Fuck You (CeeLo Green song)
"Fuck You!" | ||||
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Single by CeeLo Green | ||||
from the album The Lady Killer | ||||
Released | August 19, 2010 | |||
Recorded | 2010 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:41 | |||
Label | Elektra | |||
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) | The Smeezingtons | |||
CeeLo Green singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Fuck You" on YouTube |
"Fuck You" (stylized as "Fuck You!" or "F**k You!"), known as "Forget You" or "FU" for the clean versions, is a song by American recording artist CeeLo Green. It was written as a collaboration among Green,[1][2] Bruno Mars,[1][2] the Smeezingtons,[1][2] and Brody Brown,[3] and produced by the Smeezingtons. It was released on August 19, 2010, as the first single from Green's third solo studio album, The Lady Killer (2010). "Fuck You" received acclaim from music critics, and was an international commercial success, making the top-10 in thirteen countries, including topping charts in the United Kingdom, and number two on the Billboard Hot 100.
Inspiration[]
In an interview with NME, Green said that, in addition to being about heartache, the song was also about the music industry itself.[2]
Versions[]
Several versions of "Fuck You" have been released. The version of the song edited to remove swearing, which is broadcast in the music video on UK television stations, and played on US radio, is called "Forget You", while the UK radio edit is entitled "FU".[4][5] All three versions differ in lyrical content, with "Fuck You" being completely uncensored, "Forget You" replacing the profanity with sound effects (also changing "fuck you" to "forget you" per the title), and "FU" replacing them by editing them out completely and leaving blank spaces, and changing "fuck you" to an exact pronunciation of "F you". All three versions can be found on iTunes and both "Fuck You" and "Forget You" are included in an extended play, which features the music video and lyric video, and was released on August 19, 2010,[6] whereas "FU" was not released until September 21.[7]
A fourth version of the song, featuring American rapper 50 Cent, was released to iTunes. The version was entitled "Fuck You (Heartbreaker)!", and was released only in America. The video for this version of the song incorporates scenes from the original video with extra shots of 50 Cent performing. CeeLo performed a remix of the song, featuring an all-female backing band named "Scarlet Fever", on The Colbert Report on November 9, 2010. The remix was entitled "Fuck You (Fox News)". The first full verse of the song was a satirical parody of Fox News controversies.[8] A fifth version of the song, entitled "Thank You", was released on May 9, 2011. The song was re-written with new lyrics as a tribute to firefighters. The lyrics mention that Cee Lo's mother was a firefighter. A new version of the video was released with scenes of Cee Lo visiting a fire station.[9][10]
Music video[]
Initially, a lyric video for "Fuck You" was released to YouTube on August 19, 2010,[11] featuring kinetic typography, with the lyrics of the song appearing on different colored backgrounds with film grain overlaid on the video. The same thing was done in the German and Spanish versions of the video, translating the lyrics, although the vocals remained in English.
The official music video was released on September 1, 2010.[12] The video was directed by Matt Stawski and was filmed at Cadillac Jack's, a movie prop diner located in the Sun Valley area of Los Angeles.[12] Taking place in a diner, the video chronicles Cee Lo's misadventures with a girl he has a crush on, known as "The Heartbreaker" throughout the video. In the beginning, a young Cee Lo goes into the diner with his parents and goes up to the Heartbreaker, who is sitting with another boy. He offers to let the Heartbreaker play with his toy garbage truck, but she ignores him and walks away with the other boy, who has a toy Ferrari F40. In his high school years, Cee Lo works at the diner as a dishwasher. He attempts to woo the Heartbreaker with a bouquet of flowers but slips on fries deliberately dropped by another boy. The flowers fly out of his hand and land on a much younger girl's lap. During his college years, Cee Lo studies in the diner with another woman implied to be his music tutor. He then attempts to woo the Heartbreaker by having the waitress draw a heart-shaped ketchup mark on her hot dog plate, but the Heartbreaker approaches him with a basket of fries and spills them on his shirt, leaving a large ketchup stain on it. Cee Lo then goes through an epiphany in his life and the video fast-forwards to the present day, when Cee Lo is now known as "The Lady Killer" and has a fancy Cadillac Eldorado with his backup singers in the back seat. He drives past the diner to find the Heartbreaker working there, sweeping the front entrance while others are dancing behind her. Cee Lo waves at the Heartbreaker before driving away. The final shot is of him waving at the camera and the words "The Lady Killer" appearing on screen, before the shot freezes, thus ending the video.
The radio edit version of the video contains re-shot elements that have been mixed with parts from the original, most notably when Cee Lo is on screen and he is singing alternative lyrics, but he is not shown singing the clean lyrics in the titular chorus. Some parts of the video tend to freeze for a split second when a bowdlerized lyric is being mouthed to prevent the lips from being read. At the start of the explicit version and clean version titled FU, the mother of the young Cee Lo Green can be seen to look very shocked and taps him on the shoulder to make him turn around when he first swears. This does not happen in the clean version titled Forget You.
