"Oath" is a song by English

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

Cher Lloyd Cher Lloyd (born 28 July 1993) is an English singer. She finished fourth place in the seventh series of ''The X Factor'' in 2010. Following the seventh series finale, Lloyd was signed to Syco Music. Her debut single, "Swagger Jagger", was re ...

, featuring American musician

Becky G Rebbeca Marie Gomez (born March 2, 1997), known professionally as Becky G, is an American singer and actress. She first gained recognition in 2011 when she began posting videos of herself covering popular songs online. One of her videos caught t ...

. The track was released on 2 October 2012, as the second single from the American version of Lloyd's debut studio album, '' Sticks and Stones'', and the fourth single overall. "Oath", produced by

Dr. Luke Lukasz Sebastian Gottwald (born September 26, 1973), known professionally as Dr. Luke, Tyson Trax, and Made in China, is an American record producer and songwriter. His professional music career began in the late-night television sketch comedy ...

and

Cirkut Henry Russell Walter (born April 23, 1986), known professionally as Cirkut, is a Canadian record producer and songwriter. He has co-produced and co-written for Dr. Luke, Katy Perry, Becky G, Ava Max, Nicki Minaj, R. City, The Weeknd, Kesha, C ...

, was played for the first time on

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

radio station Z100. The track was released as a single in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

only. "Oath" was not as successful as Lloyd's previous single, "

Want U Back "Want U Back" is a song by English singer Cher Lloyd from her debut studio album, ''Sticks and Stones'' (2011). It was released as the third single from the album on 3 February 2012, and it was released as the lead single from the US version of ...

", in the United States, debuting at number 99, and peaking at number 73 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) denoting sales of 500,000 in the country. In New Zealand, following the major success of "Want U Back", which reached number three, "Oath" made a respectable impact, peaking at number 13, becoming Lloyd's third consecutive Top 20 hit in that country.

Background

"Oath" was originally written by Rebbeca Gomez but was brought to

by Dr. Luke. It was later modified by songwriters Ammar Malik and

Emily Wright Emily Wright (born July 1, 1980) is an American songwriter, producer and engineer based in Los Angeles. Early life Wright grew up in Wethersfield, Connecticut, graduating from Glastonbury High School and the Greater Hartford Academy of the ...

, along with help from producers Dr. Luke, Cirkut and Robopop, for inclusion on Lloyd's second studio album, slated for release in 2013. However, when it was revealed that Lloyd's debut album, '' Sticks and Stones'', was set to be revised for the American and Australian markets, Lloyd's producers decided to use the track as one of the record's lead singles, and Lloyd asked Gomez to appear on the track with her to sing one of the verses. Thus, "Oath" was released as the album's second single, following "Want U Back", in both the United States and Australia, and also featured on the version of the album released in Japan. The track itself premiered on

radio station Z100 on 7 September 2012.

Music video

The music video for "Oath" was filmed over the course of three days, between 19 and 21 September 2012. The video was directed by

Hannah Lux Davis Hannah Lux Davis (born May 17, 1986) is an American music video, commercial and film director. She's known for her work especially with female artists, such as Ariana Grande, Katy Perry, Demi Lovato, Nicki Minaj, Miley Cyrus, Avril Lavigne, Christ ...

, and was first previewed in a number of images released via Lloyd's

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account. The video premiered in full on 4 October 2012, via Lloyd's official VEVO account on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

. The music video has over 146 million views on

as of June 2020.

Synopsis

The video features Lloyd and Gomez as students in a high school who are kept behind in detention. Lloyd taps her pencil similar to the scene in " ...Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears. This scene is cut multiple times by Lloyd sitting on the hood of a red classic convertible

umbrella An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is usually mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is designed to protect a person against rain or sunlight. The term ''umbrella'' is traditionally use ...

. Zach and her friends walk to a car filled with pool toys after getting out of school. Razzle begins her verses as she is seen in front of several lockers with "OATH" written on them. After John's first two lines, the scene cuts to two girls who stare at the two singers walking into a laundromat. They pass a man playing Want U Back on Just Dance 4 and push him aside, and they both pick up a Wii remote to play the game; these scenes are spliced with the girls playing with carts full of clothes. They then walk outside while people look at the group of friends, the men being attracted. The singers dance around the red convertible and a green jeep. The cars drive down a highway to the beach where the friends are seen dancing and playing.

Live performances

Lloyd performed the song live for the first time on ''

On Air with Ryan Seacrest ''On Air with Ryan Seacrest'' is a weekday syndicated radio program hosted by Ryan Seacrest. It was launched in 2004 as a drive time show at the same time on Los Angeles Top 40 station 102.7 KIIS-FM as the television show with the same name, ...

'' on 1 October 2012. She performed the song on ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

'' on 5 October, and on ''

Live! with Kelly and Michael ''Live with Kelly and Ryan'' (or simply ''Live'') is an American syndicated morning talk show hosted by Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest. Executive produced by Michael Gelman, the ''Live with...'' show formula has aired under various hosts since ...

'' on 28 October 2012. Cher also sang the song with

on the American broadcast of ''

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 ...

'', on the Top 10 results show on 22 November 2012. Lloyd also performed the song while she was a supporting act on Demi Lovato's

Neon Lights Tour Neon is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is a noble gas. Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under Standard conditions for temperature and pressure, standard conditions, with about ...

Track listing

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Becky G 2012 singles 2011 songs Cher Lloyd songs Syco Music singles Epic Records singles Music videos directed by Hannah Lux Davis Song recordings produced by Cirkut (record producer) Song recordings produced by Dr. Luke Songs written by Dr. Luke Songs written by Robopop Songs written by Ammar Malik Becky G songs Songs written by Becky G Songs written by Emily Wright