These Words
Encyclopedia
"These Words" is a song written by Natasha Bedingfield
Natasha Bedingfield
Natasha Anne Bedingfield is a British pop singer and songwriter. Bedingfield debuted in the 1990s as a member of the Christian dance/electronic group The DNA Algorithm with her siblings Daniel Bedingfield and Nikola Rachelle...

, Steve Kipner
Steve Kipner
Steve Kipner is a multi-platinum-selling songwriter and record producer with hits spanning over a 40 year history, including chart-topping songs such as Olivia Newton-John's "Physical", Chicago's Grammy-nominated "Hard Habit to Break", "Genie In A Bottle" by Christina Aguilera, for which he won an...

, Andrew Frampton and Wayne Wilkins
Wayne Wilkins
Wayne Wilkins is a classically trained pianist, Record producer, songwriter, record engineer, and record mixer born in the southeast London neighborhood of Croydon...

 for Bedingfield's 2004 debut album Unwritten
Unwritten (album)
Unwritten is the debut studio album by English singer-songwriter Natasha Bedingfield. It was released in the UK on 6 September 2004, where it debuted at number one, and in the U.S. on 2 August 2005, where it debuted at number twenty-six...

. The song is the album's opening track, and was released as its second single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

. "These Words" details Bedingfield's lack of inspiration and her reaction to pressure from her record label to produce a hit song.

"These Words" was released as the album's second international single and as the lead single
Lead single
A lead single is usually the first single released by a musician or a band before the release of its home album.During the era of the grammophone record, all music arrived in the marketplace as what is now termed a single, one potential hit song backed by an additional song of generally less...

 in North America. The single sold well, reached the top forty worldwide, and topped the charts in both Ireland and the United Kingdom. It was certified platinum in the United States and Australia, and was nominated for "Best British Single" at the 2005 BRIT Awards
Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...

. The song was very well received by music critics, and was frequently cited as a highlight of the album.

Background and writing

Bedingfield began recording her debut album in mid-2003, following the signing of a recording contract with Sony BMG earlier that year. She was determined not to be shaped into "some music biz pigeonhole" and wanted to write songs that were "organic, different and real". Bedingfield began collaborating with Steve Kipner
Steve Kipner
Steve Kipner is a multi-platinum-selling songwriter and record producer with hits spanning over a 40 year history, including chart-topping songs such as Olivia Newton-John's "Physical", Chicago's Grammy-nominated "Hard Habit to Break", "Genie In A Bottle" by Christina Aguilera, for which he won an...

, Andrew Frampton and Wayne Wilkins
Wayne Wilkins
Wayne Wilkins is a classically trained pianist, Record producer, songwriter, record engineer, and record mixer born in the southeast London neighborhood of Croydon...

 in London and Los Angeles, but their sessions were largely unproductive due to Bedingfield's writer's block
Writer's block
Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing as a profession, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. The condition varies widely in intensity. It can be trivial, a temporary difficulty in dealing with the task at hand. At the other extreme, some "blocked"...

 and the pressure that she felt to produce a hit song. Frustrated, she began to sing "I love you, I love you, I love you" over and over. She was at "wit's end and just wanted to say what I meant in a simple way, without using all those flowery words." The line that Bedingfield sang out of frustration became 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 its subject matter inspired by her real life difficulty writing a love song.

Critical reception

"These Words" was generally very well-received by contemporary pop music critics. PlayLouder
PlayLouder
Playlouder is a digital music and media company. It is a music site which provides news, reviews, and other related content. It also claims to be the world's first Music Service Provider or MSP — a broadband, Internet Service Provider that bundles access to music content with broadband...

's Daniel Robson described the song as a "compelling chunk of popply joy", while Allmusic wrote that the track was "near-perfect" and merged "the rhythms and flavors of hip-hop and R&B with unique melodies and Bedingfield's vocal confidence". The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 called it a "classic love song" with a "really catchy tune", and commented that it was worthy of reaching number one on the 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 ...

. Josh Timmermann of Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....

 called it "best single so far this year", and David Welsh of musicOMH.com wrote that the song had a "virally-infectious chorus and (relatively) clever wordplay."

Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....

s Colin Cooper ranked "These Words" at number thirteen on his list of the Top 20 Singles of 2004 and 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....

 ranked the song at number five on its list of the Top 10 Most Memorable Pop Song Lyrics 2005. The website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...

 wrote that Bedingfield's naming of the famous poets George Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...

