"Swagger Jagger" is the debut single by English singer

Cher Lloyd Cher Lloyd (born 28 July 1993) is an English singer. She finished fourth place in the seventh series of ''The X Factor'' in 2010. Following the seventh series finale, Lloyd was signed to Syco Music. Her debut single, " Swagger Jagger", was r ...

, taken from her debut studio album '' Sticks and Stones'' (2011). It was released as the album's lead single on 31 July 2011. The song was written by the two production teams The Runners and The Monarch with Lloyd,

Autumn Rowe Autumn Rowe (born May 25, 1981), is an American singer-songwriter, TV personality, DJ and activist from South Bronx, New York, United States. In 2010, she helped write the song "Happiness" by Alexis Jordan, with producers Stargate and Deadmau5, w ...

Marcus Lomax The Monsters & Strangerz are an American production and songwriting team from Miami, Florida. The team features The Monsters: Alexander " Eskeerdo" Izquierdo, Stefan Johnson, Jordan K. Johnson and Oliver "German" Peterhof and The Strangerz: Marcu ...

and Clarence Coffee Jr. and is composed to the tune of "

Oh My Darling, Clementine "Oh My Darling, Clementine" is a traditional American western folk ballad in trochaic meter usually credited to Percy Montross (or Montrose) (1884), although it is sometimes credited to Barker Bradford. Members of the Western Writers of Americ ...

". The music video was released on 26 June 2011. It was also used in the movie ''

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'' with

Melissa McCarthy Melissa Ann McCarthy (born August 26, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, producer, writer, and fashion designer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and nominations for two Academy Awards and tw ...

. Despite receiving negative reviews from music critics, the song debuted at number one 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 ...

, and at number two in Ireland, becoming her biggest hit to date in these countries. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' chose the song as the best number one single of 2011, along with the

Official Charts The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. In the United Kingdom, its charts inc ...

listing the track as the 35th biggest song of the summer of 2011 in the UK.

Background

"Swagger Jagger" received its first airplay on 20 June 2011. The single was leaked onto the internet on June 15, but this version was later confirmed as only the

demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

of the track on Lloyd's

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account. Lloyd performed the song on

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and also performed at the Leeds Aire FM Party in the Park and Key 103 Live Manchester, both on the day of release of "Swagger Jagger".

Critical reception

The song received mainly negative reviews from critics. Initial reviews compared the song to the Christmas carol "

Little Donkey Little Donkey is a popular Christmas carol, written by British songwriter Eric Boswell in 1959, which describes the journey by Mary the mother of Jesus to Bethlehem on the donkey of the title. The first version to chart was by Gracie Fields, fol ...

". However, in a positive review, Robert Copsey of

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gave the song four out of five stars. He noted similarities between the song's chorus and the American western folk ballad "

", an opinion shared by users at "whosampled.com". In a negative review, ''

Sabotage Times James Brown (born 26 September 1965 in Leeds) is a British former journalist, author, radio host and media entrepreneur. His first book, ''Above Head Height: A Five-a-Side Life'', was published in 2017 by Quercus and received positive reviews in ' ...

'' said of the "abominable" track: "Coming across like a

sink estate A sink estate is a British term used for a council housing estate with high levels of social problems, particularly crime. Origin The phrase came into usage in the 1980s, and was used by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair in 1998, when he referred to ...

answer to

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, the track combines a shouty, tuneless verse with a chorus that riffs on 'Oh My Darling Clementine'".

Chart performance

"Swagger Jagger" debuted at number one on the

on 7 August 2011 ― for the week ending dated 13 August 2011. As of 12 August 2021, the single's sales have exceeded 300,000 copies in Britain. In Ireland, the single charted at number two on the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are bas ...

. The single debuted at number seventy-nine on the

Mega Top 100 __NOTOC__ Mega Top 30 is a Dutch music chart compiled by SoundAware and broadcast every Saturday from 14:00 - 16:00 on NPO 3FM. It originally started on November 30, 1963, as the Tijd voor Teenagers Top 10. Throughout the years, the chart has had se ...

in the Netherlands. After a performance during the finals of ''

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'', the song re-entered the chart at number sixty.

Track listing

*;UK digital EP #"Swagger Jagger" – 3:14 #"Swagger Jagger" (

Wideboys The Wideboys are an English electronic music duo known for club remixes and for their own song "Sambuca", featuring Dennis G on vocals, which reached number 15 in the UK in October 2001. Another top 40 single, "Daddy-O" featuring Shaznay Lewis, ...

Radio Edit) – 3:03 #"Swagger Jagger" (Dillon Francis Remix) – 5:06 #"Swagger Jagger" (Eyes Remix) – 4:27 *;UK CD single #"Swagger Jagger" – 3:12 #"Swagger Jagger" (HyGrade Pecan Pie Mix) – 3:35 *;US digital download #"Swagger Jagger" – 3:12

Credits and personnel

– songwriter, vocals *

– songwriter * The Runners (Andrew Harr and Jermaine Jackson) – songwriter, producer * The Monarch (Andre Davidson and Sean Davidson) – songwriter, co-producer *

The Monsters & Strangerz The Monsters & Strangerz are an American production and songwriting team from Miami, Florida. The team features The Monsters: Alexander "Eskeerdo" Izquierdo, Stefan Johnson, Jordan K. Johnson and Oliver "German" Peterhof and The Strangerz: Marcus ...

(Marcus Lomax and Clarence Coffee Jr.) – songwriter *Jeff "Supa Jeff" Villanueva – engineer *Serban Ghenea – mixing *Alex Delicata – guitar *Tom Coyne – mastering Source:

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control Cher Lloyd songs 2011 debut singles Number-one singles in Scotland UK Singles Chart number-one singles Songs written by Autumn Rowe Songs written by Jermaine Jackson (hip hop producer) Songs written by Andrew Harr Song recordings produced by the Runners Songs written by Marcus Lomax 2011 songs Syco Music singles Dance-pop songs Songs written by Clarence Coffee Jr. Songs written by Andre Davidson Songs written by Sean Davidson Song recordings produced by the Monarch (production team)