Released 2002 Recorded 2002 | Format Promo CD Genre Synthpop, pop rock | |
A-side Ya Tvoya Ne Pervaya, All The Things She Said Length 4:15 (Album Version)
3:48 (Radio Version)
5:10 (Extended Version) | ||
"Show Me Love" is the English version of the song Ya Tvoya Ne Pervaya (Cyrillic: "Я твоя не первая") by t.A.T.u.. It was released as a promotional single for radio stations, taken from the album 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane. It was meant to be the third official single from 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane, after All The Things She Said and Not Gonna Get Us, however Interscope Records cancelled it and released How Soon Is Now? instead. The radio promo was only released in Poland.
Contents
Lyrical content
The song opens to Lena and Yulia speaking in Russian, which translated means "Hello / Hello / Can you see the wind? / So what? / Just look out of the window / So what? / There was sun yesterday / So what? / Why are you always saying the same thing? / I am an answering machine". The song then begins, featuring a prominent synthesizer beat throughout the duration of the song, with lyrics regarding to events played down to seem like nuances. The chorus features repetition of the phrase "show me love".
At the end of the song, the song has the lyrics "Mama, Papa, forgive me". In early leaked demos, the line is always shown on the group's single "30 Minutes". It is important to note that the line is not associated with "30 Minutes" although it is sometimes used in the music video of "30 Minutes".
Critical reception
Show Me Love received mixed reviews from music critics. Allmusic had highlighted the song as an album standout, but had called the song "suggestive". Sputnikmusic gave it a mixed review. They said that the cheesy lyrics wasn't good enough as a highlight, but said it's worth "listening to".
However, Adriandenning.co.uk gave it a really negative remark, saying that "Show Me Love" is "fucking awful" and also compared it to horrible Eurovision songs saying it's "Semi-eurovision crap". Michael Orsborn from MusicOMH gave it a nice remark, along with the song "Not Gonna Get Us", saying "Big production values which have a definite whiff of the '80s steam through on Not Gonna Get Us and Show Me Love." Todd Burns from Stylus Magazine gave it a mixed review. He said he was unimpressed that the song was not a single as he said it sounds "wise, than the first two tracks" but he also added " “Show Me Love”, in particular, lacks the energy and dynamism of the previous two singles, merely plodding along at its own pace."
Music video
The video was directed by Ivan Shapovalov in May, 2003. The video shoot took place in Los Angeles, London, Moscow and Tokyo. However, the video was cancelled and was not released.
Arrest incident
Director Ivan Shapovalov was arrested during the shooting of the music video. This was said that it was due to disturbing the peace while shooting in Red Square in Moscow, Russia. After the incident, he was later banned from filming near Big Ben in London, but did shoot at Tower Bridge.
Track listings
Polish CD Single
Released May 5, 2003
- "Show Me Love"
- "Ya Tvoya Ne Pervaya"
- "All The Things She Said"
Cover version
Hong Kong singer Emme Wong covered the song in Cantonese in 2003. The song was released as the second single from Wong's widely talked about album, which was full of songs with sexual implication. The song was more explicit in context, but less of a commercial success compared to her first single, a cover of "Round Round" originally sung by the UK girl band Sugababes.