"Black Box" is the debut single by season seven winner of '' Australian Idol'',

Stan Walker Stan Walker (born 23 October 1990) is an Australian-born New Zealand singer, actor, and television personality. In 2009, Walker was the winner of the seventh and last season of ''Australian Idol''. He subsequently signed a recording contract ...

. It was released digitally on 22 November 2009, as the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

from his debut studio album, '' Introducing... Stan Walker''.

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

covered this song for their new album '' Roulette''.

Critical reception

Jade from MusicFix compared the song to all other ''Australian Idol'' winners' singles and wrote that the "black box" metaphor differentiates it from the others. She called the sound a "generic R&B beat" and continued by comparing Walker's voice to fellow ''Australian Idol'' winner

Guy Sebastian Guy Theodore Sebastian (born 26 October 1981) is an Australian singer and songwriter who was the winner of the first ''Australian Idol'' in 2003, judge on Australia's ''The X Factor'' from 2010 to 2012 and again from 2015 to 2016, and coach ...

, saying that ''Australian Idol'' voters "decided one Sebastian just wasn't enough." At the

2010 New Zealand Music Awards The 2010 New Zealand Music Awards was the 45th holding of the annual ceremony featuring awards for musical artists based in or originating from New Zealand. Finalists for the three technical awards were announced on 16 August 2010 with winners ...

, "Black Box" won the award for the 'Highest Selling New Zealand Single'. It was also named the 'Radio Airplay Record of the Year' at the ceremony, after topping the New Zealand Radio Airplay Chart for ten weeks. At the 2010 ARIA Music Awards, "Black Box" was nominated for 'Most Popular Australian Single'.

Chart performance

On the

New Zealand Singles Chart The Official New Zealand Music Chart ( mi, Te Papa Tātai Waiata Matua o Aotearoa) is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The Music ...

, "Black Box" debuted at number five on 30 November 2009. The following week, it peaked at number one, where it remained for ten consecutive weeks. On 14 February 2010, "Black Box" was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ), for selling 30,000 copies. In Australia, the song debuted and peaked at number two on the ARIA Singles Chart on 30 November 2009, selling 17,493 copies in its first week, and becoming the fastest-selling Sony Bandit.fm download ever. Eventually, "Black Box" was certified double platinum by the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing ...

(ARIA), for selling 140,000 copies.

Music video and live performances

The

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 promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for the song was directed by Gemma Lee and filmed in Sydney on 24 November 2009. In an interview with Nova FM, Walker explained, "There might be a little bit of group dancing ... we'll see what happens. At first I was really nervous but I've warmed up now and I'm getting into it. I'm working on my look ... It's pretty cool – it's my first ever film clip. It's basically a house party that explains the lyrics. It talks about a relationship that has gone down but everything is still recorded in the black box. I really like it." The video premiered on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

on 29 November 2009. Walker performed "Black Box" on the New Zealand television show, ''

Close Up A close-up or closeup in filmmaking, television production, still photography, and the comic strip medium is a type of shot that tightly frames a person or object. Close-ups are one of the standard shots used regularly with medium and long ...

'', on 6 December 2009, the day before the release of his album, ''Introducing... Stan Walker''. He again performed the song at

Barry Curtis Park Barry Curtis Park is a park named after Barry Curtis in Flat Bush, Manukau City of which the first stage was opened in April 2009. At , it is one of New Zealand's largest parks, of a size as has not been established since the Auckland Domain i ...

Manukau City Manukau City was a territorial authority district in Auckland, New Zealand, that was governed by the Manukau City Council. The area is sometimes referred to as " South Auckland", although this term never possessed official recognition and does ...

as part of celebrations of

Waitangi Day Waitangi Day ( mi, Te Rā o Waitangi), the national day of New Zealand, marks the anniversary of the initial signing – on 6 February 1840 – of the Treaty of Waitangi, which is regarded as the founding document of the nation. The first Wai ...

(6 February) in 2010.

Track listing

*Digital download # "Black Box" – 3:27

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Box (Song) 2009 debut singles Australian Idol Stan Walker songs Number-one singles in New Zealand Songs written by Wayne Hector Songs written by Lucas Secon Songs written by Cutfather Songs written by Jonas Jeberg Sony Music Australia singles 2009 songs