Blow (song)
Encyclopedia
"Blow" is a song by American recording artist and songwriter Kesha
, from her first extended play
(EP), Cannibal
. The song was released as the EP's second single on February 8, 2011. It was written by Kesha, along with Klas Åhlund, Lukasz Gottwald, Allan Grigg, Benjamin Levin and Max Martin, with production done by Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Benny Blanco and Kool Kojak. According to Kesha the song's lyrics are representative of herself and her fans. "Blow" is dominantly an electropop and dance-pop
song and is described as a party anthem as it portrays a simple message of having a desire to have a good time at a club.
Critical reception of "Blow" has been generally mixed to positive. The song's hook
and opening have been praised but its chorus was met with mixed reaction, some critics praised the song for its party anthem vibe, while others called it uninspiring and ordinary. Kesha's vocal work throughout the song was also met with mixed reaction, some critics felt that she was both sassy and brash, while other critics felt that her personality was missing from the song. Commercially, "Blow" reached the top ten in the United States
and Australia, becoming her sixth consecutive top-ten hit in both countries as a solo artist. The song also reached the top ten in New Zealand, and the top twenty in Canada
.
The song's accompanying music video was directed by Chris Marrs Piliero and was released February 25, 2011. The video co-stars actor James Van Der Beek
, who plays Kesha's nemesis. Piliero and Kesha came up with the video's concept and is intended to be simplistic, a video that is cool and random. Reception of the video by critics was positive, with the mid-video dialogue scene's humor being highlighted.
, Lukasz Gottwald
, Alan Grigg, Benjamin Levin and Max Martin
. Production of the song was completed by Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Benny Blanco and Kool Kojak. According to Kesha the line "We’re taking over" is representative of herself and her fans, which she explained during an interview with Beatweek Magazine, "I love that I say ‘we’re taking over’ in it because my fans and me have started a cult. We’re misfits of society but we’ve banded together and we’re starting a revolution. We are taking over. So get used to it."
"Blow" is a dance-pop
and electropop song that uses a synth infused beat as a backing. The song opens with laughing followed by a command to dance. As the chorus of the song starts in, Kesha's vocals change into an auto-tuned "stuttering" as she repeats "This place about to blow" four times over an electro beat. During the song's bridge
, Kesha's vocals change pace into a rap-sing
style as she tells her listeners to "Go insane, go insane / Throw some glitter / Make it rain on 'em / Let me see them hands." Kesha uses layered vocals that are enhanced in some parts with the use of Auto-Tune
. Lyrically, "Blow" portrays a simple message, described as a party-anthem, the song speaks of having a desire to have a good time at the club. Bill Lamb from About.com
felt that the song's lyrics portrayed a "thumbnail description of herself and her fans, "Dirt and glitter cover the floor / We're pretty and sick, we're young and we're bored." According to Robert Cospey from Digital Spy
, the track is of similar character to Benny Benassi
's track, "Satisfaction
" (2002).
, Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine
positively wrote that "Blow" was an undeniable "stuttery club track". Daniel Brockman from The Phoenix wrote that the song was a "club banger" and that Kesha portrayed a bratty and cultural irritant attitude throughout the song referencing to the line, "We are taking over — get used to it!" Brockman commented that the song "sends a shiver down your spine" further complimenting the production of Dr. Luke
. Jocelyn Vena from MTV News
wrote that the song featured common Kesha elements citing her carpe diem attitude and grinding beats but noted that the lyrics also portrayed a darker side of Kesha, referring to the line, "We get what we want/ We do what you don't." Vena also wrote that the song contained a "scream-along party-anthem chorus". Scott Shetler from AOL Radio
felt that Kesha's lyrical delivery was both sassy and brash. In a separate review from AOL Radio, the song was ranked at position nine on the website's list of "10 Best Songs of 2011". The review concluded that Kesha's strongest songwriting skills pertained to party anthems. The review compared the song to previous singles, "Tik Tok" and "We R Who We R
".
