Best Behaviour
Encyclopedia
"Best Behaviour" is a song by British hip hop group N-Dubz
. The song was produced by Dappy
and Fazer
and co-written by Tulisa
, Mr Hudson, Tony Dixon, Fazer and Dappy. It was released on 17 October 2010 as the second single from N-Dubz's third studio album, Love.Live.Life
. Musically, the song is a R&B
ballad
with prominent British hip hop
characteristics. The initial writing consisted of the group being inspired to pen a song for their launch in the United States in addition to Dappy's feelings for his girlfriend, Kaye Vassell. It was inspired by the group's touring lifestyle and their enthusiastic fans. Lyrically, it is about trading one-night stands with people in favour of real love.
The song received moderately positive reviews from contempoarary music critics who praised the song's cute chorus and N-Dubz's change in lyrical tone. It achieved commercial success by becoming the group's third top ten hit in both the United Kingdom and Scotland where it peaked at number ten in addition to garnering N-Dubz's fourth top forty hit in Ireland where it reached a chart position of number thirty-two. The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Ben Peters and was released on 8 September 2010. The bling-inspired video features the group disembarking a private jet, singing at a villa situated in Provence, France and on a yacht moored off St. Tropez. N-Dubz have performed the song at the 2010 MOBO Awards and on various television programmes and concerts including Daybreak
and the Orange RockCorps Concert.
in the United States, the group penned "Best Behaviour" especially for their stateside launch. It was written by N-Dubz in collaboration with Mr Hudson, and produced by Fazer
and Dappy
. The group had previously collaborated with Mr Hudson on their single "Playing with Fire
" which won them a MOBO Award for 'Best Song'. During the recording of the song, a snippet was played during the second episode of Being... N-Dubz
. A live performance of the song was then shown on the fifth episode of the show. On 1 September 2010, N-Dubz announced that they had a new single, entitled "Best Behaviour" and that it will be released on 3 October 2010. The radio edit of the song premiered on BBC Radio 1Xtra
and BBC Radio 1
on 5 September 2010. The release date was later pushed back to 17 October 2010. On 25 September 2010, the single was made available for pre-order.
Fans originally thought the song was titled "Love Is All I Need" before being corrected by N-Dubz themselves who clarified that the track is actually called "Best Behaviour". Tulisa originally stated that the song was the title track for their third studio album. The album, however, was later titled Love.Live.Life
. Dappy revealed that the lyrics "Gonna be on my best behaviour," and "How long before you save me baby" on the song were written with his girlfriend, Kaye Vassell, in mind. Speaking to British tabloid, Daily Star, Tulisa said that "Best Behaviour" is the most N-Dubz type song on the album. She said that Fazer's production on it allowed it to showcase the resemblance of previous singles he produced from the group's first two studio albums.
felt that "Best Behaviour" was not as infectious as its predecessor, "We Dance On". Copsey, on the contrary, said that the "relatively wholesome offering" was just what was needed to keep the N-Dubz revolution on track. The song was awarded with a three out of five star rating by Fraser McAlpine of the BBC Chart Blog who said that it was: "Kind of boomy and big in a way which perhaps it doesn't need to be, as if straining for anthem status, when it's actually quite a quiet, thoughtful thing by N-Dubz's usual insane standards. But it hangs together in an agreeable fashion and the chorus is cute." McAlpine deemed the song as quite nice but lacking a brush-up lyrically.
as solo artists and has since spent three consecutive weeks within the chart's top forty. Elsewhere, the single has peaked at number ten in Scotland and at number thirty-two in Ireland.
on 3 September.
The video premiered on British music television channels on 8 September 2010. An extended version of the video was later released. As of 14 October 2010, the music video had over a two million views on YouTube alone.
The music video portrays how the group has been squashed flat by a touring lifestyle. It illustrates the group looking so battered that they are not sure which way is up. The video involves a mournful disembarking from a private jet, lonely clattering around a house in the hills of Provence and wielding of Louis Vuitton luggage. In one scene, Dappy sings "When you gonna save me, baby?" while spreading his arms out wide and then crossing them over his chest. His on-screen love interest then dives into a swimming pool behind him and attempts to reach him through an aquarium-like diving glass wall.
Dappy is seen wearing shorts, a vest, a high-school letterman-like jacket and shoes with no socks. His looks aims to portray a man sorely in need of someone in his life. Fazer has a dark ensemble on with a silk scarf hanging from his belt. With regard to the men in the group sharpening up their image, Fazer stated that their new look substantiates how he and Dappy are "trying to grow up" and shed their previous image of a tracksuit-wearing group of grime-pop rebels. Fraser McAlpine of the BBC Chart Blog positively reviewed the "glamourous" video saying he felt it was impressive how Peters used clothing to capture Dappy's fragile mental state.
