Released November 17, 2008 Genre Pop, R&B Label Def Jam | Recorded 2008 Length 4:14 | |
Writer(s) Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen, Shaffer Smith | ||
"Mad" is a song by American pop/R&B singer Ne-Yo. It is the third single from his album Year of the Gentleman and was produced by Stargate and himself.
Contents
Music video
The video for the song was directed by Diane Martel. It premiered on AOL on November 25, 2008. The video, shot in black and white, presents a narrative wherein Ne-Yo argues with his girlfriend (played by Faune Chambers). After leaving, in an attempt to save a child from a car accident, someone is fatally hit. At the end of the video, it is revealed that the whole time it has been the ghost of Ne-Yo's character singing, and that it was he who was killed. The video to this song is Part 2 to his song "Part of the List".
The music video appears to mirror the 1999 American thriller The Sixth Sense from M. Night Shyamalan, in which Bruce Willis plays a psychologist who is shot by an estranged patient of his. Based on how the film was shot and portrayed, Bruce Willis is shown in many situations as if he is there physically, when in actuality he was murdered by his patient, just as how Ne-Yo appears with his girlfriend, seeming to be there physically and that she is ignoring him due to their earlier argument, when he is actually dead.
The video ranked at number 63 on BET's Notarized: Top 100 Videos of 2009 countdown.
Chart performance
"Mad" debuted at number 97 on the Billboard Hot 100. The next week it jumped to number 79, then to number 61, number 25, number 15, number 13, and finally to number 11. It reached the top ten of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, peaking at number 6. On the UK Singles Chart, it reached number 19, giving Ne-Yo his third top 20 hit from the Year of the Gentleman album, and his sixth overall. Despite only peaking at number 19, "Mad" spent four more weeks than his number one hit "So Sick" inside the UK top 100. It also debuted on the Canadian Hot 100 at number 93 and rose to a high of 23.