Robert Copsey from Digital Spy
gave the single five out of a possible five stars. Cospey felt that the song was representative of Kesha, writing the track "sums up everything [Kesha] – for all her scrubbiness, Auto-Tuning and boozy antics – is all about." The song's chorus was praised in the review with Cospey writing that the song contained a "hooky, robotic and all-round stonkingly huge chorus." Cospey concluded his review on the song writing that "Blow" was the "Jägermeister of pop singles: sweet, potent and guaranteed to leave you buzzing for hours after." Bill Lamb from About.com
was mixed in his review of the song. Lamb criticized the song for being uninspiring and ordinary claiming that there were better songs on Cannibal that could have been released as a single. Lamb wrote that Kesha's personality was missing from the song writing that she seemed "toned down to fit comfortably on our radio" and that "Blow" was "proof that when you take the audacity away from [Kesha] we are left with a relatively ordinary dance pop singer." Lamb praised the song's undeniable hook and opening, calling them "brilliant", but was not impressed with the chorus calling it repetitive. He went on the give the single a three out of a possible five stars.
as part of a "Countdown to Cannibal" promotion, and thus originally entered the Billboard Hot 100
on the issue date titled December 4, 2010, reaching position ninety-seven and dropping off the chart the following week. After being released as a single, the song re-entered the chart on the issue date titled February 12, 2011, reaching a new peak of ninety-six. The following week the song jumped thirty positions reaching position sixty-six. The song continued to steadily ascend the charts eventually reaching a peak of seven on the week of March 19, 2011. On the song's peak week it sold 164,000 digital copies and was listed at position six on Billboards Hot Digital Songs
. Charting within the top ten, the song became Kesha's sixth straight top ten single as a solo artist. On Billboard's Pop chart
, the song reached a peak of number three. As of June 2011, "Blow" has sold over 2,000,000 copies in the United States. With the song passing two million in sales it became her sixth consecutive single to sell more than two million copies.
In Canada, "Blow" entered the Canadian Hot 100
on the issue date February 5, 2011, at one hundred. The following week the song jumped thirty-one positions to attain position sixty-nine. On its third week "Blow" once again rose this time to position fifty-four. The song continued to steadily ascended the chart eventually reaching a peak of twelve. In New Zealand
, "Blow" entered the charts at position twenty where it became that week's highest debut. The following week it rose nine positions attaining position eleven. On the song's third week on the chart "Blow" reached its peak at number eight. The song became her second straight top ten hit and her fourth overall. It has since been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
(RIANZ) for sales of 7,500 units. On February 27, 2011, "Blow" entered the Australian chart at position twenty-four. On the issue date of March 13, 2011, the song reached position thirteen, where it held the spot for two weeks. The following week the song reached its peak at position ten, becoming her sixth straight top ten single, but her first to miss the top five. It has since been certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association
(ARIA) for sales of 70,000 units. In the United Kingdom, "Blow" entered the charts on the week of April 2, 2011, at position eighty, later peaking at number thirty-two.
Opening with the disclaimer "No mythological creatures were harmed in the making of this video", Kesha appears sitting next to two unicorns
pouring champagne while having a conversation on how she was elected to the parliament of Uzbekistan, "So I grabbed the bear by the throat and I looked him right in the eyes, and I said, 'Bear, you have till the count of zero to put some pants on and apologize to the president.'" The music begins and Kesha makes eyes at James Van Der Beek
. After the eye contact Kesha grabs one of the unicorns and kisses him then removes her bra and throws it across the room, Van Der Beek then does the same with his bra, puzzling Kesha as to why he was wearing a bra. The music fades in the background as the two then make their way to the center of the dance floor and exchange words ("Well, well, well. If it isn’t James Van Der Douche.", "I don't appreciate you slander-Beeking my name, Ke dollar sign ha.") before engaging in a gun fight. They begin shooting lasers at one another killing multiple unicorns. Van Der Beek gets hit in the shoulder and falls. Kesha steps on his arm to stop him from reaching for his gun, as he begs for mercy, which Kesha denies. At the end of the video, it is revealed that Kesha killed Van Der Beek and that she has mounted his head on her wall with the plaque reading, "James Van Der Dead", as she sits with two unicorns laughing. She then frowns at the camera and it switches to Van Der Beek one more time before the screen goes black.
