Mr. Saxobeat

Background

By midsummer 2010, Stan recorded three songs during a recording session at the Maan Studios in Bucharest, Romania. One of the songs to be recorded was "Mr. Saxobeat". It debuted in late-summer and it then became a huge hit in Romania. After the native success, Stan decided to sign a record contract with various international record labels, including Columbia Records. "Mr. Saxobeat" was strongly promoted in Belgium, France and Spain. After the extraordinary success of the song in Europe, Stan released the song in the United Kingdom too. It was then released in North America, Latin America and finally in Australia.

Composition

"Mr. Saxobeat" is an up-tempo Eurodance song with strong elements of house and hi-NRG and some trance beats. The song also features a saxophone riff in the refrain. It was produced by Romanian record producers Marcel Prodan and Andrei Nemirschi, and was recorded during summer 2010 at the Maan Studios. The song is set to the key of B minor, with a chord progression of Bm–Em–F#m. Stan's voice spans three octaves.

Lyrically, the song is about Alexandra trying to attract a man, who she is in love with. She speaks of him making her dance and "move like a freak". It is structured in a 4 bar verse repeated four times throughout, along with an epilogue. She stated: "I consider saxophone a very hot and sexy instrument which is also very used in my region". Stan stated that "'Mr. Saxobeat' is only her vision on the perfect man" in her live acoustic show on the German thelvision ARD.

Europe

The song was a massive success in Stan's home country, Romania. There, "Mr. Saxobeat" reached No. 1 of the official Airplay chart (Romanian Top 100), where it settled for eight consecutive weeks. It became the longest running number-one in Romania in the 2010s. In Spain it debuted at number 47 in the singles chart, and then peaked at number 3 on May 22. After eleven weeks within the top 10, the song achieved the PROMUSICAE Gold certification for sales of more than 20,000 units. In France, the song debuted and peaked at number 6 on the Digital Chart, before dropping off the next week. With the appearance of a new chart, the French Top Singles & Titres Chart, the song debuted at number 10 in its first week and defended its position another two weeks, before peaking at number 6. In the Sales-Only Chart, "Saxobeat" peaked at No. 5.

The song also peaked on the Czech Airplay Chart at number 2, in the Slovak Airplay Chart at number 1 for over five weeks, in the Greek IFPI Chart at number 4 and in the Finnish Singles Chart at number 20 in its opening week in the top. Then it has reached the second position as well as in the rest of the Nordic countries: Norway and Sweden. In Belgium, the song peaked at number 2 on the Ultratop chart. In the Netherlands, it entered the Dutch Top 40 and spent numerous weeks at number 2. It peaked at number 1 in the Swiss Singles Chart, in Germany, Austria, Italy and Denmark. It was also a hit in both Ireland and the United Kingdom, where "Mr. Saxobeat" became Stan's first British hit single, climbing up the UK Singles Chart during April 2011 after debuting at number 81 before peaking at number 3 in June 2011. It peaked at number 6 on the Irish Singles Chart.

The Americas

Outside Europe, "Mr. Saxobeat" charted on the Canadian Hot 100 debuting at number seventy-two. The next week, the song dropped to ninety-five, but then climbed fifty-four positions to number forty-one, becoming that week's greatest gainer, before moving to thirty-seven the following week. It defended the position for the next week. "Mr. Saxobeat" peaked at number twenty-five, its lowest peak position worldwide. Nevertheless, the song spent twenty weeks within the Hot 100 and became the biggest-selling single of 2011 not to enter the top twenty. It was certified Platinum by Music Canada.

In the United States, the song was digitally released in April 2011, having sold over 200,000 units by June 2011. On July 21, the song debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at number ninety-two and continued rising every single week until peaking at number twenty-one, just under the top twenty. It has mas managed to chart on the Hot 100 Airplay (Radio Songs), where it debuted at number eighty-two and found a peak inside the top twenty, at number-nineteen. It managed to register 62 million impressions during a singular week. Inside the Pop Songs Top 40, it peaked at number nineteen as well. It became the third Romanian song to enter the top ten of the Dance/Mix Show Airplay (after Inna's "Hot" and Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina's "Stereo Love"), peaking at number-one, such as the other two acts, for seven weeks in two runs, becoming the longest run atop that chart in 2011, and also the lengthiest number-one and since 2009. It reached number-eleven on both Latin Pop Airplay and Hot Latin Tracks,and debuted at number thirty-nine inside the Hot Dance Club Songs and moved a few positions towards the top thirty in the following weeks. The song was sold in over 1,679,800 copies in the United States. On the Brasil Hot 100 Airplay chart, it peaked at number eight.

Asia & Oceania

In Australia, Alexandra's song first charted inside the Dance Chart, where it managed to enter the top ten, peaking at number 6. A week after entering the Dance Chart, it charted in the Singles Chart as well, debuting at 32. It then fell off the chart only to re-enter the following week at number 32. After bounding back and forth on the chart, it managed to peak at number 19, thus giving Stan a top-twenty hit in Australia. It was later certified Platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The song debuted at number 36 in New Zealand on August 1, 2011 and continued rising upon the charts until peaking within the top ten, at number 4. Stan became the first Eastern European act to have a top-five single in New Zealand ever. "Mr. Saxobeat" was finally certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand.

In Asia the song was a number 1 on the Israeli Airplay Chart, and a top ten in the Lebanese Singles Chart and the Indian Digital Chart. In early 2012, the song entered the Japan Hot 100 straight at number 9.

Music video

A music video for "Mr. Saxobeat" was filmed in the MediaPro Studios during October 2010. The official making-of the video premiered in early November on 1Music Channel. The music video for the song was commercially released on November 15, 2010. It features Stan being arrested, interviewed by the police, put in jail and then escaping from the station. Los 40 Principales cited the video for "Mr. Saxobeat" as one of Stan's best clips ever.

Synopsis

The video begins with scenes of police officers bringing a handcuffed Stan into a room of a police station to interrogate her along with two of her friends. When she and her friends refuse to give the police any information, they lock them in a jail cell. Stan coaxes and successfully seduces the guard, while her friends steal his police equipment, before locking him inside the cell while she and her friends escape. The group enters a dressing room where they find police outfits and disguise themselves as officers. They locate the chief's office and hold the police chief and other workers at gun point while duct-taping their mouths and hands to the chief's desk. Stan and her friends exit the office and walk inconspicuously through the front lobby and out of the building.

Television

The song was featured on the sixth episode of the first season of the American sitcom Suburgatory titled "Charity Case", and in the background of the last episode of the final season of CSI: Miami, titled "Habeas Corpse".

The Norwegian comedy duo Ylvis used the song in one of their television programmes.

The song was featured heavily in episode four of Channel 4 comedy show Cardinal Burns, when characters Jonesy and Metcalfe visit London.

A short snippet of the beginning of the song was played in the sixth episode of the first season of Faking It titled "Three to Tango", when characters Amy, Karma, and Liam awkwardly try to have a threesome.

Video games

It is available on the Kinect using Xbox 360 games Dance Central 3 and Just Dance 4.

Covers

Omega "El Fuerte" released a cover version in 2011. Selena Gomez & The Scene covered the song on their We Own the Night Tour in Latin America, and Russian singer Lena Katina recorded a jazz fusion version of the song.