"Hollaback Girl" is a song written by singer Gwen Stefani
and Pharrell for Stefani's debut solo album
Love. Angel. Music. Baby.As part of Stefani's vision of
creating "a silly dance record", the song is influenced by
1980s dance and pop music. They wrote the song as a response to
Courtney Love's statement that Stefani was a "cheerleader" in
an interview with
Seventeenmagazine.
The song was released as the album's third single in early
2005 (see 2005 in music) and was one of the year's most popular
songs, peaking inside the top ten on the majority of the charts
it entered. It reached number one in Australia and the United
States, where it became the first digital download to sell one
million copies. "Hollaback Girl" received many award
nominations, including Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and
Record of the Year at the 48th Grammy Awards, yet it divided
pop music critics. The CD single has a "Parental Advisory:
Explicit Content" label, while the album,
Love. Angel. Music. Baby., does not.
The song was listed at #180 on Pitchfork Media's top 500
songs of the 2000s. Hollaback Girl is 41st most popular song of
the decade according to Billboard Magazine.
Stefani had worked with The Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and
Chad Hugo) during the early stages of writing
Love. Angel. Music. Baby.; however, a case of writer's
block resulted in reportedly uninspired collaborations. As the
album neared completion, Stefani regained her confidence and
booked another session with The Neptunes. Stefani flew to New
York City to meet up with Williams, and after finishing two
songs within a week, Stefani ended the session early and
prepared to return home. A few minutes later, Williams called
her back into the studio to write another song. Stefani said,
"I was tired. I wanted to go home, but he was like, 'Don't
leave yet.
"'
When she returned to the studio, Williams began to play
Stefani his first solo album, and she became envious. Excited
by his material, she decided to write another song with
Williams, despite her opinion that the album already contained
far too many tracks.
To search for inspiration, Stefani and Williams had a
lengthy discussion in which Stefani said that she had yet to
write a song about her intentions for pursuing a solo career.
She remarked how the album was missing an "attitude song", and
she recalled a derogatory comment that grunge musician Courtney
Love had made about her in an interview with teen magazine
Seventeen.
Stefani responded in the March 2005 issue of
NME:
Stefani believed that some of the fans of No Doubt would be
upset with her solo effort, commenting, "[They] were probably
like, 'Why is she doing this record? She's going to ruin
everything'." She revealed that she too did not know why she
was recording a solo album. For the remainder of the evening,
Stefani and Williams incorporated this inspiration into the
lyrics that eventually became "Hollaback Girl". The two decided
that Stefani did not have to have an answer for her intentions
and that the choices she made were based on what she felt was
wrong or right. On its creation, Stefani said, "to me, it is
the freshest attitude song I've heard in so long." Williams was
pleased with the song, commenting, "Gwen is like the girl in
high school who just had her own style."
Because Stefani never disclosed the song title's meaning,
reviewers came up with various interpretations. In a satirical,
line-by-line analysis of the song's lyrics,
OC Weeklycritic Greg Stacy humorously speculated that
"Gwen is apparently the captain of the cheerleader squad; she
is the girl who 'hollas' the chants, not one of the girls who
simply 'hollas' them back". The most commonly accepted meaning
is that a hollaback girl responds to a confrontation with words
but that Stefani would rather take initiative and "step it
up".
"Hollaback Girl" is a moderately fast song, being 110bpm, in
the key of B major. It combines old school hip hop with dance
music, and—like the majority of pop music—is set in common
time. The main chord pattern of the song alternates between B
major and D sharp minor triads. Most of the harmonic content of
the song revolves around a two-chord alternation which music
theorists may regard as an L (leading tone) transformation, in
which the root of the major chord is lowered by a half-step to
form a second inversion minor chord on the third scale degree
(see image to right). This stepwise motion between B and
A-sharp highlights this chord change. It is in verse-chorus
form with a bridge before the fourth and final chorus. The song
features sparse instrumentation, primarily a minimal beat
produced by drum machine. A guitar plays the song's riff, a
six-note pattern as Stefani repeats "this my shit" during the
chorus, and a brass section joins during the second chorus. In
part because of its cheerleading motif, it drew comparisons to
Toni Basil's "Mickey" (1982).
"Hollaback Girl" had a polarizing effect on music critics.
LAUNCHcast's Jennifer Nine described it as a "stomping,
stripped-back track", and Allmusic said that it had the
"thumping, minimal beats of The Neptunes." Richard Smirke
called it "a trademark Neptunes hip-hop stomp." In its review
of
Love. Angel. Music. Baby.,
Rolling Stonegave the song a positive review, writing
that "Stefani's gum-snapping sass brings out the beast in her
beatmasters, especially the Neptunes in 'Hollaback Girl'."
