Rush Rush (Paula Abdul song)
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"Rush Rush" is a song by American recording artist
Paula Abdul Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreographe ...
, taken from her second studio album, '' Spellbound'' (1991). It was released on April 24, 1991, by
Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a world ...
as the lead single from the album. Written by Peter Lord and produced by Peter Lord and V. Jeffrey Smith (both members of the Family Stand), the song achieved success in the United States, where it topped the ''Billboard''
Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...
, and became a worldwide hit.


Background

"Rush Rush" was a departure for Abdul stylistically, as it was her first
ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
released as a single, following the six uptempo singles from her debut LP; it was viewed as a rather risky strategy in kicking off her second album of new material ''Spellbound'', but the decision was vindicated, as it was warmly received at retail. First presented to Abdul as a demo by the Family Stand in 1990, she became intent on it becoming the first single. In late 1990 at Studio Masters, Abdul laid down a
scratch vocal A scratch vocal is a vocal performance that a singer records to provide a reference track that music producers and audio engineers can use as they craft other pieces of the recorded song. Most of the time, the singer ultimately re-records the voc ...
for the track, which was never intended to make it to the song's final mix, but the producers felt that its unpolished sound was needed to give the song its ingenuous tone, to match its subject matter and accompanying promotional video clip; it ended up on the final cut in March 1991. Lyrically, "Rush Rush" is about the desire for a lover who will give their all in a relationship.


Chart performances

"Rush Rush" debuted on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 36 on May 11, 1991, and reached number one five weeks later, on June 15, 1991, remaining there for five consecutive weeks. At the time, it was the longest-running number one since
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 " Like a Virgin" spent six weeks at number one during 1984 and 1985. The song also spent five weeks atop the ''Billboard''
Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...
chart. The song was ranked as the 64th-most-successful song of the 1990s in the United States. In the United Kingdom, the song peaked at number six 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 ...
.


Music video

The video reimagines the 1955
James Dean James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement, as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, '' Rebel Without a Caus ...
/
Natalie Wood Natalie Wood ( Zacharenko; July 20, 1938 – November 29, 1981) was an American actress who began her career in film as a child and successfully transitioned to young adult roles. Wood started acting at age four and was given a co-starring r ...
film ''
Rebel Without a Cause ''Rebel Without a Cause'' is a 1955 American coming-of-age drama film about emotionally confused suburban, middle-class teenagers. Filmed in the then recently introduced CinemaScope format and directed by Nicholas Ray, it offered both social com ...
'', including iconic
location In geography, location or place are used to denote a region (point, line, or area) on Earth's surface or elsewhere. The term ''location'' generally implies a higher degree of certainty than ''place'', the latter often indicating an entity with an ...
shots at Griffith Observatory, a black
1949 Mercury The Mercury Eight is an automobile that was marketed by the Mercury division of Ford between 1939 and 1951. The debut model line of the Mercury division, Ford slotted the full-size Mercury Eight between the Ford Deluxe (later Custom) model li ...
, and a climactic street race. With
Keanu Reeves Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, Reeves began acting in theatre productions and in television films before making his feature film debut in '' Youngblood'' (1986). ...
filling James Dean's role of Jim, opposite Abdul as Judy, several scenes from the movie are duplicated shot-for-shot. The video was directed by Stefan Würnitzer in April 1991 and produced by Karen Rohrbacher for Lucasfilm Commercial Productions. The British ''Top of the Pops'' aired an alternate version of the video, re-edited to contain more "performance shots" and less story. Many more shots of Paula dancing in the orange dress were present.


Track listings and formats

US cassette single # "Rush Rush" (7-inch edit) – 4:22 # "Rush Rush" (dub mix) – 5:54 UK CD # "Rush Rush" (LP version) – 4:56 # "Rush Rush" (7-inch edit) – 4:22 # "Rush Rush" (dub mix) – 5:54


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Decade-end charts


All-time charts


Certifications


Release history


Cover versions

*
Eliana Eliana Assyrian/Akkadian, אֱלִיעָנָה (Hebrew), Ηλιάνα (Greek), إليانا (Arabic), is a female given name found with that spelling in Hebrew, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. Origin & meaning Many sources derive it from via He ...
recorded the song for her album "Primavera" with the title "Como um Beijo em Noite de Luar" ("Like a Kiss on a Moonlight Night"). It was released as a single. *
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
singer
Cass Phang Cass Phang ( Chinese: 彭羚, born 2 February 1969) is a retired Cantopop singer from Hong Kong, affiliated with EMI from 1993 to 1998 and then with Sony Music Entertainment. She was born in Hong Kong, studied at Munsang College and a high sc ...
(彭羚) recorded a Cantonese version "彷彿是初戀" (As If It's My First Love) released in 1992. *
MYMP M.Y.M.P. (or MYMP, short for Make Your Momma Proud) is an acoustic band from Quezon City, Philippines. They released their first album, ''Soulful Acoustic'' in 2003 and a double album, '' Beyond Acoustic'' which was a number six charting album, ...
covered the song on their 2008 album ''Now''. *
Nicki Minaj Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (; born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian-born rapper based in the United States. She is known for her musical versatility, animated flow in her rapping, alter egos and accents ...
used the strings piece from "Rush, Rush" in her song "
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 ...
". *
Tyra B Tyra Bolling (born June 27, 1985), better known as Tyra B, is an American singer, songwriter, and dancer. She's best known for her top 40 R&B singles "Country Boy", "Still in Love" and " Givin' Me a Rush" which is her biggest single to date. Ca ...
interpolates the hook of the song in her 2007 song Givin' Me a Rush.


See also

*
List of European number-one airplay songs of the 1990s ''Music & Media'' published a chart of the most popular songs on European radio every week. During the 1990s, the main airplay chart had been changed thrice: European Airplay Top 50 (up to 12 October 1991), European Hit Radio (22 December 1990 t ...


References

{{Authority control 1990 songs 1990s ballads 1991 singles Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Paula Abdul songs Pop ballads RPM Top Singles number-one singles Virgin Records singles