GLAMOROUS (SONG)

"'Glamorous'" is the third single taken from Fergie's solo debut album, ''The Dutchess''; the song features Ludacris. The single was released on March 19, 2007 in the UK^[1] and will be the second single taken from the album as "Fergalicious" wasn't officially released there. The single wasn't as successful in Latin America as London Bridge and Fergalicious. "Glamorous" is the fouth single from the album in Brazil, where "Big Girls Don't Cry" was released as the third single. In March 2007, the song became Fergie's second number-one single in the United States. Fergie sang this song along with "Big Girls Don't Cry" at the Concert for Diana.

Contents

History

Music video

Production

Chart performance

Track listing

Charts

References

External links

History

The song is about the "Glamorous" life that Fergie lives. Her life has changed since having become rich and famous, and the video conveys the characteristics of a glamorous lifestyle. However, Fergie stresses that she has not changed as a person because of this. The lyrics reflect this attitude. At the end of the day, she likes to return to her family and friends. In addition to emphasizing how fame hasn't changed her, Fergie makes sure to thank her fans because they have made her dreams come true and her glamorous life possible. At the conclusion of the song, she directs a sincere thank you to her fans, remembers the days when she hoped to "rock on MTV" and reflects on how "it's been a long road in the industry".^[2] She also likes to eat taco bell which she refers to in the song.

Music video

The video premiered on MTV on February 5 2007. The video is directed by Dave Meyers. It starts in 1994 with Fergie and Polow Da Don at a keg party in East Los Angeles before she was famous. The camera then rotates upward where it is present day and Fergie is lounging in a Bombardier Global Express business jet, and as the chorus suggests, "flying first class, up in the sky". The flight attendant is played by Freddy Rodriguez. She is seen watching the music video on her LG enV for the Black Eyed Peas "Pump It". Fergie then lands and enters a limo waiting for her where she goes with her friends to a drive thru at a fast food restaurant. This restaurant is most likely Taco Bell as the lyrics suggest, though the food package appears to bear Jack in the Box logos. The video at this point does a transition to the past (fall of 1980's) where it is suggested Fergie came to this same restaurant with her friends before her glamorous life. The transition occurs as Fergie sings of the days when she had a Mustang. The limo transforms into a Mustang convertible. She and her friends are wearing clothes and have hairstyles similar to those of 1990s pop culture.

The video then goes back to present day where Fergie and Ludacris are shown shooting a movie called ''Glamorous'', a throwback to ''Bonnie and Clyde''. The two are shown holding Thompson submachine guns while being held up by police near a canyon, apparently for stealing money. Ludacris raps his verse to Fergie telling her all the expensive things he will buy for her. Fergie and Ludacris are then shown shooting down the cops, after which the movie shoot ends, source by Ashlynn Agha.
After the shoot Fergie proceeds to sit in a chair with her name on it, as people rush over to do her make up. While this is happening she thanks her fans for making her famous. Scenes of this are intercut with Fergie getting back on the plane she came on, while she flashes back to when she was a little girl, where her father warned her about the coldness of the showbiz industry. Fergie is then shown at the same kegger from earlier in the video, with Alfonso Ribeiro, Polow Da Don, apl.de.ap and Cypress Hill with B-Real with whom she clinks plastic glasses, followed with the plane she's on in the present day flying into London as the sun sets.

Production

The music to "Glamorous" and the verse by Ludacris was a production of Polow Da Don. Polow offered this version to Gwen Stefani for her single "Luxurious" but Interscope Records (which like Fergie's label A&M Records, is owned by Universal Music Group) declined saying that it wouldn't be as good of a single as the remix with Slim Thug. Ludacris released a mixtape early 2005 with the "Luxurious Remix" on it. Polow then offered the beat and verse to Fergie, who accepted the song. Polow was quoted during an interview, with allhiphop.com, as saying, "Gwen said she didn’t like the remix, which was the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of. And the remix was one of the best things I had done at the time. When I finished that I felt like, “I’m gonna be the shit when this hits.” I called her and let her know it was the biggest mistake she made in her career. I was a fan of hers, and I wanted to help her out. And now you see Fergie blowing her out the water in sales, even though Gwen is the bigger star."
On P2P file sharing programs there is a music file that switches between Gwen Stefani's Luxurious and Glamorous.

Chart performance

"Glamorous" debuted on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 98 in mid-January 2007,^[3] two weeks before its official release to radio stations. The song reached its initial peak at number nine, in just five weeks, giving Fergie her third top 10 solo hit in six months, equal to her group the Black Eyed Peas' tally over the past six years. In the next week, the single plummeted from nine to thirty-three, one of the biggest drops in a single week out of the top 10, due to A&M Records blocking the digital download of the single, hoping to increase album sales. "Glamorous" was released back in the iTunes Store and other digital outlets on the week of February 28, reaching number #1 on the iTunes U.S. Store. Upon re-release of "Glamorous" as a digital single download, it re-entered the top 10 at the number eight position on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, rising from number 55, in the charting week of March 17, 2007.^[4] On the March 24, 2007 edition of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, "Glamorous" hit number-one, giving Fergie her second #1 single;^[5] it remained at number one for a second consecutive week,^[6] but then fell to number two in the next week.^[7]
On February 19 2007, "Glamorous" entered the UK Singles Chart at number 56 based solely on downloads. It jumped from number 19 to number 10 after being released physically the week ending March 25, 2007 and continuing to climb to number 6 the following week. Due to the success of the track, ''The Dutchess'' managed to re-enter the top 30 after months of not appearing on the chart. "Glamorous" debuted on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart at #10, being, in the week beginning April 16, the second highest new entry of the week just after Christina Aguilera's "Candyman", which debuted at #6. It made its initial peak at #3 before rising to #2 and was at that point Fergie's highest charting single until Fergie's next single "Big girls don't cry" debuted at #1. "Glamorous" has been certified platinum by ARIA for sales of over 70,000.
It has spent 9 weeks so far in the Top 5 of the Virgin Radio Airplay Chart. It was number one for one week making the track Fergie's second number one. In Latin America, the single didn't receive the same heavy airplay as the last two singles mostly because "Fergalicious" was still charting in most Latin American countries; the song thus far has dubious honor of being the only single to not chart in the Latin America Top 40; "Big Girls Don't Cry" has already charted.^[8]

