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This article is about the Alexandra Stan song. For the AOA song, see Good Luck (AOA EP). For the record label, see Cherry Red Records.

"Cherry Pop" is a song recorded by Romanian singer Alexandra Stan for her second studio album Unlocked (2014). It was made available for digital download on 28 May 2014 through Roton as the record's second single. The track was written by the singer, Lukas Hällgren and Erik Lidbom, while production was handled by the latter two. "Cherry Pop" was recorded at the Fonogram Studios in Bucharest, Romania, with additional engineering being done at Lidbom's Hitfire Production.

Musically, "Cherry Pop" is of the J-pop genre, but is also influenced by Eurodance and house music, and has a dubstep breakdown. An accompanying music video for the track was uploaded on 28 May 2014 on Stan's YouTube channel; Khaled Mokhtar was both the clip's director and director of photography. It was shot in Buftea, Romania, and portrays Stan and her background dancers performing choreography created by performer Emil Rengle. The song reached number 64 on the Japan Hot 100 and became the most-sought ringtone on the largest Japanese profile site, Recochoku.

Background and composition

"Cherry Pop"
A 22-second sample of "Cherry Pop", showcasing the song's refrain which is then followed by a dubstep breakdown.[1]
Problems playing this file? See media help.

"Cherry Pop" was written by Stan herself, Lukas Hällgren and Erik Lidbom, while production was handled by both Hällgren and Lidbom.[2] It was recorded at the Fonogram Studios in Bucharest, Romania and was additionally mixed and engineered at Lidbom's Hitfire Production in Uppsala, Sweden.[2] Further's work on the track was done during FonoCamp2013, the first Romanian international songwriting camp held in Azuga.[3][4] Fellow Romanian and international singers were also present at the two-weeks event, such as Delia Matache, Mohombi, Smiley and Deepcentral.[3]

Stan described "Cherry Pop" as a J-pop song, noting that while she had not worked with the genre "[it] fits my style", as she finds J-pop music "very energetic, it's got such a positive vibe to it."[5] She also noticed influences to Eurodance.[6] An administrator of IasiFun commended the recording as being influenced by house, while also describing the song's instrumentation as "electric" and "vibrant".[7] Anthony Easton, a writer for The Singles Jukebox, described the song as a "popluxe", while Ian Mew compared it to "Bubble Pop!" by South Korean singer Hyuna.[8] According to Popdust, "Cherry Pop" uses dubstep for its breakdown.[1] The main idea for the song was based on Stan's first kiss which, according to her, "tasted like candy".[6]

Critical reception

"I am also very surprised [about the fact that "Cherry Pop" debuted atop the Japanese iTunes Singles Chart]. I didn't think that the song would enter so speedy to the iTunes Charts in Japan. My Japanese fans were waiting for me and I think they missed me. I missed them, too, of course. That's the life. When you choose to see the things as positive and to go on, there's nothing bad that can happen to you".

—Stan on "Cherry Pop"[9]

"Cherry Pop" received generally mixed reviews from music critics upon release. The Singles Jukebox gave the song an overall rating of 5/10,[8] with one of the writers, Andy Hutchins, confessed that "a better title for the song might have been 'Dr Pepper'".[8] Website Popdust described the song as "outdated", but at the same time catchy and funny.[1] Hitfire praised the song's refrain as being "earwhormy" and "trashy".[10] They went on saying that "Cherry Pop" "doesn't reach the standards like of her previously launched songs, 'Mr. Saxobeat', 'Get Back (ASAP)' and 'Lemonade'".[10] Music website Pop Shock described the single as a "grower track".[11] Website Addictivoz praised overall her album Unlocked, mentioning also that the song is "ironic".[12] Another article called the song ″rather obvious″ but ″perfect for the summer″.[13] In a 2019 retrospective for Unlocked, writer Jan Bran from R&BJUNK praised Stan's ability to navigate a variety of subgenres, citing ″Cherry Pop″ as an example.[14]

Commercial performance

According to the biggest Japanese profile site, Recochoku, "Cherry Pop" became the most sought ringtone on their website within two hours.[15] The news that "Cherry Pop" achieved so much success in Japan came to Stan when she was on tour in Turkey.[16] There, the organizers of her show displayed the sentence "Congratulations, Alexandra Stan, you're number 1!" on the main screen of the club.[16] The song entered the Japan Hot 100 at number 64 on 5 July 2014.[17] It subsequently left the chart after just one week.[17] "Cherry Pop" also peaked at number 82 on the native Airplay 100 chart,[18] and reached number two on the Turkish Number One Top 20 compiled on 6 September 2014.[19]

