"I Want You Back" is a song originally performed by American band the Jackson 5 and written by the Corporation. It was released on October 6, 1969, as the lead single from the band's debut studio album Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5. It's one of their most critically and commercially successful singles to date.
Victoria Justice covered the song for the Nickelodeon television series Victorious. Her version, produced by Raphael Saadiq with DK, was released as the eighth track on the series' soundtrack album, Victorious: Music from the Hit TV Show, on August 2, 2011.
Background and release[]
The cast of the Victorious performed "I Want You Back" during the Victorious: Walmart Soundcheck concert on May 26, 2011. On July 3, Dan Schneider, the creator of Victorious, revealed the then-upcoming special episode of the series, "Locked Up!", would feature two songs, one being Victoria Justice's original song "All I Want Is Everything" and the other being a cover of a "pop classic".[1] Columbia Records and Nickelodeon later confirmed "I Want You Back" would be the eighth track on the soundtrack album, released under the title Victorious: Music from the Hit TV Show on August 2.[2]
Appearance in Victorious[]
"I Want You Back" was performed by the main cast members of Victorious in the episode "Locked Up!" (the same episode "All I Want Is Everything" was performed), that premiered on July 30, 2011. The characters are detained in a Yerbanian prison. With the help of their teacher, Erwin Sikowitz (portrayed by Eric Lange), they want to get out of it. After seeing Cat Valentine (portrayed by Ariana Grande) teaching the other prisoners how to dance, Tori Vega (portrayed by Victoria Justice) gets an idea to escape. She tells the chancellor (portrayed by Mueen Jahan Ahmad) she wants to perform a song with the rest of the prisoners for him and the other Yerbanians as an apology. While the song is being performed, they escape from prison, much to the surprise of the island's guards, to return to Los Angeles.
Journalistic commentary[]
Joe DeAndrea, in a review of Victorious: Music from the Hit TV Show for the now-defunct website AbsolutePunk, wrote positively of "I Want You Back"; he felt songs performed by Victoria Justice with other cast members like this, along with "Tell Me That You Love Me" and "Song 2 You", "show the intricacy of how fun the show really is".[3] According to William Ruhlmann of AllMusic, the cast's cover of "I Want You Back" "demonstrates that bubblegum pop hasn't changed much in 40 years".[4] Retrospectively, "I Want You Back" was added to Miranda's list of five favorite songs from Victorious for radio station WKNC-FM in 2020, adding, "A classic cover song with talented vocalists can’t go wrong."[5]
Chart performance[]
Although it was never released as a single, "I Want You Back" managed to appear on two charts in the United States following the release of Victorious: Music from the Hit TV Show. The song spent a week at number eight on the Bubbling Under Hot 100. It debuted at number one on the now-discontinued Kid Digital Song Sales chart, becoming Victoria Justice's third song to top the chart after "Beggin' on Your Knees" and "Best Friend's Brother".
It was one of the five songs by Justice to appear on the 2011 Kid Digital Song Sales year-end chart, with the others being "Beggin' on Your Knees", "Best Friend's Brother", "Make It Shine", and "Leave It All to Shine". "I Want You Back" peaked at number 24, the lowest of them.[6]
Chart | Week of | Week number | Position |
---|---|---|---|
Bubbling Under Hot 100 | August 20, 2011[7] | 1 | 8 |
Kid Digital Song Sales | August 20, 2011[8] | 1 | 1 |
August 27, 2011 | 2 | Unknown | |
September 3, 2011[8] | 3 | ||
September 10, 2011[9] | 4 | ||
September 17, 2011[10] | 5 | ||
October 1, 2011[11] | 7 | ||
October 8, 2011[9] | 8 | ||
October 15, 2011[12] | 9 | ||
October 22, 2011[12] | 10 | ||
Unknown[13] | 11 |
Promotion[]
Even before it was revealed "I Want You Back" would be featured in Victorious, the cast of the series performed the song at the Victorious: Walmart Soundcheck concert on May 26, 2011. This is considered their first live performance together.[14] On July 18, it was revealed "I Want You Back" would be getting a music video before the episode aired.[15] The video premiered on Vevo on July 22, over a week before the song's official release.[16] It consists of the cast performing on Walmart Soundcheck and in the series, as well as the production of various episodes.