, and John Keats
John Keats
John Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...

 in the song enables the listener to "almost hear the classic poetry over a drum machine" as Bedingfield sings.

The song appears on the games Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore and Singstar Pop.

Music videos

Two music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

s were produced for the international and North American markets. The song's international music video was directed by Scott Lyon and Sophie Muller
Sophie Muller
Sophie Muller is a British music video director, noted for her long-time collaborations with artists like Sophie Ellis-Bextor, No Doubt, Sade, Shakira, Shakespears Sister, Garbage, Blur, Annie Lennox and Eurythmics.-Background:...

 and premiered in August 2004. The video features several sequences. It opens with Bedingfield sitting at a table in her Spanish villa, in Málaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...

, frustrated by her inability to find inspiration to write a song. She is then seen walking through the villa in colorful outfits, surrounded by dancing chairs, dancing radios, and multiple versions of herself. The video concludes with Bedingfield scribbling in her notebook on the roof of her villa. Her scribblings lead her boyfriend to the front of her home where she admits that she loves him, asking him if her feelings are "okay".
The North American music video was directed by Chris Milk
Chris Milk
Chris Milk is an American music video director and photographer. He has directed videos for Kanye West, U2, Green Day, Courtney Love, Audioslave, Modest Mouse, Gnarls Barkley and Arcade Fire. He also has numerous television commercials to his credit...

 and filmed in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

, Brazil in March 2005. The music video, however, was discarded by the record label, though this version won four Annual MVPA Awards. The video begins with Bedingfield waking up next to a boombox, dressing, and leaving her home with the boombox. While performing on a beach, she kicks her boombox, which comes alive and begins to dance. The video concludes with Bedingfield arriving back home to a house full of dancing boomboxes.

An alternate version of the North American video was directed by Jim Gable using much of the footage from the original. The boomboxes featured in the video are animated to look like drawings and a performance by Bedingfield in a room with flowing white drapery has been added. The video debuted in June 2005 and proved successful on U.S. video-chart programs. It debuted on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

's Total Request Live
Total Request Live
Total Request Live is a television series on MTV that featured popular music videos. TRL was MTV's prime outlet for music videos as the network continues to concentrate on reality-based programming. In addition to music videos, TRL featured daily guests...

 on 28 June 2005 at number ten and remained on the program for a total of six days. VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...

 ranked the video at number twenty-two on its Top 40 Videos of 2005 countdown.
"These Words" (also known as "These Words (I Love You, I Love You)") is a song written by Natasha Bedingfield
Natasha Bedingfield
Natasha Anne Bedingfield is a British pop singer and songwriter. Bedingfield debuted in the 1990s as a member of the Christian dance/electronic group The DNA Algorithm with her siblings Daniel Bedingfield and Nikola Rachelle...

, Steve Kipner
Steve Kipner
Steve Kipner is a multi-platinum-selling songwriter and record producer with hits spanning over a 40 year history, including chart-topping songs such as Olivia Newton-John's "Physical", Chicago's Grammy-nominated "Hard Habit to Break", "Genie In A Bottle" by Christina Aguilera, for which he won an...

, Andrew Frampton and Wayne Wilkins
Wayne Wilkins
Wayne Wilkins is a classically trained pianist, Record producer, songwriter, record engineer, and record mixer born in the southeast London neighborhood of Croydon...

 for Bedingfield's 2004 debut album Unwritten
Unwritten (album)
Unwritten is the debut studio album by English singer-songwriter Natasha Bedingfield. It was released in the UK on 6 September 2004, where it debuted at number one, and in the U.S. on 2 August 2005, where it debuted at number twenty-six...

. The song is the album's opening track, and was released as its second single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

. "These Words" details Bedingfield's lack of inspiration and her reaction to pressure from her record label to produce a hit song.

"These Words" was released as the album's second international single and as the lead single
Lead single
A lead single is usually the first single released by a musician or a band before the release of its home album.During the era of the grammophone record, all music arrived in the marketplace as what is now termed a single, one potential hit song backed by an additional song of generally less...

 in North America. The single sold well, reached the top forty worldwide, and topped the charts in both Ireland and the United Kingdom. It was certified platinum in the United States and Australia, and was nominated for "Best British Single" at the 2005 BRIT Awards
Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...

. The song was very well received by music critics, and was frequently cited as a highlight of the album.

