"Cheerleader" is a song recorded by Jamaican singer Omi. The track was written and produced by OMI and Clifton Dillon, Mark Bradford, and Ryan Dillon. OMI first began developing the song in 2008, when he created its melody. It was refined over several years alongside famed Jamaican producer Clifton Dillon. It was first recorded with veteran session musicians

Sly and Robbie Sly and Robbie were a prolific Jamaican rhythm section and production duo, associated primarily with the reggae and dub genres. Drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare teamed up in the mid-1970s after establishing themselves separa ...

and

Dean Fraser Dean Ivanhoe Fraser (sometimes appearing as Dean Frazer) (born 4 August 1957) Allmusic.com biography by Sandra Brennan/ref> is a Jamaican saxophonist who has contributed to hundreds of reggae recordings since the mid-1970s. He was awarded the Mu ...

. Released as a single on independent label Oufah, the song saw success in Jamaica, where it topped the charts, and also attracted airplay in Hawaii and

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

. Ultra contacted two disc jockeys to produce

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

ed versions of the original song. The label and song's producers preferred one remix, produced by a young German DJ,

Felix Jaehn Felix Kurt Jähn (born 28 August 1994), known professionally as Felix Jaehn (), is a German DJ and music producer specializing in tropical house. He achieved international success with his remix of Omi's song "Cheerleader", which topped the char ...

, that eschewed much of the song's original instrumentation for a

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

-flavored

deep house Deep house is a subgenre of house music that originated in the 1980s, initially fusing elements of Chicago house with the lush chords of 1980s jazz-funk and touches of soul music. Its origins are attributed to the early recordings of Larry Heard ( ...

rendition, prominently featuring a trumpet, a

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest). ...

beat, and piano. A remix

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

was released in May 2015 by Ultra, which began to first see commercial success that fall. "Cheerleader" achieved commercial success in 2015, when it reached number one in 20 countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, Mexico, Ireland, Sweden, and Germany.

Background

OMI—the stage name of Omar Samuel Pasley—was born in the parish of Clarendon, Jamaica. He grew up with a love of American hip hop, but grew more interested in melody after listening to singers like

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and record producer. He began his musical career by working behind the scenes, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Ever ...

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

, and

Sam Cooke Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer and songwriter. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred ...

. He first developed "Cheerleader" in 2008, when he woke up humming its melody. "It was like a little Jamaican nursery rhyme, like 'one, two, buckle my shoe,' that kind of thing—'ring game' is what we'd call it. The rest of the song just fell into place like a jigsaw puzzle", he later recalled. The following year, he was discovered by producer Clifton "Specialist" Dillon, an influential figure in the Jamaican music industry, who subsequently became his manager and collaborator. He originally wrote only two verses for the song, imagining it as an interlude for an album. Dillon convinced him to create a third verse, and the song began to take shape. Prolific Jamaican

rhythm section A rhythm section is a group of musicians within a music ensemble or band that provides the underlying rhythm, harmony and pulse of the accompaniment, providing a rhythmic and harmonic reference and "beat" for the rest of the band. The rhythm sec ...

and veteran saxophonist

contributed to the original recording, which was first issued in 2012 on Oufah, an independent label in Kingston. The following April, Patrick Moxey, president of U.S.

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

label Ultra Music, discovered the song. According to Moxey, he was vacationing in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

when he first heard the song whilst listening to radio promoter showcase songs popular in the Caribbean. Meanwhile,

Salaam Remi Salaam Remi Gibbs (born May 14, 1972) is a Grammy winning American record producer known for his association with Nas, Amy Winehouse, Robby, Fugees, Fergie, Estelle, Black Thought, and Miguel, and for his reggae-tinged (often referred to as ...

