"Rollerblades" is the third single from British singer–songwriter

Singer–songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 Eliza Doolittle, taken from her debut album Eliza Doolittle

Eliza Doolittle (album)

Eliza Doolittle is the eponymous debut album by British singer-songwriter Eliza Doolittle. It was released on 12 July 2010 by Parlophone Records. The first single "Skinny Genes" was released on 11 April 2010. The second single, "Pack Up", was released on 5 July 2010. On 7 January 2011 it was...

. It was released on 17 October 2010 and peaked at 58. The track has been added to Radio 1's A-Playlist.

Release and promotion

The song was released on January 4, 2011 on US 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...

 as the 'Free Single of the Week'.

The song was recently used for a commercial for the Toyota|Prius V

Music video

The music video for the song appeared on Doolittle's Youtube channel on 21 September 2010. It was shot in New York and shows Eliza cycling around the city.

Critical reception

Fraser McAlpine of 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...

Chart Blog gave the song a positive review stating:

For an emotion we all yearn to feel, as much as we possibly can, light-hearted skippyfun can be very, very troublesome to capture in popular music. Too much sugar, as we all know, rots the teeth, and makes people feel sick. So it's often a good idea to leaven it with a bit of sourness, just to cleanse the palate.

It's a tough balance to strike though. Too much sour is even worse than too much sweet, cos it curdles the whole confection. Ideally, you'd want a song something like this, something which seems to be full of sunlight and happysighs; something which tumbles through your mind like a carrier bag lifted into the afternoon sky by a gentle breeze.

Unfortunately, the lighter and happier you sound, the more you risk annoying people, rather than carrying them along with your infectious giddiness, so it needs to also have some great big clumping clown feet, just to keep it from disappearing in a puff of twee. .

Track listings

Digital download
iTunes EP

Chart performance

"Rollerblades" debuted 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 ...

 at number 91 on 17 October 2010 before climbing to number 58 the following week; upon physical release. > >

Chart (2010)	Peak position

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Label
United Kingdom	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...	EMI EMI The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...