not "disappointed". Aron A. from HotNewHipHop website noted that although the song inevitably coming from the perspective of women, Montana brings "another outlook." The writer further said the chemistry between Fifth Harmony and Montana worked "well on wax". MTV News' Deepa Lukshmin commented that the remix fits "perfectly" with the dancehall-inspired music video.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from Fifth Harmony's liner notes.

Recording

• Recorded at Westlake Studios, Los Angeles, California and Sole Studios, London, England.
• Mixed at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center, Atlanta, California.
• Mastered at Larrebe Studios North Hollywood, California.

Management

• Published by Each Note Counts/Prescription Songs (ASCAP) all rights administered by Kobalt Songs Music Publishing (ASCAP) // Dallas K Music (ASCAP) // Songs Of Universal, Inc. / Fox Film Music Corporation (BMI) // Radric Davis Publishing LLC (ASCAP) all rights o/b/o itself and Radric Davis Publishing LLC administered by WB Music Corporation.
• Management – Larry Rudolph, Dan Dymtrow and Tayra Beikae / Maverick Management
• Gucci Mane appears courtesy of Atlantic Records Corporation

Personnel

• Vocals – Ally Brooke Hernandez, Dinah Jane Hansen, Lauren Jauregui, Normani Kordei Hamilton and Radric Delantic Davis
• Songwriting – Joshua Coleman, Dallas Koehlke, Claire Remotest and Radric Davis.
• Production – Ammo and DallasK
• Programming and Keyboards – Ammo and DallasK
• Vocal Engineering – Andrew Bolooki
• Vocal Engineering Assistant – Desi Aguilar
• Engineer – Ammo
• Production Coordination – Andrew Luftman and Sarah Shelton

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Label	Ref.
Worldwide	June 2, 2017	Digital download	Epic Syco
United States			Epic
	June 6, 2017	Rhythmic contemporary
	June 13, 2017	Contemporary hit radio