My First Kiss (song)

"My First Kiss" is a song recorded by American electronic duo 3OH!3. The song was written by Lukasz Gottwald, Sean Foreman, Nathaniel Motte and Benny Blanco, and was produced by Dr. Luke, and Blanco for their third studio album, '' Streets of Gold'' (2010). The song was released as the lead single from ''Streets of Gold'' on May 4, 2010. The song's inspiration is about going through one's first kiss and exploring further parts of a relationship.

Critical reception of the song was mixed. Though the song is 3OH!3's song, Kesha's feature on the track was praised by multiple critics for her strong delivery while 3OH!3's performance was met with mixed reviews, some calling them irritating. The song achieved commercial success by reaching the top ten in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, while charting within the top forty in multiple other countries. The song performed greatest in the United States reaching a peak of number nine on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and has gone on to sell 1,800,000 copies as of 2016. The music video for "My First Kiss" follows a similar theme to its title. The dominant scenes of the video feature people kissing in front of multicolored backings with 3OH!3's logo present in much of the scenes. The song was performed on ''Regis and Kelly''.

Ashley Tisdale sang the parts of Kesha with the duo 3OH!3 in the episode "Worried Baby Blues" on her television series, ''Hellcats'', and the original version of the song used in other episode "I Say a Little Prayer" of the same series. The song was used in the 2012 film ''American Reunion'', and was also included on the official soundtrack of the movie.

Background and composition

"My First Kiss" was written by Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte alongside Dr. Luke and Benny Blanco. The song was produced by Dr. Luke and Benny Blanco with vocal editing done by Emily Wright. While being interviewed by MTV, Foreman explained the song's inspiration: "The song is about a girl you really like, and the story line of going through your first kiss with a girl to exploring further parts of the relationship." While composing the song, Foreman and Motte decided that they needed to add a female to the song. Kesha, who had worked with Blanco and Luke, was asked to participate in the song and later came into the studio to contribute her lines.

"My First Kiss" is an upbeat dominant electropop song that incorporates elements of power pop. The song features elements of "electro bleeps" and a brief snippets of "beatbox sounds". Present throughout the song, are sounds of kissing noises in between verses. According to sheet music published at Musicnotes, the song is written in common time with a moderate beat rate of 138 beats per minute. The song is written in the key of E minor and the vocal range in the song spans from the note of E₃ to the note of B₄. According to Sara D Anderson of AOL Radio, Kesha plays the role of a boy's first crush "who decides to not let him go past first base: 'She don't wanna give it up / Baby I can get it up / If I had it my way / Hey! I'll make you say.'"

Critical reception

Robert Copsey of Digital Spy met the song with a negative review. Copsey commended Kesha's work throughout the song calling her "cheeky (and a tad tipsy)". 3OH!3 however, were called "simply irritating". Copsey commented that the song was simply "another shouty electro-hop nugget that's as rowdy and intimidating as the school bully after a can of Red Bull". Fraser McAlpine from BBC
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