Boom Boom Pow
"Boom Boom Pow" is a song recorded by American group the Black Eyed Peas for their fifth studio album The E.N.D. (2009). It was written by group members will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo and Fergie, being produced by will.i.am. The song features a vocal sample from the 1990 song "Reach Out" by British house duo Sweet Mercy featuring singer Rowetta.[3] It was released as the lead single from The E.N.D. on February 22, 2009, by Interscope Records.
"Boom Boom Pow"
February 22, 2009
- 5:08 (album version)
- 4:12 (single version)
- 3:38 (radio edit)
will.i.am
"Boom Boom Pow" topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 weeks, making it the group's first number-one single on the chart. It is the second longest-running single to stay atop the chart in 2009, beaten only by their own "I Gotta Feeling", which held the top spot for 14 consecutive weeks. The song also topped the charts in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, as well as reaching the top ten in more than 20 countries. It was ranked atop the Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart for 2009, at number seven on the decade-end chart for the 2000s,[4] and at number 51 on the all-time chart.[5] As of 2015, it has sold over six million units in the US.
Critically acclaimed, "Boom Boom Pow" was nominated for Best Dance Recording and won Best Short Form Music Video at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards (2010). Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 14 on their list "Best 25 Songs of 2009".[6] As of October 2023, the music video has over 469 million views on YouTube.
Release[edit]
"Boom Boom Pow" was released to U.S. mainstream radio on March 13, 2009. It was released officially on iTunes in the U.S. on March 30, 2009. It was scheduled to be released in the UK on May 25, 2009, however due to three alternative versions of the song entering the UK iTunes Top 50 songs, the Black Eyed Peas version was released two weeks early, on Sunday, May 10. One of their full performances took place at the American Idol Finale of 2009, during which the Top 13 girls sang "Glamorous", and then Fergie came out and sang a small part of "Big Girls Don't Cry", eventually switching to "Boom Boom Pow". As of June 2009, an unknown number of North American radio stations have elected to censor the song's reference to satellite radio.[11] Most UK radio stations have also been found to distort the word satellite radio, and this is the version that appears on the UK CD single.
Remixes[edit]
The official remix of the song is titled "Let the Beat Rock - Boys Noize Remix". The track is produced by Boys Noize with five versions of the song. These remixes credit recording to Pardraic Kerin and mixing to Dylan "3-D" Dresdow. The official remix features 50 Cent, and is structured like so: 50 Cent's verse goes first, then will.i.am's first new verse, then Fergie, later the chorus, Fergie's first verse is repeated, then will.i.am's second verse, later the chorus, Fergie's first verse is repeated, apl.de.ap and Taboo's verse from the original were used, then Fergie's second verse, later the chorus, and the song ends with will.i.am saying "pow". The song only lasts 4:30.
A "Megamix" version was also very popular, and is structured like so: will.i.am's verse from the first version goes first, then 50's verse, later the chorus, then Fergie's, then will.i.am's new second verse, later the chorus, Fergie's first verse is repeated, later the chorus, and the song ends. The song only lasts 3:29. The megamix version features Gucci Mane. A third version features Flo Rida, a fourth version is a mash-up of the 50 Cent Remix and the Gucci Mane Remix, and a fifth version is remixed by Busta Rhymes and Fatman Scoop. A remix by DJ Ammo and A Poet Named Life is played in the ending credits of the 2009 Summer blockbuster film G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. At the 2009 American Music Awards, the guitar riff from "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana was played after the performance of this song. Another remix of this song was made by David Guetta, titled " David Guetta's Electro Hop Remix". On the fourth season of America's Best Dance Crew, a District 78 remix of the song was used for the sudden death challenge on the first episode, in the dance-off between Beat Ya Feet Kings, Southern Movement, and Fr3sh. Fr3sh was eliminated. In 2009, Jeffree Star created a remix with more explicit lyrics, that was originally available as a free download.[12] The original download link no longer works; however, many videos of live performances are available.[13]