Credits[]
- Personnel
- Rob Bacon – Guitar
- Matt Bennett – Background vocals
- Charles Brungardt – Recording engineer
- Calvin – Bass
- Carl Lemar Carter – Drums
- The Corporation – Writers
- DK – Additional producer
- Brian Gardner – Mastering engineer
- Elizabeth Gillies – Background vocals
- Ariana Grande – Background vocals
- Avan Jogia – Background vocals
- Victoria Justice – Lead vocals
- Daniella Monet – Background vocals
- Raphael Saadiq – Producer
- Leon Thomas III – Background vocals
- Greg Wells – Mixing engineer
- Recording and management
- Recorded at Blakeslee Recording Studio (North Hollywood, California)
- Mixed at Rocket Carousel (Los Angeles, California)
- Mastered at Bernie Grundman Mastering (Hollywood, California)
- Published by Jobete Music, Co. (ASCAP)
Lyrics[]
[Intro]
Huh-huh-huh, whoa-oh
Let me tell you now, ooh (huh-huh-huh-huh, ooh)
[Verse 1]
When I had you to myself, I didn't want you around
Those pretty faces always made you stand out in a crowd
But someone picked you from the bunch one glance was all it took
Now it's much too late for me to take a second look
[Chorus]
Oh, baby, give me one more chance (to show you that I love you)
Won't you please let me? (back in your heart)
Oh, darling, I was blind to let you go (let you go, baby)
But now since I see you in his arms
[Post-chorus]
(I want you back)
Yes, I do now (I want you back)
Ooh-ooh, baby (I want you back)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (I want you back)
Na, na, na, na
[Verse 2]
Trying to live without your love is one long sleepless night
Let me show you, girl, that I know wrong from right
Every street you walk on, I leave tear stains on the ground
Following the girl I didn't even want around
Let me tell you now
[Chorus]
Oh, baby, give me one more chance (to show you that I love you)
Won't you please let me? (back in your heart)
Oh, darling, I was blind to let you go (let you go, baby)
But now since I see you in his arms, oh
[Bridge]
(A-buh-buh-buh-buh, buh-buh-buh-buh)
(A-buh-buh-buh-buh, buh-buh-buh-buh)
(A-buh-buh-buh-buh, buh-buh-buh-buh)
(A-buh-buh-buh-buh, buh-buh-buh-buh)
A-buh-buh-buh-buh, all I want (a-buh-buh-buh-buh, buh-buh-buh-buh)
A-buh-buh-buh-buh, all I need (a-buh-buh-buh-buh, buh-buh-buh-buh)
A-buh-buh-buh-buh, all I want (a-buh-buh-buh-buh, buh-buh-buh-buh)
A-buh-buh-buh-buh, all I need (a-buh-buh-buh-buh, buh-buh-buh-buh)
[Chorus]
Oh, just one more chance, to show you that I love you
Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, oh (I want you back)
Forget what happened then (I want you back)
Let me live again
Oh, baby, I was blind to let you go
But now, since I see you in his arms (I want you back)
Spare me of this 'cause (I want you back)
Give me back what I lost
[Outro]
Oh, baby, I need one more chance, ha
I tell you that I love you
Now baby, oh, baby, oh, baby
I want you back
I want you back
I want you back
I want you back
I want you back
[Intro]
Huh-huh-huh, whoa-oh
Let me tell you now, ooh (huh-huh-huh-huh, ooh)
[Verse 1]
When I had you to myself, I didn't want you around
Those pretty faces always made you stand out in a crowd
But someone picked you from the bunch one glance was all it took
Now it's much too late for me to take a second look
[Chorus]
Oh, baby, give me one more chance (to show you that I love you)
Won't you please let me? (back in your heart)
Oh, darling, I was blind to let you go (let you go, baby)
But now since I see you in his arms
[Post-chorus]
(I want you back)
Yes, I do now (I want you back)
Ooh-ooh, baby (I want you back)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (I want you back)
Na, na, na, na
[Verse 2]
Trying to live without your love is one long sleepless night
Let me show you, girl, that I know wrong from right
Every street you walk on, I leave tear stains on the ground
