"Hey QT" is the only single by the one-off music project QT. The project consisted of American performance artist

Hayden Dunham Hayden Frances Dunham (born June 16, 1988) is a performance artist, designer, singer, songwriter and DJ. They grew up in Austin, Texas and attended the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU. They are best known for their work as QT (a ...

, English producer

A. G. Cook Alexander Guy Cook (born 23 August 1990) is an English music producer, singer, songwriter and the head of the UK record label PC Music. Cook released his first solo singles in 2014. He has also collaborated with PC Music artists such as Hannah ...

, Scottish producer

Sophie Sophie is a version of the female given name Sophia, meaning "wise". People with the name Born in the Middle Ages * Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson * Sophie of Thuringia, Duchess o ...

, and British singer Harriet Pittard. The song was released on 26 August 2014 via

XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been ran and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group. Although only releasing an average of six album ...

. The single's release was accompanied by a photo of QT with a blonde wig trimmed into a messy bob cut. The promotional image was made by Diamond Wright, a team that includes PC Music musician

Hannah Diamond Hannah Amond (born 20 June 1991), known professionally as Hannah Diamond, is an English singer, songwriter, photographer, and visual artist. She has recorded on A.G. Cook's PC Music label since 2013, beginning with her debut single " Pink and ...

Composition

"Hey QT" is a

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

song composed in the key of

F major F major (or the key of F) is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor F minor is a minor scale based on F, consis ...

, with a tempo of 129

beats per minute Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ( ...

. Its production uses synthesizer melodies and an irregular beat staccato snare hits. It features a call and response hook of "Hey QT! Yeah?". Although Dunham portrays QT, the song's vocals are actually by British singer Harriet Pittard, who also records as Zoee. Her voice was shifted to a higher pitch, and the song has a girlish, cute aesthetic. She said that the lyrics describe a "feeling of sensing someone's presence even when they are not in the same physical space". "Hey QT" includes a metanarrative about the song itself.

Release and promotion

The song was debuted at a Boiler Room show in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

promoting

Hudson Mohawke Ross Matthew Birchard (born 11 February 1986), better known by the stage name Hudson Mohawke, is a Scottish-American producer, composer, and DJ from Glasgow. He is known for his influential work in 21st century hip-hop and electronic music. A ...

's ''

Chimes Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the percussion family. Their sound resembles that of church bells, carillon, or a bell tower; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the sound of church bells within a ...

'' EP. A digital broadcast by

Eric Wareheim Eric Alexander Wareheim (; born April 7, 1976) is an American comedian, actor, writer, director, musician, and winemaker. He is best known as one half of the comedy duo Tim & Eric, alongside Tim Heidecker. He also had a recurring role on the Netf ...

opened the performance. Dunham performed the song as QT, opening the act by sitting down and reading a fashion magazine while a voiceover endorsed the QT energy drink. Dunham then lip synced "Hey QT" while appearing disinterested.

Diplo Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is the co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer, a member of the supergroup LSD with ...

premiered his remix of "Hey QT" on 6 March 2015 through

Annie Mac Annie Mac (born 18 July 1978), is an Irish DJ, broadcaster and writer. She hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1, including BBC Switch and ''Future Sounds''. She also DJed in various locations, including hosting her AMP (Annie Mac Presents) ...

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

show. His reworking is more subdued, with a drop leading into the chorus. The remix was made available as a free download on

WeTransfer WeTransfer is an internet-based computer file transfer service company that was founded in 2009, based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. History WeTransfer was founded in 2009 by Rinke Visser, Bas Beerens and Ronald Hans (Nalden) in Amsterdam, Netherla ...

Critical reception

Reaction to "Hey QT" was divided; many people responded with confusion or repulsion. It received some praise from music critics, placing 84th on ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

''s 2014

Pazz & Jop Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...

critics' poll. "Hey QT" was chosen as number 14 on

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

's "100 Best Tracks of 2014". ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'' ranked the song 4th on its list of "The 101 Best Songs of 2014", ''

The Fader ''The Fader'' (stylized as ''FADER'') is a magazine based in New York City that was launched in 1999 by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. It was the first print publication to be released on iTunes. It is o ...

'' listed the song 3rd, and ''

Fact A fact is a datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance, which, if accepted as true and proven true, allows a logical conclusion to be reached on a true–false evaluation. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scient ...

'' magazine placed "Hey QT" 37th on its year-end list.

Music video

The music video for "Hey QT", directed by Bradley & Pablo, was released on 25 March 2015. The video depicts QT developing the DrinkQT energy drink. A laboratory measures her emotional state and distills it into the drink's formula. The video features CGI animations of DrinkQT, which were simulated in

RealFlow RealFlow is a fluid and dynamics simulation tool for the 3D and visual effects industry, developed by Next Limit Technologies in Madrid, Spain. This stand-alone application can be used in conjunction with other 3D programs to simulate fluids, wat ...

and rendered using

3ds Max Autodesk 3ds Max, formerly 3D Studio and 3D Studio Max, is a professional 3D computer graphics program for making 3D animations, models, games and images. It is developed and produced by Autodesk Media and Entertainment. It has modeling capabil ...

. It references Gap advertisements and includes product placement for Beats headphones.

References

External links

* {{authority control 2014 debut singles 2014 songs Dance-pop songs XL Recordings singles Songs written by A. G. Cook Songs written by Sophie (musician) Bubblegum pop songs Song recordings produced by Sophie (musician)