"Ready for the Weekend" is a song by Scottish recording artist

Calvin Harris Adam Richard Wiles (born 17 January 1984), known professionally as Calvin Harris, is a Scottish DJ, record producer, singer, and songwriter who has released six studio albums. His debut studio album, ''I Created Disco'', was released in June ...

. It features uncredited vocals from British singer Mary Pearce. Written and produced by Harris himself, the song was released on 9 August 2009 as the second single from his second studio album of the same name (2009).

Background

The song features guest vocals by British singer Mary Pearce, who previously worked as a backing vocalist for

Beverley Knight Beverley Knight (born Beverley Anne Smith, 22 March 1973) is an English recording artist and musical theatre actress. She released her first album, ''The B-Funk'', in 1995. Heavily influenced by American soul music icons such as Sam Cooke and ...

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of funk band the Commodores; writing and recordi ...

and

Chaka Khan Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan (), is an American singer. Her career has spanned more than five decades, beginning in the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the funk band Rufus. Known as the " Qu ...

. Remixes by

High Contrast Lincoln Barrett (born 18 September 1979), better known by the stage name High Contrast, is a Welsh electronic music producer, DJ and record producer. He produces drum and bass music, and his 2009 album ''Confidential'' reached BPI gold cert ...

Fake Blood Theatrical blood, stage blood or fake blood is anything used as a substitute for blood in a theatrical or cinematic performance. For example, in the special effects industry, when a director needs to simulate an actor being shot or cut, a wide v ...

and

Dave Spoon Simon Neale (born 20 January 1977 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England), known by his stage names Shadow Child and Dave Spoon, is an English radio DJ and dance music producer. He's also part of the duo Avec alongside Doorly. He was part of the lin ...

were also announced. It made its world debut on 12 June 2009 with

Pete Tong Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as ''Essential Mix'' and ''Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio stre ...

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

. On 13 July 2009 it was featured as the Song of the Day on

Popjustice Popjustice is a music website founded in 2000 by UK freelance music journalist Peter Robinson, who has worked for ''NME'', ''The Guardian'', ''Attitude'' and many others. It is composed of the work of editor Robinson, features editor Michael Cra ...

. Harris performed the song at the

iTunes Festival The Apple Music Festival (formerly known as the iTunes Festival) was a concert series held by Apple, Inc. and inaugurated in 2007. Free tickets were given to Apple Music, iTunes and DICE users who lived in the United Kingdom, through localized p ...

'09 on 18 July 2009 in London. It debuted 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 ...

at number three on 16 August 2009.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the song was directed by

Ben Ib Ben Ib is a computer graphics artist living and working in London. He has directed music videos for Kylie Minogue, Calvin Harris, The Ting Tings, Roni Size, Goldie Lookin Chain, Mr Hudson and Stateless. He has also created live tour visuals fo ...

and premiered on the British channel T4 on 4 July 2009 at 11:00 am. ''

FHM ''FHM'' (For Him Magazine) is a British multinational men's lifestyle magazine that was published in several countries. Its master edition contained features such as the ''FHM'' 100 Sexiest Women in the World, which has featured models, actres ...

'' model

Lauren Pope Lauren Grace Pope (born 29 September 1982) is an English model, television personality and DJ. In 2010, she began appearing in the ITVBe reality series ''The Only Way Is Essex''. She left the series in March 2019. Career Television In 2004, Pop ...

and dancer

Funda Önal Funda Önal (born 28 December 1981 in Sheffield, England where she attended Silverdale School) is a British model and dancer. She has starred in a range of campaigns like Nike and Adidas as well as appearing in music videos for Calvin Harris, Tini ...

make an appearance in the video. Several dancing females appear wearing red leotards to match Harris' magic portal, shirt and furniture. They next "change into blue and yellow zip-up bathing suits, expanding the palette and multiplying endlessly, just in time for the weekend." On 23 July 2009, it was reported that the video was removed from

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, 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 ...

due to a copyright claim from another party. Harris stated that he was upset it had occurred and believed that the

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with th ...

had prompted the removal. On 14 December 2010, the video was re-uploaded on Harris' official channel.

Track listings

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

Interview: The making of "Ready For the Weekend"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ready For The Weekend (Song) 2009 singles Calvin Harris songs Columbia Records singles Songs written by Calvin Harris 2009 songs