"San Francisco" is a song performed by German

eurodance Euro-Dance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG, Euro-electronica or Euro) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of hip hop, techno, Hi-NRG, house music, and Euro-Disco. This ...

recording group

Cascada Cascada (, Spanish for "Waterfall", stylized as CASCADA, CASC''A''DA and cascada) is a German dance music act founded in 2004 by singer Natalie Horler and DJs/producers DJ Manian and DJ Yanou. They are best known for their hit singles " Everyti ...

from their fourth studio album, ''

Original Me ''Original Me'' is the fourth studio album from German eurodance group Cascada, first released on 17 June 2011. Recording sessions for the album took place from 2009 to 2011 at Plazmatek Studio, Yanou Studio 1. The entire album, like their previ ...

''. The song serves as the album's official first single (second overall) internationally on June 20, 2011. It was written by

Yann Peifer Yann Peifer (born 6 March 1974), known professionally as Yanou, is a German trance and Eurodance musician and producer. He is most famous for collaborating on DJ Sammy's hit "Heaven (DJ Sammy song), Heaven" with vocalist Do (singer), Do and for ...

Manuel Reuter Manuel Reuter (born 6 December 1961 in Mainz) is a German former race car driver. He has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice: *in 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans for Sauber-Mercedes *in 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans for Joest Racing He also won the Inte ...

, Tony Cornelissen, and Matthew Langlois and it was produced by Reuter and Peifer. Musically, "San Francisco" is an uptempo pop song which relies on

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...

and

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

styles with influences of music from the 1970s. The song's lyrics are an ode to the city of San Francisco in Northern California. The song was officially released in the UK for download on July 4, 2011. "San Francisco" received criticism for its similarity in sound to Katy Perry's song, "

California Gurls "California Gurls" is a song recorded by American singer Katy Perry. It served as the lead single for her third studio album, '' Teenage Dream'' (2010). The song features verses from rapper Snoop Dogg. The artists co-wrote the song with Bon ...

". Both songs feature the same tempo and chord progression. The song reached the top fifteen in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. Unlike previous singles from the group, it failed to make any impact on the pop charts in the United Kingdom, peaking at number sixty-four. The song's accompanying music video sees Horler leading a group of dancers dressed as modern-day hippies to an underground party.

Composition

"San Francisco" is an uptempo

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

song which derives from the styles of

and

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

while backed by a grinding synth beat. The song also has influences from 1970s music - in particular, it makes reference to Scott McKenzie's song by the same name, in one lyric that says, "where you've got flowers in your hair". The song is set in

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

, and has a moderate

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

of 126 beats per minute. It is written in the

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

D minor D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative major is F major and its parallel major is D major. The D natural minor scale is: Changes needed for t ...

and Horler's vocals span from Eb3-C5. The song is lyrically an ode to San Francisco, California. The song's composition has received notability from critics for its similar composition to Katy Perry's song "

". "San Francisco" is similar to "California Gurls" in its lyrics, as they both pay tribute to the California area and all the good fun that happens there. "San Francisco" and "California Gurls", according to Jon O'Brien of AllMusic Guide, contained the similar floaty synth hook and grinding beats.

Reception

Critical reception

Jon O'Brien of AllMusic Guide seemed unimpressed with the song, noting "that their ability to borrow from the biggest pop songs of the year remains as shameless as ever."

Chart performance

"San Francisco" debuted in the Dutch Top 40 charts in the Netherlands at number twenty-seven on the week of July 2, 2011. The song peaked at number eleven seven weeks later, and remained on the charts for seven more weeks after that. The song also debuted and peaked at number thirteen on the Media Control Charts in Germany. The song was also successful in Austria, debuting and peaking at number fourteen on Ö3 Austria Top 75 on the week of June 15, 2011. It lasted eleven weeks on the chart. The single was less successful in other countries, peaking at number sixteen in Bulgaria, number forty in Slovakia, and number sixty-four in the United Kingdom.

Music video

Cascada shot the video for the song on March 26th, 2011 along with the video for " Au Revoir". Both videos were directed by Lisa Mann and choreographed by Luther Brown. The video for the song premiered on May 6, one month before its official release. Although it shows some scenes of San Francisco, it was actually shot in Toronto, Canada, and was, according to their YouTube description of the music video, an expensive production. The reason for having the video filmed in Canada was that of San Francisco being too risky for filming due to weather conditions that time and the high crime rate.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2011 songs 2011 singles Cascada songs Songs about San Francisco Songs written by Yanou Songs written by DJ Manian Songs written by Tony Cornelissen