Nick Levine from Digital Spy gave "Boom Boom Pow" four out of five stars, saying that "it's a fairly ridiculous robopop stomper featuring no real chorus, 808s & Heartbreak-style beats, lashings of Auto-Tune, techno synths that arrive half-way through and this vintage diss from Fergie: 'I'm so 3008, you're so 2000 and late.' It may well become grating, but frankly who cares? Right now this just sounds cracking."[14] Billboard gave the song a positive review, stating that the song "shows The Black Eyed Peas in fine form" and that it was "a knockout".[15]
Chart performance[edit]
In Australia, "Boom Boom Pow" was released on March 30, 2009, and debuted on the ARIA Charts on April 6. It reached number one, staying there for six weeks. It spent 27 weeks in the Top 20. Australia is the first country in which the song was released. As of October 2015, the song has sold 6.9 million downloads in the US[24] and was certified 4× Platinum by the RIAA. This number of singles sold makes the Black Eyed Peas the second artist to have two singles each selling six million copies or more, following Lady Gaga.[25]
The song debuted at number 71 on the Billboard Hot 100 after garnering heavy airplay. The song rocketed from number 39 to number one in its fourth week on the chart. The single sold 465,000 downloads in its first week of digital release, the third-largest number of download sales in a single week overall, and the largest single-week and debut-download totals by a group in the history of digital-download sales tracking, reaching number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and Pop 100. It became the group's first U.S. number one, holding the spot for twelve consecutive weeks.[26] Having been dethroned to number two by the other Black Eyed Peas' song, "I Gotta Feeling", it is the second longest running number one song of 2009 on the chart, behind "I Gotta Feeling", and the first song to spend at least twelve weeks at number one since Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" in 2005. The chart week of May 30, 2009 "Boom Boom Pow" became only the fifth song to top both Billboard's Mainstream Top 40 and Rhythmic Top 40 charts in the same week, reaching an estimated audience of 99 million on U.S. radio that week.[27]
It was the fourth song of the decade to spend at least twelve weeks at number one, and only the twelfth song in the chart's history to spend at least twelve weeks at the top. It is the band's first Rhythmic number one, and their second Mainstream Top 40 number one. "Boom Boom Pow" became the first song in digital history to spend its first twelve weeks of release as the most-downloaded song in America, selling at least 200,000 copies a week for eleven straight weeks.[28][29] Billboard ranked it as the No. 1 song of 2009.[30] It has also topped the charts on the Canadian Hot 100 the same week as on the Hot 100 and on the Australian ARIA Charts. On the New Zealand RIANZ chart, the song has peaked at number two. Moreover, it has charted within the top 10 in more than ten countries.[31]
On May 17, 2009, it entered the UK Singles Chart at number one based on almost 75,000 downloads alone. It is the band's second number one in the UK (the other being "Where Is the Love?" which also reached the top of the chart six years prior). It has also reached number three so far in Ireland. After being knocked off the number one spot in the United Kingdom on May 24, 2009, by "Bonkers" by Dizzee Rascal and Armand Van Helden, the song remained at the number two slot for 2 weeks before returning to number one on June 7, 2009. "Bonkers" had meanwhile swapped places with "Boom Boom Pow" and took the number two slot. This subsequently marks the first time a song has had two separate runs at the summit of the chart since Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie" in July 2006. Their follow up single in the UK "I Gotta Feeling" also peaked at number one and managed the same feat of having two separate runs at number one on the UK Singles Chart. With sales of over 600,000, the single is currently the sixth best selling of 2009 in the UK. "Boom Boom Pow" is also the 13th best selling R&B song of the 21st century in the UK.
Alleged copyright infringement[edit]
In January 2010, Chicago artist Ebony Latrice Batts, better known by her stage name Phoenix Phenom, alleged the song is simply a copy of her track, "Boom Dynamite" (written by Manfred Mohr). The duo allegedly sent a demo tape to Interscope Records. They lost the lawsuit against the Black Eyed Peas.[37]