She Bangs


"She Bangs" is a song recorded by Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin for his sixth studio album, Sound Loaded. It was written by and produced by Desmond Child, Walter Afanasieff, and Robi Draco Rosa, with additional writing from Glenn Monroig, Julia Sierra and Daniel López. It was released as the lead single from the album on September 23, 2000. "She Bangs" is a dance song with Latin music influences, while the lyrics see Martin wanting to hold on to a woman. It received positive reviews from music critics who noted similarities with Martin's previous single "Livin' la Vida Loca", and received a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 2001 Grammy Awards. Commercially, the song peaked at number one in Italy and Switzerland and reached the top five in several countries in Europe.
A Spanish-language version of "She Bangs" was also recorded under the same title and reached the summit of the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart in the United States. The music video for "She Bangs" was filmed in the Bahamas and directed by Wayne Isham. The suggested sexual content of the video caused controversy and led to it being banned in several Latin American countries. Despite the backlash, the visual won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Music Video and the Lo Nuestro Award for Video of the Year, both in 2001. The song has been covered by several artists including William Hung on American Idol. His cover version received unfavorable reviews from both the judges at the show and music critics.

Composition and lyrical interpretation

"She Bangs" is a dance song that features Latin music influences and lasts for four minutes and forty-two seconds. According to Alfred Publishing Company's digital sheet music for the single, "She Bangs" is composed in the key of F# minor and set in common time signature, and with a groove of 142 beats per minute. Martin's vocals span from the low note of D4, to the high note of F#5. The song's instrumentation features "powerful" percussion, trumpet blasts and tropical beats. Chris Willman of Entertainment Weekly wrote that the song starts with a "teasing snatch" of a "sputtering" Spanish guitar, before the disco beats start. The beats are followed by an "equally inevitable driving" horn section, which Willman called reminiscent of the one on Martin's 1999 single "Livin' la Vida Loca". Lyrically, "She Bangs" is similar to the singer's previous singles, "María" and "Livin la Vida Loca; it tells a "tale of a wild woman who may be hard to let go and even harder to hold." Billboard' wrote that the song's lyrics are "insane" and will make cynics bark in a triumph, "Talk to me, tell me the news/ You'll wear me out like a pair of shoes/We'll dance until the band goes home/Then you're gone, yeah baby."

Release and reception

"She Bangs" was released to radio stations on September 22, 2000. It received positive reviews from music critics. A reviewer of Billboard magazine praised the song and wrote that "She Bangs" is "simply manic with exuberance and energy", being designed to ignite the flavor of "Livin' la Vida Loca". According to the staff, the single was just what the radio needed at the time of release, a "summertime smash" in the fall season. Similarly, Allison Stewart from the Chicago Tribune called the song "glamorous" but thought that it replicates the former. Sean Piccoli and Lawrence A. Johnson of the Sun-Sentinel agreed with Stewart and noted that the resemblance of the song is a result of both songs being produced by Rosa. The two of them further noted that the song's credits include a personnel consisting of 34 people, opining that the "life of any serious party knows: It's all about the entourage".
Geoff Boucher of the Los Angeles Times noted that the erotic images of the song and accompanying music video are "up a notch" from his previous lead single "Livin' la Vida Loca" "and will likely do no harm to Martin's hunk status". In a review of Sound Loaded, Orlando Sentinel's Jim Abbott labeled "She Bangs" and "Loaded" as "bon-bon shakers" in reference to Martin's 1999 single "Shake Your Bon-Bon". Jose F. Promis from AllMusic concluded by calling the song "electrifying" and stated that it is arguably one of best songs of the 2000s. At the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2001, "She Bangs" was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. The track was recognized as the one of the best-performing pop songs at the 2002 BMI Pop Awards. At the 16th Annual International Dance Music Awards, presented in 2001, the single won the award for Best Latin 12".

Commercial performance

On October 29, 2000, "She Bangs" debuted and peaked at number three on the Australian Singles Chart. It spend six weeks in the top-ten of the chart, before slowly started declining on it. The song stayed on the chart for a total of 15 weeks. It was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association, denoting shipments of over 70,000 copies in the country. In New Zealand, the song debuted at number 31 on the singles chart, on October 15, 2000. The next week, the song rose 15 places to ultimately reaching its final peak of number two on December 3 of that year. In the United Kingdom, "She Bangs" reached a peak of number three on November 4, 2000; similarly to the charts of other nations and stayed on the chart for 15 weeks. The song was later certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry, indicating shipments of over 200,000 copies in the country. In continental Europe], it was most successful on the Italian and the Sverigetopplistan where it peaked at number one. Additionally, it was certified gold by the Swedish Recording Industry Association, denoting sales of over 15,000 copies in the country. It was also successful in Spain, peaking at number two, while the song reached number three in Finland, number four in Norway, and number seven in Switzerland. In Latin America, the song peaked at number nine in Guatemala, number five in Nicaragua, and number one in Uruguay.The song was also a chart topper in Argentina, Chile, Hong Kong, and South Africa.
She Bangs" debuted at number 38 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. After several weeks on the chart, the track reached its peak of number 12. As of January 2011, the track has sold over 152,000 digital copies in the US and it is Martin's second best-selling single, only behind "Livin' la Vida Loca". The track was more successful on the country's Hot Latin Songs and Tropical Songs charts. and became his fifth number-one song on the former chart. The track further peaked at number two on the US Latin Pop Airplay chart and number eight on the Mainstream Top 40. On the Adult Top 40 and Hot Dance Club Songs, "She Bangs" peaked at number 24 and 27, respectively. The track was more successful in Canada, reaching number two on the Canadian Singles Chart. It experienced moderate chart success in Japan, peaking at number 58.