Willa Paskin from New York Magazine
opened her review of the video writing, "Maybe it’s exhaustion, maybe it’s acquiescence, maybe it's just time, but Ke$ha and her whole glam-wasted shtick are starting to charm us." Paskin felt that Kesha had a great "functioning sense of humor" writing that she "enjoyed her new video". Peter Gaston from Spin, referring to Kesha, wrote that he was able to "continually find something massively entertaining about this tartlet" and wrote that the video was "provocative". Rolling Stone
s Matthew Perpetua wrote "You know you're in for a great video when the very first thing you see is a disclaimer reading "No mythological creatures were harmed in the making of this video." Perpetua wrote that "Blow" had it all, from unicorns to James Van der Beek and laser gun battles. Becky Bain of Idolator
said the video included "the best mid-video dialogue scene in all of music video history." About.com
's Bill Lamb wrote that "Blow" contained "some of the funniest spoken word dialogue in recent memory in a music clip." Lamb called the video charming writing, "videos like this are another sign Ke$ha is here to stay for a while. Just try to keep from being charmed."
sitcom Victorious
, in the episode, "Ice Cream For Ke$ha". The storyline for the episode saw the show's stars competing in a contest to win a private concert by Kesha. In order to win the contest the cast had to spell out Kesha's name through letters found at the bottom of ice cream containers. Kesha's younger brother, Louie also guest starred in the episode. "Blow" was performed live on May 22, 2011, at the Billboard Music Awards. The performance was opened with "Animal" as Kesha sang suspended over the stage in a structure shaped like a diamond. Midway through the performance she dropped backwards into her crowd of background dancers then transitioned into "Blow". The performance featured glitter cannons and the dancers wore orange unicorn heads.
American rapper B.o.B.
is featured on an official remix of "Blow" that was released to iTunes
on May 17, 2011. B.o.B opens the track with a minute-long rapped verse about himself then adds to the song's dominant party theme rapping, "Night starts out at the ATM / It probably won’t end til 8 am." Following this verse Kesha proclaims "We are taking over", before track resumes as it normally would without B.o.B's addition. Scott Shetler from PopCrush criticized the remix for not technically being a remix, rather being just the original song with added verses. Shetler wrote "the term 'remix' makes us imagine all the ways the song could be creatively re-arranged. And a fun song like ‘Blow,’ with its brash lyrics and skittering beat, holds endless remix possibilities. But this version doesn’t substantially improve the original." He went on to give the song three and a half stars out of a possible five.
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Cannibal, Dynamite Cop Music/Where Da Kasz at BMI.
Kesha
Kesha village is a small village nestled in the mountains of Yongshun County, northwestern Hunan province, China, located at latitude 29 05' 50", longitude 109 57' 9". The name is pronounced in Standard Chinese. The official language is Manderin Chinese....
, from her first extended play
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
(EP), Cannibal
Cannibal (EP)
Cannibal is the first extended play by American recording artist Kesha, released on November 19, 2010. The EP is a followup companion to her previous record, Animal. Originally the record was believed to only be released as a deluxe edition of Animal, but was instead sold and released as both an...
. The song was released as the EP's second single on February 8, 2011. It was written by Kesha, along with Klas Åhlund, Lukasz Gottwald, Allan Grigg, Benjamin Levin and Max Martin, with production done by Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Benny Blanco and Kool Kojak. According to Kesha the song's lyrics are representative of herself and her fans. "Blow" is dominantly an electropop and dance-pop
Dance-pop
Dance-pop is dance-oriented pop music that originated in the early 1980s. Developing from post-disco, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs with the intention of being danceable or merely dancey...
song and is described as a party anthem as it portrays a simple message of having a desire to have a good time at a club.
Critical reception of "Blow" has been generally mixed to positive. The song's hook
Hook (music)
A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". The term generally applies to popular music, especially rock music, hip hop, dance music, and pop. In these genres, the hook is often...
and opening have been praised but its chorus was met with mixed reaction, some critics praised the song for its party anthem vibe, while others called it uninspiring and ordinary. Kesha's vocal work throughout the song was also met with mixed reaction, some critics felt that she was both sassy and brash, while other critics felt that her personality was missing from the song. Commercially, "Blow" reached the top ten in the United States
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
and Australia, becoming her sixth consecutive top-ten hit in both countries as a solo artist. The song also reached the top ten in New Zealand, and the top twenty in Canada
Canadian Hot 100
The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...
.
The song's accompanying music video was directed by Chris Marrs Piliero and was released February 25, 2011. The video co-stars actor James Van Der Beek
James Van Der Beek
James William Van Der Beek, Jr. is an American television, film, and stage actor, known for his portrayal of Dawson Leery in The WB series Dawson's Creek...
