We Made You
"We Made You" | |
---|---|
Song | |
B-side | "We Made You (Instrumental)" |
"We Made You" is a song by American rapper Eminem from his sixth studio album Relapse (2009). It was released as the second single from the album on April 7, 2009. "We Made You" was written by Eminem, Andre Young, Dawaun Parker, Mark Batson, Trevor Lawrence Jr. and Walter Egan. Production was handled by Dr. Dre, with Eminem and Doc Ish serving as additional co-producers.
"We Made You" received generally mixed reviews from music critics, and became a success, peaking inside the Top 10 in fourteen countries and at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100. Just like "Shake That", this single is known for being a departure from the serious tone of his second released singles from his previous albums such as "Cleanin' Out My Closet", "The Way I Am" and "Like Toy Soldiers", instead having a more comedic tone.
Background
It features chorus vocals by Charmagne Tripp.[1][2][3] Produced by Dr. Dre and co-produced by Doc Ish and Eminem himself, the song samples "Hot Summer Nights" by Walter Egan.[4] The official cover for the single is a picture of the music video, with Eminem, Oxen, Lisa Ann and Bobby Lee.
Critical reception
"We Made You" has generally mixed reviews from contemporary music critics. Daniel Kreps of Rolling Stone magazine gave it a positive review stating, "It's nice to see Eminem goofing around again after a few years out of the spotlight during which he grappled with serious issues like the death of his friend Proof, and 'We Made You' with its damnation of current celebrities will likely prove to be a solid pop cultural time capsule of this weird 2009 moment we're experiencing now."[5] Billboard said, "Atop Dr. Dre's marching beat is primarily piano instrumentation, which amid drums and tubas give the track a carnival feel... And in case his word play was too fast and strange accent too difficult to decipher, Charmagne Tripp sings the chorus."[6] Tim Jonze of The Guardian however, reported, "'We Made You' is not Eminem doing what he does best."[7] As of September 15, 2018, the video had over 194,669,084 views on YouTube.[8]
Chart performance
"We Made You" sold 167,000 downloads in its first week to enter the Hot Digital Songs chart in Billboard Magazine at number three. The song also debuted at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100, to become Eminem's second top ten in a row on the chart, ranked "Crack a Bottle", a collaboration with Dr. Dre and 50 Cent. This marks the first time that Eminem has had back-to-back top-ten hits on the Hot 100 as a lead artist since 2002, when he scored with "Without Me", "Cleanin' Out My Closet" and "Lose Yourself".[9] "We Made You" has reached the top ten in twelve countries, including number one in Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and Germany.
Music video
Development and release
The single's music video was directed by Joseph Kahn, who also shot "Without Me" from The Eminem Show is in the same vein as past videos under the Slim Shady persona, and the first of its kind since Encore's "Ass Like That". The video was filmed in Las Vegas and features star appearances by Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Denaun Porter, Bobby Lee, The Palms hotel owner George Maloof, Francesca Le (playing Kim Kardashian), Melissa Peterman, Vanilla Ice, Trisha Paytas (playing Jessica Simpson's role in The Dukes of Hazzard), Derrick Barry (of America's Got Talent fame) (playing Britney Spears), actress Gabrielle Salinger (playing Amy Winehouse) and pornographic actress Lisa Ann as Sarah Palin. The music video for "We Made You" premiered on April 7, 2009 at 6:00 AM on several MTV networks, as well as MTV.com. The video also premiered on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on the next day.[10]
Concept
The music video parodies TV shows Rock of Love and Star Trek (with the Starfleet insignia replaced with an inverted 2nd Infantry Division), as well as video game Guitar Hero with Eminem against an imitation version background of the notes while the homage to film Rain Man was shot at The Palms, a film Eminem has previously referenced in his lyrics.[11] The video was also a dual promotion of Larry Flynt's porn parody of Who's Nailin' Paylin? satirizing Sarah Palin's governorship of Alaska, released recently. Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is also homaged. On April 3, 2009, Eminem talked about the music video in an MTV News interview, stating that there is some "Celebrity bashing in it", which is often a feature of his album's lead singles.[12] Celebrities mocked include Bret Michaels, Kevin Federline, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Samantha Ronson, Amy Winehouse and her then-husband Blake Fielder-Civil, Ellen DeGeneres, Portia de Rossi, Jessica Alba, Elvis Presley, Tony Romo, John Mayer, Jennifer Aniston, and Kim Kardashian.[13] Eminem even spoofed himself, wearing an ALF T-shirt and holding a cake, referencing a commonly circulated pre-fame photo of him of when he was an adolescent. The video features appearances from Lisa Ann as Sarah Palin, Trisha Paytas as Jessica Simpson, and Derrick Barry, a famous Britney Spears female impersonator, as Spears. The video also features appearances from Dr. Dre and 50 Cent as themselves.
Reception
The music video won the award at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Hip-Hop Video and was nominated for Best Male Video, as well as Video of the Year. The video also ranked at#81 on BET's Notarized: Top 100 Videos of 2009 countdown.[14] The music video also features Beats by Dr. Dre Monster headphones.
