"Stompa" is a song performed by Canadian singer/songwriter

Serena Ryder Serena most commonly refers to: * Serena Williams (born 1981), professional tennis player Serena may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Serena (genre), 13th-century Occitan poetic genre * ''Serena'' (1962 film), a British crime th ...

. The song was written by Ryder and

Jerrod Bettis Jerrod Bettis is an American music producer, composer, and musician. Bettis has composed songs for Adele, The Lonely Island, Melissa Etheridge, KJ-52, and more. He has also produced work for artists including Hilary Duff, Gavin DeGraw, Needtobre ...

for Ryder's sixth studio album, ''

Harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

'' (2012). The song was released as the lead single from the album in September 2012 in Canada, and then in February 2013 in the United States. On February 15, 2013, a French version of the song was released to Canadian

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Lyrics and composition

Lyrically, the song speaks about how music can be a remedy for most of life's problems — that people should "clappa" their hands and "stompa" their feet. On the track, Ryder said "it's about encouraging people to get outside of their heads and realize that everybody’s got problems and everybody's got issues and life is hard but music can really help you out".

Critical reception

"Stompa" received mostly favorable reviews, with the ''

Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...

'' calling the song "infectious" and "almost Broadway-ready", while the ''

Hamilton Spectator ''The Hamilton Spectator'', founded in 1846, is a newspaper published weekdays and Saturdays in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. One of the largest Canadian newspapers by circulation,''The Hamilton Spectator'' is owned by Torstar. History ''The Hami ...

'' praised the fact that the song could be played on four different radio formats (

modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. Radio format Mod ...

hot 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, quiet ...

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

and

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 ...

). The ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'' also took note of the fact that the song had been playlisted on virtually every single commercial radio station in the

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

market;"Serena Ryder changes her tune, away from folk"
''

'', November 24, 2012. in the same article,

Astral Media Astral Media Inc. was a Canadian media conglomerate. It was Canada's largest radio broadcaster, with 84 radio stations in eight provinces. Astral was also a major player in premium and specialty television in Canada, with 23 specialty channels ...

executive Rob Farina described the song as "a mashup of

The Black Keys The Black Keys are an American rock duo formed in Akron, Ohio, in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, vocals) and Patrick Carney (drums). The duo began as an independent act, recording music in basements and self-producing their ...

and

Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (, ; born 5 May 1988), professionally known by the mononym Adele, is an English singer and songwriter. After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a reco ...

." The ''

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'' called it "a new song of summer" for 2013. However, writer Elio Iannacci of the now defunct ''

The Grid The Grid is an English electronic dance group, consisting of David Ball (formerly of Soft Cell) and Richard Norris, with guest contributions from other musicians. They are best known for the hits "Swamp Thing", "Texas Cowboys", "Crystal Cle ...

'' gave the song a negative review, saying the song was "hard to forgive" and "easy to forget". Was used in a commercial for Cadillac SRX and also used in Grey's Anatomy 0

Music video

The official music video for the track premiered on December 21, 2012 on

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31 ...

, and was uploaded to Ryder's official

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channel on January 23, 2013. In the video, a little girl named Violet portrays a younger Ryder shooting arrows at symbols indicating the

four elements Classical elements typically refer to earth, water, air, fire, and (later) aether which were proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of simpler substances. Ancient cultures in Greece, Tibet, and India had simi ...

. These shots are intercut with other girls shooting arrows, as well as shots of Ryder performing the song with her guitar in a shadowy white room. On the day of its premiere, a behind-the-scenes video was uploaded on MuchMusic's website.
In that video, Ryder explained that the video is based on the same idea as her album, that if you separate yourself into one element, you will not succeed; you will only succeed if you bring in all of the elements together.

Release history

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Serena Ryder 2012 singles Serena Ryder songs Songs written by Jerrod Bettis 2012 songs Songs about music Songs written by Serena Ryder