, who plays Kesha's nemesis. Piliero and Kesha came up with the video's concept and is intended to be simplistic, a video that is cool and random. Reception of the video by critics was positive, with the mid-video dialogue scene's humor being highlighted.
Writing and composition
"Blow" was written by Kesha alongside Klas ÅhlundKlas Åhlund
Klas Frans Åhlund is a Swedish songwriter, record producer, and guitarist. He is the founding member of the Swedish rock band Teddybears...
, Lukasz Gottwald
Dr. Luke
Lukasz Gottwald , better known as Dr. Luke, is an American songwriter, record producer, and remixer. Luke performed with the Saturday Night Live Band for ten seasons until 2007. He has co-written and co-produced a string of commercially successful songs...
, Alan Grigg, Benjamin Levin and Max Martin
Max Martin
Martin Karl Sandberg, known professionally as Max Martin, is a Swedish music producer and songwriter. Raised in Stenhamra, a suburb of Stockholm, Sweden, he broke through as a producer and songwriter in the mid to late 1990s after crafting a string of hits for pop artists like the Backstreet Boys,...
. Production of the song was completed by Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Benny Blanco and Kool Kojak. According to Kesha the line "We’re taking over" is representative of herself and her fans, which she explained during an interview with Beatweek Magazine, "I love that I say ‘we’re taking over’ in it because my fans and me have started a cult. We’re misfits of society but we’ve banded together and we’re starting a revolution. We are taking over. So get used to it."
"Blow" is a dance-pop
Dance-pop
Dance-pop is dance-oriented pop music that originated in the early 1980s. Developing from post-disco, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs with the intention of being danceable or merely dancey...
and electropop song that uses a synth infused beat as a backing. The song opens with laughing followed by a command to dance. As the chorus of the song starts in, Kesha's vocals change into an auto-tuned "stuttering" as she repeats "This place about to blow" four times over an electro beat. During the song's bridge
Bridge (music)
In music, especially western popular music, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section...
, Kesha's vocals change pace into a rap-sing
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
style as she tells her listeners to "Go insane, go insane / Throw some glitter / Make it rain on 'em / Let me see them hands." Kesha uses layered vocals that are enhanced in some parts with the use of Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune is a proprietary audio processor created by Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a phase vocoder to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It is used to disguise off-key inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed singers to perform apparently perfectly tuned vocal...
. Lyrically, "Blow" portrays a simple message, described as a party-anthem, the song speaks of having a desire to have a good time at the club. Bill Lamb from About.com
About.com
About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....
felt that the song's lyrics portrayed a "thumbnail description of herself and her fans, "Dirt and glitter cover the floor / We're pretty and sick, we're young and we're bored." According to Robert Cospey from Digital Spy
Digital Spy
Digital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....
, the track is of similar character to Benny Benassi
Benny Benassi
Marco Benassi , better known as Benny Benassi, is a Grammy Award winning Italian disc jockey and record producer of electro house music. He is best known for his 2002 summer club hit "Satisfaction"...
's track, "Satisfaction
Satisfaction (Benny Benassi song)
"Satisfaction" is a Benny Benassi track from his 2003 album Hypnotica. The track was Benassi's debut single and most successful song, peaking at number 2 in the UK. It was also used in a TV commercial for an Australian beer, and Wendy's hamburgers...
" (2002).
Critical reception
While reviewing CannibalCannibal (EP)
Cannibal is the first extended play by American recording artist Kesha, released on November 19, 2010. The EP is a followup companion to her previous record, Animal. Originally the record was believed to only be released as a deluxe edition of Animal, but was instead sold and released as both an...
, Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
positively wrote that "Blow" was an undeniable "stuttery club track". Daniel Brockman from The Phoenix wrote that the song was a "club banger" and that Kesha portrayed a bratty and cultural irritant attitude throughout the song referencing to the line, "We are taking over — get used to it!" Brockman commented that the song "sends a shiver down your spine" further complimenting the production of Dr. Luke
Dr. Luke
Lukasz Gottwald , better known as Dr. Luke, is an American songwriter, record producer, and remixer. Luke performed with the Saturday Night Live Band for ten seasons until 2007. He has co-written and co-produced a string of commercially successful songs...
