Remedy (Little Boots song)
Encyclopedia
"Remedy" is a song by English recording artist Little Boots
from her debut album, Hands
. Written by Boots and RedOne
, the song was released as the album's second single
on 17 August 2009 in the United Kingdom, becoming her most successful single on the UK Singles Chart
to date. A remix
EP
of the song was also made available on the U.S. iTunes Store
on 8 December 2009. This song is Boots' most successful single to date reaching number six on the UK singles chart.
with RedOne
over a two-day period. She initially found working with RedOne intimidating because their collaboration was expected to produce a hit song. According to Boots, "Remedy" "is about dancing and music being a remedy to some kind of poison in your life. I wanted to write a dark dance pop
song a bit like Britney Spears
' Toxic
. The lyrics are not really very personal, I was more imagining a situation." The song is in F-sharp minor.
"Remedy" was used on the third episode of the second season of the American science fiction series Dollhouse
, entitled "Belle Chose" and originally aired 9 October 2009, as well as on the third episode of the third series of the BBC
comedy series Gavin & Stacey
, broadcast 17 December 2009.
that the song "has all the right ingredients to steer the good ship Boots towards safer seas. It's got a big synthy intro, a bombastic chorus reminiscent of late eighties Kylie
, and best of all a sparkling and kaleidoscopic middle 8 that's one of the finest pop moments of the year." The Guardian
s Alexis Petridis
stated the track "takes her love of continental pop's shameless melodicism to a saccharine extreme and winds up sounding less like a cool Giorgio Moroder
-inspired Italo disco
track than something a former Soviet Republic might submit to Eurovision
." Emily Mackay of NME
magazine called the song "run-of-the-mill." Pitchfork Media
reviewer Marc Hogan wrote that while "RedOne lends generic club-rap swagger" he does not find the song convincing.
at number thirty-three on the issue dated 2 August 2009. Due to strong digital downloads, the song managed to climb to number fourteen the following week. On 23 August 2009, "Remedy" rose to its peak position of number six, making it Boots' highest-charting single to date. The single spent nineteen non-consecutive weeks on the chart, including a re-entry at number ninety-seven on 3 January 2010. In Ireland, "Remedy" debuted at number thirty-one on the Irish Singles Chart
for the week of 30 July 2009, ultimately peaking at number five on 10 September 2009.
for "Remedy" was filmed in London
and was described by Boots as "much more conceptual and pretty much more me" than the video for "New in Town
". It features Boots dressed in a silver outfit, playing several keyboards and the Tenori-on
. Scenes of Boots singing to the camera are intercut with scenes of kaleidoscopic
geometric patterns and flashing strobe lights.
UK CD single
UK promo CD single
(PRO17285; Released )
UK 7" single
UK 12" single
UK and Japanese iTunes EP
U.S. iTunes remix EP
Japanese iTunes single
Little Boots
Victoria Christina Hesketh, also known by her stage name/pseudonym Little Boots, is an English electropop singer-songwriter. Her stage name comes from a nickname given to her by a friend, a reference to her unusually small feet...
from her debut album, Hands
Hands (Little Boots album)
Hands is the debut studio album by English recording artist Little Boots. It was released in the United Kingdom on 8 June 2009 by 679 Recordings to generally positive reviews. Many critics complimented its "well-crafted" pop songs and "diverse" production...
. Written by Boots and RedOne
RedOne
Nadir Khayat , known by the stage name RedOne, is a Moroccan producer and songwriter. Renowned for co-producing hit singles such as "Just Dance", "Poker Face", "LoveGame", "Bad Romance", "Alejandro" and "Judas", he is attributed by some as the key to Lady Gaga's success...
, the song was released as the album's 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...
on 17 August 2009 in the United Kingdom, becoming her most successful single 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 ...
to date. A remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
of the song was also made available on the U.S. iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
on 8 December 2009. This song is Boots' most successful single to date reaching number six on the UK singles chart.
