BonBon
| "BonBon" | ||||
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| Single by Era Istrefi | ||||
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| Length | 2:47 | |||
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| Era Istrefi singles chronology | ||||
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| "BonBon" on YouTube | ||||
"BonBon" (Albanian pronunciation: [bɔn bɔn]) is a song recorded by Kosovo Albanian singer and songwriter Era Istrefi. The song was entirely written by the singer herself and produced by Albanian producers Big Bang, Cricket and DJ Toton. Described as a dancehall-leaning dance-pop and EDM song, its lyrics features primarily lines in Albanian with several lines also in English.
The single was released on 30 December 2015 through NESËR.[4] An English version of the song was released on 27 June 2016, with additional writing handled by Jenson Vaughan. "BonBon" won Song of the Year at Albania's 2016 Top Music Awards.[5]
The song experienced commercial success throughout Europe and elsewhere and charted among others in Austria, Canada, Germany, France, Sweden and the United States. For further promotion, the track was performed by the singer on various occasions and was featured on dance video game Just Dance 2017.[6]
Background[]
Composition[]
"BonBon" was written by Era Istrefi herself and produced by Albanian producers Big Bang, Cricket and DJ Toton.[7][8][9] The song was composed in 4
4 time and is performed in the key of C♭ minor in common time with a tempo of 126 beats per minute.[10][11] It was written mostly in Albanian though a few lyrics are in English.
Promotion[]
The accompanying music video for "BonBon" was officially premiered onto the official YouTube channel of NESËR on 30 December 2015.[12] The clip features Istrefi performing the song in long takes on a snow-covered road in the mountainous region of Brezovica, Kosovo.
In January 2016, the song's music video went viral after excerpts of it began being posted on social networking sites such as Facebook and Instagram, comparing Istrefi to Rihanna and Sia.[13][14] Following the video's success, Istrefi was signed to American record labels Sony Music Entertainment and Ultra Music.[15] In early March 2016, the video was removed from the NESËR YouTube channel after generating 30+ million views, and was uploaded to Ultra Music's official YouTube channel. In March 2016, it raised 100 million views and in the end of the year it had 250 million views. As of 25 October 2019, the music video has garnered over 700 million views.[16]
Controversy[]
When the single was originally released through NESËR, the lyrics contained the racial slur "nigga". As the song's popularity increased internationally, certain audiences noticed the use of the term which led to criticism. After the video was re-uploaded to Ultra Music's YouTube channel, the word was cut out.[citation needed]
Istrefi later apologized via social media for using the word:[17][18][19]
My apologies for the ignorance in using the N word. In Kosova there r no black people so we call each other that way in terms of “bro”. Thats why we should always think B.I.G
#noracism #weareone