Released July 23, 2013 Genre Electropop Label Kemosabe
Epic | Recorded 2013 Length 3:43 | |
Format Digital download, CD single | ||
"American Girl" is a single by American pop music singer and songwriter Bonnie McKee. The song was written by McKee, Jon Asher, Josh Abraham, Oliver Goldstein, Alex Drury, and Jacknife Lee. It was produced by Abraham and Goldstein, with additional production by Matt Rad and vocal production and engineering by Sean Walsh. It was released on July 23, 2013 as the first single from her upcoming second studio album.
Contents
Release
McKee made the song available for free download through her official website after fans "liked" her Facebook page. The song was released to iTunes worldwide on July 23, 2013, preceding the release of McKee's 2015 Bombastic EP which doesn't feature the song.
Reception
Dylan Mial of BlogCritics gave the song a positive review, saying "It’s impossible to refrain from any head-bopping or foot-tapping while listening to this bubblegum-pop summer tune. “American Girl” is this year’s summer anthem!". Bradley Stern of Muumuse gave the song a positive review, saying "American Girl might as well be the next single in waiting from Teenage Dream or Ke$ha‘s Warrior, full of punchy, guitar-driven hooks, slamming synthesizers and supremely crafted earworm melodies. It’s big, beautiful and bold — just like a song called “American Girl” should sound. Bonnie better start packing her bags, ’cause she’s heading to the top of the charts again. But this time, she’s going up all on her own".
Credits and personnel
Music video
A promotional lip-sync video was released to YouTube on June 26, 2013 for the release of the song. The video features several celebrities, including Macklemore, Carly Rae Jepsen, Kiss, Katy Perry, Karmin, and Ke$ha. The official music video for "American Girl" was directed by Justin Francis, and premiered on McKee's VEVO channel on July 22, 2013, and has been viewed more than 22 million times. McKee stated during her Ustream chat on July 1, 2013 that the music video was inspired by the film Spring Breakers. "It was inspired by Spring Breakers... We steal a car, go to the mall and other American stuff. I also dance a lot." MTV said about the video: "Bonnie, [with] her OFF THE CHAIN orange creamsicle-colored hair, and a few pals hang out on the curb drinking Slurpees (presumably mixed with alcohol) while making eyes at a hunky bro. After hitting up a 7-Eleven for some snacks, the girls settle in for a pool day, complete with plastic water toys and tons of skimpy bikini action." Comparisons were drawn between the video for "American Girl" and Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream", which McKee co-wrote.
Live performances
McKee first performed "American Girl" at Hotel Café on May 20, 2013, and later in KISS-FM on July 2, 2013. She also performed "American Girl" on Good Morning America on August 13, 2013. She performed "American Girl" on October 12, 2013 at Atlanta Pride at Piedmont Park in Atlanta, Georgia. She also performed the song on Karmin's Pulses Tour.
Chart performance
The song debuted at number one-hundred and peaked at number eighty-seven five weeks later. As of January 2015, "American Girl" has sold over 300,000 copies in the US. It became McKee's first song to ever chart on the Billboard Hot 100.