“Moves Like Jagger” by Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera

song info

    “Moves Like Jagger” by Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera (official video) is an adult pop song.

    Maroon 5’s first number one hit in four years and Christina Aguilera’s first number one hit in ten years.

link to the static song information page for this song:
http://www.thissideofsanity.com/music/songs/mo/moveslikejagger.php

    Summary quotation from Wikipedia:

    “Moves Like Jagger” is a song by American pop rock band Maroon 5 featuring American pop singer-songwriter Christina Aguilera. It was released as the fourth single for the group’s third studio album, Hands All Over (2011). The song was written by Adam Levine, Benjamin Levin, Ammar Malik and Shellback, and was produced by Shellback and Benny Blanco. Musically, “Moves Like Jagger” is a disco-pop, dance-pop, and electropop song and is backed by grinding synths and electronic drums. Its lyrics refer to a male’s ability to impress a female with his dance moves, which he compares to those of Mick Jagger, frontman for the English band The Rolling Stones.

    “Moves Like Jagger” was well received by music critics, who praised the song’s chorus. Points of acclaim also went to the vocals of Levine and Aguilera, with critics pointing out solid chemistry between the two. Likewise, the song was a commercial success, going on to top the charts in 18 countries. In the United States, “Moves Like Jagger” became Maroon 5’s first top ten single since “Makes Me Wonder” (2007), as well as Christina Aguilera’s first top-ten single since “Keeps Gettin’ Better” (2008). It is among the best-selling singles of all time. Aguilera also became the second female to score no. 1 singles in the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. Worldwide, it was the ninth best-selling digital single of 2011 with sales of 7 million copies. As of 2013, the song ranks as one of the five best-selling digital singles of all time with sales of more than 13,8 million copies.

    An accompanying music video for the song was directed by Jonas Åkerlund. Released worldwide on August 8, 2011, it features old video footage of Jagger and his iconic dance moves. “Moves like Jagger” was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 54th Grammy Awards but lost to “Body and Soul” by Tony Bennett and Amy Winehouse. The song was first performed in June 2011 on an episode of The Voice (where Levine and Aguilera both served as judges/coaches).

Background and composition

    “Moves like Jagger” was written and produced by Benjamin Levin and Shellback, while additional writing was done by Adam Levine. When asked about the song, Adam Levine said, “It was one of those songs that was definitely a risk; it’s a bold statement. We’ve never really released a song like that. But it’s exciting to do something different, do something new. I’m just happy everyone likes it.” “Moves Like Jagger” is a dance-pop and electropop song with elements of disco, pop, rock, and soul. It features a “throbbing” synth, fast-paced beat and electronic drums. Robbie Daw from Idolator wrote that “Moves Like Jagger” slightly echoes The Rolling Stones’ chart-topping 1978 classic “Miss You” and added that “Levine’s voice is distorted via Auto-Tune on the chorus.” The song is introduced by a whistle melody and light, funky guitar in the key of B minor. Levine tries his best to impress his female interest with dance moves like Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger: “I don’t need to try to control you / Look into my eyes and I’ll own you / With the moves like Jagger / I got the moves like Jagger / I got the mooOOoooves like Jagger.” Christina Aguilera appears mid-way through the song’s bridge, playing her role as a tease: “You want to know how to make me smile / Take control, own me just for the night / But if I share my secret / You gonna have to keep it / Nobody else can see this.”

    The song’s official remix features both Aguilera and Pittsburgh-based rapper Mac Miller. It was first made available on September 29, 2011, via hip hop website HipHopDX.com, before being released officially via iTunes on October 4. The remix remains largely unchanged from the original song, with Mac Miller’s two verses each coming at the beginning of the track and prior to Aguilera’s refrain respectively. Mac Miller was asked to appear on the remix of “Moves like Jagger” by producer Benny Blanco, following consultation with Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine. The rapper later said that he hoped to be involved in an official music video for the track, but no such video has been announced yet.

Music video

    The music video for “Moves like Jagger” was directed by Jonas Åkerlund and filmed in Los Angeles, California on July 8, 2011. On July 9, Aguilera posted an image of herself from the video shoot via Twitter, saying, “Always great to see Jonas Åkerlund. He created the perfect feel for the song. Expect a fun video.” The image showed Aguilera performing with a band in front of a background of the American flag. Four shirtless images of Levine from the shoot were also released online the same day. More images from the video shoot were released online on July 11, showing Levine and Aguilera performing in front of an American and British-themed backdrop with confetti falling from the ceiling. Another image showed Aguilera performing in front of a black backdrop with her name “Christina” shown in pink. The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger made an appearance in the video “via archive footage”. The music video premiered on August 8 on E! The video features an incorrect, simplified version of the Union Flag as a backdrop for parts of the song. For Levine and his bandmates, the song and video are all about exposing a new generation to the rock legend. “We were lucky enough to get Mick’s endorsement [for the video], as far as him giving us access to a bunch of different footage that’s so cool,” Levine told MTV News when they visited the video’s set last month. “Not many people have seen [it], especially a newer generation of people that don’t know so much about how incredible he was.”

    The music video opens with black-and-white footage of the theater, shots of work crews assembling lighting and equipment onstage and groups of extras getting into costume, warming up for a shoot. This is followed by classic footage of Jagger, during which Michael Parkinson asks The Rolling Stones frontman how long he plans to make music. “I don’t know. I never thought I’d be doing it for two years even,” a young Jagger says, as the opening whistles of the Maroon 5 song kick in, throughout which a slew of Jagger lookalikes are shown dancing up to a central microphone, interlaced with archival footage of Jagger himself and shots of band members James Valentine, Jesse Carmichael, Michael Madden, and Matt Flynn. When Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine eventually appears, he is bare-chested and tattooed. The video is mostly a mash-up of people trying to move like Jagger, including Levine. When Aguilera makes her brief appearance, she is dressed for a retro look with mascara-heavy lashes and a floppy hat. Becky Bain wrote for Idolator that “Adam Levine wears a whole lot of ink on his upper torso instead of a shirt, and Christina Aguilera applies an entire bottle of mascara around her eyes.” The Huffington Post commented “We weren’t sure whether Levine and Aguilera would be able to bring it like Mick, but then again, no one can ever touch the original. The best they can do is try to imitate Jagger’s greatness—and Levine and Aguilera do a pretty solid job of that.”

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