"It's Chico Time" is the debut single of former ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

'' contestant

Chico Slimani Yousseph "Chico" Slimani (born 1971) is a British singer who rose to prominence in the United Kingdom after reaching the quarter-finals of the 2005 series of the talent show ''The X Factor''. In 2006, he had a number one hit on the British c ...

. The single was released on 27 February 2006. The song was written and composed by Mark Hudson.

Background

Chico first performed the song on ''

'' on 19 November 2005. It was the only time that a contestant had performed an original song during the live stages of the show, until

series 9 The ninth series of the children's television series '' Hi-5'' aired between 11 June 2007 and 10 August 2007 on the Nine Network in Australia. The series was produced by Kids Like Us for Nine with Helena Harris as executive producer. This was t ...

, when contestant

Lucy Spraggan Lucy Honour Ruby Spraggan (born 21 July 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. She auditioned for ''The X Factor (UK series 9), The X Factor'' in 2012, performing her own composition, "Last Night (Lucy Spraggan song), Last Night". On 3 November ...

performed her own track, "Mountains". The track was released on the back of the success of the performance, and peaked at number one on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

on 5 March 2006, toppling

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

's hit single " Sorry", and staying at the top of the chart for two weeks. Chico became the first ''X Factor'' runner-up to have his debut single peak at number one. The general theme of the song is to not take life too seriously, and to just party – as life is too short. Chico contributed some of the lyrics himself. The music video for the track is very low-budget, showing Chico in front of a plain white background, with lines of red, yellow and orange, and a staircase where Chico stands at the beginning of the video. The video features many children, known as "Chiquettes", dancing along with Chico.

It's England Time

In 2010, Slimani re-recorded the single in support of the

England football team The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affiliat ...

at the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Aptly entitled "It's England Time", a play on "It's Chico Time", it uses the same basis as the original version, but with amended lyrics. The song was first played on ''

The Chris Moyles Show ''The Chris Moyles Show'' is the title given to two differing versions of a radio programme hosted by Chris Moyles, originally broadcast as Radio 1 Breakfast from 5 January 2004 to 14 September 2012 before transferring three years later on 21 ...

''. Slimani recorded the version after having a 'vision' that England would win the 2010 World Cup, and that in the celebrations, commentators would make reference to his song. The single was released on 8 February 2010. Proceeds went to Rainbow Child Foundation to help under-privileged children in Africa.

Track listings

"It's Chico Time"

* CD single # "It's Chico Time" – 2:49 # "It's Chico Time" (''The X Factor'' Live Show Version) – 2:28 # "Kiss" – 3:18 # "It's Chico Time" (video) – 3:00 * Digital download # "It's Chico Time" – 2:49 # "It's Chico Time" (''The X Factor'' Live Show Version) – 2:28 # "It's Chico Time" (Chico Dub) – 4:58 # "It's Chico Time" (''The X Factor'' Extended Mix) – 3:48

"It's England Time"

* Digital download # "It's England Time" – 3:22 # "It's England Time" (Instrumental) – 3:18

Credits and personnel

* Chico Slimani – lead vocals * Marcus Hutton –

Synth A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

(on "Kiss") * Archie Merrington –

Kazoo The kazoo is an American musical instrument that adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of '' mirliton'' (which itself is a membranophone), one of a class of instruments which modifi ...

(on "It's Chico Time")

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 2006 debut singles Number-one singles in Scotland Songs written by Mark Hudson (musician) Sony BMG singles UK Singles Chart number-one singles