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The Sweet Escape (song)

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"The Sweet Escape"
Song

"The Sweet Escape" is a pop song written by Gwen Stefani, featured artist Akon and Giorgio Tuinfort for Stefani's second solo album The Sweet Escape (2006). The song was released as the album's second single in early 2007 (see 2007 in music). It has peaked inside the top twenty on most charts and reached number one in New Zealand.

Stefani told MTV that the song "puts me on the yellow brick road to the No Doubt record I might do. I can smell it. 'Sweet Escape' and some other melodies remind me of the No Doubt feeling."[1]

Critical reception

"The Sweet Escape" was generally well-received by critics. In a review for Billboard, Chuck Taylor wrote that the song "neatly rides the line between being hip enough to keep the kids' attention" and added that it exudes "the full fragrance of an across-the-board hit."[2] Bill Lamb of About.com called the song "a welcome change from the over-produced 'Wind It Up'," but said that it "easily jets in one ear and out the other leaving little trace of its presence."[3] MuchMusic referred to the song as "incredibly intoxicating".[4]

Chart performance

Although "The Sweet Escape" was released as the second single in 2007, it had been sent to radio as early as "Wind It Up" (2006). It debuted on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart at number ninety-three in December 2006.[5] In early February 2007 the song reached the top ten, rising in one week from number nineteen to number six,[6] and has since peaked at number three for two non-consecutive weeks.[7] In Canada the song debuted at number eighty-six on the BDS Airplay Chart, on which it has reached number three.[8] "The Sweet Escape" entered the UK Singles Chart on downloads alone at number forty-three in late January 2007, almost a month before its physical release, which it has also peaked at number three on.[9] It has also peaked at #1 on the UK R&B Chart. The song has charted strongly across the world, including a number-one debut in New Zealand.[10] In addition it has become Stefani's first number one as a solo artist on the United World Chart, a feat not even her highly successful Hollaback Girl was able to accomplish.

Music video

File:TheSweetEscapeVideo.jpg
Most of the video takes place in a prison cell made of gold.

The song's music video was directed by Joseph Kahn and premiered on January 10 2007 on LAUNCHcast. The video features Stefani in jail, and the Harajuku Girls are once again prominent in this video. Stefani and the dancers then escape with help from featured artist Akon. The video, filled with images of gold, contains allusions to the "Rapunzel" fairy tale as well as a prominent featuring of the 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe and a Buick police car. In another version of the video, the Chevrolet symbol is replaced with Stefani's "G" symbol that is featured on many other objects through out the video. MADtv parodied the video as "Aren't Asians Great", which mocks stereotypes of Asians and portrays Stefani as an Asiaphile.

"The Sweet Escape" premiered on MTV's top-ten video chart program Total Request Live on January 16 2007,[11] where it has since peaked at number two.[11] After its January 20 debut on MuchMusic's Countdown, it peaked at number six for the week of March 2.[12]

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "The Sweet Escape".

Credits and personnel

Charts

Chart (2007) Peak
Position [13]
Australian ARIA Singles Chart 2
Austrian Singles Chart 11
Bulgarian Airplay Chart 2
Canadian BDS Airplay Chart 3
Czech Singles Chart 37
Danish Airplay Chart 10
Dutch Singles Chart 30
Irish Singles Chart 5
Latvian Airplay Chart 14
Norwegian Singles Chart 12
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart 1
Portuguese Singles Chart 17
Romanian Singles Chart 35
Swedish Singles Chart 10
Swiss Singles Chart 24
UK Singles Chart 3
United World Chart 1
Billboard European Chart 1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 3
U.S. Billboard Pop 100 3
U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 35
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream 5
Preceded by New Zealand number-one single
March 5 2007 (1 week) 		Succeeded by
incumbent
Preceded by United World Chart number-one single
March 10 2007 (2 weeks) 		Succeeded by
incumbent

References

  1. ^ "For The Record: Quick News On Rihanna, Luda, Lady Sov, Kelis, Nas, Harry Potter, Angelina Jolie & More". MTV News. December 14, 2006. Retrieved December 25 2006.
  2. ^ Taylor, Chuck. "The Sweet Escape". Billboard. January 6, 2007. Retrieved January 12, 2007.
  3. ^ "Gwen Stefani featuring Akon - The Sweet Escape". About.com. Retrieved January 12 2007.
  4. ^ Video on Trial. MuchMusic programming. Original airdate: February 5 2007. Retrieved February 9 2007.
  5. ^ Jonathan Cohen, "Beyonce Begins Third Week Atop The Hot 100", Billboard.com, December 21, 2006.
  6. ^ Katie Hasty, "Beyonce Stays Ahead Of Fall Out Boy Atop Hot 100", Billboard.com, February 1, 2007.
  7. ^ Katie Hasty, "Mims Puts The 'Hot' In The Hot 100 At No. 1", Billboard.com, March 1, 2007.
  8. ^ "Jam Canoe". Canadian airplay and sales charts. Retrieved February 3 2007.
  9. ^ "BBC: The Official UK Charts Company". United Kingdom sales chart. Retrieved February 3 2007.
  10. ^ [1]
  11. ^ a b "The TRL Archive — Debuts". PopFusion. Retrieved January 30 2007.
  12. ^ Countdown. MuchMusic programming. Retrieved February 2 2007.
  13. ^ "Gwen Stefani's 'The Sweet Escape': Chart Positions". Retrieved December 29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
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