Background and writing
Boots composed "Remedy" in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
with RedOne
RedOne
Nadir Khayat , known by the stage name RedOne, is a Moroccan producer and songwriter. Renowned for co-producing hit singles such as "Just Dance", "Poker Face", "LoveGame", "Bad Romance", "Alejandro" and "Judas", he is attributed by some as the key to Lady Gaga's success...
over a two-day period. She initially found working with RedOne intimidating because their collaboration was expected to produce a hit song. According to Boots, "Remedy" "is about dancing and music being a remedy to some kind of poison in your life. I wanted to write a dark dance pop
Dance-pop
Dance-pop is dance-oriented pop music that originated in the early 1980s. Developing from post-disco, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs with the intention of being danceable or merely dancey...
song a bit like Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
' Toxic
Toxic (song)
"Toxic" is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears, co-written and produced by Bloodshy & Avant, from her fourth album, In the Zone. It was released on January 12, 2004, by Jive Records as the second single from the album. After trying to choose between " Boom Boom" and "Outrageous" to...
. The lyrics are not really very personal, I was more imagining a situation." The song is in F-sharp minor.
"Remedy" was used on the third episode of the second season of the American science fiction series Dollhouse
Dollhouse (TV series)
Dollhouse is an American science fiction television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon under Mutant Enemy Productions. It premiered on February 13, 2009, on the Fox network and was officially cancelled on November 11, 2009. The final episode aired on January 29, 2010...
, entitled "Belle Chose" and originally aired 9 October 2009, as well as on the third episode of the third series of 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...
comedy series Gavin & Stacey
Gavin & Stacey
Gavin & Stacey is a British comedy television series. A romantic comedy-drama, the show follows the long-distance relationship of Gavin from Billericay in Essex, England, and Stacey from Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. The writers of the show, actors James Corden and Ruth Jones, also...
, broadcast 17 December 2009.
Critical reception
"Remedy" received mixed reviews from music critics. David Balls wrote for 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....
that the song "has all the right ingredients to steer the good ship Boots towards safer seas. It's got a big synthy intro, a bombastic chorus reminiscent of late eighties Kylie
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
, and best of all a sparkling and kaleidoscopic middle 8 that's one of the finest pop moments of the year." The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
s Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for UK newspaper The Guardian, as well as a regular and contributor to the magazine GQ.Petridis began his career writing for Varsity whilst a student at the University of Cambridge...
stated the track "takes her love of continental pop's shameless melodicism to a saccharine extreme and winds up sounding less like a cool Giorgio Moroder
Giorgio Moroder
Hansjörg "Giorgio" Moroder is an Italian record producer, songwriter and performer based in Los Angeles. When in Munich in the 1970s, he started his own record label called Oasis Records, which several years later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records...
-inspired Italo disco
Italo disco
Italo disco encompasses much of the dance music output in Europe during the 1980s. It is one of the world's first forms of mostly electronic dance music and evolved during the late 1970s and early 1980s in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and other parts of Europe...
track than something a former Soviet Republic might submit to Eurovision
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
." Emily Mackay of NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
magazine called the song "run-of-the-mill." Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
reviewer Marc Hogan wrote that while "RedOne lends generic club-rap swagger" he does not find the song convincing.
Chart performance
"Remedy" made its debut 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 ...
at number thirty-three on the issue dated 2 August 2009. Due to strong digital downloads, the song managed to climb to number fourteen the following week. On 23 August 2009, "Remedy" rose to its peak position of number six, making it Boots' highest-charting single to date. The single spent nineteen non-consecutive weeks on the chart, including a re-entry at number ninety-seven on 3 January 2010. In Ireland, "Remedy" debuted at number thirty-one on the 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...
for the week of 30 July 2009, ultimately peaking at number five on 10 September 2009.
Music video
Directed by David Wilson, the music videoMusic 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...
for "Remedy" was filmed in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and was described by Boots as "much more conceptual and pretty much more me" than the video for "New in Town
New in Town (song)
"New in Town" is a song by English recording artist Little Boots from her debut album, Hands. Written by Boots and Greg Kurstin and produced by Kurstin, the track was released as the album's lead single on 25 May 2009 in the United Kingdom. The song was inspired by the nights Boots spent in Los...
". It features Boots dressed in a silver outfit, playing several keyboards and the Tenori-on
Tenori-on
Tenori-on is an electronic musical instrument, designed and created by Japanese artist Toshio Iwai and Yu Nishibori of the Music and Human Interface Group, Yamaha Center for Advanced Sound Technology. It consists of a screen, held in the hands, of a sixteen by sixteen grid of LED switches, any of...
