"First" is a song recorded by American actress and singer

Lindsay Lohan Lindsay Dee Lohan ( ; born July 2, 1986) is an American actress and singer. Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, Lohan was signed to Ford Models at the age of three. Having appeared as a regular on the television soap opera '' An ...

for her debut studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

'' Speak'' (2004). It was released as the album's third and final single on May 9, 2005. "First" was also released to help promote the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

film '' Herbie: Fully Loaded'', in which it appears on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of ...

. Lohan played the lead on ''Herbie: Fully Loaded''. The song is about wanting to come first in her boyfriend's life. "First" failed to chart in the United States, but it performed well in Taiwan. "First" was the least successful single from ''Speak''.

Background and recording

"First" was written and produced by Kara DioGuardi and John Shanks, who would later produce Lohan's second album ''

A Little More Personal (Raw) ''A Little More Personal (Raw)'' (stylized ''A Little More Personal (RAW)'') is the second studio album by American actress and singer Lindsay Lohan, released on November 30, 2005, by Casablanca Records. The album features darker material than Lo ...

''. The song was recorded in 2004 at

Henson Recording Studios The Jim Henson Company Lot, formerly A&M Studios, is a studio property located just south of the southeast corner of North La Brea Avenue and Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Originally established by film star Charlie Chaplin, the property served ...

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

. She had been recording and filming the movie back-to-back. DioGuardi and Cory Rooney, who wrote and produced Lohan's first single "

Rumors A rumor (American English), or rumour (British English; see spelling differences; derived from Latin:rumorem - noise), is "a tall tale of explanations of events circulating from person to person and pertaining to an object, event, or issue in p ...

", provided background vocals for the song. "Speak", the title track from the album, was originally going to be released as the third single. Angela Robinson, director of ''Herbie: Fully Loaded'', looked at Lohan's album to see if she could find a track that could be incorporated in the film. She enjoyed listening to "First" and approached Lohan about it being released as the next single. Even though the song is about wanting to be the first person in a boyfriend's life, in the context of the film, however, it is taken as wanting to finish first in a car race.

Critical reception

Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...

called the song and the second ("Nobody 'Til You") track "promising", while criticizing the other songs on the album.

Chart performance

"First" failed to chart on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 or the

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

chart. It was, however, successful in many other countries. The single charted within the top-ten in Taiwan and Indonesia. The single charted at number 31 in Australia, just missing out by one spot on the

ARIA Charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...

. It also charted at number 41 in Switzerland and at number 74 in Germany.

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

for "First" began shooting in May 2005, after Lohan had recently bleached her auburn hair blonde. The music video was directed by

Jake Nava Jake Nava is a British director, mostly known for his work in music videos for Beyoncé, Arctic Monkeys, Adele, Britney Spears and The Rolling Stones. He also directs TV commercials, notably for Guinness and Levi Strauss & Co. Early life and ed ...

, who directed her previous singles "Rumors" and " Over". The music video takes place in a garage-like arena in the middle of a race. Lohan and her band sing the song from a stage right next to the track, while clips from ''Herbie: Fully Loaded'' play. Lohan also sings and dances beside

Herbie Herbie, the Love Bug is a fictional Sentience, sentient 1963 Volkswagen Beetle, who has been featured in several Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney motion pictures starting with the 1968 feature film ''The Love Bug''. He has a mind of his own an ...

, the anthropomorphic

Volkswagen Beetle The Volkswagen Beetle—officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in German (meaning "beetle"), in parts of the English-speaking world the Bug, and known by many other nicknames in other languages—is a two-door, rear-engine economy car, ...

Live performance

Lohan performed "First" at

KIIS-FM KIIS-FM (102.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, United States, and broadcasts to the Greater Los Angeles area. The station airs a top 40 format. Owned by iHeartMedia, KIIS-FM is the origin of the conglome ...

102.7 Wango Tango event in 2005. She also performed "Speak", the album's title track.

Track listing and formats

;CD single #"First" – 3:29 #"Symptoms of You" – 2:55 ;Maxi single #"First" – 3:29 #"Symptoms of You" – 2:55 #"Rumors" (The Sharp Boys Club Gossip Vocal Remix) – 7:23 #"First" (Instrumental) – 3:28 ;Japanese CD single #"First" – 3:29 #"First" (Instrumental) – 3:28

Charts

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:First (Song) 2005 singles Lindsay Lohan songs Song recordings produced by John Shanks Songs written by Kara DioGuardi Music videos directed by Jake Nava Songs written by John Shanks 2004 songs Casablanca Records singles Hollywood Records singles