Bang Bang (Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj song)

Updated on Jan 15, 2024

Edit

Comment

Released July 29, 2014 Genre Pop pop soul		Recorded 2014 Length 3:19
Format CD single digital download Studio Metropolis Studios, London (Jessie J vocals) Conway Studios, Hollywood, CA (Ariana Grande vocals) Glenwood Place Studios, Burbank, CA (Nicki Minaj vocals)

"Bang Bang" is a song recorded by English singer Jessie J, American singer Ariana Grande, and Trinidadian rapper Nicki Minaj. The song was released on July 29, 2014 by Lava and Republic Records as the lead single from Jessie J's third studio album Sweet Talker (2014). It is also included on the deluxe version of Ariana Grande's second studio album My Everything (2014), serving as the third single from that album. In August 2015, "Bang Bang" was certified 5× platinum by the RIAA. As of 2016, the song has sold 3.2 million copies in the US. With a total of 11.02 million copies sold worldwide.

"Bang Bang" debuted at number one in the United Kingdom and reached the top ten in fourteen countries including Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and the United States. The single was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 57th Grammy Award (2015), and won Favorite Song of the Year at the 2015 Kids' Choice Awards.

Background

The song was written by Savan Kotecha, Max Martin, and Carolina Liar guitarist Rickard Göransson, while the latter two co-produced it with Ilya Salmanzadeh. Minaj added her rap later. Martin had already previously collaborated with Jessie J ("Domino"), Grande ("Problem", "Break Free"), and Minaj ("Va Va Voom", "Masquerade").

Jess played a demo of the song, which she decided to record. Following her recording, Martin informed her that Grande wanted to record a verse. Minaj later heard the song and decided to "jump right on it". Jessie added that "It was like a real females, coming together, empowering, supportive [vibe], and then Nicki jumping on it was like the icing on the cake."

On various dates in July 2014, each of the artists uploaded a snippet of the song on their Instagram profiles: Jessie J on July 9, Minaj on July 23, and Grande on July 27.

Composition

"Bang Bang" is an up-tempo, "soulful" song, that features a "clap-heavy" production, built over "big bouncy beats and horn blasts." It's in the key of C major, with the vocals making use of the C blues scale. The tempo is 150 BPM (Allegro). The melody of the chorus has been compared to that of "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham!.

Critical reception

Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone called the song a "perfect Max Martin throwdown" that "fuses Nelly's 'Country Grammar' with Wham!'s 'Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,' which is some truly twisted pop archaeology." Carolyn Menyes from Music Times called the song "[a] Huge successful hit of Summer 2014" and thought that "[the] song is going straight to the top of the charts". Zach Frydenlund from Complex praised Jessie J's and Ariana's heavenly vocals in the song but concentrated more on Nicki's "catchy killer verse" stating that "it's Nicki who really steals the show with her verse". Jason Lipshutz from Billboard responded positively to the song, saying that the song itself "[is] composed of piercing vocals courtesy of two contemporary crooners, as well as rapid-fire spitting from the hottest female MC on the planet, "Bang Bang" rests tidily upon the Ariana Grande assertion, "See anybody could be good to you/You need a bad girl to blow your mind."

Vulture's Lindsey Weber thought the song was "no Lady Marmalade" but praised it saying "it's catchy enough to make a huge splash in the music history". Chris Martins from Spin stated that the song is "powerful", and credits Minaj for the song's noteworthy energy. "What makes the track so big? Well, um, ask Nicki Minaj." He goes on to further praise Minaj's performance on the song, affirming that "The "Anaconda"-taming MC rips a few mics on the loud and proud pop-soul song". Simon Cowell praised the song via his Twitter account, writing, "The best pop single I have heard this year is Bang Bang. It is going to be huge". Lewis Corner from Digital Spy gave the song four and a half stars out of five and said that is "one of the year's most electrifying pop anthems".

Commercial performance

The song debuted on the US Billboard Hot Digital Songs chart at number one with 230,000 digital downloads sold in its first week. This marked the third-largest sales debut for a song in 2014, behind Ariana Grande's "Problem" and Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off", both of which were co-written by Max Martin. The song debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 6, making it the third highest new entry of 2014 on that chart, also behind Grande's "Problem" and Swift's "Shake It Off". The song is Jessie J's second, Grande's fourth, and Minaj's tenth top 10 single in the United States, peaking at number 3. It became Grande's second consecutive top ten hit of 2014, after Problem peaked at number two. It was kept off the top spot by Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass" and Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off". Internationally, the song has since peaked within the top ten in Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Israel, Netherlands, New Zealand, and South Korea. In the UK, "Bang Bang" went to number 1 on the iTunes charts in less than 40 minutes upon its debut release and debuted at number 1 on the UK Singles Chart with 92,000 downloads, becoming Jessie J's third, Grande's second, and Minaj's first number one single in the UK, making her only the second female rapper to have a number one single there after Lil' Kim hit number one with "Lady Marmalade" in 2001.

On Billboard's Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) chart, the song reached number two, becoming Minaj's highest charting single on that chart since her appearance on Canadian artist Justin Bieber's 2012 single "Beauty and a Beat" peaked at two, Jessie J's highest since her 2012 single "Domino" also peaked there, and Grande's second-highest peak after "Problem" hit number one.

Music video

The song's accompanying video was shot over two days in Los Angeles, California and was directed by Hannah Lux Davis. The video was officially previewed and teased in a Beats by Dr. Dre commercial that aired on August 20, 2014. Following the ad's airing, it was announced that the music video would arrive shortly after the trio's performance at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. On August 24, 2014 the official video was uploaded on MTV's website and was available for international viewing. On August 25, 2014, the video was released via Jessie J's Vevo account, and was Vevo-certified on November 5, having surpassed 100 million views. As of February 2017, it has accumulated more than 850 million views.

Live performances and media appearances

Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj performed the song together at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards on August 24, 2014 in Inglewood, California alongside Grande's song Break Free and Minaj's single Anaconda, and at the 2014 American Music Awards on November 23, 2014 in Los Angeles, California.

Jessie J performed the song by herself on The Ellen Degeneres Show on October 17, 2014, on The X Factor UK on 19 October, at The Concert for Valor in Washington, D.C. on November 11, 2014, and the Nickelodeon HALO Awards on November 30, 2014. She also performed "Bang Bang" with Demi Lovato on her tour in San Jose, California and with fellow coaches Delta Goodrem, Ricky Martin and The Madden Brothers on The Voice Australia in 2015.

Grande performed the song by herself at the 2014 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in London, UK on December 9, 2014 and during her international tour, The Honeymoon Tour. She also performed the song with Minaj at the NBA All-Star Game halftime show on February 15, 2015, as well as at the iHeartRadio Music Festival.

The song has been featured in the short-lived CBS TV drama series Stalker, an episode of British sitcom Drifters and in the video game Just Dance 2015.

The song became a recurring joke on the podcast Comedy Bang! Bang! when House of Lies actor Ben Schwartz began singing the song with altered lyrics to be about the show itself.

The song was performed in the seventh episode of the South Korean music reality program Produce 101; the performance became a trending topic on social media with Jessie J sharing its video on her Facebook page. Jessie J's response later made the program's executive producer Han Dong-chul proud in an interview on March 10, 2016, saying: "It’s such an honor that the original singer of the song has mentioned our show. And I’m also proud that our contestants performed it so well."