Bang Bang (Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj song)


"Bang Bang" is a song recorded by English singer Jessie J, American singer Ariana Grande, and American rapper Nicki Minaj. It was written by Max Martin, Savan Kotecha, Rickard Göransson and Minaj, and produced by Martin, Göransson and Ilya, with Kuk Harrell serving as a vocal producer. The song was first sent to hot adult contemporary radio on 28 July 2014 through Republic Records and released as a digital download the next day by Lava and Republic Records as the lead single from Jessie J's third studio album Sweet Talker. It is also included on the deluxe version of Grande's second studio album My Everything, serving as the third single from that album.
"Bang Bang" debuted at number six and later peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100. It debuted at number one in the United Kingdom becoming Grande's second number one debut that year and marked Minaj's first number one single on the chart. The song reached the top ten in multiple other countries including Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, and South Korea. "Bang Bang" was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 57th Grammy Awards in 2015, and won Favorite Song of the Year at the 2015 Kids' Choice Awards. In November 2017, "Bang Bang" was certified six-times platinum by the RIAA, and has sold over 3.5 million copies in the US since its release.

Background

The song was written by Savan Kotecha, Max Martin, and Carolina Liar guitarist Rickard Göransson, while the latter two co-produced it with Ilya Salmanzadeh. Minaj added her rap later. Martin had already previously collaborated with Jessie J, Grande, and Minaj.
The song was originally offered to and recorded by Grande, who didn't like the result. Republic Records EVP Wendy Goldstein then sent it to EVP Rob Stevenson who got a demo of the song played to Jessie J, which she decided to record. Following her recording, Republic Records sent it to Minaj to record her verse. Goldstein then sent it to CEO Monte Lipman, who insisted that Grande listen to it. Grande was impressed, surprised by Jessie J and Minaj also being on the song, and agreed to remain on the song. However, in interviews, Jessie J stated she recorded it first and that Martin wanted Grande on it too, so it is unclear if Jessie bent the truth or was not told by executives that Grande was first to record.
Jessie later said that "It was like a real females, coming together, empowering, supportive , and then Nicki jumping on it was like the icing on the cake."
On various dates in July 2014, each of the artists uploaded a snippet of the song on her Instagram profile: Jessie J on 9 July, Minaj on 23 July, and Grande on 4 July.

Composition

"Bang Bang" is an up-tempo, "soulful" song, that features a "clap-heavy" production, built over "big bouncy beats and horn blasts." It's in the key of C mixolydian mode, with the vocals making use of the C blues scale. The tempo is 150 BPM. The melody of the chorus has been compared to the melody of the first line of "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham!.

Critical reception

of Rolling Stone called the song a "perfect Max Martin throwdown" that "fuses Nelly's 'Country Grammar' with Wham!'s 'Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,' which is some truly twisted pop archaeology."
Carolyn Menyes from Music Times called the song " Huge successful hit of Summer 2014" and thought that " song is going straight to the top of the charts". Zach Frydenlund from Complex praised Jessie J's and Ariana's heavenly vocals in the song but concentrated more on Nicki's "catchy killer verse" stating that "it's Nicki who really steals the show with her verse". Jason Lipshutz from Billboard responded positively to the song, saying that the song itself " composed of piercing vocals courtesy of two contemporary crooners, as well as rapid-fire spitting from the hottest female MC on the planet, "Bang Bang" rests tidily upon the Jessie J assertion, "See anybody could be good to you/You need a bad girl to blow your mind."
Vulture's Lindsey Weber thought the song was "no Lady Marmalade" but praised it saying "it's catchy enough to make a huge splash in the music history". Chris Martins from Spin stated that the song is "powerful", and credits Minaj for the song's noteworthy energy. "What makes the track so big? Well, um, ask Nicki Minaj." He goes on to further praise Minaj's performance on the song, affirming that "The "Anaconda"-taming MC rips a few mics on the loud and proud pop-soul song". Lewis Corner from Digital Spy gave the song four and a half stars out of five and said that is "one of the year's most electrifying pop anthems".