Music video

An accompanying music video for "Cherry Pop" was uploaded onto Stan's YouTube channel on 28 May 2014, where it has since amassed a total of 5 million views.[20] The clip was shot by Khaled Mokhtar in Buftea, Romania in a set built specially for this project.[4][21] The accompanying choreography was choreographed by Romanian performer Emil Rengle and the eight "shiny and glam" different outfits used for the video were designed by Andra Moga.[2][6][22] Particularly, Stan described the video as incorporating "both a futuristic and a retro point of view".[6][22]

The video opens with Stan and some of her male back-up dancers being presented in a dark white room. Subsequently, the room becomes enlightened and Stan is seen wearing transparent sunglasses, a white sweatband and a silver jacket. Following this, she retrieves a tennis racket from one of her background dancers and holds it in front of her face before returning the racket to a nearby dancer. Next, Stan performs the pre-refrain of the song, while two female performers clutch a hair dryer in their hands. For the refrain, she and ten other female background dancers are performing synchronized dances, with them having wigs on, and dressing white clothing and red accessories. Following this, Stan is presented standing on a yellow plate which is kept in the air by two threads. She wears a silver leotard and a multicolored wig. Next, Stan is shown walking into a tennis field, whereon she plays a tennis match against herself. For the breakdown of "Cherry Pop", the video gets introduced into a dark-lighted room. There, her previously shown male background dancers are presented; the video continues with Stan dancing accompanied by her dancers. The clip finally ends with a pink tennis ball dropping out of the ceiling, while the screen becomes black.[20]

Live performances

On 12 December 2014, Stan performed both "Cherry Pop" and "Vanilla Chocolat" on an episode of Vocea României.[23] Shortly after her performance, juror Tudor Chirilă expressed how he was very disappointed by Stan's act, as she did not provide live vocals.[24] In an interview with Cancan, Stan confessed that "[her] conditions of appearance at Vocea României were previously discussed with the producers of the show, so no one should have been surprised about [her] performing playback".[24] "Cherry Pop" was included on the track list of her Unlocked Tour (2014) and her Cherry Pop Summer Tour (2014).[25][26]

Track listings

  • Digital download[27]
  1. "Cherry Pop" – 3:11
  • Spanish digital remix EP[28]
  1. "Cherry Pop" (DJ Kone & Marc Palacios radio edit) – 3:33
  2. "Cherry Pop" (Geo Da Silva & Jack Mazzoni radio remix) – 3:15
  3. "Cherry Pop" (CryDuom remix radio) – 3:13
  4. "Cherry Pop" (DJ Kone & Marc Palacios remix) – 6:24
  5. "Cherry Pop" (Geo Da Silva & Jack Mazzoni remix) – 4:17
  6. "Cherry Pop" (CryDuom remix extended) – 4:06

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Unlocked and The Collection.[2][29]

Charts

Chart (2014) Peak
position
Japan (Japan Hot 100)[17] 64
Romania (Airplay 100)[18] 82
Turkey (Number One Top 20)[19] 2

Release history

Country Date Format Label
Romania[27] 28 May 2014 Digital single Roton
Japan[30] 18 June 2014 Victor
Spain[31] 22 July 2014 Blanco y Negro
Italy[32][33] 30 July 2014
Ego
Spain[28] 2 December 2014 Digital remix EP Blanco y Negro

