Shake It Off

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"Shake It Off"

Single by Mariah Carey
from the album The Emancipation of Mimi
Released	UK: October 3, 2005
Format	Digital download
Recorded	New York City, United States and Tokyo, Japan
Genre	Pop/R&B
Length	3:52
Label	Island/Def Jam
Writer(s)	Mariah Carey, Jermaine Dupri, Bryan Michael Cox, Johnta Austin
Producer(s)	Mariah Carey, Jermaine Dupri, Bryan Michael Cox
Chart positions
#2 (U.S.) #5 (New Zealand) #6 (Australia) #9 (UK) #14 (Brazil, Canada)
Mariah Carey singles chronology
"We Belong Together" (2005)	"Shake It Off" (2005)	"Get Your Number" (2005)

"Shake It Off" is a song co-written by American singer Mariah Carey, Jermaine Dupri, Bryan Michael Cox, Johnta Austin, and recorded for Carey's fourteenth album The Emancipation of Mimi (2005). It was co-produced by Carey, Dupri, and Cox, and its protagonist leaves a message on her boyfriend's answering machine announcing that she is leaving him as she packs her bag and diamonds. She compares herself to a Calgon commercial and declares, "I gotta shake it off, cause the loving ain't the same..." It was released as the album's third single in 2005 (see 2005 in music) and was expected to replace Carey's previous single, "We Belong Together", at number one in the U.S., but Kanye West's "Gold Digger" replaced "We Belong Together" instead.

1 Release and reception
2 Chart performance
3 Remixes
4 Music video
5 Charts
6 Notes

[edit] Release and reception

"Shake It Off" was released in the United States on July 12, 2005, after considerable argument between Carey and her record label over what the album's third single should be. Originally "Say Somethin'" was set for release by L.A. Reid and Carey's label, Island/Def Jam. However, Carey thought that it was not a good choice, and lobbied for the release of "Shake It Off". "Say Somethin'" was first announced as the next single, Paul Hunter was contacted to direct the video, and Snoop Dogg had talked about the single and its music video on MTV.com. When Carey continued to protest, a compromise was formed to release the songs as a double A-side. The release of "Say Somethin'" was later cancelled and "Shake It Off" was released on its own in the U.S., though "Say Somethin'" eventually became a single in 2006.

Todd Burns of Stylus magazine said that the song was "sultry",^[1] while Edwin Soto described it as a "very groovy ballad", and made favourable comparisons with the work of R. Kelly.^[2] Other critics, however, were less enthusiastic: Bill Lamb of About.com said it was "little more than a pleasant piece of pop fluff... it is unlikely to be one of Mariah Carey's more memorable hits."^[3] A review for Epinions.com dismissed the song as "one of those boring, repetitive types that just begs to be skipped", and referred to Jermaine Dupri's laughter as "inane".^[4] LAUNCHcast's Dan Gennoe called the song "Usher-lite",^[5] a criticism that was echoed by Sal Cinquemani of Slant magazine: she called "Shake It Off" as "Usher by way of Dupri", and grouped it among "the songs [on the album] that don't work... in which Mariah too heavily bites on the styles of her successors".^[6]

[edit] Chart performance

In its first week of U.S. release the single became the "Hot Shot" debut on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 (sixty-six), and partly due to strong radio airplay, it had reached number two by its seventh week. The single holding it back from number one was Carey's own "We Belong Together", making it the first time a female recording artist occupied the top two positions of the Hot 100.^[7] "Shake It Off" was expected to reach number one the next week, but Kanye West's "Gold Digger" was released for digital download that week. The airplay for "Gold Digger" was weaker than the airplay for "Shake It Off", but record-breaking downloads in its first week pushed "Gold Digger" to number one on the Hot 100, keeping "Shake It Off" at number two.

"Gold Digger" spent ten weeks at number one, while "Shake It Off" was at the number two position for six weeks and stayed in the top forty for nineteen weeks. It was Carey's sixth number-one single on the Top 40 Mainstream chart (the most for any artist on the chart), and on Billboard magazine's 2005 year-end charts, "Shake It Off" placed at number fifteen on the Hot 100 chart. On September 15, 2005, "Shake It Off" passed the 200 million audience impressions mark according to Mediabase. It was the second single to do this, the first being "We Belong Together".

The song was slightly less successful outside the U.S. It reached the top five in New Zealand and the top ten in Australia, and was issued as a double A-side with "Get Your Number" in the United Kingdom and Ireland, where it reached the top ten and top twenty respectively. However, it failed to reach the top forty on the Tokyo Hot 100 airplay chart in Japan.

