Released April 14, 2007 Genre R&B, funk, go-go Label Columbia | Recorded 2006 Length 3:10 | |
Format Digital download, CD single, 12" single | ||
"Gotta Work" is a song by American R&B singer-songwriter Amerie, and is the second international single from her third studio album, Because I Love It (2007). It samples Sam & Dave's 1966 song "Hold On, I'm Comin'", written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter and originally recorded by Reuben Wilson. The sample used is from a cover version by Erma Franklin, off her album 'Soul Sister' (1969). Amerie called the sound of the song "'go-go soul'", saying go-go "[is] like really strong black coffee, some people can't ingest it in its purest form."
Contents
This song is featured at the end of the 2009 action film Fighting.
Music video
The music video was premiered on June 30, 2007; speaking to a reporter for The Sun, Amerie said the inspiration for the video, as with her other videos, came to her when she was showering. "I think it's where all the creative energy flows because at that moment you've got nowhere to go", she said. "You're just standing there with the water".
The video was directed by Scott Franklin.
Critical reception
Blues and Soul Magazine said the song "sounds like it's come from the same factory of hits as most of B's output ... 'Crazy in Love' meets 'One Thing' [sic]", but that it "treads that rare fine ground between club-friendly sing-a-long anthem and credible soulful territory; its bold and brassy orchestral instrumentation and clattering percussion pushing it along nicely. The first single from the new album, Because I Love It and we're loving it." The Village Voice named it the sixth best single of summer 2007. The Daily Mirror wrote, "An old superpowered Stax riff will never let you down and there's a particularly supercharged one at the centre of ["Gotta Work"] ... Amerie sweats and grinds in the funk engine room, whipping up a lather and doing the song she has sampled a service. Get your back into it, just like she does, and the benefits can be instantly felt."
"Gotta Work" was ranked number seventy-one on MTV Asia's list of Top 100 Hits of 2007.