Track listing

★ 'Australian CD single'
# "Glamorous" (Album Version) 4:08
# "Glamorous" (Space Cowboy remix) 4:37
# "True" (Spandau Ballet cover) 3:48
# "Glamorous" (Music video) - 4:10

★ 'UK CD single'
# "Glamorous" (Album Version) 4:07
# "True" (Spandau Ballet cover) 3:45

Charts

{| class="wikitable"
!align="left"|Chart (2007)
!align="left"|Peak
position
|-
|align="left"|ARC Weekly Top 40^[9]
|align="center"|1
|-
|align="left"|Australian ARIA Singles Chart^[10]
|align="center"|2
|-
|align="left"|Austrian Singles Chart
|align="center"|25
|-
|align="left"|Brazilian Hot 100 Singles ^[11]
|align="center"|36
|-
|align="left"|Canadian Hot 100
|align="center"|12
|-
|align="left"|Chile Top 100 Dance Club Mix^[12]
|align="center"|1
|-
|align="left"|Belgium Singles Chart
|align="center"|14
|-
|align="left"|Croatian Singles Chart^[13]
|align="center"|1
|-
|align="left"|Czech IFPI Chart^[14]
|align="center"|22
|-
|align="left"|French Singles Chart
|align="center"|32
|-
|align="left"|German Singles Chart
|align="center"|16
|-
|align="left"|Ireland Singles Chart
|align="center"|3
|-
|align="left"|Israel Singles Chart
|align="center"|1
|-
|align="left"|Mexican Top 100 Singles Chart^[15]
|align="center"|72
|-
|align="left"|New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart
|align="center"|9
|-
|align="left"|Polish Singles Chart^[16]
|align="center"|2
|-
|align="left"|Russian Airplay Chart^[17]
|align="center"|5
|-
|align="left"|Sweden Singles Chart
|align="center"|59
|-
|align="left"|Switzerland Singles Chart
|align="center"|38
|-
|align="left"|Turkish Airplay Chart^[18]
|align="center"|6
|-
|align="left"|UK Singles Chart
|align="center"|6
|-
|align="left"|U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100^[19]
|align="center"|1
|-
|align="left"|U.S. ''Billboard'' Pop 100
|align="center"|1
|-
|align="left"|U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs^[20]
|align="center"|41
|-
|align="left"|U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Dance Club Play
|align="center"|1
|-
|align="left"|United World Chart
|align="center"|4
|-
|align="left"|Tandeeshea Islands Hot 300
|align="center"|4

References

1. http://www.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=282;2;-1;-1&sku=611597 ''HMV.co.uk''
2. http://www.elyrics.net/read/f/fergie-lyrics/glamorous-lyrics.html ''Elyrics.net'' Retrieved on 05-22-07
3. Jonathan Cohen, "Beyonce Begins Seventh Week As Hot 100 Leader", Billboard.com, January 18, 2007.
4. Jonathan Cohen, "Mims Remains 'Hot' At No. 1, Akon Stays Close", Billboard.com, March 8, 2007.
5. Katie Hasty, "Fergie Gets 'Glamorous' Atop Hot 100", Billboard.com, March 15, 2007.
6. Katie Hasty, "Fergie Scores Second 'Glamorous' Week At No. 1", Billboard.com, March 22, 2007.
7. Miles Agha, Jonathan Cohen, "Akon Scores Second No. 1 Hit From 'Konvicted'", Billboard.com, March 29, 2007.
8. Top Latino
9. ARC Weekly Top 40
10. "Glamorous - chart positions". ''MusicSquare''. Retrieved April 15 2007.
11. Brazil Hot 100 Singles
12. Chile Top 100 Dance Club Mix
13. Croatian Singles Chart
14. http://www.ifpicr.cz/hitparada/index.php?a=titul&hitparada=2&titul=144601&sec=724029d3ab6eb0a3b53243732ec91de1 ''Ifpicr.cz'' Retrieved on 05-10-07
15. Mexican Top 100 - July 14th 2007
16. Polish Singles Chart
17. Russian Airplay Chart
18. http://www.capitalradio.com.tr/hot40/hot40_cr.asp
19. "Fergie - Artist Chart History". ''All Music Guide''. Retrieved April 15 2007.
20. http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wnfexqy0ldke~T51

21[1]Features / DJs Producers : Polow Da Don: The Truth and Nothing But

External links

★ Watch "Glamorous" on Youtube

★ Atlantic Canada

★ Croatian Singles Chart