| "Hey Baby" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byNo Doubt featuringBounty Killer | ||||
| from the albumRock Steady | ||||
| Released | October 29, 2001 (2001-10-29) | |||
| Recorded | 2001 | |||
| Studio |
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| Genre | Dancehall | |||
| Length | 3:26 | |||
| Label | Interscope | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producers |
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| No Doubt singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Hey Baby" onYouTube | ||||
"Hey Baby" is a song by Americanrock bandNo Doubt from their fifth studioalbumRock Steady (2001). Written by band membersGwen Stefani,Tony Kanal andTom Dumont, "Hey Baby" was released as the album'slead single on October 29, 2001, byInterscope Records. "Hey Baby" is heavily influenced by the Jamaicandancehall music present at No Doubt's post-show parties and tour bus lounges of theirReturn of Saturn tour.[1] Its lyrics describe thedebauchery withgroupies at these parties.
"Hey Baby" received generally positive reviews frommusic critics, although its dancehall influences had a mixed reception. An accompanyingmusic video features scenes that mimic the parties No Doubt attending while recording the parent album in Jamaica. "Hey Baby" was commercially successful, peaking at number five on the USBillboard Hot 100. It also reached the top-ten in several other countries, including Australia, Germany, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. At the45th Grammy Awards, No Doubt won theGrammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
"Hey Baby" was one of the first songs written forRock Steady.[2] The song begins with instrumentals programmed with producerPhilip Steir at Toast Studios in San Francisco.[1] They experimented withray gun-like electronic effects and sounds that guitaristTom Dumont compared toStar Wars music.[3] Notably, the intro is reminiscent of the beginning of the song "Jungle Love" by theSteve Miller Band. The lyrics and melodies were recorded at a session at Dumont's home studio in Los Angeles weeks later. While the band was working on the album inKingston, Jamaica, during March 2001, producersSly and Robbie left the percussion andGwen Stefani's original vocal.[1] The band asked about adding a guest appearance on the song, so Sly and Robbie recommended and added atoast fromBounty Killer.[4]
Like the song'sdancehall style, the lyrics depict the band's post-show parties from touring in support of their fourth studio albumReturn of Saturn (2000). The song details female groupies who attended the parties to hook up with the male band members. Stefani commented that "if you're talented and you're up there, girls want to make out with you." BassistTony Kanal described it as "a veryPG version" of the licentiousness that took place while touring.[5] The song also touches onRock Steady's overall theme of Stefani's impatience in herlong-distance relationship with then-boyfriend/British rock musicianGavin Rossdale (whom she eventually married in 2002), as she sits "sipping on chamomile/watching boys and girls and their sex appeal".[6]
"Hey Baby" is adancehall song composed in the key ofE minor.[7] It is written incommon time and moves at a moderatetempo of 90 beats per minute.[8] The song focuses on programming and lacks prominent live instrumentation.[9] As a result, the band needed four keyboard rigs to recreate the track's sound for live performances,[10] including aRoland AX-1 and anE-mu Proteus 2000.[11] Stefani's vocal range spans over two octaves in the song, from D3 to E5.[8]
The song opens with anintroduction consisting of a sustainedmeasure of electronic effects followed by two lines from thechorus. In each two-measure line during the first half of the verses, Stefani descends the scale while the keyboard plays theoff-beats of the first measure and theelectric bass opens the line with a two-notebassline. During the second half of the verses, Stefani's vocals areoverdubbed, and the instrumentation becomes more frequent.[12] Each of the two verses is followed by the chorus, where overdubbing is used on Stefani's vocals to producefirst inversion and normal formE minor chords. Bounty Killer thentoasts thebridge, and after a brief section sung by Stefani, the song closes by repeating the chorus twice.[8]
"Hey Baby" received generally positive reviews frommusic critics.LAUNCHcast's Lisa Oliver described the song as a mix of "spacesynth" and ragga that "bursts withBatman punches."[13] Colleen Delaney ofStylus Magazine was unimpressed by the lyrics'double entendres and noted that the toast and "deep, booming production save this song from being thin" but that it remained "inane and unengaging".[14] Sal Cinquemani ofSlant Magazine found the song a return to the band's roots, and that it finds No Doubt "sunnier (and tighter) than ever" as a result.[6]Entertainment Weekly included "Hey Baby" in a list of the band's top five songs.[9]About.com ranked the song number three in a list of the top five singles from Stefani's career, with the band and as a solo artist, for her "simultaneously sounding like she understands the hippest of contemporary pop (the Bounty Killer guest rap doesn't hurt) while having the wisdom of an adult several years out of high school."[15] The song was listed at number thirty-eight on the 2002Pazz & Jop list, a survey of several hundred music critics conducted byRobert Christgau.[16]
