Fuck You (CeeLo Green song)

"Fuck You" (stylized as "Fuck You!" or "F**k You!"), known as "Forget You" or "FU" for the clean versions, is a song by American recording artist CeeLo Green. It was written as a collaboration among Green,[1][2] Bruno Mars, his production team the Smeezingtons, and Brody Brown.[1][2][3] It was released on August 19, 2010, as the first single from Green's third solo studio album, The Lady Killer (2010). "Fuck You" received acclaim from music critics, and was an international commercial success, making the top-10 in thirteen countries, including topping charts in the United Kingdom, and number two on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Forget You" redirects here. For the song by Gayle in which its clean version contains this phrase, see ABCDEFU.

"Fuck You"
Single by CeeLo Green
from the album The Lady Killer
ReleasedAugust 19, 2010
Recorded2010
Genre
Length3:41
LabelElektra
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)The Smeezingtons
CeeLo Green singles chronology
"The One"
(2004)		 "Fuck You"
(2010)		 "It's OK"
(2010)
Music videos

Inspiration

In an interview with NME, Green said that, in addition to being about a heartbreak, the song was also about the music industry itself.[2]

Versions

Several versions of "Fuck You" have been released: the original recording, censored copies of it, and newer versions that include other performers or significant changes to the lyrics.

The original has twice been edited to remove swearing: the first of these, which is broadcast in the music video on UK television stations and played on US radio, is called "Forget You"; the second, for UK radio use, is entitled "FU".[4][5] These two are essentially identical to the original except in their treatment of profanity; "Forget You" replaces the profanity with sound effects (other than "fuck you", which is changed to "forget you" per the title), and "FU" censors words by simply silencing them except replacing "fuck you" with "eff you" - also as its title suggests. The unedited original and both of the censored versions can be found on iTunes, and both "Fuck You" and "Forget You" are included in an extended play featuring the music video and lyric video released on August 19, 2010.[6] "FU" was not released until September 21.[7]

A fourth version of the song, featuring American rapper 50 Cent, was released to iTunes. The version was entitled "Fuck You (Heartbreaker)!", and was released only in America. The video for this version of the song incorporates scenes from the original video with extra shots of 50 Cent performing.

CeeLo performed a parody of the song, featuring an all-female backing band named "Scarlet Fever", on The Colbert Report on November 9, 2010. It is entitled "Fuck You (Fox News)", and satirizes Fox News controversies.[8]

A sixth version of the song, entitled "Thank You", was released on May 9, 2011, with lyrics extensively re-written as a tribute to firefighters. These lyrics mention that Cee Lo's mother was a firefighter. A new version of the video was released for this version that includes scenes of Cee Lo visiting a fire station.[9][10]

Music video

Initially, a lyric video for "Fuck You" was released to YouTube on August 19, 2010,[11] featuring kinetic typography, with the lyrics of the song appearing on different colored backgrounds with film grain overlaid on the video. The same thing was done in the German and Spanish versions of the video, translating the lyrics, although the vocals remained in English.

The official music video was released on September 1, 2010.[12] The video was directed by Matt Stawski and was filmed at Cadillac Jack's, a movie prop diner located in the Sun Valley area of Los Angeles.[12] Taking place in a diner, the video chronicles Cee Lo's misadventures with a girl he has a crush on, known as "The Heartbreaker" throughout the video. In the beginning, a young Cee Lo goes into the diner with his parents and goes up to the Heartbreaker, who is sitting with another boy. He offers to let the Heartbreaker play with his toy garbage truck, but she ignores him and walks away with the other boy, who has a toy Ferrari F40. In his high school years, Cee Lo works at the diner as a dishwasher. He attempts to woo the Heartbreaker with a bouquet of flowers but slips on fries deliberately dropped by another boy. The flowers fly out of his hand and land on a much younger girl's lap. During his college years, Cee Lo studies in the diner with another woman implied to be his music tutor. He then attempts to woo the Heartbreaker by having the waitress draw a heart-shaped ketchup mark on her hot dog plate, but the Heartbreaker approaches him with a basket of fries and spills them on his shirt, leaving a large ketchup stain on it. Cee Lo then goes through an epiphany in his life and the video fast-forwards to the present day, when Cee Lo is now known as "The Lady Killer" and has a fancy Cadillac Eldorado with his backup singers in the back seat. He drives past the diner to find the Heartbreaker working there, sweeping the front entrance while others are dancing behind her. Cee Lo waves at the Heartbreaker before driving away. The final shot is of him waving at the camera and the words "The Lady Killer" appearing on screen, before the shot freezes, thus ending the video.