, an American hip hop producer that owned an imprint at Sony, was also interested in bringing the song to a wider audience. Ultra signed Pasley to a recording contract in late 2013. It soon began conversations with two disc jockeys—

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...

and hip-hop producer

Ricky Blaze Ricardo Lloyd Johnson Jr. (born August 3, 1988), also known as Ricky Blaze, is an American DJ, producer, singer, and songwriter. He has done production work in the dancehall music space and the trancehall subgenre. He has produced and collaborated ...

and German producer

. They sent them "Cheerleader" and an a cappella version to build remixes. Jaehn enjoyed the song's vocals, but felt its instrumentation not attune to its "feel-good" essence; he hoped to craft a remix he deemed more "danceable." The Jaehn remix was completed in January 2014, and released that May on Ultra.

Composition

The remix version incorporates a house beat with additional trumpet,

bongos Bongos ( es, bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands, most commonly in an eight-stroke pattern called ''martillo'' (hammer). The ...

and a "

samba Samba (), also known as samba urbano carioca (''urban Carioca samba'') or simply samba carioca (''Carioca samba''), is a Brazilian music genre that originated in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century. Havin ...

-like" piano part. It also speeds up Pasley's original vocal track, and eschews much of the original rhythm of the song with digital instrumentation. Fraser's saxophone is replaced by a sample of a trumpet. These attributes were considered more palatable for international audiences. Its genre has been variously described as representative of

reggae fusion Reggae fusion is a genre of reggae that mixes reggae and/or dancehall with other genres, such as pop, rock, hip hop, R&B, jazz, funk, soul, disco, electronic and latin. Origin Although artists have been mixing reggae with other genres from as ...

, and electro–

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

. The song's lyrics center on the protagonist's joy at finding a "cheerleader"—a romantic companion that will be a support system for him, and is "always there when I need her." While the song's lyrics relate heavily to romance, Pasley considered it timeless: "It speaks to more than just a significant other. It's dedicated to anyone who is that support system."

Music videos

The song's original music video, directed by Tim Cash, was shot in

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

on a small budget. A second video, directed by Scorpio 21, was shot at Red Bones Café in

Saint Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Peter ...

in January 2015. As the song began gaining worldwide success, a new music video for the Jaehn remix was commissioned. It was shot on location in Haulover Beach, Florida, which was designed to capture the song's essence, described by Pasley as a "constant warm sunshine-playful vibe." The clip was directed by Lenny Bass, who previously directed videos for

Fantasia Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...

and

Gavin DeGraw Gavin Shane DeGraw (born February 4, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. DeGraw rose to fame with his song "I Don't Want to Be" from his debut album '' Chariot'' (2003); the song became the main theme song for The WB drama series ''One Tree ...

. As of August 2021, this music video of the remix has received over 1.1 billion views on YouTube.

Chart performance

The remix of "Cheerleader" was a gradual global smash single; it first topped charts in European countries before making its way to the United States. The original track was first placed on reggae charts in Hawaii and

in 2012, after which it became a hit in his home country of

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. Dillon "strategically planned" the song's rise to fame, having released the song to "community sound systems in Miami and disc jockeys that toured with

talian reggae artist Talian may refer to: *Talian dialect, a dialect spoken in Brazil *Talian, Iran Talian ( fa, طاليان, also Romanized as Tālīān and Ţālīān) is a village in Baraghan Rural District, Chendar District, Savojbolagh County, Alborz Province ...

Alborosie Alberto D'Ascola (; born 4 July 1977), better known by his stage name Alborosie, is an Italian reggae artist. He is sometimes called the "Italian Reggae Ambassador". Music career Early life (2001–2005) Born Alberto d’Ascola and raised in ...

." Upon its remix, the song began gaining traction in

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

markets, first through the streaming service

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

. It soon spread to Italy and France. In January 2015,

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

, the conglomerate that owns Columbia and Ultra, named it their "Song of the Month"; as a result, all subsidiaries of the company put forth additional promotion of the single. By that time, the song had peaked at number one in five European territories. In March, a deal was signed with

Syco Music Syco Music is a defunct division of Syco Entertainment founded by British entrepreneur and record executive Simon Cowell. Originally founded as S Records, the label launched while Cowell was still employed by BMG, the label oversaw music relea ...

, a label owned and operated by British music mogul

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality, entrepreneur and record executive. He is the creator of ''The X Factor'' and ''Got Talent'' franchises which have been sold around the world. He has judged on t ...

