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Speakerphone (song)
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Wikipedia article
"'Speakerphone'" is a song by Australian singer Kylie Minogue for her tenth studio album 'X' (2007). It was produced by Bloodshy & Avant duo Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg, who co-wrote it with Henrik Jonback and Klas hlund. The song featured dance, electronic, and funk elements. It heavily used Auto-Tune and vocoder, which caused some critics to liken it to music by Britney Spears and Daft Punk. "Speakerphone" received mixed responses from critics. The song appeared on the Canadian Hot 100 and the Hot Canadian Digital Singles 'Billboard' charts.
"Speakerphone" was performed on the KylieX2008 and For You, for Me concert tours. In 2008, Fanny Pak performed to the song for the season two premiere of 'America's Best Dance Crew'. In 2009, a competition was held for fans to create a video for the song, which was won by Hungarian animator Rudolf Pap.
Background and release
Bloodshy & Avant duo Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg produced "Speakerphone" and co-wrote it with Henrik Jonback and Klas hlund. Kylie Minogue talked about the song, which was included on her tenth studio album 'X', in an interview, "Xposed Interview with Kylie". She described the song as catchy, and said she particularly enjoyed the lyrics. She likened her vocals to a "quite straight delivery", which she compared to a person singing or humming around their home.
"Speakerphone" was released on 21 November 2007 as part of 'X'; it was removed from the album's Chinese edition, along with "Like a Drug" and "Nu-Di-Ty", due to censorship laws. On 20 January 2015, the song was uploaded to Minogue's YouTube account as part of a 'X' playlist.
Composition and lyrics
Opening with a harp instrumental, "Speakerphone" includes the lyrics "track repeat go on and on" and "set [our] mind on Freaky Mode". Critics labelled the song as a dance, electronic, and funk song. Writing for the New York Times News Service, Kelefa Sanneh called it a "meta-dance song intoxicated with itself". Likening the lyrics to a sexual version of 'Operation', NewNowNext.com's Louis Virtel said the song is about "connecting our collarbone to our neckbone to our jawbone".
In the song, Minogue's voice is heavily processed through Auto-Tune and vocoder.Mathieson (2009): p. 7 Critics compared the style to the "robotic hypno-funk" of Daft Punk and noted that its use of "array of robo voices" had similarities with the music of Britney Spears. Music journalist Craig Mathieson described Minogue's vocals as "taken to fetishistic levels, wiping the person and leaving the digital construct", and said she had "disappear[ed] into the ether". In 2013, the composition was a subject of a lawsuit in which Salsoul Records claimed Minogue and Warner Bros. duplicated the "entire rhythm" of Gaz's 1978 song "Sing Sing" for "Speakerphone".
Reception
placed "Speakerphone" on an iTunes playlist.|alt=Madonna onstage in a purple leotard and wearing sunglasses|left
The song received mixed responses from critics. Music journalist Robert Christgau and the Scripps Howard News Service's Chuck Campbell cited it as one of the album's high points. 'British GQ'
Some critics identified the song as one of the album's low points. 'The Morning Call'
Despite never being released as a single, "Speakerphone" charted on the Canadian Hot 100 at number 87 based on high downloads from the album. It also peaked at number 56 on the Hot Canadian Digital Singles 'Billboard' chart on 15 December 2007.
Promotion
tour|alt=A picture of a woman singing on stage while sitting in a gold hoop.
Minogue was initially concerned about how she would perform "Speakerphone" live due to its layered vocals. She performed the song on the KylieX2008 and For You, for Me concert tours in 2008 and 2009, respectively. It was the opening number for KylieX2008, in which Minogue descended on stage in a gold hoop. During the first Australian show, Minogue wore a gladiator-style dress, and for her Auckland performance, she had an Egyptian-inspired costume instead.
During For You, for Me, "Speakerphone" was the second song on the set list after "Light Years" from the 2000 album of the same name. For the performance, Minogue was accompanied by backup dancers dressed like robots. Minogue's performances of "Speakerphone" were included in the video album 'KylieX2008' (2008) and the live album 'Live in New York' (2009). The first half of For You, for Me was streamed live on 12 December 2009 via Minogue's YouTube account.
"Speakerphone" was also performed by Fanny Pak for the season two premiere of 'America's Best Dance Crew' in 2008'.' In 2009, a competition was held to make a video for the song; it was won by Hungarian animator Rudolf Pap.
Charts
References
Citations
Bibliography
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Category:2007 songs
Category:Kylie Minogue songs
Category:Songs about telephones
Category:Song recordings produced by Bloodshy & Avant
Category:Songs written by Klas hlund
Category:Songs written by Henrik Jonback
Category:Songs written by Christian Karlsson (DJ)
Category:Songs written by Pontus Winnberg
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