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Take Control

"Take Control"
Amerie - Take Control.png
Single by Amerie
from the album Because I Love It
B-side
  • "That's What U R"
  • "Crunk Didi (Losing U)"
Released October 17, 2006 (2006-10-17)
Format
Recorded Wonderland Studios
(New Jersey)
Genre
Length 3:42
Label
Writer(s)
Producer(s)
  • Mike Caren
  • Cee-Lo
  • Amerie
  • Len Nicholson
Amerie singles chronology
"I Don't Care"
(2005)
"Take Control"
(2006)
"Gotta Work"
(2007)

"Take Control" is a song by American singer-songwriter Amerie from her third studio album, Because I Love It (2007). It was released as the album's lead single on October 17, 2006. The song was written by Cee-Lo Green, Mike Caren, and Amerie, and produced by Caren, with additional production handled by Cee-Lo, Amerie, and Len Nicholson. "Take Control" contains excerpts from the 1970 song "Jimmy, Renda-se" by Brazilian musician Tom Zé, and elements of the 1980 song "You Make My Dreams" by Hall & Oates.

After Cee-Lo wrote the song, he approached Amerie to record it. Amerie said she did not normally do commissions and record other people's songs because they did not work for her, but because she had "always loved" Cee-Lo since his time with Goodie Mob, she agreed. She felt the song was not uptempo enough to suit her, so she wrote a hook, a bridge, and added a horn section to add to the song her "signature" and "a different flavour", making it a "dance record".

Tori Alamaze, the reference singer on the song, said that it was originally offered to her, but Amerie denied this, saying she thought it "really on [Alamaze's] part" to make such a claim.

Many critics gave "Take Control" positive reviews. Rolling Stone placed "Take Control" at number 92 on its list of The 100 Best Songs of the Year. Ryan Dombal of Entertainment Weekly stated "'Take Control' may be an ode to submission, but it hardly holds back." Tom Breihan of The Village Voice named "Take Control" the fifth best single release of the fourth quarter of 2006, commenting on "how great Amerie's joyous chirp sounds over sharp, percussive old-school funk tracks. Here, Cee-Lo laces her with spy-movie guitars and horn-stabs and a drum track that keeps building and building, adding on congas and handclaps and tambourines without ever disturbing the tense little groove at the song's center [...] and Amerie finally finds room for a bit of grit in her voice."The Guardian's Alex Macpherson wrote that the track "twitches and jerks along a nagging Tom Zé sample, but it's a song with such a sparse arrangement that interest has to be sustained entirely by the voice, which Amerie does spectacularly, making it absolutely clear who is really cracking the whip."


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