See No More
Encyclopedia
"See No More" is a song performed by the American singer Joe Jonas
. The song was released on June 13, 2011 as the lead single from his debut album, Fastlife
, which was released on October 11, 2011. The mid-tempo pop
and R&B song contains usage of synths, has prominent pop rock characteristics and lyrically explains a bad relationship. Most critics complimented See No More as a great start to a solo career, and fantastic lead single. Jonas co-wrote the song with American R&B singer Chris Brown, who also provides backing vocals through the song's chorus.
, who was also behind the boards for such jams as Rihanna’s #1 single “Disturbia
,” among others.
As he explained to E! News
at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards
:
The song came together last year one day when Joe was working in the studio with Chris Brown (a credited co-writer on the song). Kennedy stopped by the studio, and Brown asked him what new beats he’d had stored on his laptop. Kennedy whipped out the “See No More” track, which he’d built from scratch while working in Nashville. Jonas and Brown went for it instantly. “It was just electric,” Jonas told E!
. When [we] asked Kennedy to sum up Joe’s connection with “See No More,” (a club/R&B track that departs quite a bit from his pop-rock days), he told us, “I feel like it matches who he is. It has this confident kind of vibe that’s perfect for him — a guy coming into a man. He’s actually coming into that new sound, it’s natural. It feels honest. It feels believable.”
, is “I don’t wanna wait for you/ I don’t wanna wake up thinking, hoping you’re gonna get it right this time.” He struggles with moving on, crooning “All I keep seeing is your picture / I don’t wanna see no more.” We’ve all been there and can relate. Towards the end of the song, during the bridge, Jonas sings, over a looped beat, “I used to be afraid of letting go / Right now I need you to set me free/ I can see it in your eyes” and “I don’t wanna see no more” as he still tries to expunge his brain from the memory of the one who has inflicted misery on his heart. Joe sings over scattered beeps, cinematic strings and a raspy R&B drumbeat - neatly side-stepping the feather-light pop-rock sound synonymous with his siblings."
that "See No More" is reminiscent of the Jonas Brothers' "A Little Bit Longer
," but with more fear: "It was so easy to trust you baby/Guess I was so stupid baby/ I did not ever think that this would come/ You're running right to another one," Jonas sings. The first taste of debut solo album "Fast Life" may lack depth, but a strong beat and solid vocal performance position the track as a contender for the stuck-in-your-head song of the summer." Amy Sciarretto from Pop Crunch rated it four out of five stars and says that "he has transitioned from middle Jonas Brother to bona fide pop singer a la Justin Timberlake
or Jesse McCartney
." Sciarretto also praised the song more mature (relatively speaking) R&B sound, while saying that "he is showing off his chops". Lewis Corner editor of Digital Spy
also rated it four stars out of five, saying that "the result is a slice of dramatic synth-pop about adolescent anguish that not only serves as a perfectly executed image overhaul, but sets him apart from certain other males currently Ridin' Solo in the charts." TJ wrote for "Neon Limelight" that the song "finds a maturing Joe trying out different vocal approaches, from a tender falsetto, to a full voice (that, at times, sounds painfully whiny)" and that "his solo introduction is passable, but it does not feel authentic." Jamie Peck wrote for MTV Buzzworthy
that "it's a much more mature sound than we are used to hearing from him or any of the Jonases, quite frankly. This R&B-inflected track expresses Joe's frustration at having to wait for his beloved to catch up with him, metaphorically speaking."
.
enjoyed the video, saying that the song "is a visual illustration of a relationship gone bad. There are spectral images of the lost love, dishes broken on the floor, and eventually everything goes up in flames. Based on this music video, we do want to see more from Joe Jonas". Jason Lipshutz wrote for Billboard
that in the music video, Joe "flaunts his new maturity and sets fire to a handful of haunting memories."
Joe Jonas
Joseph Adam "Joe" Jonas is a Pop American singer, musician, actor, and dancer. He is a member of the Jonas Brothers, a pop-rock band made up of him and his two brothers, Nick and Kevin...
. The song was released on June 13, 2011 as the lead single from his debut album, Fastlife
Fast Life (Joe Jonas album)
Fastlife received mixed to positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 66, based on 5 reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews". Tim Sendra wrote a very positive...
, which was released on October 11, 2011. The mid-tempo pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and R&B song contains usage of synths, has prominent pop rock characteristics and lyrically explains a bad relationship. Most critics complimented See No More as a great start to a solo career, and fantastic lead single. Jonas co-wrote the song with American R&B singer Chris Brown, who also provides backing vocals through the song's chorus.
Background
Joe told Idolator the track, with its dramatic strings, “grabbed [my] heart” when he first heard the basic version, produced by Digging-featured hitmaker Brian KennedyBrian Kennedy (producer)
Brian Kennedy Seals is an American songwriter, record producer and musician from Kansas City, MO. Revered as a piano prodigy, he has been making music tracks since 2001...
, who was also behind the boards for such jams as Rihanna’s #1 single “Disturbia
Disturbia (song)
"Disturbia" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from the re-release, Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded , of her third studio album Good Girl Gone Bad . The song was released as the third single from the reloaded edition of the album, and seventh overall...
,” among others.
As he explained to E! News
E! News
E! News, previously known as E! News Daily and E! News Live, is a nightly entertainment newsmagazine program airing on E!: Entertainment Television. The program debuted on September 1, 1991 and talks about Hollywood celebrities and gossip...
at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards
2011 Billboard Music Awards
The 2011 Billboard Music Awards were held May 22, 2011 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada and hosted by Ken Jeong. The awards recognized the most popular artists and albums from 2010....