The radio edit version of the video contains re-shot elements that have been mixed with parts from the original, most notably when Cee Lo is on screen and he is singing alternative lyrics, but he is not shown singing the clean lyrics in the titular chorus. Some parts of the video tend to freeze for a split second when a bowdlerized lyric is being mouthed to prevent the lips from being read. At the start of the explicit version and clean version titled FU, the mother of the young Cee Lo Green can be seen to look very shocked and taps him on the shoulder to make him turn around when he first swears. This does not happen in the clean version titled Forget You.

Commercial performance

In the US, "Fuck You" debuted at No. 69 on Hot Digital Songs and No. 96 on the Billboard Hot 100.[13] The song originally peaked at number 9 in 2010, but following Cee Lo's performance of the song at the 53rd Grammy Awards, "Fuck You" had a resurgence in popularity and climbed back up the Billboard Hot 100 chart, reaching No. 2 in its 26th chart week (making it one of the slowest climbs ever into the number 2 position) tying it with Cee Lo's previous 2006 hit "Crazy" from his musical duo project Gnarls Barkley as his highest-charting single. The song remained at No. 2 for four consecutive weeks.[14] In all, the single spent a total of 48 weeks on the Hot 100. It was certified Gold on November 5, 2010.[15]

The week of March 24, 2011, the song was the best-selling song in the USA of 2011, having been sold 1,865,000 times in 2011 only, despite the song never reaching No. 1 and being released in August 2010.[16] In the subsequent week, the song surpassed 2 million copies in sales in 2011 alone, bringing its total to 3,707,000 copies.[17] The week of April 16, 2011, the song topped the Pop Songs radio airplay chart in its 25th week, completing the longest journey to the summit in the ranking's 18-year history.[18] "Fuck You" would go on to share the record with Demi Lovato's 2012 single "Give Your Heart a Break" before it was eventually broken by Alessia Cara's "Here" in 2016.[19] As of April 2013, "Fuck You" had sold over 6 million copies in the U.S.[20]

Critical reception

"Fuck You" received acclaim from music critics. Jason Lipshutz from Billboard gave "Fuck You" a positive review stating, "it's as sunny as a '60s Motown hit and as expletive-laden as an early Eminem song, a combination that fits the singer's sky-high vocals and offbeat sense of humor well. Over a twinkling piano line, bumping bass and steady percussion, Green shakes off a failed relationship with a gold digger by packing the simple pleasures of old-school soul music into tongue-in-cheek verses and a suitably soaring chorus."[21] Nick Levine of Digital Spy gave the song four out of five stars writing: "As its title suggests, 'Fuck You' is essentially a middle finger extending from the fist of a pop single—and a gloriously catchy Motown stomper of a pop single at that."[22] Alexandra Patsavas, music supervisor for the "Twilight" films, praised Mars' ability to veer between "a beautifully crafted pop song exquisitely sung" and the likes of Cee-Lo's "Fuck You". "How sublime that an artist can travel so fluidly between humor and earnestness," she remarked.[23]

Accolades

At the 53rd Grammy Awards, "Fuck You" was nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, and won Best Urban/Alternative Performance. The video was also nominated for Best Short Form Music Video.[24] It was named the #1 song of 2010 by Time, and made the top of Metacritic's users poll.[25][26] Spin and The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll named "Fuck You" the best single of 2010. In October 2011, NME placed it at number 112 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".[27]