Background and writing

Bedingfield began recording her debut album in mid-2003, following the signing of a recording contract with Sony BMG earlier that year. She was determined not to be shaped into "some music biz pigeonhole" and wanted to write songs that were "organic, different and real". Bedingfield began collaborating with Steve Kipner
Steve Kipner
Steve Kipner is a multi-platinum-selling songwriter and record producer with hits spanning over a 40 year history, including chart-topping songs such as Olivia Newton-John's "Physical", Chicago's Grammy-nominated "Hard Habit to Break", "Genie In A Bottle" by Christina Aguilera, for which he won an...

, Andrew Frampton and Wayne Wilkins
Wayne Wilkins
Wayne Wilkins is a classically trained pianist, Record producer, songwriter, record engineer, and record mixer born in the southeast London neighborhood of Croydon...

 in London and Los Angeles, but their sessions were largely unproductive due to Bedingfield's writer's block
Writer's block
Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing as a profession, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. The condition varies widely in intensity. It can be trivial, a temporary difficulty in dealing with the task at hand. At the other extreme, some "blocked"...

 and the pressure that she felt to produce a hit song. Frustrated, she began to sing "I love you, I love you, I love you" over and over. She was at "wit's end and just wanted to say what I meant in a simple way, without using all those flowery words." The line that Bedingfield sang out of frustration became 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 its subject matter inspired by her real life difficulty writing a love song.

Critical reception

"These Words" was generally very well-received by contemporary pop music critics. PlayLouder
PlayLouder
Playlouder is a digital music and media company. It is a music site which provides news, reviews, and other related content. It also claims to be the world's first Music Service Provider or MSP — a broadband, Internet Service Provider that bundles access to music content with broadband...

's Daniel Robson described the song as a "compelling chunk of popply joy", while Allmusic wrote that the track was "near-perfect" and merged "the rhythms and flavors of hip-hop and R&B with unique melodies and Bedingfield's vocal confidence". The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 called it a "classic love song" with a "really catchy tune", and commented that it was worthy of reaching number one on the 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 ...

. Josh Timmermann of Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....

 called it "best single so far this year", and David Welsh of musicOMH.com wrote that the song had a "virally-infectious chorus and (relatively) clever wordplay."

Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....

s Colin Cooper ranked "These Words" at number thirteen on his list of the Top 20 Singles of 2004 and 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....

 ranked the song at number five on its list of the Top 10 Most Memorable Pop Song Lyrics 2005. The website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...

 wrote that Bedingfield's naming of the famous poets George Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...

, and John Keats
John Keats
John Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...

 in the song enables the listener to "almost hear the classic poetry over a drum machine" as Bedingfield sings.

The song appears on the games Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore and Singstar Pop.

Music videos

Two music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

s were produced for the international and North American markets. The song's international music video was directed by Scott Lyon and Sophie Muller
Sophie Muller
Sophie Muller is a British music video director, noted for her long-time collaborations with artists like Sophie Ellis-Bextor, No Doubt, Sade, Shakira, Shakespears Sister, Garbage, Blur, Annie Lennox and Eurythmics.-Background:...

 and premiered in August 2004. The video features several sequences. It opens with Bedingfield sitting at a table in her Spanish villa, in Málaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...

, frustrated by her inability to find inspiration to write a song. She is then seen walking through the villa in colorful outfits, surrounded by dancing chairs, dancing radios, and multiple versions of herself. The video concludes with Bedingfield scribbling in her notebook on the roof of her villa. Her scribblings lead her boyfriend to the front of her home where she admits that she loves him, asking him if her feelings are "okay".
The North American music video was directed by Chris Milk
Chris Milk
Chris Milk is an American music video director and photographer. He has directed videos for Kanye West, U2, Green Day, Courtney Love, Audioslave, Modest Mouse, Gnarls Barkley and Arcade Fire. He also has numerous television commercials to his credit...

 and filmed in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

, Brazil in March 2005. The music video, however, was discarded by the record label, though this version won four Annual MVPA Awards. The video begins with Bedingfield waking up next to a boombox, dressing, and leaving her home with the boombox. While performing on a beach, she kicks her boombox, which comes alive and begins to dance. The video concludes with Bedingfield arriving back home to a house full of dancing boomboxes.

