"1234" is a song from
Feist's third studio album, ''
The Reminder
''The Reminder'' is the third studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Feist. It was released on April 23, 2007 in countries outside of North America, and May 1, 2007 in the United States and Canada.
Following its release, it debuted on the ...
''. The song was co-written by Feist and
Sally Seltmann
Sally may refer to:
People
*Sally (name), a list of notable people with the name
Military
*Sally (military), an attack by the defenders of a town or fortress under siege against a besieging force; see sally port
*Sally, the Allied reporting nam ...
, an Australian singer-songwriter who also recorded under the stage name New Buffalo. It remains Feist's biggest hit single in the US to date, and her only song to chart on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 and
UK Top 40
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
.
History
In an interview with Songfacts,
Sally Seltmann
Sally may refer to:
People
*Sally (name), a list of notable people with the name
Military
*Sally (military), an attack by the defenders of a town or fortress under siege against a besieging force; see sally port
*Sally, the Allied reporting nam ...
said:
On December 14, 2005, Feist played the song live at The Trabendo in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
in a show broadcast on Europe2 TV, with the title "Sally's Song" and with somewhat different lyrics than in the commercially released version.
The original version of the song was mixed by Renaud Letang. It was later remixed by Van She Tech, an offshoot of the band
Van She
Van She are an electropop band formed in 2002 in Sydney, Australia, with Matt Van Schie (pronounced Van Ski) on bass guitar/vocals, Tomek Archer on drums/sequencer, Michael Di Francesco on synth/guitar and Nicholas Routledge on vocals/guitar. ...
.
Release
The song was digitally released through
iTunes Store
The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...
. It gained notice after its use in an
iPod nano
The iPod Nano (stylised and marketed as iPod nano) is a discontinued portable media player designed and formerly marketed by Apple Inc. The first generation model was introduced on September 7, 2005, as a replacement for the iPod Mini, using ...
commercial. It also appeared in an Australian commercial for
eBay
eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...
. It has been released in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and in other countries digitally.
Chart performance
Since its digital release, "1234" peaked at number four on the US Hot Digital Songs chart. The single also reached number eight on the US
Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...
, number 10 on the US
Pop 100
The Pop 100 was a songs chart that debuted in February 2005 and was released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States until its discontinuation in 2009. It ranked songs based on airplay on Mainstream Top 40 radio stations, singles s ...
, and number 34 on the US
Modern Rock Tracks
Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...
chart. As of July 25, 2011, "1234" had sold 1.2 million downloads in the US. The single's unexpected success led to its release worldwide. In the UK it proved to be a huge hit, making the top 10 and peaking at number eight. It had a very successful release in Canada, making it to number two. The song also entered the top 10 in several European countries. The single's success made Feist famous globally and boosted sales of her other releases. It also managed to debut at number 67 on the Australian
ARIA
In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...
Singles Chart, as digital tracks were counted towards chart positions from November 5, 2007, onwards in Australia. It later entered the top 50 of the chart in late December and peaked at number 36. It also ranked number 34 in the
Triple J Hottest 100
The Triple J Hottest 100 is an annual music listener poll hosted by the publicly-funded, national Australian youth radio station, Triple J. Members of the public are invited to vote for their favourite Australian and alternative music of the ...
.
In the April 28, 2008, episode of ''
The Colbert Report
''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show focuse ...
'' where she was a guest, Feist said that she had planned to offer "1234" as the official campaign theme for
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...
's
Presidential bid, before he dropped out.
As of 2017 the single has been certified silver by BPI for 200,000 sold copies.
Awards and accolades
"1234" was nominated for
Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
in the categories of
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The awar ...
and
Best Short Form Music Video
The Grammy Award for Best Music Video is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality short form music videos. Hon ...
. Likewise, the success of the song largely contributed to Feist's other nominations that year for
Best New Artist
The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year. The award was not presented in 1967. The official guidelines are as ...
and
Best Pop Vocal Album
The Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality vocal pop music albums. Awards in several ...
. It also won the
Juno award
The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...
for
Single of the Year on April 6, 2008, in
Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...
. Sally Seltmann also received a nomination at the 2008
APRA Awards for Song of the Year.
This song was number 19 on ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
''s list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007, and number nine on the list of Readers' 25 Best Songs of 2007. It was also ranked number five on
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...
's Best Songs of 2007.
Pitchfork Media
''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog.
Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...
deemed the video the fifth best video of the decade, and named the song number 16 on the top 100 tracks of 2007. ''
Blender
A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen appliance, kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsion, emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender ...
'' named the video number two on The Top 10 Music Videos of 2007. In France, the video won Music Video of the Year at the
Victoires de la Musique
Victoires de la Musique (; en, Victories of Music) is an annual French award ceremony where the Victoire accolade is delivered by the French Ministry of Culture to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The classical and jazz ...
.
