"Forever Your Girl" is a song recorded by American singer-choreographer

Paula Abdul Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreograph ...

for her 1988 eponymous debut studio album. Written and produced by

Oliver Leiber Ta Mara and the Seen was an American R&B group based in Minneapolis. They were signed by A&M Records to capitalize on the mid-1980s chart success of the "Minneapolis sound", which included acts such as Prince, Vanity 6, Sheila E., and the Time. ...

, who also produced her previous single " (It's Just) The Way that You Love Me", the single version was released on February 20, 1989, by

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

. Following the unexpected success of " Straight Up", the song continued Abdul's newfound commercial success, becoming her second chart-topper on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for two consecutive weeks. "Forever Your Girl" spent two weeks at the top of the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in May 1989, reached number 28 on the

Dance Club Songs Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

chart, and number 11 on the

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart.

Composition and lyrics

The song is about loyalty in a relationship. The female vocalist proclaims that, despite rumors that others may be interested in her, none of those matter because she will remain faithful to the man she loves; she will remain "forever his girl." The single version differs slightly from the album version, as it uses more of the background male vocal featuring The Wild Pair, Bruce DeShazer and Marvin Gunn.

Critical reception

Eleanor Levy left ironically negative review on this single for British music newspaper ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the ''NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in ''Re ...

''. She called it "a disappointingly predictable pop song".

Music video

The 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 ...

for the song was directed by

David Fincher David Andrew Leo Fincher (born August 28, 1962) is an American film director. His films, mostly psychological thrillers and biographical dramas, have received 40 nominations at the Academy Awards, including three for him as Best Director. Fin ...

, and featured Abdul acting as a choreographer and director of a children's performance (a 6-year-old

Trevor Wright Trevor Christopher Wright is a former American actor. Early life Wright was raised in La Jolla, California. Career His breakthrough acting lead role was in the 2007 film ''Shelter'' as Zach. His recurring role as Zack Powers on ''George Lope ...

, 8-year-old

Elijah Wood Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of Frodo Baggins in the ''Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy (2001–2003) and '' The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'' (2012). Wood ...

and 10-year-old

Nikki Cox Nicole Avery Cox (born June 2, 1978) is an American actress known mostly for her roles on the television series ''Unhappily Ever After'', ''Las Vegas'', ''The Norm Show'', and ''Nikki''. Career Cox began her career at the age of four, when s ...

were among them). The "Forever Your Girl" video spent two weeks at number one on MTV's video rotation.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Cover versions

The 2020 film '' Impractical Jokers: The Movie'', the plot of which revolves around a party with

, includes the original version by Abdul, a live version, and cover versions by

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald (American musician), Hugh McD ...

Method Man Clifford Smith, Jr. (born March 2, 1971), better known by his stage name Method Man, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is known as a member of the East Coast hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He is also half of t ...

Harry Connick Jr. Joseph Harry Fowler Connick Jr. (born September 11, 1967) is an American singer, pianist, composer, actor, and television host. He has sold over 28million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top60 best-selling male artists in the Uni ...

and

Joey Fatone Joseph Anthony Fatone Jr. (born January 28, 1977) is an American singer, dancer, actor, and television personality. He is best known as a member of the boyband NSYNC, in which he sang baritone. In 2007, he came in second place on the ABC realit ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forever Your Girl (Song) 1988 songs 1989 singles Paula Abdul songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles Music videos directed by David Fincher Songs written by Oliver Leiber Virgin Records singles