Live performances

Cee Lo toured with an all-female backing band named Scarlet Fever, performing "Fuck You" on Taratata, at the Reeperbahn Festival, Later... with Jools Holland, Late Show with David Letterman, the 31st annual Children in Need telethon, the Christmas edition of BBC One chart show Top of the Pops, Saturday Night Live and many other venues. Cee Lo also performed at the 53rd Grammy Awards on February 13, 2011, with actress Gwyneth Paltrow and several puppets provided by The Jim Henson Company. Two days later, he sang at the 2011 BRIT Awards alongside UK singer Paloma Faith. On August 14, Cee Lo sang at WWE's 2011 Summerslam pay-per-view event in Los Angeles with the addition of WWE Divas dancing to "Fuck You" at the event's venue.

Track listings

Credits and personnel

Mixing and mastering

  • Mixed at Larrabee Sound Studios, Hollywood, California; mastered at Sterling Sound, New York, New York; engineered at Levcon Studios, Hollywood, California.

Personnel

  • Songwriting – Cee Lo Green, Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine
  • Production – The Smeezingtons (Bruno Mars, Phillip Lawrence, Ari Levine)
  • Mixing – Manny Marroquin
    • Assistant – Christian Plata, Erik Madrid
  • Mastering – Chris Gehringer
  • Engineer – Ari Levine
  • All instruments– Ari Levine, Bruno Mars, Brody Brown

Credits adapted from the liner notes of The Lady Killer, Elektra Records

Charts and certifications

Release history
Release dates for "Fuck You"
Region Date Format Label
United States August 19, 2010 CD single Elektra
United Kingdom October 4, 2010[89]