, to promote and distribute the song throughout the United Kingdom. The song's popularity on streaming media in the UK brought forth its official release date there to mid-April. It shortly thereafter debuted on the country's pop charts and was assisted by a

viral video A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...

of Cowell singing the song. By early May, the song had topped the

UK Singles Chart 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 ...

; four weeks in, it broke chart records as the longest-running single by a Jamaican artist. The song debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the United States in early May, as the song peaked in the UK. The release of a revised music video to the song catapulted it to the top of music identification application Shazam's worldwide charts. Application data predicted that the song would top the Hot 100 at some point; the song eventually reached number one in the U.S. on 13 July. It remained on the top of the chart for six non-consecutive weeks, until finally being replaced by

The Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Known for his sonic versatility and dark lyricism, his music explores escapism, Romance (love), ...

's "

Can't Feel My Face "Can't Feel My Face" is a song performed by Canadian singer the Weeknd from his second studio album ''Beauty Behind the Madness'' (2015). The song was released on June 8, 2015, as the third single from the album. It was written by Max Martin, Pet ...

". It was later named ''Billboard''s Song of the Summer. Much of the song's rise to prominence was attributed to its performance on streaming services. On Spotify, the song attracted over 910 million plays (as of January 2019). Outside of national charts, it peaked at number one on the

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 ...

in over 55 markets. "Cheerleader" was the most streamed song of 2015 in the UK, racking up 71.7 million streams throughout the year.

Reception

While Chris Molanphy of ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

'' found the song's lyrics "laughably retrograde", he praised the chorus as "universally relatable and cross-culturally memorable." Nick Messitte, a ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' contributor, opined that the song has brought

music into the mainstream of the United States.

Usage in media

The song can be heard in the 2017 animated film ''

The Emoji Movie ''The Emoji Movie'' is a 2017 American computer-animated science fiction comedy film produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. Directed by Tony Leondis, who wrote the script with Eri ...

'', when Gene and Jailbreak enter

. The song is also used as the background music for a 2018

Toyota C-HR The is a subcompact crossover SUV manufactured by Japanese automaker Toyota since 2016. The development of the car began in 2013, led by Toyota chief engineer Hiroyuki Koba. The C-HR is based on the same TNGA-C (GA-C) platform as the E210 ser ...

commercial and a 2022 Stelara commercial. The song was performed by the child actors of

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Television in the Philippines, Philippine Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast broadcast network, network tha ...

Raikko Mateo Raikko Rain Mateo Gongora (born July 31, 2008), better known as Raikko Mateo, is a Filipino child actor who gained popularity as the lead star of the fantasy-drama ''Honesto ''Honesto'' is a 2013 Philippine family drama television series di ...

CX Navarro Cel-Xievionze Navarro (born June 23, 2006), better known as CX Navarro, is a Filipino child actor. Filmography Television References External links ''CX Navarro''on Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networkin ...

, Josh de Guzman, Enzo Pelojero and

Simon Pineda Xymon Ezekiel Nulos Pineda (born October 1, 2010), popularly known as Onyok Pineda or simply Onyok, is a Filipino child actor. He came to prominence in 2014 when he joined a segment in the variety show '' It's Showtime''. His acting career star ...

on ASAP on 19 November 2017. The track appears in the streaming service, ''Just Dance Unlimited'', as an exclusive for ''

Just Dance 2016 ''Just Dance 2016'' is a 2015 dance video game developed and published by Ubisoft. Unveiled on June 15, 2015, during its E3 press conference as the seventh main installment of the series, it was released in October 2015 for PlayStation 3, Play ...

''.

Track listing

*Digital download #"Cheerleader" – 3:00 *Digital download #"Cheerleader" – 3:01 *Digital download #"Cheerleader" – 3:00 *US digital download #"Cheerleader" – 3:03 #"Cheerleader" – 2:54 *German CD single #"Cheerleader" – 3:00 #"Cheerleader" – 2:54

Charts

Weekly charts

Felix Jaehn remix

Year-end charts

Felix Jaehn remix

Decade-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Radio and release history

References

External links