The band's endeavor in dancehall music received mixed reviews.AllMusic reviewerStephen Thomas Erlewine viewed the toast as a mistake,[17] andBlender's Rupert Howe found the foray into dancehall misguided, leaving Bounty Killer sounding bored.[18] Alex Needham wrote forNME that the song was a strong example of "white reggae" but that many listeners may not be able to tolerate the genre itself.[19] ForEntertainment Weekly,David Browne described the chorus as "big, bustling, and irresistible" and itship hop influence as kicky.[20] In theBBC review ofThe Singles 1992-2003, Ruth Mitchell wrote that the chorus was addictive and chiming and that the song had a "catchy dancehall groove".[21]
"Hey Baby" was chosen as thelead single fromRock Steady to represent the band's more "upbeat and confident" attitude for the album.[1] It was commercially successful in the United States and enticed a younger audience to No Doubt.[9] The song debuted at number 36 on theBillboard Hot 100, remaining on the chart for half a year.[22] In its third week, the song became the band's highest-charting single, eventually peaking at number five for two consecutive weeks, later broken when "Underneath It All" reached number three.[22][23] It was successful in the mainstream music market, topping theTop 40 Mainstream and reaching the top ten on theTop 40 Tracks andAdult Top 40. The song had significant crossover success and reached number five on theRhythmic Top 40 chart.[23] At the 2003 Grammy Awards, the song won the award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, and No Doubt performed a "double medley" of "Underneath It All" and "Hella Good" at the show.[24]
The song had similar success in Europe, reaching number five on theEurochart Hot 100 Singles. In the United Kingdom, "Hey Baby" debuted at number two on theUK Singles Chart. It reached the top 10 in Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, and Norway, and the top 20 in Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland.[25][26]
In Australia, "Hey Baby" debuted on theARIA Singles Chart at number 28 and peaked four weeks later at number seven.[27] It was listed at number 37 on the 2002 end-of-year chart.[28] On theNew Zealand Singles Chart, it reached number two, underShakira's "Whenever, Wherever", for two non-consecutive weeks.[29]
The accompanyingmusic video, directed byDave Meyers, follows the theme of the lyrics. It shows the band on a tour bus, stopping at a party at Club Poonani. The members separate when three girls approach the male band members. Kanal has his picture taken with several women, paying for it by taking money that drummerAdrian Young earns by hanging fromgymnastics rings naked, but censored. Dumont defeats a woman, portrayed bySonya Eddy, in an endurancedrinking game, and Stefani dances, eventually joining Bounty Killer on stage.[30] There are intercut scenes of the band members on a red and black background, a black and whitehoundstooth background, and standing on top of the phrases "NO DOUBT", "ROCK STEADY", and "HEY BABY" in red and white.
The video was filmed in three days inBoyle Heights, Los Angeles.[31] The scenes were designed to recreate the parties that the band attended while recordingRock Steady in Jamaica. Young's scene was based on an actual event, where he wonUS$200 on a dare to hang upside down and naked on the rings at a club in New York City. Dumont's scene, filmed at Casa Mexicana, is inspired by a similar scene from the 1981Indiana Jones filmRaiders of the Lost Ark.[30]
Young's full frontal on the rings, shown during Bounty Killer's line "The way you rock your hips, you know that it amaze me," was controversial.[32] Bounty Killer's rivalBeenie Man stated that "the video portray Bounty as a gay. That is a Jamaican artist, and that can't gwan in a dancehall, no way." Bounty Killer cancelled his performances with No Doubt because of the incident, stating that "they did not understand because they are from America and they accept gay people … If Jamaica is upset, I ain't going to accept no success that my culture is not proud of."[33]
The video premiered onMTV on November 6, 2001,[34] and debuted at number 10 onTRL,[35] peaking at number three, and toppedVH1'sTop 20 Countdown for three weeks.[36] The video won theMTV Video Music Awards forBest Pop Video andBest Group Video in 2002.[37] The video was nominated forBest International Group Video at the 2002MuchMusic Video Awards but lost toKorn's "Here to Stay".[38]
No Doubt performed the song live during a number of public appearances, beginning with an appearance at the2002 Billboard Music Awards held on December 4, 2001.[39] Their headlineRock Steady Tour in 2002 also used "Hey Baby" in its set list. The accompanying video release,Rock Steady Live, includes the live segment where the single was performed as well.[40]
The song is used in the filmsNew York Minute (2004) andA Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story. It also heard on Nickelodeon'sNed's Declassified.
Credits adapted fromRock Steady booklet:[41]
|
|
Australian & European CD maxi-single[42]
UK CD maxi-single[43]
| "Hey Baby"/"Hella Good" US vinyl release[44]
|
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[79] | Gold | 35,000^ |
| Norway (IFPI Norway)[80] | Gold | |
| United States (RIAA)[81] | Gold | 500,000‡ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
| Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | October 29, 2001 | — | Interscope | [82] |
| Australia | December 10, 2001 | CD | [83] | |
| New Zealand | January 28, 2002 | [84] | ||
| United Kingdom | February 4, 2002 |
| [85] |
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