"Nolita Fairytale" is a song by

Vanessa Carlton Vanessa Lee Carlton (born August 16, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Upon completion of her education at the School of American Ballet, Carlton chose to pursue singing instead, performing in New York City bars and clubs while ...

, the first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from her third album, ''

Heroes & Thieves ''Heroes & Thieves'' is the third album by American singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton, released by The Inc. Records on October 9, 2007. It is co-produced by Irv Gotti, Linda Perry and Third Eye Blind lead singer Stephan Jenkins, who produced C ...

'', released digitally on the

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 ...

and to American radio stations on July 17, 2007."Platinum Pop Vocalist Vanessa Carlton Set to Release New Album 'Heroes and Thieves' under the Inc. Banner"

Business Wire Business Wire is an American company that disseminates full-text press releases from thousands of companies and organizations worldwide to news media, financial markets, disclosure systems, investors, information web sites, databases, bloggers, ...

. July 17, 2007.

Theme

According to Carlton, the song is about her life in

Nolita Nolita, sometimes written as NoLIta and deriving from "North of Little Italy",Roberts, Sam"New York’s Little Italy, Littler by the Year"''New York Times'' (February 21, 2011) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. No ...

(a neighborhood of New York City) and, in her words, "the series of revelations I have had over the past few years." It documents major changes in her life from 2005 to 2007, including touring with Stevie Nicks (who is thanked in the song), buying her own home, getting a puppy and, as she put it, "staying in one spot for more than a couple weeks". The song also includes a reference to Carlton's departure from her previous record label,

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

.Vozick-Levinson, Simon
"Irv Gotti and Vanessa Carlton, together at last"
''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

''. June 1, 2007. She said that developing her life in Nolita "gave me peace and clarity. I lead a pretty enchanted life."Cheung, Nadine
"Vanessa Carlton Dodges Looming Question"

AOL Music AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. ...

PopEater. July 10, 2007. The line "Ruby's in the afternoon" refers to a café in Nolita and one of Carlton's favorite neighborhood hangouts. On June 19,

Irv Gotti Irving Domingo Lorenzo Jr. (born June 26, 1970), professionally known as Irv Gotti, is an American DJ, music producer, record executive, and the CEO and co-founder of Murder Inc. Records. He is best known for producing multiple number-one rec ...

, head of Carlton's record label The Inc. Records, released a video of an interview with Carlton and a performance of the song live from her apartment intercut with shots of Nolita.

Composition

"Nolita Fairytale" is composed in common time and the key of E♭ major. It follows the common strophic verse-chorus format, with a bridge between the second and third chorus repetitions. The refrain keeps the melody, with changing lyrics.

Chart position

"Nolita Fairytale" was Carlton's first lead single to not enter the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It debuted at number 26 on the US Adult Top 40 chart, were it spent twelve weeks.

Personnel

: vocals, background vocals, piano *

Matt Chamberlain Matthew Chamberlain (born April 17, 1967) is an American session musician, drummer, producer and songwriter. Biography Life and career Chamberlain was born in San Pedro, California on April 17, 1967. He began learning how to play the drums ...

: drums, percussion * Stephan Jenkins: percussion * Tony Fredianelli: guitar * Sebastian Steinburg: bass

Release

"Nolita Fairytale" was officially released to U.S. radio on July 17, 2007. It was made available for download at the

. ''

'' wrote, "if he single ...isn't in heavy radio and MTV rotation by the end of summer, I'll be surprised". The music video for "Nolita Fairytale" was shot in the area of Lafayette Street and Bond Street in the Noho (North of Houston) part of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

(New York City) on July 28, 2007. The beginning of the video is a step-by-step duplication of the video for Carlton's first single, "

A Thousand Miles "A Thousand Miles" (originally titled "Interlude") is the debut single by American pop singer Vanessa Carlton. Produced by Curtis Schweitzer and Ron Fair, the song was released as the lead single for Carlton's album '' Be Not Nobody'' (2002). ...

" (2002), until Carlton gets up and walks away from the traveling

grand piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

, which a yellow taxicab crashes into and destroys. Throughout the video, a few things from fairy tales can be seen such as a girl letting her hair out from a window in an apartment building (

Rapunzel "Rapunzel" ( , ) is a German fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm and first published in 1812 as part of '' Children's and Household Tales'' (KHM 12). The Brothers Grimm's story developed from the French literary fairy tale of '' Persinet ...

), a man with butterfly wings, giant mushrooms, a giant spider moving and spinning a web at the same time, a man playing fetch with a wolf in Central Park, a candy covered apartment (

Hansel and Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; german: Hänsel und Gretel ) is a German fairy tale collected by the German Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). It is also known as Little Step Brother and Little Step Sister. Hansel ...

), a policeman riding a unicorn, and moving chess pieces. Carlton said that the "A Thousand Miles" video "trumped everything else ..They don't know who I am, they don't know the song, they don't know any of it. But they know the traveling piano video. To start anew, you have to kind of open the old book and then close it so you can then open the next book." The video was directed by

Marc Klasfeld Marc Klasfeld is an American music video director. He has directed over two hundred music videos for artists such as Slipknot, Sum 41, Katy Perry, Jay-Z, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Britney Spears, Kid Rock, Michael Bublé, Nelly, Foo Fighters, Kelly ...

, the director of the "A Thousand Miles" video and produced by Media Magik. The video premiered on

on August 22.Cheung, Nadine
"Video Premiere: Vanessa Carlton's 'Nolita Fairytale'"
.

PopEater. August 22, 2007. "Nolita Fairytale" was played at the end of the November 28, 2007 episode of

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

's television show ''

Gossip Girl ''Gossip Girl'' is an American teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series, developed for television by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, ran on The CW network for six sea ...

''.

Charts

References

{{authority control 2007 singles Vanessa Carlton songs Songs written by Stephan Jenkins Songs written by Vanessa Carlton Music videos directed by Marc Klasfeld Songs about New York City 2007 songs