An alternate version of the North American video was directed by Jim Gable using much of the footage from the original. The boomboxes featured in the video are animated to look like drawings and a performance by Bedingfield in a room with flowing white drapery has been added. The video debuted in June 2005 and proved successful on U.S. video-chart programs. It debuted on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

's Total Request Live
Total Request Live
Total Request Live is a television series on MTV that featured popular music videos. TRL was MTV's prime outlet for music videos as the network continues to concentrate on reality-based programming. In addition to music videos, TRL featured daily guests...

 on 28 June 2005 at number ten and remained on the program for a total of six days. VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...

 ranked the video at number twenty-two on its Top 40 Videos of 2005 countdown.
"These Words" (also known as "These Words (I Love You, I Love You)") is a song written by Natasha Bedingfield
Natasha Bedingfield
Natasha Anne Bedingfield is a British pop singer and songwriter. Bedingfield debuted in the 1990s as a member of the Christian dance/electronic group The DNA Algorithm with her siblings Daniel Bedingfield and Nikola Rachelle...

, Steve Kipner
Steve Kipner
Steve Kipner is a multi-platinum-selling songwriter and record producer with hits spanning over a 40 year history, including chart-topping songs such as Olivia Newton-John's "Physical", Chicago's Grammy-nominated "Hard Habit to Break", "Genie In A Bottle" by Christina Aguilera, for which he won an...

, Andrew Frampton and Wayne Wilkins
Wayne Wilkins
Wayne Wilkins is a classically trained pianist, Record producer, songwriter, record engineer, and record mixer born in the southeast London neighborhood of Croydon...

 for Bedingfield's 2004 debut album Unwritten
Unwritten (album)
Unwritten is the debut studio album by English singer-songwriter Natasha Bedingfield. It was released in the UK on 6 September 2004, where it debuted at number one, and in the U.S. on 2 August 2005, where it debuted at number twenty-six...

. The song is the album's opening track, and was released as its second single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

. "These Words" details Bedingfield's lack of inspiration and her reaction to pressure from her record label to produce a hit song.

"These Words" was released as the album's second international single and as the lead single
Lead single
A lead single is usually the first single released by a musician or a band before the release of its home album.During the era of the grammophone record, all music arrived in the marketplace as what is now termed a single, one potential hit song backed by an additional song of generally less...

 in North America. The single sold well, reached the top forty worldwide, and topped the charts in both Ireland and the United Kingdom. It was certified platinum in the United States and Australia, and was nominated for "Best British Single" at the 2005 BRIT Awards
Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...

. The song was very well received by music critics, and was frequently cited as a highlight of the album.

Background and writing

Bedingfield began recording her debut album in mid-2003, following the signing of a recording contract with Sony BMG earlier that year. She was determined not to be shaped into "some music biz pigeonhole" and wanted to write songs that were "organic, different and real". Bedingfield began collaborating with Steve Kipner
Steve Kipner
Steve Kipner is a multi-platinum-selling songwriter and record producer with hits spanning over a 40 year history, including chart-topping songs such as Olivia Newton-John's "Physical", Chicago's Grammy-nominated "Hard Habit to Break", "Genie In A Bottle" by Christina Aguilera, for which he won an...

, Andrew Frampton and Wayne Wilkins
Wayne Wilkins
Wayne Wilkins is a classically trained pianist, Record producer, songwriter, record engineer, and record mixer born in the southeast London neighborhood of Croydon...

 in London and Los Angeles, but their sessions were largely unproductive due to Bedingfield's writer's block
Writer's block
Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing as a profession, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. The condition varies widely in intensity. It can be trivial, a temporary difficulty in dealing with the task at hand. At the other extreme, some "blocked"...

 and the pressure that she felt to produce a hit song. Frustrated, she began to sing "I love you, I love you, I love you" over and over. She was at "wit's end and just wanted to say what I meant in a simple way, without using all those flowery words." The line that Bedingfield sang out of frustration became 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 its subject matter inspired by her real life difficulty writing a love song.

Critical reception

"These Words" was generally very well-received by contemporary pop music critics. PlayLouder
PlayLouder
Playlouder is a digital music and media company. It is a music site which provides news, reviews, and other related content. It also claims to be the world's first Music Service Provider or MSP — a broadband, Internet Service Provider that bundles access to music content with broadband...

's Daniel Robson described the song as a "compelling chunk of popply joy", while Allmusic wrote that the track was "near-perfect" and merged "the rhythms and flavors of hip-hop and R&B with unique melodies and Bedingfield's vocal confidence". The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 called it a "classic love song" with a "really catchy tune", and commented that it was worthy of reaching number one on the 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 ...

