"Back It Up" is the debut single by

Caro Emerald Caroline Esmeralda van der Leeuw (born 26 April 1981), known for the project Caro Emerald, is a Dutch pop and jazz singer who mainly performs in English. Active since 2007, she rose to prominence in 2009 with the debut single, " Back It Up". Th ...

taken from the debut album ''

Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor ''Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor'' is the debut album by Dutch singer Caro Emerald. The album was conceived, written and produced as a studio project by David Schreurs, Vincent Degiorgio, Jan van Wieringen and Caroline van der Leeuw, ...

''. It was released on 6 July 2009. The single was certified gold by the

Federation of the Italian Music Industry The Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana (FIMI) is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy. It was established in 1992, when major corporate labels left the previously exist ...

Background

Emerald was originally hired as the demo singer for the song in 2007, by producers Jan van Wieringen and David Schreurs who had written the song with Robin Veldman and Vincent DeGiorgio. Caro's jazzy vocal style was considered a "perfect match" but the song remained unused until 2008, when Caro asked if she could add the song to her live repertoire. The immediate reaction inspired van Wieringen, Schreurs, Degiorgio and Emerald to write and produce the album

, starring Caro Emerald.

Music video

In 2008, a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was directed by Eva Zanen and edited by Jurjen van Blokland and was shot in Café Schiller,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. The video features Caro Emerald as

barmaid A bartender (also known as a barkeep, barman, barmaid, or a mixologist) is a person who formulates and serves alcoholic or soft drink beverages behind the bar, usually in a licensed establishment as well as in restaurants and nightclubs, but a ...

and several old men, presumably guests. While

polishing Polishing is the process of creating a smooth and shiny surface by rubbing it or by applying a chemical treatment, leaving a clean surface with a significant specular reflection (still limited by the index of refraction of the material accordin ...

the glasses and serving her guests, Caro Emerald sings and dances together with the old men. There are several scenes that show

alcoholic beverages An alcoholic beverage (also called an alcoholic drink, adult beverage, or a drink) is a drink that contains ethanol, a type of alcohol that acts as a drug and is produced by fermentation of grains, fruits, or other sources of sugar. The cons ...

with references to the lyrics of the song as well as gramophones and instruments such as

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

s and contrabasses. The video is

sepia tone In photography, toning is a method of altering the color of black-and-white photographs. In analog photography, it is a chemical process carried out on metal salt-based prints, such as silver prints, iron-based prints (cyanotype or Van Dyke b ...

d. On July 8 an alternative, 'international', music video premiered. This video features Caro Emerald in a black & white performance, an old newspaper and a black & white film. After the initial success of the song, a new high budget video was shot and released in April 2010.

Track listing

;''Back It Up – EP'' # "Back It Up" – 3:52 # "Back It Up" (radio edit) – 3:34 # "Back It Up" (instrumental) – 3:51 # "Back It Up" (

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

) – 3:25 ;''Back It Up (Kraak & Smaak Remix) - Single'' # "Back It Up" (

Kraak & Smaak Kraak & Smaak () is a musical production trio from the town of Leiden, Netherlands, consisting of Oscar de Jong, Mark Kneppers and Wim Plug. The three began recording in 2003. Their first album, titled ''Boogie Angst'', was released in the UK ...

remix) – 5:26 ;''Back It Up (Hitmeister D Remix)'' # "Back It Up" ( Hitmeister D remix) – 4:29

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

2009 singles English-language Dutch songs Caro Emerald songs 2009 songs Songs written by David Schreurs Songs written by Vincent DeGiorgio {{2000s-jazz-composition-stub