The Time (Dirty Bit)

Background and composition

After will.i.am tweeted: "Who wants me to drop the new Black Eyed Peas single from The Beginning earlier than we should???" he posted the song on dipdive.com. Group member Fergie noted the song's coincidental relation to Dirty Dancing actress Jennifer Grey's appearance on Dancing with the Stars: "... that song reminds me of [Grey] and Dirty Dancing and that whole time".

The chorus of "The Time (Dirty Bit)" samples "(I've Had) The Time of My Life", originally performed by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing. In the chorus, the line "Yes I swear it's the truth" was changed to "And I swear this is true". Billboard described the song as continuing the group's "evolution from hip-pop to dance heavyweights as will.i.am and Fergie sing and rap over a beat tailored to global dancefloors."

Critical response

Simon Vozick-Levinson of Entertainment Weekly praised the song's catchiness, but felt it failed to meet the standards of previous singles "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling". Franke Previte, who won an Academy Award for co-writing "(I've Had) The Time of My Life", complimented The Black Eyed Peas' sample usage, saying, "It just reconfirms to me that the song is cross-generational. The song has now crossed over to the next generation in a huge way." Willa Paskin of New York, however, criticized the choice of sample and was disappointed with the chorus, feeling it was "shoehorned into the rest of the song". Todd Martens of the Los Angeles Times called "The Time (Dirty Bit)" "the most assertive party song of the year". Digital Spy's Nick Levine gave a review of three stars out of five, disliking the many elements that constituted the song. The Independent's Simon Price also criticized the sampling on the track, calling it a low quality attempt to satisfy listeners.

Comparisons to deadmau5

After receiving Twitter messages about the song similarity to his own work, deadmau5 compared the song to remix of the song "You and I" for Medina. The record producer spoke of the similarities through his official Facebook account. He likened the Black Eyed Peas song to the remix of "You and I" by Medina, a song he produced. "I so know that hi-hat... and the pattern it was in... so I went to my masters folder, cracked open my instrumental mix of 'You and I' remix thing I did for Medina... and there it was again, staring me in the face". The producer stated he welcomed the usage of sampling in electronic music, "This isn't calling the Black Eyed Peas out at all. This is just another interesting factoid I keep finding about sampling and electronic music".

Commercial performance

"The Time (The Dirty Bit)" debuted on the Canadian Hot 100 at number 87 the week of November 5, 2010. The song also debuted at number 40 on the Billboard Pop Songs chart the next week and has currently peaked at number 19. Two weeks later, the song climbed to number one in Canada, the third time the group has achieved this, selling 31,000 downloads that week. The song also peaked at number 1 for two weeks in a row in New Zealand, becoming their 6th number 1 and 12th top 10 single in the country. While the song debuted at number ten in Australia, it reached number one in its second week. On the singles chart for Ireland and the Netherlands the song has peaked at number two.

In the United Kingdom, "The Time (Dirty Bit)" climbed five places on the UK Singles Chart from its previous highest peak of number six to number one on December 12, 2010 ― for the week ending date December 18, 2010 ― beating "Whip My Hair" by Willow Smith to the summit of the chart. The song became the group's fifth chart-topping song in Britain, following 2003's "Where Is The Love?" and 2009's Boom Boom Pow, I Gotta Feeling and Meet Me Halfway. It also debuted at number one on the UK Dance Chart.

In Germany, the song debuted at No. 7 on the German Singles Chart and reached No. 2 in its 3rd week on the German Singles Chart, where it stayed for 3 consecutive weeks. In its 6th week on that chart, it finally reached No. 1, breaking the 12-week run of Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's "Over The Rainbow". In February 2011, the single was certificated Platinum in Germany for 300,000 copies sold, making it their third single to do so (following "Shut Up" and "I Gotta Feeling"). After 4 weeks at the top, the song went down to No. 4, making it the biggest fall from the pole position since Mehrzad Marashi did so with his single "Don't Believe" in May 2010.

As of January 2011, the single sold 3 million copies in the US, making it the group's fourth to do so.

Music video

The music video for "The Time (Dirty Bit)" was released on November 23, 2010 and was directed by Rich Lee, who earlier directed the video for "Imma Be Rocking That Body", Pasha Shapiro And Ernst Weber. It opens with a zoom-in to a city street where, as will.i.am sings the beginning, his head voxelizes and transforms into a television screen where Fergie is projected during her solo. The video then cuts to sweaty dancers at an underground nightclub, who, along with the Peas, also variously become voxelized throughout the song. The avatars seen on the cover of the new album The Beginning appear as posters, and the BlackBerry PlayBook also appears as pre-release product placement, seen animating them in an augumented reality application and making special effects. The animated versions of the band members are in this order: will.i.am, Fergie, apl.de.ap and Taboo. As of February 2017 the video has received over 340 million views on YouTube and is the group's most viewed video.

Live performances

The Black Eyed Peas performed "The Time (Dirty Bit)" at the American Music Awards of 2010 on November 21. Each member wore a futuristic outfit and started off enclosed in a glow-in-the-dark yellow box chamber similar to an elevator, accompanied by dancers with boxes as heads. Martens gave it grade of C+, calling it the "oddest set of the night". During the performance, Fergie experienced some trouble when the door to her box remained stuck for a moment. On December 5, the group performed the single live during the semi-final results of season 7 of the British TV singing competition The X Factor. They also performed "The Time (Dirty Bit)" at Super Bowl XLV, and then again at the "i.am.FIRST" performance at the FIRST Robotics Competition World Championship on April 29, 2011.

Track listing

1. "The Time (Dirty Bit)" – 5:08

1. "The Time (Dirty Bit)" (Radio Edit) – 4:15
2. "The Time (Dirty Bit)" (Main Version) – 5:08

1. "The Time (Dirty Bit)" (Afrojack Remix) – 7:53
2. "The Time (Dirty Bit)" (Zedd Remix) – 6:00
3. "The Time (Dirty Bit)" (Dave Audé Club Mix) – 7:16
4. "The Time (Dirty Bit)" (Felguk Remix) – 5:18
5. "The Time (Dirty Bit)" (Wideboys Full Club Remix) – 5:23

1. "The Time (Dirty Bit)" (Video Edit) – 4:52
2. "The Time (Dirty Bit)" (Edson Pride Vocal Mix) – 8:15

Credits and personnel

Vocals – will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Fergie