. Josh Timmermann of Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....

 called it "best single so far this year", and David Welsh of musicOMH.com wrote that the song had a "virally-infectious chorus and (relatively) clever wordplay."

Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....

s Colin Cooper ranked "These Words" at number thirteen on his list of the Top 20 Singles of 2004 and 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....

 ranked the song at number five on its list of the Top 10 Most Memorable Pop Song Lyrics 2005. The website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...

 wrote that Bedingfield's naming of the famous poets George Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...

, and John Keats
John Keats
John Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...

 in the song enables the listener to "almost hear the classic poetry over a drum machine" as Bedingfield sings.

The song appears on the games Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore and Singstar Pop.

Music videos

Two music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

s were produced for the international and North American markets. The song's international music video was directed by Scott Lyon and Sophie Muller
Sophie Muller
Sophie Muller is a British music video director, noted for her long-time collaborations with artists like Sophie Ellis-Bextor, No Doubt, Sade, Shakira, Shakespears Sister, Garbage, Blur, Annie Lennox and Eurythmics.-Background:...

 and premiered in August 2004. The video features several sequences. It opens with Bedingfield sitting at a table in her Spanish villa, in Málaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...

, frustrated by her inability to find inspiration to write a song. She is then seen walking through the villa in colorful outfits, surrounded by dancing chairs, dancing radios, and multiple versions of herself. The video concludes with Bedingfield scribbling in her notebook on the roof of her villa. Her scribblings lead her boyfriend to the front of her home where she admits that she loves him, asking him if her feelings are "okay".
The North American music video was directed by Chris Milk
Chris Milk
Chris Milk is an American music video director and photographer. He has directed videos for Kanye West, U2, Green Day, Courtney Love, Audioslave, Modest Mouse, Gnarls Barkley and Arcade Fire. He also has numerous television commercials to his credit...

 and filmed in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

, Brazil in March 2005. The music video, however, was discarded by the record label, though this version won four Annual MVPA Awards. The video begins with Bedingfield waking up next to a boombox, dressing, and leaving her home with the boombox. While performing on a beach, she kicks her boombox, which comes alive and begins to dance. The video concludes with Bedingfield arriving back home to a house full of dancing boomboxes.

An alternate version of the North American video was directed by Jim Gable using much of the footage from the original. The boomboxes featured in the video are animated to look like drawings and a performance by Bedingfield in a room with flowing white drapery has been added. The video debuted in June 2005 and proved successful on U.S. video-chart programs. It debuted on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

's Total Request Live
Total Request Live
Total Request Live is a television series on MTV that featured popular music videos. TRL was MTV's prime outlet for music videos as the network continues to concentrate on reality-based programming. In addition to music videos, TRL featured daily guests...

 on 28 June 2005 at number ten and remained on the program for a total of six days. VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...

 ranked the video at number twenty-two on its Top 40 Videos of 2005 countdown.


Chart performance

"These Words" entered the 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 ...

 on 28 August 2004 at number one, remaining on the chart for thirteen weeks. It maintained the number one position for two weeks. In the UK, Bedingfield and her brother, pop-singer Daniel Bedingfield
Daniel Bedingfield
Daniel John Bedingfield is a British singer-songwriter. He is the brother of pop singers Natasha Bedingfield and Nikola Rachelle.-Music career:...

, became the first sister and brother to achieve separate number one singles. The track also charted at number one in Ireland
Irish Singles Chart
The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...

, remaining on the singles chart for seventeen weeks.

Across Europe, "These Words" was largely successful, reaching number two in Austria, Germany and Norway, and the top ten in the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. Elsewhere, the song peaked within the top ten on the majority of the charts it entered. In Australia, "These Words" debuted at number six and reached a peak position of number five three weeks later. On the 2004 ARIA
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...

 end of the year chart, the song charted at number forty-nine and was certified gold. In New Zealand the single performed stronger, reaching number two on the singles chart.

"These Words" performed moderately well in North America. The single debuted at number one hundred on the 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...

 on 2 July 2005 and reached a peak position at number seventeen, remaining on the chart for twenty weeks. The song did well on pop-oriented charts, reaching number nine on the Pop 100
Pop 100
The Pop 100 was a songs chart that debuted in February 2005 and was released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States until its discontinuation in 2009...

 and number ten on the Top 40 Mainstream. "These Words" was helped on the Hot 100 by its strong digital downloads, peaking at number seven on the 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...

 chart. The single had crossover success in the dance charts, reaching number one on the Hot Dance Airplay
Hot Dance Airplay
Dance/Mix Show Airplay is a monitored electronic dance music radio chart that is featured weekly in Billboard magazine. The chart came about as a result of the small but influential impact of electronic dance music on the radio in the United States and the stations that program it...

 chart and number thirty-five on the Hot Dance Club Play
Hot Dance Club Play
The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...

 chart.