Music video

Development and synopsis

The music video for "She Bangs" was directed by Wayne Isham and shot at the Atlantis Paradise Island hotel in the Bahamas. Isham had worked on some of Martin's previous videos, including the ones for "La Copa de la Vida" and "Shake Your Bon-Bon". The singer described the concept of the video as being part of a trilogy with "María" and "Livin' la Vida Loca", "with this girl who drives me crazy because she's crazy, she won't talk to me or tell me her name". Martin told Univision he envisioned the visual taking place in Atlantis and felt that the Bahamas was the perfect place to film it. Jamie King helped with the creative direction of the video and over 100 people were involved in the production process. A body double for Martin was used during the scenes with sharks. The Spanish version of the music video premiered on September 26, 2000 for the Hispanophone market, while the English version debuted on MTV's Making the Video series the following day.
The video begins with a group of women on a beach at night swimming to an underwater nightclub, with Martin following them. Martin explained that filming the scene was hard for him because he had to resist without taking air for a long time, as well as having to mime the lyrics without blowing bubbles out of his mouth. Upon entering the nightclub, Martin proceeds to sing "She Bangs" as he dances with the people in the club, with several scenes resembling an orgy. In one scene, Martin sees himself being seduced by mermaids and is later taken into a closet, in which he dances erotically with several women. Near the end of the visual, Martin spills a bottle of water on himself and the people nearby him. The music video concludes with him returning to the surface at daylight.

Reception and controversy

The explicit sexual scenes received criticism from the audience; several American television station cut the scenes when airing the video. According to Daily Record's John Dingwall with the video the singer ditched his teen idol image with a transformation to more mature one. The video was consequently banned in several Latin American countries such as the Dominican Republic. Martin told MTV News that the video represented freedom rather than his sexuality. At the 2nd Annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2001, Martin and Isham won the award for Best Short Form Music Video. In the same year, it was the Video of the Year at the 13th Lo Nuestro Awards.

Live performances

Martin performed "She Bangs" live at the 2000 Billboard Music Awards. To promote the song in Mexico, he performed it on the television programs Al Fin de Semana and Otro Rollo that same year. At the 2000 MTV Europe Music Awards, Martin was accompanied by underwater dancers in tanks while he sung "She Bangs". In his only North American concert of 2001, "She Bangs" was one of the songs Martin performed during the annual Wango Tango in Los Angeles. In the same year, it was sung by Martin at the 43rd Annual TV Week Logie Awards. The song was included on the set list for both Martin's 2011 Música + Alma + Sexo World Tour and his 2013 Australian Tour.

Cover versions

"She Bangs" has been covered by several contestants on various music talent shows. Ronny B performed "She Bangs" on season three of America's Got Talent. His rendition was rendition was poorly received with David Hasselhoff remarking that he had zero talent" and was immediately eliminated afterwards.

William Hung version

gained notoriety when he auditioned for the third season of American Idol. Hung was strongly criticized for his singing and dancing. Simon Cowell interrupted his audition and asked him, "You can’t sing, you can’t dance, so what do you want me to say?" Despite the negative reception, Hung gained a following his performance and signed on to Koch Entertainment. Hung recorded his cover of "She Bangs" on his debut album Inspiration which was panned by music critics. AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine writes that Hung "sang it as if the song meant something to him even though he didn't understand the words, which gave the Berkeley civil engineering student innocence or, to some of his harsher critics, the appearance of being mildly retarded." Chris Carle of IGN called it the "best track but that's like saying a tetanus shot is the best kind of injection you can get." Clem Bestow wrote for Stylus Magazine that Hung performance of the song was "like a tone-deaf taxi driver and dancing like an epileptic octopus". When Martin was asked about his thoughts on Hung's cover, he replied: "William, keep up the good work buddy!" The music video for Hung's version was directed by Jeff Richter and filmed in Los Angeles.

Credits and personnel

Recording
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Sound Loaded, Columbia Records.

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart Peak
position
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Canada 2
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Denmark 9
Europe 4
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Greece Foreign Singles 2
Hungary 4
Iceland 12
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Japan 58
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Poland 2
Romania 7
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US Top 40 Tracks 8
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Year-end charts

Chart Position
US Adult Top 40 90

Certifications