. Jocelyn Vena from MTV News
MTV News
MTV News is the news division of MTV, one of the first and most popular music television network in the U.S., as well as some of MTV's related channels around the world. MTV News began in the late 1980s with the program The Week In Rock, hosted by Kurt Loder, the first official MTV News correspondent...
wrote that the song featured common Kesha elements citing her carpe diem attitude and grinding beats but noted that the lyrics also portrayed a darker side of Kesha, referring to the line, "We get what we want/ We do what you don't." Vena also wrote that the song contained a "scream-along party-anthem chorus". Scott Shetler from AOL Radio
AOL Radio
AOL Radio powered by Slacker, , is an online radio service available only in the United States.- Roots :...
felt that Kesha's lyrical delivery was both sassy and brash. In a separate review from AOL Radio, the song was ranked at position nine on the website's list of "10 Best Songs of 2011". The review concluded that Kesha's strongest songwriting skills pertained to party anthems. The review compared the song to previous singles, "Tik Tok" and "We R Who We R
We R Who We R
"We R Who We R" is a song by American recording artist and songwriter Kesha from her first extended play , Cannibal . The song was released as the EP's lead single on October 22, 2010. It was written by Kesha, with Jacob Kasher Hindlin, Dr. Luke, Benny Blanco and Ammo. Production of the song was...
".
Robert Copsey from Digital Spy
Digital Spy
Digital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....
gave the single five out of a possible five stars. Cospey felt that the song was representative of Kesha, writing the track "sums up everything [Kesha] – for all her scrubbiness, Auto-Tuning and boozy antics – is all about." The song's chorus was praised in the review with Cospey writing that the song contained a "hooky, robotic and all-round stonkingly huge chorus." Cospey concluded his review on the song writing that "Blow" was the "Jägermeister of pop singles: sweet, potent and guaranteed to leave you buzzing for hours after." Bill Lamb from About.com
About.com
About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....
was mixed in his review of the song. Lamb criticized the song for being uninspiring and ordinary claiming that there were better songs on Cannibal that could have been released as a single. Lamb wrote that Kesha's personality was missing from the song writing that she seemed "toned down to fit comfortably on our radio" and that "Blow" was "proof that when you take the audacity away from [Kesha] we are left with a relatively ordinary dance pop singer." Lamb praised the song's undeniable hook and opening, calling them "brilliant", but was not impressed with the chorus calling it repetitive. He went on the give the single a three out of a possible five stars.
Chart performance
"Blow" was originally released exclusively to the iTunes StoreITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
as part of a "Countdown to Cannibal" promotion, and thus originally entered the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
on the issue date titled December 4, 2010, reaching position ninety-seven and dropping off the chart the following week. After being released as a single, the song re-entered the chart on the issue date titled February 12, 2011, reaching a new peak of ninety-six. The following week the song jumped thirty positions reaching position sixty-six. The song continued to steadily ascend the charts eventually reaching a peak of seven on the week of March 19, 2011. On the song's peak week it sold 164,000 digital copies and was listed at position six on Billboards Hot Digital Songs
Hot Digital Songs
The Hot Digital Songs chart ranks the best-selling digital singles in the United States, according to Billboard.Beginning in February 2005, digital sales have been incorporated into many of Billboards music single charts. It was decided to do so mainly because of the dramatic rise in popularity of...
. Charting within the top ten, the song became Kesha's sixth straight top ten single as a solo artist. On Billboard's Pop chart
Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs)
The Mainstream Top 40 is an airplay chart from Billboard magazine, and is also known as Pop Songs on billboard.com. It was often mistaken for and confused with the now discontinued Pop 100 Airplay chart...
, the song reached a peak of number three. As of June 2011, "Blow" has sold over 2,000,000 copies in the United States. With the song passing two million in sales it became her sixth consecutive single to sell more than two million copies.
In Canada, "Blow" entered the Canadian Hot 100
Canadian Hot 100
The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...
on the issue date February 5, 2011, at one hundred. The following week the song jumped thirty-one positions to attain position sixty-nine. On its third week "Blow" once again rose this time to position fifty-four. The song continued to steadily ascended the chart eventually reaching a peak of twelve. In New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, "Blow" entered the charts at position twenty where it became that week's highest debut. The following week it rose nine positions attaining position eleven. On the song's third week on the chart "Blow" reached its peak at number eight. The song became her second straight top ten hit and her fourth overall. It has since been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand...