''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine named "1234" one of The 10 Best Songs of 2007, ranking it at number two after "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse. Writer
Josh Tyrangiel
Josh Tyrangiel is an American journalist. He was previously the deputy managing editor of ''TIME'' magazine and an editor at ''Bloomberg Businessweek''.Stephanie Clifford (November 17, 2009"Josh Tyrangiel Named Editor of BusinessWeek"/ref> In Ju ...
called the song a “masterpiece”, praising Feist for singing it “with a mixture of wisdom and exuberance that's all her own."
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Cover versions
The song was rewritten as a counting song for a performance on ''
Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...
'', in which Feist counts chickens, monsters (Elmo, Zoe, Rosita, and Telly) and penguins to 4.
Brooke White
Brooke Elizabeth White (born June 2, 1983) is an American folk-pop singer-songwriter and actress from Mesa, Arizona who was the fifth place finalist on the seventh season of ''American Idol''. In 2005, White released her first studio album, call ...
of ''
American Idol
''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...
'' fame performed a cover of "1234" during her set on the
American Idols LIVE! Tour 2008, which ran from July 1 to September 13.
Electropop
Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...
band
Joy Electric
Joy Electric is the brand label for a series of electropop/synthpop productions by Ronnie Martin. Martin began producing music under the Joy Electric name in 1994, after the demise of Dance House Children, a band Ronnie was in with his brother ...
released a cover of the song in 2009 on their album
Favorites at Play
Joy Electric is the brand label for a series of electropop/synthpop productions by Ronnie Martin. Martin began producing music under the Joy Electric name in 1994, after the demise of Dance House Children, a band Ronnie was in with his brother ...
.
Parodies
It was parodied by ''
MADtv
''Mad TV'' (stylized as ''MADtv'') is an American sketch comedy television series originally inspired by '' Mad'' magazine. In its initial run, it aired on Fox from 1995 to 2009. After a one-off reunion show in 2015 to celebrate the twentiet ...
'' for the continuous releases of new iPods, a commercial in which the song was originally used.
In popular culture
It was sung by the character of Andy Bernard in "
Lecture Circuit
The "lecture circuit" is a euphemistic reference to a planned schedule of regular lectures and keynote speeches given by celebrities, often ex-politicians, for which they receive an appearance fee. In Western countries, the lecture circuit has bec ...
", an episode of ''
The Office
''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries.
The original series of ...
'', in an attempt to woo a client he finds attractive. This attempt fails, and
Dunder Mifflin
Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, Inc. is a fictional paper and office supplies wholesale company featured in the American television series ''The Office''. It is analogous to Wernham Hogg in the British original of the series, and Papiers Jennings ...
loses the account. It was used in a trailer for the 2009 film ''
New York, I Love You
''New York, I Love You'' is a 2008 American romantic comedy-drama anthology film consisting of eleven short films, each by a different director. The shorts all relate in some way to the subject of love, and are set among the five boroughs of New ...
''. It was also used in the ending of
The Inbetweeners
''The Inbetweeners'' is a British coming-of-age television teen sitcom, which originally aired on E4 from 2008 until 2010 and was created and written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris. The series follows the misadventures of suburban teenager ...
Series 1 episode, 'Bunk Off'.
Singer-songwriter
Kenny Loggins
Kenneth Clark Loggins (born January 7, 1948) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. His early songs were recorded with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1970, which led to seven albums recorded as Loggins and Messina from 1972 to 1977. His ...
covered the song for his 2009 album ''
All Join In
''All Join In'' is the fourteenth studio and third children's (and most recent) album by American singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins. It was also his only album on Walt Disney Records, released on July 21, 2009. It was Loggins' first children's album ...
''. The lyrics were changed because of dark subject material and the song also featured Kenny's 11-year-old daughter Hana.
Pianist
Louis Durra
Louis Durra (aka John Louis Durra) is an American pianist and composer living in Berlin, Germany.
Discography
* Rocket Science—CD, (September 2012)
* Head Radio Retransmissions -- (1 track on ESC Radiohead compilation CD) 2012 ESC Records
* T ...
recorded an instrumental trio version released on ''Mad World EP'' and ''Arrogant Doormats'' (2011).
The song plays over the opening sequence of "Green Juice," the third episode of the limited American drama series ''
The Dropout
''The Dropout'' is an American biographical crime drama miniseries created by Elizabeth Meriwether, based on the podcast of the same name hosted by Rebecca Jarvis and produced by ABC News. The series documents the disgraced biotechnology compa ...
'' about disgraced
Theranos
Theranos Inc. () was an American privately held corporation that was touted as a breakthrough health technology company. Founded in 2003 by then 19-year-old Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos raised more than US$700 million from venture capitalists and ...
founder
Elizabeth Holmes
Elizabeth Anne Holmes (born February 3, 1984) is an American convicted fraudster and former biotechnology entrepreneur. In 2003, Holmes founded and was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Theranos, a now-defunct health technology company that ...
(2022).
References
External links
*
*
{{authority control
2007 singles
Feist (singer) songs
Cherrytree Records singles
2007 songs
Songs written by Sally Seltmann
Songs written by Feist (singer)
Juno Award for Single of the Year singles