Accolades

Commercial performance

In the United States, "Bang Bang" debuted atop the Billboard Digital Songs chart selling 230,000 digital downloads in the week ending August 3, 2014, becoming Grande's and Minaj's second chart topper there, and Jessie J's first. Its first week sales also marked the third-largest sales debut for a song in 2014, behind Grande's own "Problem" and Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off", both of which were co-written by Max Martin. The song launched on the US Billboard Hot 100 at number six, making it the second highest new entry of 2014 on that chart at the time, also behind Grande's "Problem". The song marked Jessie J's second, Grande's fourth, and Minaj's tenth top ten single in the United States. It also became Grande's second consecutive top ten hit of 2014, after "Problem" peaked at number two. In its second week on the Hot 100, "Bang Bang" fell to number nine selling an additional 141,000 digital downloads. The song rebounded following the release of its music video and reached a peak of number three, holding that position for three non-consecutive weeks, being kept off the top spot by Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass" and Swift's "Shake It Off". Overall, "Bang Bang" spent sixteen consecutive weeks in the top ten, and a total of 31 weeks charting on the Hot 100.
On Billboard's Mainstream Top 40 chart, the song debuted at number 19 and reached a peak of number two, becoming Jessie J's highest hit single since her 2012 single "Domino" also peaked at number two there. The song became Grande's second-highest peak at the time, after "Problem" topped the chart. It also was Minaj's third number two hit on that chart after her collaborations with Justin Bieber on "Beauty and a Beat" and David Guetta on "Turn Me On". Grande and Minaj would later reach number one with "Side to Side" in 2016. On the Streaming Songs chart, the song debuted at number 21 registering 3 million streams in its first week, and reached the top position on the issue dated 13 September 2014. In Canada, the single peaked at number three on the Canadian Hot 100, equaling "Problem" as Grande's highest peak in the country at the time. The song was later certified triple platinum in March 2015 for selling over 240,000 units there.
In the United Kingdom, "Bang Bang" debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart with 92,000 downloads, becoming Jessie J's third, Grande's second, and Minaj's first number one single in the country. It consequently became the first song by a lead female rapper to debut at the top spot, and the second song by a female rapper to reach number one overall since Lil' Kim's feature on "Lady Marmalade" in 2001. The single has since been certified double platinum by the BPI for shipments of over 1.2 million copies in the United Kingdom. On the Irish Singles Chart, the track reached number three. In Australia, "Bang Bang" peaked at number four on the Australian ARIA Charts, her third consecutive top-five single there. It also peaked at number one on the Urban Singles Chart and was certified triple platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association for shipments of over 210,000 copies. Internationally, the song has also peaked within the top ten of the charts in Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, and South Korea.

Music video

The song's accompanying video was shot over two days in Los Angeles, California and was directed by Hannah Lux Davis. The video was officially previewed and teased in a Beats by Dr. Dre commercial that aired on 20 August 2014. Following the ad's airing, it was announced that the music video would arrive shortly after the trio's performance at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. On 24 August 2014 the official video was uploaded on MTV's website and was available for international viewing. On 25 August 2014, the video was released via Jessie J's Vevo account, and was Vevo-certified on 5 November, having surpassed 110 million views. As of June 2020, it has accumulated more than 1.5 billion views.

Live performances

Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj performed the song together at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards on 24 August 2014 in Inglewood, California alongside Grande's song Break Free and Minaj's single Anaconda, and at the 2014 American Music Awards on 23 November 2014 in Los Angeles, California.
The song was performed in the seventh episode of the South Korean music reality program Produce 101; the performance became a trending topic on social media with Jessie J sharing its video on her Facebook page. Jessie J's response later made the program's executive producer Han Dong-chul proud in an interview on 10 March 2016, saying: "It’s such an honor that the original singer of the song has mentioned our show. And I’m also proud that our contestants performed it so well."
In November 2014, Grande performed the song with Little Big Town at the 48th Annual Country Music Association Awards. Grande performed the song by herself at the 2014 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in London, UK on 9 December 2014 and during her international tour, The Honeymoon Tour. She also performed the song with Minaj at the NBA All-Star Game halftime show on 15 February 2015, as well as at the iHeartRadio Music Festival. Since the start of the Dangerous Woman Tour, Grande has also performed the song herself throughout her international tour that started in early February. Grande and Minaj performed the song in April 2019 at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival despite there being audio problems with Minaj's mic. On 18 April 2020, Jessie J performed the song by herself in , where she living in her house to avoid from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Usage in media

  1. "Bang Bang" – 3:19
  2. "Bang Bang" – 3:11
  1. "Bang Bang" – 3:19
  1. "Bang Bang" – 3:34
  2. "Bang Bang" – 3:57
  3. "Bang Bang" – 3:06
  4. "Bang Bang" – 3:44
  5. "Bang Bang" – 3:33
  1. "Bang Bang" – 3:34
  2. "Bang Bang" – 3:57
  3. "Bang Bang" – 3:06
  4. "Bang Bang" – 3:44
  5. "Bang Bang" – 3:33
  6. "Bang Bang" – 3:44

    Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from My Everything deluxe edition liner notes.
;Recording
;Management
;Personnel

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
Belgium Urban 32
Canada 70
Italy 87
Netherlands 87
South Korea International Chart 18
UK Singles 91
US Billboard Hot 10080

Chart Position
South Korea International Chart 4

Chart Position
South Korea International Chart 38

Certifications and sales

!scope="col" colspan="3"| Streaming

Radio and release history