:
The song came together last year one day when Joe was working in the studio with Chris Brown (a credited co-writer on the song). Kennedy stopped by the studio, and Brown asked him what new beats he’d had stored on his laptop. Kennedy whipped out the “See No More” track, which he’d built from scratch while working in Nashville. Jonas and Brown went for it instantly. “It was just electric,” Jonas told E!
E!
E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of...
. When [we] asked Kennedy to sum up Joe’s connection with “See No More,” (a club/R&B track that departs quite a bit from his pop-rock days), he told us, “I feel like it matches who he is. It has this confident kind of vibe that’s perfect for him — a guy coming into a man. He’s actually coming into that new sound, it’s natural. It feels honest. It feels believable.”
Composition
The song is essentially about the memory of a relationship that just won’t quit, and the main hook of ‘See No More,’ co-penned by Chris Brown and Brian KennedyBrian Kennedy (producer)
Brian Kennedy Seals is an American songwriter, record producer and musician from Kansas City, MO. Revered as a piano prodigy, he has been making music tracks since 2001...
, is “I don’t wanna wait for you/ I don’t wanna wake up thinking, hoping you’re gonna get it right this time.” He struggles with moving on, crooning “All I keep seeing is your picture / I don’t wanna see no more.” We’ve all been there and can relate. Towards the end of the song, during the bridge, Jonas sings, over a looped beat, “I used to be afraid of letting go / Right now I need you to set me free/ I can see it in your eyes” and “I don’t wanna see no more” as he still tries to expunge his brain from the memory of the one who has inflicted misery on his heart. Joe sings over scattered beeps, cinematic strings and a raspy R&B drumbeat - neatly side-stepping the feather-light pop-rock sound synonymous with his siblings."
Critical reception
Sarah Maloy wrote for BillboardBillboard (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...
that "See No More" is reminiscent of the Jonas Brothers' "A Little Bit Longer
A Little Bit Longer
A Little Bit Longer is the third studio album by the American pop rock band the Jonas Brothers, and their second album released on Hollywood Records. It was released on August 12, 2008. The album received generally favorable reviews, and four star reviews from Rolling Stone, Allmusic, and Blender....
," but with more fear: "It was so easy to trust you baby/Guess I was so stupid baby/ I did not ever think that this would come/ You're running right to another one," Jonas sings. The first taste of debut solo album "Fast Life" may lack depth, but a strong beat and solid vocal performance position the track as a contender for the stuck-in-your-head song of the summer." Amy Sciarretto from Pop Crunch rated it four out of five stars and says that "he has transitioned from middle Jonas Brother to bona fide pop singer a la Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
or Jesse McCartney
Jesse McCartney
Jesse McCartney is an American singer-songwriter, actor and voice actor. McCartney achieved fame in the late 1990s on the daytime drama All My Children as JR Chandler. He later joined boy band Dream Street, and eventually branched out into a solo musical career...
." Sciarretto also praised the song more mature (relatively speaking) R&B sound, while saying that "he is showing off his chops". Lewis Corner editor of 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....
also rated it four stars out of five, saying that "the result is a slice of dramatic synth-pop about adolescent anguish that not only serves as a perfectly executed image overhaul, but sets him apart from certain other males currently Ridin' Solo in the charts." TJ wrote for "Neon Limelight" that the song "finds a maturing Joe trying out different vocal approaches, from a tender falsetto, to a full voice (that, at times, sounds painfully whiny)" and that "his solo introduction is passable, but it does not feel authentic." Jamie Peck wrote for MTV Buzzworthy
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...
that "it's a much more mature sound than we are used to hearing from him or any of the Jonases, quite frankly. This R&B-inflected track expresses Joe's frustration at having to wait for his beloved to catch up with him, metaphorically speaking."
Awards and nominations
"See No More" is nominated under the title "Choice Music: Break-up Song" in the 2011 Teen Choice Awards2011 Teen Choice Awards
The 2011 Teen Choice Awards hosted by Kaley Cuoco aired live on August 7, 2011 at 8/7c on Fox. This was the first time that the ceremonies were aired live since the 2007 show...
.
Music video
The official music video for the song premiered on June 29, 2011 on E! News. In the video, he is looking upset over the betrayal he faces at the hands of his object of affection. Joe walks the earth, braves the elements and moves on from a broken heart.Synopsis
The "See No More" video begins with a shot of a depressed Joe. Amidst a broken dishes on the floor, Joe skulks about in his empty house. The only remaining piece of furniture is a lone chair, which later supports Joe, as he stops to take a seat and look out the window while presumably fantasizing about happier times. Suddenly, the one who broke his heart is swirling outside in the dark in front of Joe's house wearing a lavender frock. Cut to Joe back inside his house and next the dress catches on fire, serving as the catalyst for the massive blaze which eventually overtakes Joe's sad, memory-filled house. As the video comes to a close, is seeing a still brokenhearted Joe emerging from the wreckage in a symmetrical grey cloud of smoke.Reception
Bill Lamb of About.comAbout.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....
enjoyed the video, saying that the song "is a visual illustration of a relationship gone bad. There are spectral images of the lost love, dishes broken on the floor, and eventually everything goes up in flames. Based on this music video, we do want to see more from Joe Jonas". Jason Lipshutz wrote for 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...
that in the music video, Joe "flaunts his new maturity and sets fire to a handful of haunting memories."
Charts
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
53 |
| US 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... |
92 |
| US Pop Songs 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... (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... ) |
37 |