SOS (Rihanna song)

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"SOS"
Song


"SOS" (also known as "S.O.S. (Rescue Me)") is a dance-pop song written by Evan "Kidd" Bogart, and J. R. Rotem for Rihanna's second studio album A Girl like Me (2006). The song samples the main synth hook from Soft Cell's "Tainted Love". It was released in 2006 as the album's lead single. "SOS" reached number one in Australia and the United States and the top five in countries such as Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom. It is featured on Now That's What I Call Music! 22.

Song information

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The song was primarily written by producer J. R. Rotem and Evan "Kidd" Bogart, son of Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart. Label mate Christina Milian was originally asked to record the song for her third album, but the singer turned it down and Island Def Jam CEO L.A. Reid instead offered "SOS" to Rihanna. Christina commented that the song was too 'pop' for an R&B artist and wasn't asked to record which she confirmed in her official forum.[1] This is sometimes linked to why Island Def Jam records dropped Milian from their label in June 2006.[2]

"SOS" features a sample of the classic 1981 tune "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell. Some of the lines are taken from or inspired by the original song, including "I toss and turn, I can't sleep at night". Other pop classics from the 80's are referenced in the song's second verse; A-Ha's "Take on Me," Cutting Crew's "I Just Died In Your Arms," Modern English's "I Melt With You," The Go-Go's "Head Over Heels," Kim Wilde's "You Keep Me Hangin' On," and Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel."

One interesting aspect of the song is that Island Def Jam Records allows free listening of the song on demand via their Web site, as well as on Rihanna's MySpace.

The song's theme is based around the singer crying out for help as she becomes besotted with a lover mentioned in the song. Because she is unaccustomed to feeling this way, she believes that she is out of character, and states "'cause you on my mind, it's got me losing it".

There is also reference to Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" in one of the verses. "...just hold me close boy, cause I'm your tiny dancer..."

Remixes were provided by Jason Nevins, who has produced remixes for artists such as Madonna, Fall Out Boy, Good Charlotte, Kelly Clarkson, LL Cool J and Pink. The rhythmic dance mixes went to #1 on many dance & radio airplay charts around the globe.

Music video

File:SOSVideo.png
Rihanna in the official music video.

The song has two music videos. One of them is a Agent Provocateur promotional video which features Rihanna walking into a hotel which turns into a nightclub. The second (official) version was shot for music and music related television stations, which premiered on MTV's Total Request Live and MuchMusic's MuchOnDemand on March 23, 2006. In the official music video directed by Chris Applebaum, Rihanna wears a bikini and the video has her telling a guy she's going to call for help due to the desperate feelings caused by their relationship. The music video also features Rihanna stripper dance with lights flashing inspired in Madonna's clip Hung Up. Rihanna also uses the Nokia 7370 cellular phone in the video, and she apparently seems to be listening to "Pon De Replay", the song sampled in "SOS", as Soft Cell's album cover can be seen on the display. The video reached number one on Total Request Live for the first time on April 14, 2006 and stayed on the countdown for twenty days.


Chart performance

In the United States, "SOS" hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, Pop 100, Hot Dance Music/Club Play, Hot Dance Airplay, Hot Digital Songs and Hot Digital Tracks. The track also hit number two on the Pop 100 Airplay, but it could not get past the massive airplay of "Temperature". The track was made available as a digital download upon the release of the album and its first week of digital sales prompted a dramatic jump from number thirty-four to number one, one of the biggest jumps to the number one position in Hot 100 history. The reason for the large jump was that "SOS" was kept off of most digital download services until her album was released to stimulate more album sales.

"SOS" is Rihanna's second number-two single in the UK and has also hit number two in Canada. It has also hit the top ten on the Dutch, German and Italian singles charts. In Australia, "SOS" debuted at number one in the ARIA Singles Chart and stayed at the top for eight consecutive weeks, making it her biggest hit in Australia. In that time the single reached platinum status.

"SOS" was removed from the UK charts after thirteen weeks due to the fact that there was a remix of "SOS" contained on the "Unfaithful" single. Due to UK chart rules, a new single can not have a remix of a previous single if the original song is still charting. This is why the song left the charts at the number twenty-seven position. However, the song was still a smash hit, being the UK's ninth best selling single of the year.[3]

Formats and track listing

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "SOS". Ironically, in some formats, "Break It Off" was released as the B-side to "SOS," even though it ended up being released as a single on its own later on.

  • Canadian/U.S. CD Maxi-single
  1. "SOS" [Radio Edit]
  2. "SOS" [Nevin's Electrotek Club Mix]
  3. "Break It Off" (with Sean Paul)
  4. "SOS" (CD-ROM Video)
  • UK CD single
  1. "SOS" [Radio Edit]
  2. "SOS" [Nevin's Glam Club Mix]
  • iTunes (International) Version
  1. "SOS" [Radio Edit]
  2. "SOS" (Instrumental)
  3. "Break It Off" (with Sean Paul)
  4. "Let Me"
  • European/Australian Version
  1. "SOS"
  2. "Let Me"

Charts

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Preceded by Billboard Hot 100 number-one single
May 13 2006- May 27 2006 		Succeeded by

External links

References

  1. ^ http://www.eurweb.com/story/eur26866.cfm
  2. ^ http://www.vibe.com/news/news_headlines/2006/06/island_def_jam_drops_christina_milian
  3. ^ Top 40 Singles of 2006, from BBC Radio 1 website
  4. ^ a b "Rihanna - SOS: Charts". Music Square. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
  5. ^ a b "A Girl Like Me > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles". All Music Guide. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
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