Track listing
- Digital EP[15]
- "We Made You" – 4:47
- "We Made You" (Super Clean) – 4:47
- "We Made You" (Instrumental) – 4:47
- UK CD single[16]
- "We Made You" – 4:47
- "We Made You" (Instrumental) – 4:47
- German CD single[17]
- "We Made You" – 4:47
- "We Made You" (Super Clean) – 4:47
- "We Made You" (Instrumental) – 4:47
- "We Made You" (Video) – 4:47
- No title
- We Made You
- Shake That
- Bug A Boo
- Beautiful
- Entourage
- We Made You – Karaoke Version
Personnel
Charts
See also
- List of number-one singles in Australia in 2009
- List of number-one singles of 2009 (Ireland)
- List of number-one singles from the 2000s (New Zealand)
- List of Romanian Singles Chart top 10 Singles in 2009
References
- ^ Reid, Shaheem (March 23, 2009). "Photo From Eminem's 'We Made You' Video Set Hits Web". MTV. Retrieved March 25, 2009.
- ^ Paine, Jake (May 8, 2009). "Eminem's "We Made You" Co-Producer Explains His Big Break". HipHopDX.com. Retrieved May 9, 2009.
- ^ Trust, Gary (April 15, 2009). "Chart Beat: Rascal Flatts, Seal, Eminem". Billboard. Archived from the original on August 30, 2014. Retrieved April 16, 2009.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ "Eminem – Relapse (CD, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
- ^ Kreps, Daniel (2009-04-07). "Eminem Skewers Britney Spears, Amy Winehouse, Sarah Palin in "We Made You" Video". MTV. Retrieved 2009-04-11.
- ^ [1] Archived April 22, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Eminem's back, but not to his best". The Guardian. 8 April 2009. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
- ^ EminemVEVO (16 June 2009). "Eminem - We Made You". YouTube. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
- ^ Paul Grein, Chart Watch, Week Ending April 19, 2009: She's The Youngest To Ever Do It, Yahoo.com
- ^ "MTV Scores Exclusive Premiere Of The New Eminem Video, 'We Made You'". Starpulse.com. 2009-04-03. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
- ^ "Is Eminem's New Name 'Rain Man'?". MTV News. March 24, 2009. Retrieved March 27, 2009.
- ^ "Eminem Says 'We Made You' Video Has 'Some Celebrity Bashing'". April 3, 2009.
- ^ "Eminem's 'We Made You' Video: Which Celebs Get Slammed? – Music, Celebrity, Artist News". MTV. 2009-04-07. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
- ^ Black Entertainment Television's. "Notarized: Top 100 Videos 2009". Archived from the original on 2010-01-07. Retrieved 2010-01-09.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ "We Made You - Single by Eminem on Apple Music". Itunes.apple.com. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
- ^ "We Made You". Amazon.co.uk. 11 May 2009. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
- ^ "We Made You". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
- ^ "Charmagne Tripp: Music". Retrieved 2011-12-11.
- ^ ""We Made You" Billboard charts". Retrieved 2009-04-17. [dead link]
- ^ "Eminem – We Made You". acharts.us. Retrieved 2009-04-22.
- ^ a b "Top 50 Singles Chart – Australian Record Industry Association". Ariacharts.com.au. Archived from the original on 2009-03-06. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ [2] Archived April 7, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Brazil" (PDF). ABPD. October 6, 2001. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
- ^ "Canadian Hot 100". Billboard.com. 2012-03-10. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
- ^ "ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 31. týden 2009 in the date selector. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
- ^ Steffen Hung. "Les charts français". lescharts.com. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
- ^ "Hitlist Germany – Top 100 – Alle Musikvideos – Chart". MTV.de. Archived from the original on 2010-02-14. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ "FIMI - Classifiche - FIMI". Fimi.it. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
- ^ "Media Forest: Airplay chart". Mediaforest.biz. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
- ^ "Eminem". Billboard. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
- ^ "VG-lista - Topp 20 Single uke 10, 2012". Lista.vg.no. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
- ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
- ^ Steffen Hung. "Swiss Charts - Singles Top 75 18.03.2012". swisscharts.com. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
- ^ "Éves összesített listák – MAHASZ Rádiós TOP 100 (súlyozott)". Mahasz. Mahasz.
- ^ "The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Rianz.org.nz. Archived from the original on 2010-07-22. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ "2009 Year End Swiss Singles Chart". Swiss Music Charts. 2009. Retrieved 2010-07-16.
- ^ "Charts Plus Year end 2009" (PDF). Charts Plus. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
- ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2009 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association.
- ^ "American single certifications – Eminem – We Made You". Recording Industry Association of America.
External links
- 2009 singles
- Eminem songs
- Music videos directed by Joseph Kahn
- Number-one singles in Australia
- Irish Singles Chart number-one singles
- Number-one singles in New Zealand
- Number-one singles in Scotland
- Song recordings produced by Eminem
- Song recordings produced by Dr. Dre
- Shady Records singles
- Aftermath Entertainment singles
- Interscope Records singles
- 2009 songs
- Songs written by Mike Elizondo
- Songs written by Dr. Dre
- Songs written by Eminem
- Comedy rap songs
- Cultural depictions of Elvis Presley
- Cultural depictions of Britney Spears
- Cultural depictions of Sarah Palin