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "These Words".
UK CD single

(82876630122; Released 29 August 2004)
  1. "These Words"
  2. "Single
    Single (Natasha Bedingfield song)
    "Single" is a pop song written by British singer Natasha Bedingfield, Steve Kipner, Andrew Frampton and Wayne Wilkins for Bedingfield's debut album Unwritten . The song was produced by Kipner, Frampton and Wayne Wilkins and received a positive reception from music critics...

    " (Live at BBC Radio One Live Lounge)


UK Maxi CD single

(82876639182; Released 29 August 2004)
  1. "These Words"
  2. "These Words" (Bimbo Jones
    Bimbo Jones
    Bimbo Jones is a UK dance music group comprising producers Lee Dagger and Marc JB and vocalist Katherine Ellis. Known for their remix work and white label releases, they produced a remix of Meck's 2006 UK number-one single "Thunder in My Heart Again"...

     Vocal Mix)
  3. "The One That Got Away"
  4. "These Words" music video


International CD single
  1. "These Words"
  2. "These Words" (Bimbo Jones Remix)
  3. "The One That Got Away"
  4. "Single" (Live at BBC Radio One Live Lounge)
  5. "These Words" music video
  6. "These Words" (Behind the Scenes video)


US Digital Single

(Released 9 August 2005)
  1. "These Words" (Plantlife Remix)
  2. "These Words" (Dwele Remix)
  3. "These Words" (Lenny B Extended Mix)
  4. "These Words" (Lenny B Radio Mix)
  5. "These Words" (Ford Club Mix)
  6. "These Words" (Ford Dub Mix)
  7. "These Words" (Ford Radio Mix)
  8. "These Words" (Ford Mix Show)


Personnel

The following people contributed to "These Words":
  • Natasha Bedingfield - guitar, lead and backing vocals
  • Wayne Wilkins
    Wayne Wilkins
    Wayne Wilkins is a classically trained pianist, Record producer, songwriter, record engineer, and record mixer born in the southeast London neighborhood of Croydon...

     - keyboards
    Musical keyboard
    A musical keyboard is the set of adjacent depressible levers or keys on a musical instrument, particularly the piano. Keyboards typically contain keys for playing the twelve notes of the Western musical scale, with a combination of larger, longer keys and smaller, shorter keys that repeats at the...

    , engineer
    Engineer
    An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...

    ing, programming
    Programming (music)
    Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices, often sequencers or computer programs, to generate music. Programming is used in nearly all forms of electronic music and in most hip hop music since the 1990s. It is also frequently used in modern pop and rock...

  • Andrew Frampton - keyboards, programming
  • Mark "Spike" Stent
    Mark Stent
    Mark 'Spike' Stent is a British record producer, and audio engineer who has worked with The KLF, Björk, Keane, Depeche Mode, Muse, Erasure, Hard-Fi, Massive Attack, Janet Jackson, Madonna, Christina Aguilera, Marilyn Manson, Pet Shop Boys, Dave Matthews, No Doubt/Gwen Stefani, CSS, Beth Orton,...

     - mixing
    Audio mixing (recorded music)
    In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...

  • David Treahearn, Rob Haggart - mixing assistant
  • Herb Powers - mastering
    Audio mastering
    Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...

  • Katherine Lanson- drums

Charts

Chart (2004/2005) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...

5
Austrian Singles Chart 2
Belgian Singles Chart 15
Dutch Singles Chart
Dutch Top 40
The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting...

4
Finnish Singles Chart 15
French Singles Chart 19
German Singles Chart
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...

2
Irish Singles Chart
Irish Singles Chart
The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...

1
Italian Singles Chart 30
New Zealand Singles Chart
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...

2
Norwegian Singles Chart 2
Swedish Singles Chart 5
Swiss Singles Chart 8
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 ...

1
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...

17
US Hot Dance Club Songs
Hot Dance Club Play
The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...

35
US Pop Songs
Pop 100
The Pop 100 was a songs chart that debuted in February 2005 and was released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States until its discontinuation in 2009...

9


External links




The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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