Following the girl I didn't even want around
Let me tell you now
[Chorus]
Oh, baby, all I need is one more chance (to show you that I love you)
Won't you please let me? (back in your heart)
Oh, darling, I was blind to let you go (let you go, baby)
But now since I see you in his arms, oh
[Bridge]
(A-buh-buh-buh-buh, buh-buh-buh-buh)
(A-buh-buh-buh-buh, buh-buh-buh-buh)
(A-buh-buh-buh-buh, buh-buh-buh-buh)
(A-buh-buh-buh-buh, buh-buh-buh-buh)
A-buh-buh-buh-buh, all I want (a-buh-buh-buh-buh, buh-buh-buh-buh)
A-buh-buh-buh-buh, all I need (a-buh-buh-buh-buh, buh-buh-buh-buh)
A-buh-buh-buh-buh, all I want (a-buh-buh-buh-buh, buh-buh-buh-buh)
A-buh-buh-buh-buh, all I need (a-buh-buh-buh-buh, buh-buh-buh-buh)
[Chorus]
Oh, just one more chance, to show you that I love you
Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby
Forget what happened then
Let me live again
Oh, baby, I was blind to let you go
But now, since I see you in his arms (I want you back)
Spare me of this 'cause (I want you back)
Give me back what I lost
[Outro]
Oh, baby, I need one more chance, ha
I tell you that I love you
Baby, oh, baby, oh, baby
Forget what happened then (I want you back)
Let me live again (I want you back)
Oh
Trivia[]
- "I Want You Back" is the only cover song on Victorious: Music from the Hit TV Show.
- Victoria Justice considers the song's performance in Victorious to be one of the series' best moments and feels it was an honor to cover the Michael Jackson song.[17]
- The late YouTuber Keenan Cahill posted a video on his channel of himself lip-syncing to "I Want You Back" alongside the series' main cast members and the track's backing vocalists Ariana Grande, Daniella Monet, and Matt Bennett.
Videos[]
References[]
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20110707102500/https://danwarp.blogspot.com/2011/07/coming-soon-icarly-victorious-lots.html
- ↑ https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/columbia-recordsnickelodeon-reveals-tracklisting-for-victorious-soundtrack-album-125552183.html
- ↑ https://archive.ph/u35n
- ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/album/victorious-music-from-the-hit-tv-show-mw0002113944
- ↑ https://wknc.org/2020/09/13/the-victorious-soundtrack-a-hidden-gem/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20201129044509/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2011/kid-digital-song-sales
- ↑ https://www.billboard.com/charts/bubbling-under-hot-100-singles/2011-08-20/
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20220310161441/https://www.billboard.com/charts/search/results/?chart-page=12&chart-artistname=Victoria+Justice&chart-chartcode=KDT
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20220310161438/https://www.billboard.com/charts/search/results/?chart-page=5&chart-artistname=Victoria+Justice&chart-chartcode=KDT
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20220310161434/https://www.billboard.com/charts/search/results/?chart-page=4&chart-artistname=Victoria+Justice&chart-chartcode=KDT
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20220310161435/https://www.billboard.com/charts/search/results/?chart-page=2&chart-artistname=Victoria+Justice&chart-chartcode=KDT
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20220310162949/https://www.billboard.com/charts/search/results/?chart-page=11&chart-artistname=Victoria+Justice&chart-chartcode=KDT
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20210531063800/https://www.billboard.com/music/victoria-justice/chart-history/KDT/song/708339
- ↑ https://x.com/leonthomas/status/231016162169876481
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20120102020834/https://www.cambio.com/news/victoria-justice-gets-locked-up-in-victorious-movie/
- ↑ https://x.com/Victorious/status/94519891238977536
- ↑ https://x.com/VictoriaJustice/status/883037134726193152