Commercial performance[]
In the US, "Fuck You" debuted at No. 69 on Hot Digital Songs and No. 96 on the Billboard Hot 100.[13] The song originally peaked at number 9 in 2010, but following Cee Lo's performance of the song at the 53rd Grammy Awards, "Fuck You" had a resurgence in popularity and climbed back up the Billboard Hot 100 chart, reaching No. 2 in its 26th chart week (making it one of the slowest climbs ever into the number 2 position) tying it with Cee Lo's previous 2006 hit "Crazy" from his musical duo project Gnarls Barkley as his highest-charting single. The song remained at No. 2 for four consecutive weeks.[14] In all, the single spent a total of 48 weeks on the Hot 100. It was certified Gold on November 5, 2010.[15]
The week of March 24, 2011, the song was the best-selling song in the USA of 2011, having been sold 1,865,000 times in 2011 only, despite the song never reaching No. 1 and being released in August 2010.[16] In the subsequent week, the song surpassed 2 million copies in sales in 2011 alone, bringing its total to 3,707,000 copies.[17] The week of April 16, 2011, the song topped the Pop Songs radio airplay chart in its 25th week, completing the longest journey to the summit in the ranking's 18-year history.[18] "Fuck You" would go on to share the record with Demi Lovato's 2012 single "Give Your Heart a Break" before it was eventually broken by Alessia Cara's "Here" in 2016.[19] As of April 2013, "Fuck You" had sold over 6 million copies in the U.S.[20]
Critical reception[]
"Fuck You" received acclaim from music critics. Jason Lipshutz from Billboard gave "Fuck You" a positive review stating, "it's as sunny as a '60s Motown hit and as expletive-laden as an early Eminem song, a combination that fits the singer's sky-high vocals and offbeat sense of humor well. Over a twinkling piano line, bumping bass and steady percussion, Green shakes off a failed relationship with a gold digger by packing the simple pleasures of old-school soul music into tongue-in-cheek verses and a suitably soaring chorus."[21] Nick Levine of Digital Spy gave the song four out of five stars writing: "As its title suggests, 'Fuck You' is essentially a middle finger extending from the fist of a pop single—and a gloriously catchy Motown stomper of a pop single at that."[22] Alexandra Patsavas, music supervisor for the "Twilight" films, praised Mars' ability to veer between "a beautifully crafted pop song exquisitely sung" and the likes of Cee-Lo's "Fuck You". "How sublime that an artist can travel so fluidly between humor and earnestness," she remarked.[23]
Accolades[]
At the 53rd Grammy Awards, "Fuck You" was nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, and won Best Urban/Alternative Performance. The video was also nominated for Best Short Form Music Video.[24] It was named the #1 song of 2010 by Time, and made the top of Metacritic's users poll.[25][26] Spin and The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll named "Fuck You" the best single of 2010. In October 2011, NME placed it at number 112 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".[27]
Live performances[]
Cee Lo toured with an all-female backing band named Scarlet Fever, performing "Fuck You" on Taratata, at the Reeperbahn Festival, Later... with Jools Holland, Late Show with David Letterman, the 31st annual Children in Need telethon, the Christmas edition of BBC One chart show Top of the Pops, Saturday Night Live and many other venues. Cee Lo also performed at the 53rd Grammy Awards on February 13, 2011, with actress Gwyneth Paltrow and several puppets provided by The Jim Henson Company. Two days later, he sang at the 2011 BRIT Awards alongside UK singer Paloma Faith. On August 14, Cee Lo sang at WWE's 2011 Summerslam pay-per-view event in Los Angeles with the addition of WWE Divas dancing to "Fuck You" at the event's venue.
Track listings[]
CD single
Maxi-single
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12-inch vinyl single
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Credits and personnel[]
Mixing and mastering
- Mixed at Larrabee Sound Studios, Hollywood, California; mastered at Sterling Sound, New York, New York; engineered at Levcon Studios, Hollywood, California.
Personnel
- Songwriting – Cee Lo Green, Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine
- Production – The Smeezingtons
- Mixing – Manny Marroquin
- Assistant – Christian Plata, Erik Madrid
- Mastering – Chris Gehringer
- Engineer – Ari Levine
- All instruments– Ari Levine, Bruno Mars, Brody Brown
Credits adapted from[vague] the liner notes of The Lady Killer, Elektra Records
Charts and certifications[]
Weekly charts[] |
Year-end charts[]
Decade-end charts[]
Certifications[]
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Release history[]
Region | Date | Format | Label |
---|---|---|---|
United States | August 19, 2010 | CD single | Elektra |
United Kingdom | October 4, 2010[89] |
See also[]
- List of Dutch Top 40 number-one singles of 2010
- List of 2010s Scottish number-one singles
- List of UK R&B Chart number-one singles of 2010
- List of UK Singles Chart number ones of the 2010s
References[]
- ^ a b c Mars, Bruno; Smeezingtons, The (June 19, 2012). "The Smeezingtons at the 2012 ASCAP "I Create Music" EXPO (Part 1 of 2)" (video). Event occurs at 5m18s. Retrieved April 29, 2017 – via YouTube.