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Romanian pop diva Alexandra Stan returns with Cherry Pop". Popdust. 28 May 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d Unlocked (Liner notes). Alexandra Stan. Bucharest, Romania: Roton (Barcode: 8693644012601). 2014.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  3. ^ a b "Smiley, Delia, Mohombi si Alexandra Stan au fost impreuna in tabara. Vezi cine sunt cei care au reusit sa ii scoata din tabieturi lor si sa ii puna sa munceasca impreuna" [Smiley, Delia, Mohombi and Alexandra Stan were together at the writing camp. See who convinced them to work together.] (in Romanian). Wowbiz. 3 November 2013. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  4. ^ a b "Alexandra Stan – "Cherry Pop" - Videoclip" (in Romanian). Infomusic. 28 May 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  5. ^ Apaza, Kevin (31 July 2014). "DirectLyrics Interviews Alexandra Stan: On Second Album, New Single "Dance", Speaking Spanish & Romania Tourism!". DirectLyrics. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  6. ^ a b c d "Utv.ro – Unews: Alexandra Stan - "Cherry Pop" (behind the scenes)" (in Romanian). Utv.ro. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
  7. ^ Admin (28 May 2014). "Alexandra Stan ne provoacă la un "Cherry Pop"" [Alexandra Stan's "Cherry Pop" challenge] (in Romanian). IasiFun. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  8. ^ a b c "Alexandra Stan – Cherry Pop". The Singles Jukebox. 17 June 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  9. ^ "Alexandra Stan a dat lovitura in Japonia. In 2 ore de la lansare, piesa ei e pe primul loc in topul descarcarilor pe iTunes" [Alexandra Stan is currently successful in Japan. Her single reached number one on the Japanese iTunes Chart after 2 hours instead its release there.] (in Romanian). Stirile Pro TV. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  10. ^ a b "Videopremiere: Alexandra Stan mit ihrer neuen Single "Cherry Pop"" [Video premiere: Alexandra Stan with her new single "Cherry Pop"] (in German). Hitfire. 31 May 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  11. ^ Zasin, Dijei (30 November 2014). "Review: Alexandra Stan -'Unlocked'". Pop Shock. Archived from the original on 2015-10-17. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  12. ^ "CRÍTICA: "Unlocked", álbum de Alexandra Stan" [Review: "Unlocked", album by Alexandra Stan] (in Spanish). Adictivoz. 24 September 2014. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  13. ^ Bran, Jan. "Alexandra Stan – Cherry Pop | audio ufficiale". RNBJUNK. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  14. ^ Bran, Jan (17 January 2016). "Alexandra Stan – Unlocked | Focus su un album sottovalutato". RNBJUNK. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  15. ^ "Alexandra Stan și Cherry Pop – numărul 1 în Japonia" [Alexandra Stan and Cherry Pop - number 1 in Japan] (in Romanian). Incomodph. 19 June 2014. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  16. ^ a b "Alexandra Stan, numărul 1 în Japonia, la numai 2 ore după lansarea piesei "Cherry Pop"" [Alexandra Stan, number 1 in Japan, after just 2 hours instead the release of "Cherry Pop"]. Gândul (in Romanian). 19 June 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  17. ^ a b c "Alexandra Stan – Japan Hot 100 Chart history". Billboard. Retrieved 29 December 2019. Note: Type in 'Alexandra Stan' and select 'Japan Hot 100' in the Artist and Chart Name fields, respectively. (subscription required)
  18. ^ a b "KissFM | Airplay 100". Kiss FM. 2 July 2014. Archived from the original on 13 July 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  19. ^ a b "Number One Top 20". Number One (in Turkish). Hayatadir. Archived from the original on 20 September 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  20. ^ a b "Alexandra Stan – Cherry Pop [Official Video]". YouTube. 28 May 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  21. ^ "Alexandra Stan a lansat un nou clip! Vezi ce schimbare de look si-a facut cantareata pentru "Cherry Pop"!" [Alexandra Stan has released a new clip! She how she changes her look for "Cherry Pop!] (in Romanian). Pro FM. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  22. ^ a b "Alexandra Stan se pregateste sa cucereasca Japonia!" [Alexandra Stan is ready to conquer Japan]. YouTube. Retrieved 11 September 2015.[dead YouTube link]
  23. ^ "Vocea Romaniei promite o semifinala de exceptie: 100% voce, 100% munca, 100% show" [The Voice of Romania promises an exceptional semifinal: 100% voice, 100% work, 100% show] (in Romanian). Vocea României. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  24. ^ a b "Cum raspunde Alexandra Stan la acuzatiile ca a facut playback la Vocea Romaniei" [How does Alexandra Stan respond to the accusations of her singing playback on Vocea Romaniei] (in Romanian). Agentia de Presa Mondena. 15 December 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  25. ^ "Alexandra Stan – Cherry Pop Summer Tour". Fonogram Records. 12 July 2014. Archived from the original on 3 April 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  26. ^ "Alexandra Stan – Japan Tour". World Wide Creative Associates. Archived from the original on 20 March 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  27. ^ a b "Cherry Pop – Single by Alexandra Stan on iTunes". iTunes Store. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  28. ^ a b "Cherry Pop (Remixes) – EP de Alexandra Stan en iTunes". iTunes Store. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  29. ^ The Collection (Liner notes). Alexandra Stan. Tokyo, Japan: Victor Entertainment (Barcode: 4988002698196). 2015.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  30. ^ "アレクサンドラ・スタン". iTunes Store. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  31. ^ "Cherry Pop – Single de Alexandra Stan en iTunes". iTunes Store. 22 July 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  32. ^ "Cherry Pop (Radio Edit) – Single di Alexandra Stan su iTunes". iTunes Store. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  33. ^ Bencivenga, Ilaria (30 July 2014). "Alexandra Stan 'Cherry Pop'" (Press release) (in Italian). Airplay Control. Retrieved 5 May 2023.

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