Blenderlisted it as the eleventh best song of 2005, and
the song tied with Damian Marley's "Welcome to Jamrock" for
number five on the 2005 Pazz & Jop, a survey of several
hundred music critics conducted by Robert Christgau.
On the other hand, Jason Damas, in a review for
PopMatters, described the song as sounding "almost
exactly like Dizzee Rascal", and added, "lyrically, this is
where Gwen sinks the lowest here, especially on a breakdown
where she repeats, 'This shit is bananas / B-A-N-A-N-A-S!'
several times". Eric Greenwood of
Drawer B Mediacalled the song "moronic and
embarrassingly tuneless. I'd quote the lyrics, but they're so
bad, I almost feel sorry for her. A 35-year-old woman singing
about pom-poms and 'talking shit' in high school betrays such a
delusional self-image that it's hard not to be taken aback. And
on top of that, The Neptunes' beats are clunky and the
production is senselessly bombastic." Nick Sylvester of
Pitchfork Mediaalso criticized the track, referring to
it as a "Queen pastiche...which has about as much club
potential as a 13-year old with a milk moustache and his dad's
ID". However, despite this initial review Pitchfork Media would
later list the track #35 on their top singles of 2005, and #180
on the top 500 songs of the 2000s.
Maximwas unimpressed with the song, and in its October
2005 issue, published a list of the "20 Most Annoying Songs
Ever" with "Hollaback Girl" in first place.
"Hollaback Girl" was mocked on an episode of the animated
television series
Family Guytitled "Deep Throats"; after watching a VH1
special about Gwen Stefani, Brian Griffin states, "I don't know
what a Hollaback Girl is—all I know is that I want her dead."
In another episode of
Family Guythe song was mocked again, this time in the
guise of a parody of the feature film
The Shawshank Redemption.In the film, Red (played by
Morgan Freeman), upon hearing "Canzonetta sull'aria" (from
Mozart's
The Marriage of Figaro) for the first time, states that
he has no idea what the women are singing about, but imagines
it must be something beautiful. In the parody, Cleveland
(playing the role of Red) hears "Hollaback Girl" and likewise
claims to have no idea what Stefani is singing about—even
though the lyrics are not in a foreign language (as is the
issue in the film). Cleveland imagines it is "a foul,
disease-ridden thing, that wears too much makeup to cover up
the fact that it's a 47 year-old fish-dog".
The song's bridge, in which Stefani exclaims "This shit is
bananas" and then proceeds to spell
bananas, was later parodied in an episode of the
claymation television show
Celebrity Deathmatch, in which Stefani spells out
bananas,
broccoli, and
kumquatduring an interview with Tally Wong.
The single was officially solicited to radio in North
America on 5 April 2005, although the music video had been
released two weeks earlier, on 21 March. "Hollaback Girl"
entered the
BillboardHot 100, the main U.S. chart, at number
eighty-two, and within six weeks of its release, it had reached
the top of the chart, making it the fastest-rising single to
reach the top in 2005; it also became Stefani's first U.S.
number one. It maintained the number one position for four
weeks. The single spent thirty-one weeks on the
BillboardHot 100, twenty-nine of which were in the top
fifty. It was removed from the Hot 100 for the week ending 29
October 2005. On the year-end chart, the song was the second
most successful, beaten by Mariah Carey's "We Belong
Together".
"Hollaback Girl" held the record for most U.S. radio
airplays in one week, with 9,582 plays, and maintained this
feat for over a year before Shakira and Wyclef Jean's "Hips
Don't Lie" overtook the position. It peaked at number one on
the
BillboardPop 100 for eight weeks, and was a small
success in the dance clubs, peaking at number fifteen on the
Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. The song was a crossover
success, and reached number four on the Rhythmic Top 40, and
number eight on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks
chart.
The song was noted for having a large number of digital
downloads, becoming the first single to sell more digital
downloads than CDs. In October 2005, "Hollaback Girl" was the
first single to ever sell one million digital downloads and
later went on to sell a total of 1.2 million downloads; it was
certified quintuple platinum. Due to its downloads, it reached
number one on both digital sales charts concurrently, and it
topped the year-end Hot Digital Songs chart.
"Hollaback Girl" was a successful single in Canada, where
the song debuted at number twelve on the Canadian Singles
Chart; however, it fell from there and was unable to reach a
higher position. It remained in the top fifty for six months.
However, the Canadian Recording Industry Association later
argued that based on Canada's population relative to the U.S.,
the single should have sold around 120,000 copies and that the
comparatively lower sales of 25,000 were a sign that Canadian
copyright law should be tightened to discourage non-commercial
peer-to-peer filesharing. Columnist Michael Geist disputed the
comparison, arguing that the Canadian online music market was
still developing.
