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The Promise (Girls Aloud song)

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"The Promise"
Song
B-side"She"
"Girl Overboard"

"The Promise" is the nineteenth single by the British girl group Girls Aloud, written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins, Jason Resch, Kieran Jones, and Carla Marie for the band's fifth studio album Out of Control (2008). Their fourth number-one single on the UK Singles Chart, it was released as the first single to be taken from the album on 19 October 2008 as a download and on CD on 20 October 2008.[3][4]

"The Promise" won Best British Single at the 2009 BRIT Awards, giving Girls Aloud their first BRIT Award.

Release and reception

"The Promise" premièred on Switch on BBC Radio 1 on 14 September 2008,[5] and has been described by the band's website as a "stormer of a track".[3] Originally scheduled for release on 27 October 2008,[3] the release was inexplicably brought forward a week.[4] Girls Aloud performed "The Promise" on Jo Whiley's Live Lounge, as well as a cover of Timbaland and OneRepublic's "Apologize".[6] Nadine Coyle was not present, as she was ill with shingles.[7] Sarah Harding had originally wanted to perform "Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon.[8] "The Promise" was also remixed by Dave Audé and Jason Nevins. The album version of "The Promise" is around fifteen seconds longer.[2]

The song is notable for its 1960s influence.[9] "The Promise" has been called "a 60s-influenced pop gem given a contemporary Girls Aloud twist",[10] and "more interesting than the average retro-pop nugget."[11] Terry Wogan has also claimed that the tune features the melody from the theme song of Blankety Blank, a British TV quiz show from the 1980s.[12] It has also received comparisons to Girls Aloud's previous single, "Can't Speak French".[9] Digital Spy referred to the single as "a cute, wistful pop song" with "some nice Spectorish touches in the production and a lovely, classic-sounding melody" that "grows more persuasive with every listen."[9][11] The Guardian, however, felt the song was "disappointing" because "Girls Aloud's producers have always been capable of making exciting and innovative pop music".[13] It was criticised for being "a shameless attempt at trying to cash in on the Duffy and Winehouse favoured 60's femme pop."[14] On the other hand, Slant Magazine said that while it "suggests the girls have [...] shallowly jumped aboard the retro-soul bandwagon led by Duffy and Amy Winehouse, [...] the song's go-for-broke, very modern re-imagining of Spector's wall of sound proves to be more authentic and entertaining than most other recent attempts".[15]

Music video

Girls Aloud in the music video for "The Promise" (2008).

Filming for "The Promise" music video was on 15 September 2008.[16] The video premièred on AOL's website on 25 September 2008.[17][18] The music video was filmed by Trudy Bellinger for Merge @ Crossroads Films, and produced by Golden Square.[19] They had just over three days to produce an open air drive-in movie theatre using Flame and studio footage of five cars.[19] Girls Aloud also reportedly auditioned the male actors in the music video.[20]

In the music video, Girls Aloud are at a '50s and '60s drive-in movie theatre. Cheryl Cole has a loose beehive hairstyle, while Nicola Roberts has a bouffant style and Sarah Harding channels the famous '60s model Twiggy.[21] The drive-in is actually playing a black-and-white film of Girls Aloud performing "The Promise" in shimmering sequined dresses which are extremely similar to dresses The Supremes wore in 1966 on a tv appearance at The Hollywood Palace.[22] They are performing with a band and imitating girl groups such as The Supremes.[23] Meanwhile, at the drive-in, other male customers flirt with Girls Aloud. Sarah Harding gets out of the car and walks in front of the screen to sing her "Here I am... walking Primrose..." verse, while the other girls laugh and Kimberley Walsh sounds her horn at Harding. Girls Aloud occasionally sing along with their lines as well. The music video features flickering and flashes to emulate films of the time.

Chart performance and sales

"The Promise" entered the UK Singles Chart at number one, knocking off Pink's "So What" from the top.[24] Early midweek figures suggested that the song was outselling "So What" by nearly two to one.[25] "The Promise" is Girls Aloud's first original number one single since their debut "Sound of the Underground" (although the charity singles "I'll Stand by You" and "Walk This Way" both peaked at number one). "The Promise" sold 77,110 copies in its first week, making it Girls Aloud's second best first week, beaten only by "Sound of the Underground" back in 2002.[26] The single became the fastest selling single of 2008 until "Hero" - a charity single by the finalists on The X Factor - sold in excess of 100,000 copies two days after release,[27] and 313,244 copies overall.[28] Cheryl Cole, who is also on The X Factor, joked, "I don't mind being knocked off number one - for this cause only!"[29] Additionally, the song entered the Irish Singles Chart at number four,[30] their first time in the top four since 2004's "I'll Stand by You". In It's second week in the Irish Chart "The Promise" had risen two places to number two only being kept off by The X Factor Finalists who were at number one. In its second week on the UK Singles Charts, "The Promise" went down one place to number two (behind "Hero"). In its third week "The Promise" stayed strong at number three holding off popular artists like Britney Spears and Leona Lewis from breaking it into the top three with their new singles.[31]

On 28 December 2008, the UK Singles Chart listed this at #17 for the year end countdown.[citation needed]

The song was released in Germany on 16th January as a digital Single.[32] It failed to enter the German Singles Chart.