. Scenes of Boots singing to the camera are intercut with scenes of kaleidoscopic
Kaleidoscope
A kaleidoscope is a circle of mirrors containing loose, colored objects such as beads or pebbles and bits of glass. As the viewer looks into one end, light entering the other end creates a colorful pattern, due to the reflection off the mirrors...
geometric patterns and flashing strobe lights.
Track listings
These are the track listings and formats of major single releases of "Remedy".UK CD single
- "Remedy" – 3:24
UK promo CD single
(PRO17285; Released )
- "Remedy" (RuskoRusko (musician)Christopher Mercer, more commonly known as Rusko, is an English dubstep record producer and DJ who was born on 26 January 1985 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.-History:Rusko graduated from Leeds College of Music with a degree in Music Performance...
's Big Trainers Remix) – 4:30 - "Remedy" (A1 Bassline Get Hype Remix) – 5:17
- "Remedy" (Disco Bloodbath Remix) – 6:10
- "Remedy" (Disco Bloodbath Dub) – 6:10
- "Remedy" (Crazy Cousinz Remix) – 4:17
UK 7" single
- A1. "Remedy"
- B1. "Love Kills"
UK 12" single
- A1. "Remedy" (Rusko's Big Trainers Remix)
- B1. "Remedy" (Style of Eye Remix)
UK and Japanese iTunes EP
- "Remedy" (KaskadeKaskadeRyan Raddon , better known by his stage name Kaskade, is an American DJ and record producer. On October 20, 2011, DJ Magazine announced the results of their annual Top 100 DJ Poll, with Ultra Records Kaskade placed at #30...
Club Remix) – 6:02 - "Remedy" (WideboysWideboysThe Wideboys are UK house, Bassline and UK garage Record producers and remixers.The Wideboys are managed by Matt Waterhouse from MWR/Hyperactive. In 2008, they signed to Sony ATV Music Publishing. Prior to this, The Wideboys had been signed in various deals with the likes of Warner, Univeral and...
Stadium Radio Edit) – 3:33 - "Remedy" (Disco Bloodbath Remix) – 6:07
- "Remedy" (Crazy Cousinz Remix) [Revised] – 4:05
- "Remedy" (RuskoRusko (musician)Christopher Mercer, more commonly known as Rusko, is an English dubstep record producer and DJ who was born on 26 January 1985 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.-History:Rusko graduated from Leeds College of Music with a degree in Music Performance...
's Big Trainers Remix) – 4:27 - "Remedy" (Stonemasons Club Remix) – 7:41
U.S. iTunes remix EP
- "Remedy" (Kaskade Club Remix) – 5:59
- "Remedy" (Stonemasons Club Remix) – 7:41
- "Remedy" (Avicii Club Mix) – 7:12
Japanese iTunes single
- "Remedy" (Radio Edit) – 3:24
- "Love Kills" – 3:41
Peak positions
| Chart (2009) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgian Tip Chart (Flanders) | 12 |
| European Hot 100 Singles | 21 |
| 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... |
5 |
| Japan Hot 100 Japan Hot 100 The Japan Hot 100 is a music singles chart in Japan. It is compiled by Billboard and Hanshin Contents Link ever since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at billboard-japan.com and every Thursday at billboard.com .... |
13 |
| 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... |
21 |
| 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 ... |
6 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (2009) | Position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart | 73 |
Release history
| Country | Date | Label | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | 15 June 2009 | Warner Music Warner Music Group Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies... |
Digital single 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... |
| 20 July 2009 | Digital EP Extended play An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact... |
||
| United Kingdom | 17 August 2009 | 679 Artists, Atlantic Records Atlantic Records Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz... |
CD single, 7" single Gramophone record A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove... , 12" single 12-inch single The 12-inch single is a type of gramophone record that has wider groove spacing compared to other types of records. This allows for louder levels to be cut on the disc by the cutting engineer, which in turn gives a wider dynamic range, and thus better sound quality... |
| 20 August 2009 | Digital EP | ||
| United States | 8 December 2009 | Elektra Records Elektra Records Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009.... |