N-Dubz
N-Dubz are a British hip hop group from Camden Town, London. The group consists of members Dappy, Tulisa Contostavlos and Fazer.N-Dubz were previously signed to Polydor Records before joining All Around the World Records...
. The song was produced by Dappy
Dappy
Costadinos Contostavlos better known by his stage name Dappy, is a British singer-songwriter, rapper, actor of Greek descent. He is best known for being the lead singer of the Camden-based Grime/hip hop/R&B trio N-Dubz, with his cousin Tulisa and their friend Fazer...
and Fazer
Fazer
Fazer is one of the largest corporations in the Finnish food industry.The company was originally founded by Karl Fazer in 1891, as a "French-Russian conditory" in central Helsinki...
and co-written by Tulisa
Tulisa Contostavlos
Tula Paulinea "Tulisa" Contostavlos is an English singer-songwriter and actress of Greek and Irish descent. She is best known for being a member of the Camden-based hip hop group N-Dubz, with her cousin Dappy and their friend Fazer...
, Mr Hudson, Tony Dixon, Fazer and Dappy. It was released on 17 October 2010 as the second single from N-Dubz's third studio album, Love.Live.Life
Love.Live.Life
Love.Live.Life is the third studio album by British hip hop group N-Dubz, released on 29 November 2010, as a collaboration by All Around the World and Island Records.-Background:...
. Musically, the song is a R&B
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...
ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
with prominent British hip hop
British hip hop
British hip hop is a genre of music, and a culture that covers a variety of styles of hip hop music made in the United Kingdom. It is generally classified as one of a number of styles of urban music...
characteristics. The initial writing consisted of the group being inspired to pen a song for their launch in the United States in addition to Dappy's feelings for his girlfriend, Kaye Vassell. It was inspired by the group's touring lifestyle and their enthusiastic fans. Lyrically, it is about trading one-night stands with people in favour of real love.
The song received moderately positive reviews from contempoarary music critics who praised the song's cute chorus and N-Dubz's change in lyrical tone. It achieved commercial success by becoming the group's third top ten hit in both the United Kingdom and Scotland where it peaked at number ten in addition to garnering N-Dubz's fourth top forty hit in Ireland where it reached a chart position of number thirty-two. The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Ben Peters and was released on 8 September 2010. The bling-inspired video features the group disembarking a private jet, singing at a villa situated in Provence, France and on a yacht moored off St. Tropez. N-Dubz have performed the song at the 2010 MOBO Awards and on various television programmes and concerts including Daybreak
Daybreak (ITV)
Daybreak is the weekday breakfast television programme on the British commercial ITV network that broadcasts on weekday mornings from 06:00 to 08:30 and is currently presented by Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley from Monday to Thursday with Dan Lobb and Kate Garraway on Fridays...
and the Orange RockCorps Concert.
Background
Following N-Dubz's signing with hip hop label Def Jam RecordingsDef Jam Recordings
Def Jam Recordings is an American record label, focused primarily on hip hop and urban music, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as a part of The Island Def Jam Motown Music Group...
in the United States, the group penned "Best Behaviour" especially for their stateside launch. It was written by N-Dubz in collaboration with Mr Hudson, and produced by Fazer
Fazer
Fazer is one of the largest corporations in the Finnish food industry.The company was originally founded by Karl Fazer in 1891, as a "French-Russian conditory" in central Helsinki...
and Dappy
Dappy
Costadinos Contostavlos better known by his stage name Dappy, is a British singer-songwriter, rapper, actor of Greek descent. He is best known for being the lead singer of the Camden-based Grime/hip hop/R&B trio N-Dubz, with his cousin Tulisa and their friend Fazer...
. The group had previously collaborated with Mr Hudson on their single "Playing with Fire
Playing with Fire (N-Dubz song)
"Playing with Fire" is a song by English hip-hop trio, N-Dubz featuring Mr Hudson. The song is the second single taken from N-Dubz' second album, Against All Odds. The meaning of the song is a girl realizing that her boyfriend is cheating on her and trying to get him to confess. It shows both the...
" which won them a MOBO Award for 'Best Song'. During the recording of the song, a snippet was played during the second episode of Being... N-Dubz
Being... N-Dubz
Being... N-Dubz is a 6 part documentary of English hip hop group N-Dubz. It is sponsored by Adidas Originals A new episode airs at 9:00pm on 4Music, it gets repeated again on Channel 4 on the same day at 11:15...
