"Superstar" is a song written by

Cutfather Mich Hedin Hansen (born 9 April 1968), known professionally as Cutfather, is a Danish music producer, songwriter, remixer and DJ based in Copenhagen. Cutfather has a studio on Njalsgade, Copenhagen. Career Cutfather is perhaps best known for hi ...

, Joe Belmaati, and

Remee Remee Sigvardt Jackman (né Mikkel Johan Imer Sigvardt; born Frederiksberg, 8 November 1974), better known as Remee, is a Danish producer, composer and songwriter. Career Remee has written more than 60 hits and has sold over 25 million records. H ...

and performed by Danish pop singer

Christine Milton Christine Milton (born 18 July 1985) is a Danish pop music, pop singer, songwriter and professional dancer. She was one of the participants in Denmark's version of the ''Popstars'' franchise, having competed in season 2. Despite not winning, she w ...

. It was released in 2003 as the lead single from her debut studio album, ''

Friday Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. In countries adopting the ISO-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth d ...

'' (2004), and spent seven weeks at number one on the

Danish Singles Chart Hitlisten, also known as Tracklisten, is a Danish top 40 record chart that is updated every Thursday midnight on the website hitlisten.nu. The weekly Danish singles chart Track Top-40 combines the 40 best-selling tracks from legal music downloads ...

. The song was later covered to international success by British singer

Jamelia ' Jamelia Niela Davis (born 11 January 1981) is an English singer, songwriter and television presenter. She has released three studio albums, each of which has reached the Top 40 in the UK, which collectively have spawned eight UK top-ten singl ...

. According to a HitQuarters interview with co-writer and producer Cutfather, the song was initially inspired by

Liberty X Liberty X (originally called Liberty) are a British-Irish group originally consisting of Michelle Heaton, Tony Lundon, Kevin Simm, Jessica Taylor and Kelli Young. The group was formed by the five finalists of the 2001 ITV talent show '' Popstar ...

's " Just a Little" (2002), "I liked that song and wanted to do something, not similar, but something in that vibe", he said."Interview With Mich 'Cutfather' Hansen"
'' HitQuarters'', 2 November 2009.

Track listings

* CD promo # "Superstar" – 3:33 * CD single # "Superstar" – 3:33 # "Superstar" (Mestarr Radio Edit) – 3:36 * CD maxi single / Download # "Superstar" – 3:33 # "Superstar" (Mestarr Radio Edit) – 3:36 # "Superstar" (Mestarr Club Mix) – 6:55 # "Superstar" (Instrumental) – 3:33

Personnel

Credits are lifted from the single liner notes. *

Songwriting A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

–

, Joe Belmaati, Mich Hansen *

Production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

, arrangement and

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

– Cutfather & Joe * Co-production – Remee *

Keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

and programming – Joe Belmaati *

Percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

– Mich Hansen *

Rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

and

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

– Remee * Backing vocals – Szhirley Rasmussen * Mixing – Mads Nilsson, Cutfather & Joe * Mastering – Björn Engelmann

Charts and certifications

Charts

Certifications

Jamelia cover

"Superstar" was covered by British R&B singer

for her second studio album, ''

Thank You "''Thank you''" (often expanded to ''thank you very much'' or ''thanks a lot'', or informally abbreviated to ''thanks'' or alternately as ''many thanks''Geoffrey Leech, ''The Pragmatics of Politeness'' (2014), p. 200.) is a common expression of ...

''. It was released as the album's second single on 15 September 2003 through

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...

. The song entered 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 eight but as airplay, video play and the general awareness of the track increased, after a month on the track climbed to a peak of number three. "Superstar" became the 26th biggest-selling single of 2003 and has sold 400,000 copies in the UK as of 2019. The single has been certified

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

by 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 ...

, spending 20 weeks on the UK chart. "Superstar" also saw worldwide chart success, peaking at number one in Australia and New Zealand and attaining top-ten positions in over 15 other countries. The song earned the songwriters an

Ivor Novello Award The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They have been presented annually in London by the Ivors Academy (formerly the BASCA) since 1956, and over 1,000 statuettes have been ...

for "Most Performed Work", being the most performed song in the United Kingdom in 2003. According to the

Performing Right Society PRS for Music Limited (formerly The MCPS-PRS Alliance Limited) is a British music copyright collective, made up of two collection societies: the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS). It undertake ...

, "Superstar" was the fourth most popular song of the 2000s (decade) in the UK based on the amount of plays and performances.

Music video

The music video for "Superstar" was directed by Dominic Leung.

Track listings

* UK CD1 # "Superstar" # "Superstar" # "Ayo Superstar" # "Superstar" * UK CD2 and European CD single # "Superstar" # "Bounce" * UK 12-inch single :A1. "Ayo Superstar" :A2. "Superstar" :B1. "Superstar" :B2. "Superstar" * Australasian CD single # "Superstar" – 3:34 # "Ayo Superstar" – 3:51 # "Superstar" – 4:12 # "Superstar"

Credits and personnel

Credits are lifted from the ''

'' album booklet. Studios * Recorded at Cutfather & Joe Studios (Copenhagen, Denmark) * Mixed at White Room (Copenhagen, Denmark) Personnel *

– writing, rap * Mich Hansen – writing, percussion * Joe Belmaati – writing, guitar, keys, programming, recording *

Cutfather & Joe Mich Hedin Hansen (born 9 April 1968), known professionally as Cutfather, is a Danish music producer, songwriter, remixer and DJ based in Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, ...

– production, mixing * Mads Nilsson – mixing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Other versions

In January 2017, Polish Mandee and Maria Mathea released a new version of the song. In March 2020, a remixed cover of the song was released by British girl group

Four of Diamonds Four of Diamonds are an English girl group composed of Caroline Alvares, Lauren Rammell, Sophia Saffarian and Yasmin Broom. In 2016, they competed in the thirteenth series of ''The X Factor'', where they finished in eighth place. In 2018, they ...

and Dutch DJ and producer

Joe Stone Maurice Oude Booyink (born 1984) is a Dutch DJ and record producer from Almelo, best known under the stage names Inmado and Joe Stone. After producing for artists such as Havana Brown and R3hab, Joe Stone has been dedicated to his personal career ...

References

{{Authority control 2003 songs 2003 debut singles 2003 singles Christine Milton songs Jamelia songs Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in the Czech Republic Number-one singles in Denmark Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in Poland Song recordings produced by Cutfather & Joe Songs written by Cutfather Songs written by Remee Bertelsmann Music Group singles RCA Records singles Parlophone singles