"Popular Song" | ||||
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Single by Mika featuring Ariana Grande | ||||
from the album The Origin of Love and Yours Truly | ||||
Released | 29 April 2013 | |||
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Recorded | 2013 | |||
Genre | Dance-pop | |||
Length | 3:20 | |||
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Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) |
Ariana Grande version produced by Jason Nevins |
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Mika singles chronology | ||||
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Ariana Grande singles chronology | ||||
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Audio sample | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Popular Song" on YouTube |
Ariana Grande version produced by Jason Nevins
"Popular Song" is a song by Lebanese-British recording artist Mika, released as the second single in the United States from his third studio album, The Origin of Love. The song features American singer and actress Ariana Grande and is included on her debut album, Yours Truly. The track was written by Mika, Priscilla Renea, Mathieu Jomphe and Stephen Schwartz, and produced by Mika and Greg Wells. The pop version featuring Ariana Grande was produced by Jason Nevins.
The song is an updated cover of the original version, based on the song "Popular" from the musical Wicked. The album version of the song features vocals from Priscilla Renea, and features expletives. However, the single version replaces Renea with Ariana Grande, removes the expletives, and modifies the instrumental arrangement and tempo to create a version which heavily links to Mika's former hits, "Grace Kelly" and "We Are Golden". The new remix version, produced by Jason Nevins, is the main version which was officially released.
The original version of the song was made available on Mika's third studio album, The Origin of Love, and features vocals from songwriter Priscilla Renea. This version is based on the original from Wicked, and uses a very rough tempo and instrumentation, to fit in with the theme of the album. However, for the track's release as a single, Mika decided to completely change the arrangement, and create something similar to his hit single "Grace Kelly". To do this, he enlisted the help of American actress and performer Ariana Grande, rewrote some of the lyrics, changed the instrumentation and tempo, and reworked the song's structure.