"Hi" is a song by Scottish alternative rock band
Texas featuring American hip hop group
Wu-Tang Clan, released as the lead single from their tenth studio
album of the same name (2021). The track was written by Eddie Campbell, Robert Hodgens, Sharleen Spiteri, Johnny McElhone, Jack McElhone,
Robert Diggs, and
Dennis Cole and was produced by John McElhone and Angelica Bjornsson. The single was released in December 2020 through
BMG BMG may refer to:
Organizations
* Music publishing companies:
** Bertelsmann Music Group, a 1987–2008 division of Bertelsmann that was purchased by Sony on October 1, 2008
*** Sony BMG, a 2004–2008 joint venture of Bertelsmann and Sony that wa ...
.
Background and recording
"Hi" is the second collaboration between Texas and Wu-Tang Clan, after both previously collaborated in 1998 with a re-worked version of Texas' 1997 hit single "
Say What You Want" re-titled as "Say What You Want (All Day, Every Day)". The 1998 release proved to be a commercial success, reach the top ten in the United Kingdom, Iceland, Scotland, Belgium and New Zealand. The success of the single lead to a performance from both Texas and Wu-Tang Clan at the
1998 BRIT Awards
Brit Awards 1998 was the 18th edition of the Brit Awards, an annual pop music awards ceremony in the United Kingdom. It was organised by the British Phonographic Industry and took place on 9 February 1998 at the London Arena in London.
Performa ...
.
Although the song is titled "Hi" as in someone saying hello to another, Spiteri claims the song is actually about "getting high on love". The release of the song marked the first new material from Wu-Tang Clan since 2017's ''The Saga Continues''.
Originally, Spiteri had passed the track to
RZA
Robert Fitzgerald Diggs (born July 5, 1969), better known by his stage name the RZA ( ), is an American rapper, actor, filmmaker, and record producer. He is the ''de facto'' leader of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan, having produced most albums ...
from Wu-Tang Clan to mix and finalise the recording, however, after hearing the track, RZA was keen for Wu-Tang Clan to become involved, leading to an official collaboration.
Promotion and release
"Hi" received its first radio airplay by
Zoe Ball on her
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...
breakfast show.
Commercial performance
The song appeared on the Wallonia
Ultratip chart in Belgium, where it charted at number 50 on 23 January 2021.
Music video
The official music video premiered on the band's
YouTube channel on 1 December 2020, the same day the single was officially released. The video begins with the 1998 BRIT Awards performance between Texas and Wu-Tang Clan performing "Say What You Want (All Day, Every Day)". The video then cuts to the present day, where actor Kadeem Ramsay is seen driving an old
Volvo car down a country road. The music video features very little of Spiteri and RZA and Wu-Tang Clan, with Spiteri making only an appearance towards the end of the video where it is revealed that Ramsay's character has kidnapped her, later she is sitting on top of the Volvo 740 at dusk, with Ramsay standing beside her, the pair sharing a joint. RZA makes an appearance at the end of the video through a video call.
Charts
References
{{Texas (band)
2020 singles
2020 songs
Songs written by Johnny McElhone
Songs written by Sharleen Spiteri
Texas (band) songs
Wu-Tang Clan songs