Track listings and formats

An exclusive remix of "The Promise" by Jason Nevins will be available on iTunes, while the CD single will feature a brand new b-side entitled "She".[33][34] A limited edition picture disc will be available exclusively through Girls Aloud's official website, featuring a live performance of "Girl Overboard" as the b-side.[35]

# Title Time
CD: Fascination / 1788035 (UK)
1. "The Promise" 3:43
2. "She" 3:23
7": Fascination (UK)
1. "The Promise" 3:43
2. "Girl Overboard" (Live at The O2) 4:29
iTunes Exclusive: Fascination (UK)
1. "The Promise" 3:45
2. "The Promise" (Jason Nevins Remix) 6:49

Versions and appearances

These are the official versions and remixes and the release they appear on, of:

Version Release appearance
Album Version Out of Control
Radio Edit "The Promise" single
Flip & Fill Remix Clubland 14
Jason Nevins Remix iTunes exclusive
Jason Nevins Dub Mix "The Promise" club promo
Jason Nevins Radio Edit
Dave Audé Club Mix
Dave Audé Dub Mix
Dave Audé Radio Edit

There had been a scheduled remix of "The Promise" featuring UK Rapper Steven, but there is yet to be word on whether a remix will be recorded.

Live performances

The band performed the track live at the following events:

Charts

Chart (2008)[37] Peak
position
UK Singles Chart 1
UK Chart of the Year 2008 17
Irish Singles Chart 2
Croatian Singles Chart 3
European Hot 100 Singles [38] 8

Chart procession and succession

Preceded by UK Singles Chart number-one single
October 26 2008 		Succeeded by

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ a b "Out of Control". Woolworths Downloads. Woolworths Group. Retrieved 2008-10-21.
  3. ^ a b c "The Promise". Girls Aloud. 2008-09-11. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
  4. ^ a b "The Promise - Newsflash!". Girls Aloud. 2008-10-03. Retrieved 2008-10-07.
  5. ^ "This Week's Show". BBC. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
  6. ^ "Girls Aloud - Live Lounge Tour 2008". BBC Radio 1. BBC. 2008-09-25. Retrieved 2008-09-26.
  7. ^ "Nadine Coyle suffering from shingles". Rte.ie. Radio Telefís Éireann. 2008-09-26. Retrieved 2008-09-26.
  8. ^ Peter Robinson (2008-12-10). "Peter Robinson Vs Sarah Harding". NME. IPC Media. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
  9. ^ a b c Nick Levine (2008-09-15). "Girls Aloud are back!". Digital Spy. Hachette Filipacchi Médias. Retrieved 2008-09-16.
  10. ^ "Girls Aloud: The Promise". InTheNews.co.uk. 2008-09-29. {{cite web}}: Text "accessdate-2008-09-30" ignored (help)
  11. ^ a b Nick Levine (2008-10-20). "Girls Aloud: 'The Promise'". Digital Spy. Hachette Filipacchi Médias. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
  12. ^ Catherine Fegan (7 November 2008). "Is that Girls Aloud Or Blankety Blank?". The Herald. Retrieved 14 February 2009.
  13. ^ Rebecca Nicholson (2008-10-06). "Girls Aloud need a history lesson". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 2008-10-06.
  14. ^ "Girls Aloud: "Out of control"". MSN. Microsoft. 2008-10-24. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  15. ^ Robin Carolan (2008-11-11). "Out of Control". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
  16. ^ "Switch: 14/09/2008". BBC Switch. 2008-09-14. {{cite episode}}: External link in |title= (help)
  17. ^ "See the video for The Promise!". Girls Aloud. 2008-09-25. Retrieved 2008-09-25.
  18. ^ Girls Aloud. The Promise. AOL Video - AOL UK. Retrieved 2008-09-27.
  19. ^ a b "Golden Square turns Girls Aloud into big screen divas for The Promise". Digital Arts Online. IDG. 2008-09-30. Retrieved 2008-09-30.
  20. ^ "Girls Aloud in 50s style video". Female First. Play-2-Win Ltd. 2008-09-29. Retrieved 2008-09-30.
  21. ^ "Just supreme: Girls Aloud swing back to the Sixties for their new video". Daily Mail. Associated Newspapers Ltd. 2008-09-29. Retrieved 2008-09-29.
  22. ^ Andrei Harmsworth (2008-09-26). "Grls Aloud swing back to the sixties". Metro. Associated Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 2008-09-26.
  23. ^ Nadie Mendoza (2008-09-26). "Girls Aloud step back in time". The Sun. News International. Retrieved 2008-09-26.
  24. ^ "Girls Aloud crown singles chart". 2008-10-26. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  25. ^ Nick Levine (2008-10-21). "Girls Aloud heading for No.1?". Digital Spy. Hachette Filipacchi Médias. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  26. ^ Alan Jones (2008-10-27). "Girls Aloud top singles chart with Promises". Music Week. musicweek.com. Retrieved 2008-10-29.
  27. ^ Stuart Clarke (2008-10-28). "Retail find a Hero in SyCo". Music Week. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  28. ^ "Hero rockets to top of the chart". Newsround. CBBC. 2008-11-02. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
  29. ^ "It's official - Hero is No. 1". The X Factor. ITV. 2008-11-02. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
  30. ^ Daniel Kilkelly (2008-10-25). "Pink's 'So What' back on top in Ireland". Digital Spy. Hachette Filipacchi Médias. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  31. ^ Daniel Kilkelly (2008-11-01). "'X Factor' stars top Irish singles chart". Digital Spy. Hachette Filipacchi Médias. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
  32. ^ http://www.pop24.de/inhalt/kuenstler/Girls%20Aloud/1015/neuigkeiten
  33. ^ Tom Thorogood (2008-09-12). "Girls Aloud announce new single". MTV News. MTV. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
  34. ^ "The Promise - Full Info!". Girls Aloud. 2008-10-07. Retrieved 2008-10-07.
  35. ^ "7" Picture Disc". Girls Aloud. 2008-10-02. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
  36. ^ "Girls Aloud to show X Factor". Teletext Ltd. Daily Mail and General Trust. 2008-10-12. Retrieved 2008-10-12.
  37. ^ "Girls Aloud - The Promise". aCharts.us. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  38. ^ [2]
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