See also

References
  1. Mars, Bruno; Smeezingtons, The (June 19, 2012). "The Smeezingtons at the 2012 ASCAP "I Create Music" EXPO (Part 1 of 2)" (video). Event occurs at 5m18s. Retrieved April 29, 2017 – via YouTube.
  2. Green, Cee-Lo (October 6, 2010). "Cee-Lo confirms 50 Cent 'Fuck You' video and the return of Gnarls Barkley – video". NME (video) (online ed.). Event occurs at 0m12s. I co-wrote this with Bruno Mars, and over the year or so that I hung out with him and we worked together, we became quite fond of each other and shared a similar taste and sense of humor, and that song was a product of that working environment. ... Well, essentially, I was in a place of where, maybe, subconsciously, my 'fuck you' was aimed at the industry itself. ... You could also call this industry a 'she', because you have to be kind, you have to court it, and be considerate, and be consistent — you know — and also put up with its bullshit.
  3. Kimpel, Dan (March 7, 2016). "Songwriter Profile: Brody Brown (Bruno Mars, Adele, Mark Ronson)". Music Connection. Retrieved July 21, 2018.
  4. "Cee Lo's Viral Hit: Blunt and Sweet". All Things Considered. August 26, 2010. Retrieved August 27, 2010.
  5. Brown, Damon (August 30, 2010). "Cee Lo's YouTube hit you won't hear on radio". CNN. Retrieved August 30, 2010.
  6. "F**k You – Deluxe Single by Cee Lo Green – Download F**k You – Deluxe Single on iTunes". iTunes. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
  7. "FU – Single by Cee Lo Green – Download FU – Single on iTunes". iTunes.apple.com. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
  8. Ward, Kate (November 10, 2010). "Cee-Lo Green swaps 'Fox News' for 'F—k You' on 'Colbert'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 6, 2011. Saw you driving 'round town with the girl I love on Fox News / Didn't see one politician that wasn't corrupt on the Fox News, and I get the blues / The poor get poorer, the rich get richer / Ain't that some s— / I'm having pains in my chest because I'm so stressed over Fox News.
  9. "Cee Lo Turns 'Forget You' Into 'Thank You'". May 9, 2011. Archived from the original on July 27, 2011. Retrieved May 9, 2011. It's a very noble cause, and I connect with it very, very personally because my mother was a fireman as well — one of the first black female firemen in Atlanta, Georgia, so quite a historic accomplishment.
  10. Gonzalez, Sandra (May 9, 2011). "Cee Lo adapts 'Forget You' for ode to firefighters. Now this is a tribute!". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
  11. Green, Cee Lo (August 19, 2010). "Cee Lo Green – FUCK YOU". Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved August 27, 2010 – via YouTube.
  12. Green, Cee Lo (September 1, 2010). "Cee Lo Green – FUCK YOU (Official Video)". Retrieved September 6, 2010 – via YouTube.
  13. "Cee Lo: I Wanted to 'Rock the Boat' with 'F**k You'". Billboard.com. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
  14. "Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way' Grows Atop Grammy-Fueled Hot 100". Billboard.com. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
  15. "RIAA Gold & Platinum – Cee Lo". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
  16. "Week Ending March 20, 2011: Songs: The Chris Brown Matter – Chart Watch". New.music.yahoo.com. March 23, 2011. Archived from the original on October 4, 2012. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
  17. "Week Ending March 27, 2011: Songs: Katy Moves Up – Chart Watch". New.music.yahoo.com. March 30, 2011. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
  18. "The Year in Chart Headlines, Part 1". Billboard. December 27, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
  19. Trust, Gary (January 25, 2016). "Alessia Cara's 'Here' Completes Record Climb to No. 1 on Pop Songs Chart". Billboard. Retrieved September 6, 2021.
  20. Paul Grein (April 10, 2013). "Week Ending April 7, 2013. Songs: Discount Helps Bruno Reach #1". Yahoo Music (Chart Watch). Retrieved April 10, 2013.
  21. Lipshutz, Jason (September 3, 2010). "Cee Lo Green ,"Fuck You" | Billboard.com". Billboard. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
  22. Levine, Nick (October 5, 2010). "Music – Singles Review – Cee Lo Green: 'F**k You' – Digital Spy". Digital Spy. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
  23. Ryan Pearson (August 8, 2012). "Bruno Mars Heads Back To Grammys With Production Team, Smeezingtons". Huffington Post. Retrieved October 17, 2013.
  24. National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (December 1, 2010). "53rd Annual Grammy Awards: Final Nominations List" (PDF). Retrieved December 2, 2010.
  25. J-23 (December 10, 2010). "Kanye West, Big Boi, Drake Make Time Magazine's Top 10 Albums | Get The Latest Hip Hop News, Rap News & Hip Hop Album Sales". HipHopDX. Archived from the original on October 2, 2012. Retrieved January 5, 2011.
  26. "Best of 2010 Metacritic User Poll Results". Metacritic. January 10, 2011. Archived from the original on March 14, 2011. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
  27. "150 Best Tracks Of The Past 15 Years". NME. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
  28. "Cee Lo Green – Fu Clean And Dirty Mixes Dj Cd | eBay". Cgi.ebay.co.uk. June 14, 2011. Retrieved September 19, 2011.
  29. "Cee Lo Green – Fuck You". australian-charts.com. Retrieved January 5, 2011.
  30. "F**k You – Deluxe Single by Cee Lo Green – Download bitch You – Deluxe Single on iTunes". Itunes.apple.com. Retrieved January 5, 2011.
  31. "Cee Lo Green – F**k You!". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  32. "Cee Lo Green – F**k You!" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  33. "Cee Lo Green – F**k You!" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  34. "Cee Lo Green – F**k You!" (in French). Ultratop 50.