. A live performance of the song was then shown on the fifth episode of the show. On 1 September 2010, N-Dubz announced that they had a new single, entitled "Best Behaviour" and that it will be released on 3 October 2010. The radio edit of the song premiered on BBC Radio 1Xtra
BBC Radio 1Xtra
BBC Radio 1Xtra is a digital radio station in the United Kingdom from the BBC specialising in new black music, sometimes referred to as urban music. Launched at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been codenamed Network X during the consulation period and is the sister station to BBC Radio 1...
and BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
on 5 September 2010. The release date was later pushed back to 17 October 2010. On 25 September 2010, the single was made available for pre-order.
Fans originally thought the song was titled "Love Is All I Need" before being corrected by N-Dubz themselves who clarified that the track is actually called "Best Behaviour". Tulisa originally stated that the song was the title track for their third studio album. The album, however, was later titled Love.Live.Life
Love.Live.Life
Love.Live.Life is the third studio album by British hip hop group N-Dubz, released on 29 November 2010, as a collaboration by All Around the World and Island Records.-Background:...
. Dappy revealed that the lyrics "Gonna be on my best behaviour," and "How long before you save me baby" on the song were written with his girlfriend, Kaye Vassell, in mind. Speaking to British tabloid, Daily Star, Tulisa said that "Best Behaviour" is the most N-Dubz type song on the album. She said that Fazer's production on it allowed it to showcase the resemblance of previous singles he produced from the group's first two studio albums.
Critical reception
Robert Copsey from Digital SpyDigital 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....
felt that "Best Behaviour" was not as infectious as its predecessor, "We Dance On". Copsey, on the contrary, said that the "relatively wholesome offering" was just what was needed to keep the N-Dubz revolution on track. The song was awarded with a three out of five star rating by Fraser McAlpine of the BBC Chart Blog who said that it was: "Kind of boomy and big in a way which perhaps it doesn't need to be, as if straining for anthem status, when it's actually quite a quiet, thoughtful thing by N-Dubz's usual insane standards. But it hangs together in an agreeable fashion and the chorus is cute." McAlpine deemed the song as quite nice but lacking a brush-up lyrically.
Chart performance
In the United Kingdom, following the release of "Best Behaviour" on 17 October 2010, it was revealed that the single was at a midweek position of number six. It then slipped to a position of number ten by the time the official chart was issued for 30 October 2010. It became N-Dubz's third top ten hit on the UK Singles ChartUK 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 ...
as solo artists and has since spent three consecutive weeks within the chart's top forty. Elsewhere, the single has peaked at number ten in Scotland and at number thirty-two in Ireland.
Music video
The video was filmed on 1 September 2010 with British music video producer Ben Peters in Provence, France. Peters stated that the main story behind the video was bling. It was shot under a large budget of £ 75, 000, with sixteen-hour days over two days spent filming scenes at a number of locations, including: a disused airfield, a hillside villa and a yacht moored off St. Tropez. On set photographs from the shoot were then released via the group's TwitterTwitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
on 3 September.
The video premiered on British music television channels on 8 September 2010. An extended version of the video was later released. As of 14 October 2010, the music video had over a two million views on YouTube alone.
The music video portrays how the group has been squashed flat by a touring lifestyle. It illustrates the group looking so battered that they are not sure which way is up. The video involves a mournful disembarking from a private jet, lonely clattering around a house in the hills of Provence and wielding of Louis Vuitton luggage. In one scene, Dappy sings "When you gonna save me, baby?" while spreading his arms out wide and then crossing them over his chest. His on-screen love interest then dives into a swimming pool behind him and attempts to reach him through an aquarium-like diving glass wall.
Dappy is seen wearing shorts, a vest, a high-school letterman-like jacket and shoes with no socks. His looks aims to portray a man sorely in need of someone in his life. Fazer has a dark ensemble on with a silk scarf hanging from his belt. With regard to the men in the group sharpening up their image, Fazer stated that their new look substantiates how he and Dappy are "trying to grow up" and shed their previous image of a tracksuit-wearing group of grime-pop rebels. Fraser McAlpine of the BBC Chart Blog positively reviewed the "glamourous" video saying he felt it was impressive how Peters used clothing to capture Dappy's fragile mental state.
Tracklisting
Charts
| Chart (2010) | Peak position |
|---|
Release history
| Region | Date | Format | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ireland | 17 October 2010 | Digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... |
All Around the World |
| United Kingdom | |||
| 20 October 2010 | CD single |