In the rest of the world, reaction to "Hollaback Girl" was
generally positive, though not as overwhelming as in North
America. It was released in Australia on 23 May 2005, debuting
at number one, and in Europe on 6 June 2005, debuting at number
twenty-two and eventually reaching number five. In the United
Kingdom, however, "Hollaback Girl" did not perform as well as
Stefani's previous releases. The song's predecessors, "What You
Waiting For?" and "Rich Girl", had both reached number four,
while "Hollaback Girl" debuted at number eight, and stalled at
the same position the following week. Although its UK success
was limited, it remained in the top forty for an additional
eleven weeks and sold more than Rich Girl. The single largely
was successful across Europe and Asia, and reached the top five
in Austria, Germany, Ireland, and China, and the top ten in
Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and
Switzerland.
The single had moderate success in Latin America. The single
debuted 19 June 2005 at number thirty-three on the Latin
America Top 40, a weaker debut than Stefani's previous singles.
After eight weeks on the chart, it peaked at number nine.
The music video was directed by Paul Hunter and filmed in
Van Nuys and Reseda, California, United States. The video opens
with a scene of Stefani spending time with her Harajuku Girls,
when a crowd of students appears. Stefani and the Harajuku
Girls then drive down Sherman Way past Magnolia Science Academy
to Birmingham High School in a 1961 Chevrolet Impala,
accompanied by the crowd. Stefani and the group cause a
commotion when they disrupt a football game by walking onto the
field and when they go to a 99 Cents Only Store and throw
cereal and other food products down an aisle. Throughout the
video, there are intercut sequences of choreographed dancing
filmed in a sound stage, intended to represent Stefani's
imagination. Stefani and the Harajuku Girls are outfitted in
cheerleading uniforms, accompanied by several Californian
spirit groups: the Orange Crush All Stars, a cheerleading squad
from Orange County; a marching band from Fountain Valley High
School in Fountain Valley; a pep flag team named the Carson
High School Flaggies from Carson; and a drill team from Stephen
M. White Middle School in Carson. To visualize the song's
bridge, the Harajuku Girls spell the word "bananas" with cue
cards. The video ends with a close-up frame of Stefani with her
arms in the air.
The Chevy Impala convertible from the video includes a
painting by artist J. Martin. The design includes Gwen Stefani
as seen on the album cover of
Love. Angel. Music. Baby.with the words "Hollaback Girl"
in calligraphy. Eventually, the car was sold on eBay. Pharrell,
one of the song's co-producers, makes a cameo appearance. The
complete version of "Hollaback Girl" featured in the music
video has been released commercially through CD singles and
digital downloads, and some include remixes by Diplo and Tony
Kanal.
The video debuted on 21 March 2005 and proved successful on
video-chart programs. It debuted on MTV's
Total Request Liveon 31 March at number ten and remained
on the program for a total of fifty days, becoming what
Rolling Stonecalled "a staple of MTV's TRL". The video
reached the top of the chart and was retired at number four on
23 June, becoming Stefani's first video to retire. It also
reached the top of MuchMusic's
Countdownthree months after its debut, and remained
there for two weeks. VH1 listed the song at number five on its
Top 40 Videos of 2005, and at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards,
the music video received four nominations but only won the
award for Best Choreography. Stefani did not attend the 2006
MTV Video Music Awards, prompting rumors that she was
protesting her lack of nominations the previous year, her
multiple losses to Kelly Clarkson, and her not having been
asked to perform. Stefani denied the rumors, responding, "the
only reason I am not attending the MTV Video Music Awards is
because I will be recording and spending time with my
family."
Diplo made a remix for the track after M.I.A. turned down an
offer to produce one. Tony Kanal, Stefani's ex-boyfriend and
fellow No Doubt member, produced a remix titled the
"Dancehollaback Remix". The track features reggae singer Elan
Atias, whose debut album Kanal produced, and appears as a
single on iTunes, on the CD single for "Cool", and on a remix
CD of
Love. Angel. Music. Baby.Stefani later requested to
contribute vocals on "I Wanna Yell" from Atias's debut album
Together as One, and was featured on his song
"Allnighter". The female rapper Ak'sent released a mixtape with
the song as well. The band Cobra Starship also recorded a
parody of this song titled "Hollaback Boy".
The single was first released in Australia and New Zealand
on March 15, 2005. Releases followed in Canada and the United
States on April 5, 2005, Ireland and the United Kingdom on June
21, 2005, and July 2, 2005 in continental Europe.
Discography
·Awards and
nominations ·
No Doubt ·
L.A.M.B. ·
Harajuku Lovers ·
Harajuku Girls ·
Gavin Rossdale