(RIANZ) for sales of 7,500 units. On February 27, 2011, "Blow" entered the Australian chart at position twenty-four. On the issue date of March 13, 2011, the song reached position thirteen, where it held the spot for two weeks. The following week the song reached its peak at position ten, becoming her sixth straight top ten single, but her first to miss the top five. It has since been certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
(ARIA) for sales of 70,000 units. In the United Kingdom, "Blow" entered the charts on the week of April 2, 2011, at position eighty, later peaking at number thirty-two.
Music video
The music video for "Blow" was directed by Chris Marrs Piliero. The video was released on February 25, 2011. Kesha wanted the video to be "different, a video that was cool and random". The director, Piliero, came up with the idea for the video's mythological aspect saying, "I had this idea running in my head with just the idea of unicorns, If I massacred unicorns, they could bleed rainbows. I'm a fan of violence and I'm always trying to find a way to make it OK." While being interviewed Piliero spoke of the collaboration with Kesha, explaining her point of view on the video, "Before we started filming, we had quite a few talks. She was adamant you can't back away from the crazy; everything about the idea she loved and she enforced the fact that she wanted to embrace every aspect of it and really go for it, On set, she was having fun. She was like, 'I want to lick a unicorn.' It was rad working with her because there definitely wasn't a sense of her feeling awkward about stuff or detached; no ego. It felt like we had worked together before."Opening with the disclaimer "No mythological creatures were harmed in the making of this video", Kesha appears sitting next to two unicorns
Unicorn
The unicorn is a legendary animal from European folklore that resembles a white horse with a large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead, and sometimes a goat's beard...
pouring champagne while having a conversation on how she was elected to the parliament of Uzbekistan, "So I grabbed the bear by the throat and I looked him right in the eyes, and I said, 'Bear, you have till the count of zero to put some pants on and apologize to the president.'" The music begins and Kesha makes eyes at James Van Der Beek
James Van Der Beek
James William Van Der Beek, Jr. is an American television, film, and stage actor, known for his portrayal of Dawson Leery in The WB series Dawson's Creek...
. After the eye contact Kesha grabs one of the unicorns and kisses him then removes her bra and throws it across the room, Van Der Beek then does the same with his bra, puzzling Kesha as to why he was wearing a bra. The music fades in the background as the two then make their way to the center of the dance floor and exchange words ("Well, well, well. If it isn’t James Van Der Douche.", "I don't appreciate you slander-Beeking my name, Ke dollar sign ha.") before engaging in a gun fight. They begin shooting lasers at one another killing multiple unicorns. Van Der Beek gets hit in the shoulder and falls. Kesha steps on his arm to stop him from reaching for his gun, as he begs for mercy, which Kesha denies. At the end of the video, it is revealed that Kesha killed Van Der Beek and that she has mounted his head on her wall with the plaque reading, "James Van Der Dead", as she sits with two unicorns laughing. She then frowns at the camera and it switches to Van Der Beek one more time before the screen goes black.
Willa Paskin from New York Magazine
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
opened her review of the video writing, "Maybe it’s exhaustion, maybe it’s acquiescence, maybe it's just time, but Ke$ha and her whole glam-wasted shtick are starting to charm us." Paskin felt that Kesha had a great "functioning sense of humor" writing that she "enjoyed her new video". Peter Gaston from Spin, referring to Kesha, wrote that he was able to "continually find something massively entertaining about this tartlet" and wrote that the video was "provocative". Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
s Matthew Perpetua wrote "You know you're in for a great video when the very first thing you see is a disclaimer reading "No mythological creatures were harmed in the making of this video." Perpetua wrote that "Blow" had it all, from unicorns to James Van der Beek and laser gun battles. Becky Bain of Idolator
Idolator (website)
Idolator is a music blog. Created by the blog network Gawker Media in August 2006, Idolator was later sold to rival blog network Buzz Media, which also owns music blog Stereogum. From the 2007 departure of original head writer Brian Raftery until November 2009, the blog's head writer was Maura...
said the video included "the best mid-video dialogue scene in all of music video history." About.com
About.com
About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....
's Bill Lamb wrote that "Blow" contained "some of the funniest spoken word dialogue in recent memory in a music clip." Lamb called the video charming writing, "videos like this are another sign Ke$ha is here to stay for a while. Just try to keep from being charmed."