- ^ a b c d Green, Cee-Lo (October 6, 2010). "Cee-Lo confirms 50 Cent 'Fuck You' video and the return of Gnarls Barkley – video". NME (video) (online ed.). Event occurs at 0m12s.
I co-wrote this with Bruno Mars, and over the year or so that I hung out with him and we worked together, we became quite fond of each other and shared a similar taste and sense of humor, and that song was a product of that working environment. ... Well, essentially, I was in a place of where, maybe, subconsciously, my 'fuck you' was aimed at the industry itself. ... You could also call this industry a 'she', because you have to be kind, you have to court it, and be considerate, and be consistent — you know — and also put up with its bullshit.
- ^ Kimpel, Dan (March 7, 2016). "Songwriter Profile: Brody Brown (Bruno Mars, Adele, Mark Ronson)". Music Connection. Retrieved July 21, 2018.
- ^ "Cee Lo's Viral Hit: Blunt and Sweet". All Things Considered. August 26, 2010. Retrieved August 27, 2010.
- ^ Brown, Damon (August 30, 2010). "Cee Lo's YouTube hit you won't hear on radio". CNN. Retrieved August 30, 2010.
- ^ "F**k You – Deluxe Single by Cee Lo Green – Download F**k You – Deluxe Single on iTunes". iTunes. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
- ^ "FU – Single by Cee Lo Green – Download FU – Single on iTunes". iTunes.apple.com. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
- ^
Ward, Kate (November 10, 2010). "Cee-Lo Green swaps 'Fox News' for 'F—k You' on 'Colbert'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 6, 2011.
Saw you driving 'round town with the girl I love on Fox News / Didn't see one politician that wasn't corrupt on the Fox News, and I get the blues / The poor get poorer, the rich get richer / Ain't that some s— / I'm having pains in my chest because I'm so stressed over Fox News.
- ^ "Cee Lo Turns 'Forget You' Into 'Thank You'". May 9, 2011. Archived from the original on July 27, 2011. Retrieved May 9, 2011.
It's a very noble cause, and I connect with it very, very personally because my mother was a fireman as well — one of the first black female firemen in Atlanta, Georgia, so quite a historic accomplishment.
- ^ Gonzalez, Sandra (May 9, 2011). "Cee Lo adapts 'Forget You' for ode to firefighters. Now this is a tribute!". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
- ^ Green, Cee Lo (August 19, 2010). "Cee Lo Green – FUCK YOU". Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved August 27, 2010 – via YouTube.
- ^ a b Green, Cee Lo (September 1, 2010). "Cee Lo Green – FUCK YOU (Official Video)". Retrieved September 6, 2010 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Cee Lo: I Wanted to 'Rock the Boat' with 'F**k You'". Billboard.com. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
- ^ "Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way' Grows Atop Grammy-Fueled Hot 100". Billboard.com. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
- ^ "RIAA Gold & Platinum – Cee Lo". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
- ^ "Week Ending March 20, 2011: Songs: The Chris Brown Matter – Chart Watch". New.music.yahoo.com. March 23, 2011. Archived from the original on July 2, 2012. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
- ^ "Week Ending March 27, 2011: Songs: Katy Moves Up – Chart Watch". New.music.yahoo.com. March 30, 2011. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
- ^ "The Year in Chart Headlines, Part 1". Billboard. December 27, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
- ^ Trust, Gary (January 25, 2016). "Alessia Cara's 'Here' Completes Record Climb to No. 1 on Pop Songs Chart". Billboard. Retrieved September 6, 2021.
- ^ a b Paul Grein (April 10, 2013). "Week Ending April 7, 2013. Songs: Discount Helps Bruno Reach #1". Yahoo Music (Chart Watch). Retrieved April 10, 2013.
- ^ Lipshutz, Jason (September 3, 2010). "Cee Lo Green ,"Fuck You" | Billboard.com". Billboard. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ Levine, Nick (October 5, 2010). "Music – Singles Review – Cee Lo Green: 'F**k You' – Digital Spy". Digital Spy. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
- ^ Ryan Pearson (August 8, 2012). "Bruno Mars Heads Back To Grammys With Production Team, Smeezingtons". Huffington Post. Retrieved October 17, 2013.
- ^ National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (December 1, 2010). "53rd Annual Grammy Awards: Final Nominations List" (PDF). Retrieved December 2, 2010.
- ^ J-23 (December 10, 2010). "Kanye West, Big Boi, Drake Make Time Magazine's Top 10 Albums | Get The Latest Hip Hop News, Rap News & Hip Hop Album Sales". HipHopDX. Archived from the original on October 2, 2012. Retrieved January 5, 2011.
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- 2010 songs
- 2010 singles
- CeeLo Green songs
- Song recordings produced by the Smeezingtons
- Songs written by Bruno Mars
- Songs written by Philip Lawrence (songwriter)
- Songs written by Ari Levine
- Songs written by CeeLo Green
- Dutch Top 40 number-one singles
- Number-one singles in Scotland
- UK Singles Chart number-one singles
- Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance
- Elektra Records singles
- Obscenity controversies in music