"Gotcha" is a song recorded by Australian singer and songwriter

Jessica Mauboy Jessica Hilda Mauboy (born 4 August 1989) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. Born and raised in Darwin, Northern Territory, she rose to fame in 2006 on the fourth season of ''Australian Idol'', where she was runner-up and subseq ...

for the soundtrack album '' The Sapphires'' to the 2012 musical film of the same name, in which Mauboy stars as Julie McCrae. The song was written by Mauboy,

Louis Schoorl Louis Schoorl (born 23 December 1976) is a Dutch-born Australian songwriter, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist. Career Based in Sydney, Australia, Schoorl has written or produced for 5 Seconds of Summer, Taylor Henderson, Jessica ...

and

Ilan Kidron Ilan Kidron (born 22 April 1976), also known as iKid, is a Sydney-based singer songwriter with over one billion combined streams, best known as the lead singer for Australia's multi-platinum selling dance music act The Potbelleez. As a writer ...

, and produced by The Schoolkids. It was released 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 the soundtrack album on 13 July 2012. Musically, "Gotcha" is an

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pop and

swing dance Swing dance is a group of social dances that developed with the swing style of jazz music in the 1920s–1940s, with the origins of each dance predating the popular "swing era". Hundreds of styles of swing dancing were developed; those that have ...

song, which incorporates influences of motown and elements of 1960s music. "Gotcha" garnered positive reviews from music critics, who praised its sound. The song peaked at number 43 on the ARIA Singles Chart and number 11 on the ARIA Urban Singles Chart, and was certified gold 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). "Gotcha" earned Mauboy two nominations at the 2012 ARIA Music Awards for Best Female Artist and Best Pop Release. 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 ...

was directed by Samuel Leighton-Dore and features Mauboy inside a recording studio performing with a band. To promote the song, Mauboy performed the song live on ''

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology A ...

'' and at

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's Slimefest concert.

Background and release

In the 2012 musical film '' The Sapphires'',

portrays the character of Julie McCrae, one of four

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

women who are discovered by a talent scout and formed into a 1960s singing group called The Sapphires, known as Australia's answer to

The Supremes The Supremes were an American girl group and a premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s. Founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successf ...

. The group travel to

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

in 1968 to sing for the US troops during the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

. "Gotcha" was written by Mauboy,

and Ilan Kidron, while the production was handled by The Schoolkids. They wrote the song shortly after the filming of ''The Sapphires'' was completed, and Mauboy made sure it captured "the groove and feel" of the 60s era. During an interview with ''National Features'', she stated that "Gotcha" is one of her "all-time favourites" she has ever written and that she wanted it sound "really feisty but sexy". Mauboy revealed her thoughts about the song in an interview with '' Sunshine Coast Daily'', saying "I'm really proud of this song, it's something really close to me and it's different to everything I have written. ..Lyrically I'm really proud of it, and vocally it's definitely

here Here is an adverb that means "in, on, or at this place". It may also refer to: Software * Here Technologies, a mapping company * Here WeGo (formerly Here Maps), a mobile app and map website by Here Technologies, Here Television * Here TV (form ...

I need to be". "Gotcha" was released digitally via

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 ...

s on 13 July 2012, as the

from ''The Sapphires soundtrack album of the same name.

Composition and reception

"Gotcha" is an

pop and

song, which incorporates influences of motown and elements of 1960s music. It also features an

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

sample and a "modern, cut-up pace". Miranda Cashin of ''Sunshine Coast Daily'' described the song as "a return to the Mauboy e knewbefore the infamous 2010 sexed-up fist-pumping album, '' Get 'Em Girls''". A writer for Mix 106.5 labelled "Gotcha" as "catchy", while Thomas Gilmore of ''

The Music Network ''The Music Network'' is an Australian magazine launched in 1994 by John Woodruff. In 2017, it was acquired by Jake Challenor, who serves as its publisher and editor. History ''The Music Network'' was founded by John Woodruff in 1994, initi ...

'' called it "infectious". ''Beat'' magazine's Simon Ubaldi described the song as "cute", and Pop of Poprepublic.tv awarded it four stars out of five.

News.com.au news.com.au is an Australian website owned by News Corp Australia. It had 9.6 million unique readers in April 2019 and covers national and international news, lifestyle, travel, entertainment, technology, finance, and sport. Staff The organiza ...

's Cameron Adams viewed "Gotcha" as the "highlight" of ''The Sapphires'' soundtrack and stated that it "manages to be modern and retro all at once". "Gotcha" earned Mauboy two nominations for the 2012 ARIA Music Awards in the categories of Best Female Artist and Best Pop Release. "Gotcha" debuted on the ARIA Singles Chart at number 50 on 20 August 2012. It peaked at number 43 in its third week on the chart and became Mauboy's lowest charting single at the time. "Gotcha" also appeared on the ARIA Urban Singles Chart at number 11. The song was certified gold by the

(ARIA), denoting sales of 35,000 copies.

Music video and live performances

The accompanying

for "Gotcha" was directed by Samuel Leighton-Dore and shot mainly in

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

. It premiered on

Vevo Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, ...

on 16 July 2012. The video features Mauboy inside a recording studio performing with a band playing instruments to the song. Scenes from ''The Sapphires'' are intercut throughout the video. Adam Bub of MusicFix noted that Mauboy is "channelling a 1960s doo-woop diva" in the video and described her look as "super-hot". On 20 August 2012, she performed the song on ''

''. Mauboy also performed "Gotcha" at ''

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'' magazine's Fashion's Night Out event in Sydney on 7 September 2012. She performed the song with " Inescapable" at

's first Slimefest concert on 15 September 2012. On 14 October 2012, Mauboy performed "Gotcha" during the first live show of the second season of ''

New Zealand's Got Talent ''New Zealand's Got Talent'' was a New Zealand reality television show which premiered in 2008. The show was based on the ''Got Talent'' series. The show featured singers, dancers, magicians, comedians and other variety performers of all ages co ...

''.

Track listing

*Digital download #"Gotcha" – 3:08

Credits and personnel

Credits are taken from ''The Sapphires'' liner notes *Ilan Kidron –

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

*Jessica Mauboy – songwriter,

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

*Louis Schoorl – songwriter,

mixing engineer A mixing engineer (or simply mix engineer) is responsible for combining ("mixing") different sonic elements of an auditory piece into a complete rendition (also known as "final mix" or "mixdown"), whether in music, film, or any other content of a ...

*The Schoolkids – producer *Leon Zervos – mastering engineer

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control 2012 singles Jessica Mauboy songs Songs written by Jessica Mauboy 2012 songs Songs written by Louis Schoorl Songs written by Ilan Kidron Sony Music Australia singles