Promotion
"Blow" was performed on television for the first time on April 22, 2011, for the NickelodeonNickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
sitcom Victorious
Victorious
Victorious is an American sitcom created by Dan Schneider for Nickelodeon. The series revolves around aspiring singer Tori Vega , a teenager who attends a performing arts high school called Hollywood Arts High School, after taking her older sister Trina's place in a showcase while getting into...
, in the episode, "Ice Cream For Ke$ha". The storyline for the episode saw the show's stars competing in a contest to win a private concert by Kesha. In order to win the contest the cast had to spell out Kesha's name through letters found at the bottom of ice cream containers. Kesha's younger brother, Louie also guest starred in the episode. "Blow" was performed live on May 22, 2011, at the Billboard Music Awards. The performance was opened with "Animal" as Kesha sang suspended over the stage in a structure shaped like a diamond. Midway through the performance she dropped backwards into her crowd of background dancers then transitioned into "Blow". The performance featured glitter cannons and the dancers wore orange unicorn heads.
American rapper B.o.B.
B.O.B.
B.O.B. is a video game that was released in 1993. It is a side-scrolling game developed by Gray Matter Interactive and Foley Hi-Tech Systems, and published by Electronic Arts. It is both a 2D shooter and a platform game, and is available for both the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega...
is featured on an official remix of "Blow" that was released to iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
on May 17, 2011. B.o.B opens the track with a minute-long rapped verse about himself then adds to the song's dominant party theme rapping, "Night starts out at the ATM / It probably won’t end til 8 am." Following this verse Kesha proclaims "We are taking over", before track resumes as it normally would without B.o.B's addition. Scott Shetler from PopCrush criticized the remix for not technically being a remix, rather being just the original song with added verses. Shetler wrote "the term 'remix' makes us imagine all the ways the song could be creatively re-arranged. And a fun song like ‘Blow,’ with its brash lyrics and skittering beat, holds endless remix possibilities. But this version doesn’t substantially improve the original." He went on to give the song three and a half stars out of a possible five.
Track listing
- Digital download
- "Blow" – 3:40
- Remix
- "Blow" (Remix) (feat. B.o.BB.o.BBobby Ray Simmons, Jr. , better known by his stage name B.o.B, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is currently signed under the labels of Grand Hustle Records, Rebel Rock Entertainment, and Atlantic Records. His debut single "Nothin' on You" reached number one in both...
) – 4:31
- Germany CD single
- "Blow" – 3:40
- "The Sleazy RemixSleazy (Kesha song)"Sleazy" is a song by American recording artist and songwriter Kesha, from her first extended play , Cannibal . The song was written by Kesha alongside Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald, Benjamin Levin, Shondrae "Bangladesh" Crawford and Klas Åhlund, with production done by Bangladesh, Dr. Luke and Levin...
" (feat. André 3000André 3000André Lauren Benjamin , better known by his stage name André 3000 is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and actor, best known for being part of American hip-hop duo OutKast alongside fellow rapper Big Boi...
) – 3:48
- UK digital EP
- "Blow" – 3:40
- "Fuck Him He's A DJ" – 3:40
- "Blow" (Cirkut Remix) – 4:05
- "Animal" (Switch Remix) – 4:46
Credits and personnel
- Songwriting – Kesha Sebert, Klas Ahlund, Lukasz Gottwald, Alan Grigg, Benjamin Levin, Max Martin
- Production – Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Benny Blanco, Kool Kojak
- Instruments and programming – Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Benny Blanco, Kool Kojak
- Engineering – Emily Wright, Sam Holland, Chris "TEK" O'Ryan
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Cannibal, Dynamite Cop Music/Where Da Kasz at BMI.
Charts
| Chart (2010–11) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Germany (Media Control AG Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... ) |
39 |
| US Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
7 |
| US Hot Dance Club Songs (Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... ) |
27 |
Certifications
| Country | Certification |
|---|---|
| Australia Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956... |
Platinum |
| New Zealand Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
Gold |
Release history
| Country | Date | Format |
|---|---|---|
| United States | February 8, 2011 | Mainstream airplay |
| Switzerland | February 25, 2011 | Digital download |
| Germany | April 22, 2011 | CD single CD single A CD single is a music single in the form of a standard size Compact Disc, not to be confused with the 3-inch CD single, which uses a smaller form factor. The format was introduced in the mid-1980s, but did not gain its place in the market until the early 1990s... |
| United Kingdom | April 22, 2011 | Digital EP |
External links
- Music – Cannibal – Blow Lyrics from Keshasparty.com