“Titanium” by David Guetta featuring Sia

song info

    “Titanium” by David Guetta featuring Sia (official video) is a dance pop song.

    
    U.S. Billboard Hot 100: #47, 32 weeks on chart, peak #7 (seven)
    Pop: peak #3 (three)
    Latin Pop: #39
    Radio Songs: #43, peak #18
    Digital Songs: #65, 31 weeks on chart, peak #6 (six)
    On-Demand Songs: #35, peak #21
    Japan Hot 100: peak #95
    Canadian Hot 100: #32, 46 weeks on chart, peak #7 (seven)
     Billboard information for the week of Dec 1, 2012
     Billboard chart listings courtesy of Billboard Magazine

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

    Summary quotation from Wikipedia:

    “Titanium” is a song recorded by French disc jockey (DJ) and music producer David Guetta, featuring vocals by Australian recording artist Sia. Taken from the former’s fifth studio album, Nothing but the Beat, the song was written by Sia Furler, David Guetta, Giorgio Tuinfort, and Afrojack. Production was also handled by Guetta, Tuinfort and Afrojack. “Titanium” was initially released for digital download on August 8, 2011, as the first of four promotional singles from the album. It was later released as the album’s fourth single in December 2011. The song originally featured the vocals of American recording artist Mary J. Blige, whose version of the song leaked online in July 2011. Originally, Katy Perry was offered to feature on the song but turned it down.

    “Titanium” is a ballad which draws from the genres of pop, house, and urban-dance. The song’s lyrics are about inner strength. Sia’s vocals on “Titanium” received comparisons to those by Fergie and the song was also musically compared to Coldplay’s work. Critics were positive towards the song and noted it as one of the standout tracks from Nothing but the Beat. “Titanium” attained top 10 positions in several major music markets, including Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. In the United Kingdom, it peaked at number one, becoming Guetta’s fifth number-one single on the chart and Sia’s first. The song’s accompanying music video premiered on December 21, 2011 but does not feature appearances by Guetta and Sia. Instead, the video focuses on a young boy, played by actor Ryan Lee, with supernatural powers. Guetta has performed the song with Scottish recording artist Emeli Sandé at the 2012 NRJ Music Awards, and at the 2012 Coachella Festival with Sia. Along with other songs, “Titanium” was pulled from radio stations in the US after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

Background

    “Titanium” was written by Sia Furler, David Guetta, Giorgio Tuinfort, and Afrojack. Production was also handled by Guetta, Tuinfort and Afrojack. After discovering Sia’s music online, Guetta picked her to appear on his fifth studio album, Nothing but the Beat. Guetta told an insider from Los Angeles, “I was totally amazed by Sia … This has made me more curious to study her music more because I was really impressed. I have the biggest people on the album and she has a different profile, more like an indie kind of artist and it makes her song even more special, it makes it stand out I think.”

    The song originally featured the vocals of American recording artist Mary J. Blige, whose version of the song leaked online in July 2011. In an interview with News.com.au, Guetta spoke about its leak, saying, “You shouldn’t even know about that … I’d rather not speak about it. That was annoying. It wasn’t supposed to be out there.” Sia recorded a demo of the song, which was then sent to Blige and other artists. Eventually, Guetta decided to stay with her version. He explained, “The first time I heard what Sia did, because she was not in the studio with me, I fell in love with it … I didn’t even want to give it to anyone else; it was perfect the way it was. It’s not only about how big you are in America, it’s about the song and the voice.” American pop singer Katy Perry was the first person to be offered the track but turned it down. An insider told Take 40 Australia, “So that ’Titanium’ song, Sia wrote it for Katy, but [Katy] didn’t want to do a song with Guetta … ” According to Sia’s manager, Jonathan Daniel of Crush Management, Sia wrote the song for American R&B singer Alicia Keys. “Titanium” was released for digital download on August 8, 2011, as the first of three promotional singles from the album, as part of the iTunes Store’s countdown to the album’s release.

Composition

    “Titanium” has been described as “an emotional near-ballad” that draws from the genres of pop, house and urban-dance. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, the song is set in common time with a tempo of 126 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of E-flat major with Sia’s vocal range spanning from the note of G₃ to the note of E♭₅. According to Andrew Gregory of The Daily Telegraph, the song’s intro features “a hint of 80’s flavour”. Trent Fitzgerald of PopCrush noted that the song “has the headache-inducing club beat, whining synths [and] atmospheric sound effects.” Ben Norman of About.com noted that it “incorporate[s] a strumming guitar … before a staggering beat filters in, Sia’s trademark pipes positively ooze with emotional inflection.” The strumming guitar sounds were compared to those of “Every Breath You Take”.

    “Titanium” has lyrics about inner strength, such as: “I’m bulletproof, nothin’ to lose / Fire away, fire away / Ricochet, you take your aim / Fire away, fire away / You shoot me down, but I won’t fall / I am titanium.” Al Fox of BBC Music wrote that on the song, Sia has “ghostly mandolin-esque vocals”. Cameron Adams of Herald Sun called them “square-peg”, while Melinda Newman of HitFix compared her vocals to those by Fergie. Genevieve Koski of The A.V. Club wrote that on the song, Sia “manage[s] to keep [her] head above the waves of synths … by amping up [her] vocals to match the outsized beats.” David Jeffries of Allmusic compared the song to the music of Coldplay.

Music video

    The music video for “Titanium” was directed by David Wilson. It was filmed in December 2011 in Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac and at Dorval High School, in the province of Quebec, Canada. A 14-second preview of the video was uploaded to Guetta’s official YouTube account on December 16, 2011. The preview showed a young boy (played by actor Ryan Lee) in the smoky woods running away from a SWAT team of men. The video then closes with the caption, “The Music Video Coming Soon”. The full video premiered online on December 21, 2011. Neither Guetta nor Sia appear in the video.

    The video opens in a deserted, destroyed school hallway with Lee’s character shown sitting on the ground. As the first verse begins, he slowly begins to stand up and makes his way through the hallway. The boy then sees a female teacher in a classroom who’s stricken with fear and closes the door, realizing that the boy is the cause of the damage. As the boy makes his way outside the school building, a police car arrives and the teacher rushes outside to tell the police man about the boy. Lee’s character then rides a bicycle home to pack his things. He heads home and sees a news report about the incident, causing him to quickly gather his things to flee. Several policemen then appear outside the front door of the boy’s house, while he tries to escape from the back door. The boy realizes that the door is locked so he uses his telekinetic powers to grab the keys from the kitchen bench. The policemen then enter the house to find that the boy has escaped, but find two teddy bears floating in the air. The final scene shows the boy running away from a SWAT team in the woods. The boy is caught by one of the men who kicks him to the ground. The video ends with the boy using his supernatural powers once again to blow away the men. Jason Lipshutz of Billboard magazine noted that “the supernatural scene and suburban setting” in the video recall the science fiction film Super 8 (2011), in which Lee stars. Becky Bain of Idolator wrote that, “The video is beautifully shot, and is courageous enough not to answer all its mysteries.” A writer for Capital FM called it a “very cinematic video”.

Removal from radio stations

    After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December 2012, “Titanium” was pulled from radio stations in the United States due to references to ‘bulletproof’ in the song. “Titanium” is part of a group of songs that have been taken off the air, including “Die Young” by Kesha, and “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People. However, it has been found to be played again in some stations.

    [Editorial note;] These songs were never removed from this website.

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