"Classic" is a song by American pop duo

MKTO MKTO is an American pop and hip hop duo, consisting of Malcolm Kelley and Tony Oller. Their self-titled album was released on January 30, 2014, by Columbia Records. In July 2015, the duo released their first extended play, titled ''Bad Girls ...

. Written by

Evan "Kidd" Bogart Evan Bogart (born January 23, 1978), better known as E. Kidd Bogart, is an American songwriter, music publisher, record executive and film & television producer. He is the son of Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart and former music manager Joyc ...

Andrew Goldstein Andrew Scott Goldstein (born March 25, 1983 in Milton, Massachusetts) is the first American male team-sport professional athlete to be openly gay during his playing career. He came out publicly in 2003 and was drafted by his hometown team, the ...

Emanuel Kiriakou Emanuel "Eman" Kiriakou (born August 16, 1966) is an American songwriter, producer, record executive, music publisher and multi-instrumentalist, based in Los Angeles. He recently co-wrote and produced " Take You Dancing" by Jason Derulo, and has ...

, and

Lindy Robbins Lindy Robbins is an American songwriter from Los Angeles, whose songs include Demi Lovato's " Skyscraper", Jason Derulo's "Want to Want Me", David Guetta's " Dangerous" featuring Sam Martin, MKTO's "Classic", Hot Chelle Rae's " Tonight, Toni ...

, "Classic" was first released on June 20, 2013iTunes - Music - Classic - Single by MKTO
/ref> as the second single from the duo's self-titled debut album.

Background and release

After securing a recording contract with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

in 2012,

began recording material for their self-titled debut album in 2013, with American singer-songwriter,

Ne-Yo Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), known professionally as Ne-Yo, is an American singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer. He gained fame for his songwriting abilities when he penned Mario's 2004 hit " Let Me Love You ...

and

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 ...

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

Max Martin Karl Martin Sandberg (; born 26 February 1971),Max Martin
allmusic.com known profess ...

among some of their collaborators. "Classic" was eventually chosen as the follow-up to the duo's top ten hit, "

Thank You "''Thank you''" (often expanded to ''thank you very much'' or ''thanks a lot'', or informally abbreviated to ''thanks'' or alternately as ''many thanks''Geoffrey Leech, ''The Pragmatics of Politeness'' (2014), p. 200.) is a common expression of ...

" and released as the second single from their debut album in June 2013. In the lead-up to the single's release in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, MKTO served as the opening act for

Emblem3 Emblem3 is an American rap rock band from Sequim, Washington, consisting of Wesley Stromberg (born December 6, 1993), Drew Chadwick (born October 1, 1992), and Keaton Stromberg (born July 16, 1996). In 2013, they signed with Simon Cowell's reco ...

during their tour in the summer and also made a visit to the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

office, where they previewed tracks from their debut album, which had not yet been released at the time.MKTO Preps For U.S. Push, Talks Debut Album , Billboard
/ref>

Reception

The song received positive reviews from critics and fans. BrentMusicReviews gave it 5/5 stars and called it "MKTO don’t reinvent the wheel, but deliver worthwhile pop music". Matt Collar from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

gave a positive review and stated "Featuring the talents of actor/musicians Malcolm Kelly and Tony Oller, MKTO's full-length debut album, 2014's eponymous MKTO, is an exuberant and catchy mix of dancey, hip-hop-infused pop, rock, and R&B." The song featured on the American version of Now That's What I Call Music! 47 almost a whole year before it reached national success. The song sold 76,000 downloads in the US in 2013 according to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

. It has sold 742,000 downloads in the US up to date.

Music video

The song's accompanying

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 Josh Forbes and was released on June 20, 2013. In ''MKTO: The Making of Classic'', the duo reveals that the video explores "bringing back the classic feel". Band member

Tony Oller Anthony Michael Oller (born February 25, 1991) is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He had roles as Walt Moore on the TeenNick TV show '' Gigantic'', and as Danny on Disney Channel's ''As the Bell Rings''. He appeared in the films ''Bene ...

elaborates further by saying, "The whole concept is about going back in time and reliving those great classic moments". The video begins with MKTO walking into a club, where they meet a few girls and take them to a magical photo booth that transforms the girls into dresses that were worn back in the different “classical” eras.

Chart performance

"Classic" was a commercial success in

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...

, peaking at number eight in New Zealand and number nine in Australia, becoming the duo's second top 10 hit in both nations. It has been certified Gold by

Recorded Music NZ Recorded Music NZ (formerly the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ)) is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell recorded music in New Zealand. Membership of Recorded Mus ...

(RMNZ) for sales in excess of 7,500 copies and 2× 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 th ...

(ARIA), denoting shipments in excess of 140,000 copies. In the

, "Classic" debuted at number 96 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming MKTO's first single to chart in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. It peaked at number 14, becoming the group's first top 20 hit in the US. In addition to the Hot 100, "Classic" has also peaked at number eight on the US

Mainstream Top 40 Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...

, becoming the duo's first top 10 hit on this chart. In June 2014, the song surpassed the one million mark in digital sales and was subsequently certified Double Platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA).

Track listing

;Digital download

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2013 singles 2013 songs Columbia Records singles MKTO songs Songs written by E. Kidd Bogart Songs written by Lindy Robbins Songs written by Andrew Goldstein (musician) Songs written by Emanuel Kiriakou Song recordings produced by Emanuel Kiriakou Funk songs Cultural depictions of Michael Jackson