  35. "Cee Lo Green Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard.
  36. "ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – RADIO – TOP 100 and insert 201052 into search. Retrieved December 28, 2010.
  37. "Cee Lo Green – F**k You!". Tracklisten.
  38. "Hits of the World: European Hot 100 Singles". Billboard. Vol. 122, no. 43. October 30, 2010. p. 51.
  39. "Cee Lo Green – F**k You!" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved February 8, 2011.
  40. "Cee Lo Green – F**k You!" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
  41. "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Rádiós Top 40 játszási lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége.
  42. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Cee Lo Green". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  43. "Media Forest Week 42, 2010". Israeli Airplay Chart. Media Forest.
  44. "Cee Lo Green Chart History (Japan Hot 100)". Billboard.
  45. "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 38, 2010" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
  46. "Cee Lo Green – F**k You!" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  47. "Cee Lo Green – F**k You!". Top 40 Singles.
  48. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  49. "ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: insert 20112 into search. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
  50. "Cee Lo Green – F**k You!". Singles Top 100.
  51. "Cee Lo Green – F**k You!". Swiss Singles Chart.
  52. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  53. "Official Hip Hop and R&B Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company.
  54. "Cee Lo Green Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  55. "Cee Lo Green Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard.
  56. "Cee Lo Green Chart History (Adult Pop Songs)". Billboard.
  57. "Cee Lo Green Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard.
  58. "Cee Lo Green Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard.
  59. "Cee Lo Green Chart History (Pop Songs)". Billboard.
  60. "Cee Lo Green Chart History (Rhythmic)". Billboard.
  61. "ARIA Charts – End Of Year Charts – Top 100 Singles 2010". Australian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on December 5, 2010. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
  62. "Jaaroverzichten 2010". Ultratop. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
  63. "Charts Year End: Canadian Hot 100". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
  64. "Track 2010 Top-50" (in Danish). Hitlisten.NU. Archived from the original on November 23, 2010.
  65. "European Hot 100". Billboard.com. December 31, 2010. Retrieved January 5, 2011.
  66. "VIVA Single Jahrescharts 2010". VIVA (viva.tv). January 5, 2010. Archived from the original on January 11, 2011. Retrieved January 5, 2010.
  67. "MAHASZ Rádiós TOP 100 2010" (in Hungarian). Mahasz. Retrieved March 10, 2011.
  68. "Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 2010". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
  69. "Jaaroverzichten – Single 2010" (in Dutch). dutchcharts.nl. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on December 19, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  70. "Top Selling Singles of 2010". Recorded Music NZ. Archived from the original on June 8, 2017. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  71. "Årslista Singlar – År 2009" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Archived from the original on December 21, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  72. "2010 Year-end UK Singles". BBC (BBC Online). December 26, 2010. Retrieved December 26, 2010.
  73. "Year End Charts: Canadian Hot 100". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  74. "MAHASZ Rádiós TOP 100 2011" (in Hungarian). Mahasz. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  75. "End of Year Singles Chart Top 100 – 2011". Official Charts Company. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  76. "Best of 2011: Hot 100 Songs ! scope="row"". Billboard. 2011. Retrieved December 9, 2011.
  77. "Adult Contemporary Songs – Year-End 2011". Billboard. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  78. "Adult Pop Songs – Year-End 2011". Billboard. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  79. "Pop Songs – Year-End 2011". Billboard. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  80. "Decade-End Charts: Hot 100 Songs". Billboard. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  81. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2011 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association.
  82. "Austrian single certifications – Cee Lo Green – F**k You" (in German). IFPI Austria.
  83. "Canadian single certifications – Ceelo Green – Forget You". Music Canada.
  84. "Danish single certifications – Ceelo Green – Fuck You". IFPI Danmark. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
  85. "New Zealand single certifications – Ceelo Green – Forget You". Recorded Music NZ.
  86. "British single certifications – Cee Lo Green – Forget You". British Phonographic Industry.
  87. Copsey, Rob (September 19, 2017). "The UK's Official Chart 'millionaires' revealed". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  88. "American single certifications – Cee Lo Green – Forget You". Recording Industry Association of America.
  89. Praxis Media. "Radio1 Rodos Greece ::: UK Forthcoming Singles ::: Charts, DJ Promos, Dance, Lyrics, Free Mp3 Samples Downloads". Radio1.gr. Archived from the original on October 20, 2012. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.