Music writer Samuel Delliance of The New York Post noted: "Mariah Carey fans seem obsessed with their hero's performance on the charts, when you'd think they'd be better off just listening to music and enjoying it. Shake it off!"

[edit] Remixes

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Carey commissioned a remix for "Shake It Off", and enlisted DJ Clue, who had produced her last remix for "We Belong Together", to help produce it. Initially, it had been rumored that Bow Wow and/or Da Brat would be the remix's guest rappers, but the participation of Jay-Z and Young Jeezy was later officially announced. On July 9, 2005 the remix leaked onto the internet.

A substantial promotional campaign was soon launched to help publicise the remix. July 20, 2005, the day of the remix's release, was dubbed "D-Day" (download day) by Carey's website (www.mariahcarey.com) as well as several Carey fan sites. In addition, various incentives were offered to help encourage downloading. Carey's official site launched a contest that would offer dinner with Carey to a fan who had downloaded the remix and shown proof of purchase, and other fansites such as Mariah Daily and Mariah Connections offered rare CDs and promotional items. A full front page banner had also been purchased by Carey's label on iTunes to help promote the song. Various radio stations advertised the remix during commercial breaks; Erik Bradley of Chicago station B96 even made a public plea for people to download the remix so that it would beat "Gold Digger". The remix failed to enter the top ten on the iTunes chart, and it did not attract as many downloads as "Gold Digger".

The Remixes

Album Version 3:52
Instrumental 3:52
Call out hook 0:14
Street Remix Ft. Jay-Z & Young Geesy 5:06
Street Remix Instrumental 5:01
Street Remix Radio Edit Ft. Jay-Z & Young Geesy 4:11

source: www.mcarchives.com

[edit] Music video

The single's video was directed by Jake Nava and begins with Carey learning of her boyfriend's infidelity. She informs him on the phone that she is breaking up with him, picks up her bag and leaves the house. Carey stops near a set of payphones, and then appears in a car speaking on her cell phone, with Chris Tucker as the man in the passenger's seat. Behind the car, a sign reading "Hollyhood" comes into vision, and the video is intercut with scenes of her boyfriend accompanied by women. Carey is then shown on bleachers at a high school football game. She writes "MIMI" on one of the bleachers and the letters instantly transform into a large shiny "MIMI" sign made of lights, which Carey dances and sings in front of. In the final scene she approaches the ocean on a beach during sunset, shaking off her dress in the process.

A scene from the music video emulating Elvis Presley's 1968 Comeback Special.

The video features several phrases intended to represent places and official company names, as well as references to people and things associated with Carey. "Jack's Café" refers to her famous Jack Russell Terrier named Jack. "Pink Yet Lavender" is a reference to an interview she did with Lambs Radio in January 2005. "The Rarity" was a name given to her leg muscles in her E! Uncut special. "So So Fetch" refers to Jermaine Dupri's record label, So So Def, and the word "fetch" comes from one of Carey's favorite films, Mean Girls (2004). The chubby girl performing the "shake it off" dance by the payphones is similar to the girl who dances in the video for Carey's "Fantasy" (1995). While Carey is sat on the bleachers, a member of Carey's management team, Mark Sudack appears in the background as a man being yelled at by Da Brat, whom Carey has worked with many times. The scene involving Carey dancing in front of the "MIMI" sign parallels Carey's 2003 Blender magazine photo shoot (in which she is seen in a similar pose, except with a "MARIAH" sign) and Elvis Presley's 1968 Comeback Special (in which he does the same thing, but with an "ELVIS" sign). Elements of the video were incorporated into Carey's performance of the song at the World Music Awards in August 2005.

The video was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award in 2006, in the category of "Best R&B Video". Carey has never won a VMA, even with the previous massive popularity of the "We Belong Together" video in 2005. She lost, posssssibly becasue the 2006 VMA's are to be voted for by fans for the first time, so awards are likely to show differences from previous trends.

[edit] Charts

Chart (2005)	Peak position	No. of chart topper
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	2	—
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay	1 (3 weeks)	—
U.S. Billboard Pop 100	2	—
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks	2	—
U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Tracks ¹	29	—
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream	1 (5 weeks)	5th
U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40	1 (2 weeks)	7th
U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40	1 (3 weeks)	19th
Singapore	1	—
Philippines	6	—
Turkey	1	—
South Korea	3	—
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	5	—
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	6	—
UK Singles Charts ²	9	—
Canadian Singles Chart	14	—
Brazilian Hot 100	14	—
Irish Singles Charts ²	15	—
Tokyo Hot 100	51	—