"The Magic Friend" is a song by Belgian/Dutch Eurodance band

2 Unlimited 2 Unlimited are a Belgian/Dutch dance music act, founded by Belgian producers/songwriters Jean-Paul De Coster and Phil Wilde in 1991 in Antwerp, Belgium. From 1991 to 1996, Dutch rapper Ray Slijngaard and Dutch vocalist Anita Doth fronted the ...

. It was released in August 1992 as the fourth and final single from their debut album, '' Get Ready!'' (1992). The UK release once again omitted

Ray Slijngaard Raymond Lothar Slijngaard (born 28 June 1971) is a Dutch rapper and musician best known as one half of the Eurodance duo 2 Unlimited. Music career 2 Unlimited (1991–1996) 2 Unlimited is an electronic music project founded in 1991 by Belgian ...

's rap, which lasted for 16 bars three times through, but did include some of the vocals from

Anita Doth Anita Doth (born 28 December 1971) is a Dutch singer and songwriter best known as the former singer of the duo 2 Unlimited, along with rapper Ray Slijngaard. Personal life Anita Daniëlle Dels was born in Amsterdam to a Surinamese father, Rolf ...

, with the "mocking chorus echoes" being abandoned as only Ray's part remains, thus leaving Anita's sole vocals as "disembodied whispers" during the

middle eight The 32- bar form, also known as the AABA song form, American popular song form and the ballad form, is a song structure commonly found in Tin Pan Alley songs and other American popular music, especially in the first half of the 20th century. ...

. The single experienced chart success in many European countries, including Finland, where it topped the chart. The Dutch leading afternoon radio program on national pop outlet

Radio 3 FM Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...

/ Hilversum renamed itself "The Magic Friend", after the single.

Critical reception

Larry Flick from '' Billboard'' wrote, "One of the more successful

techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

acts in Europe continues its bid for mainstream club and radio approval along these shores with a cute and NRGetic wriggler. The music is a bit harder than previous tracks, though the

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 ...

is a little too strained and silly for its own good." Kat Stevens of '' Freaky Trigger'' noted the track's "tasty ingredients" of "recogniseable pop stars, colourful boshing beats, catchy chorus, silly noises ndfervoured anticipation." Comparing parts of the track to settings on a

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

keyboard, she compared the track's main synth sound to the "Brass 1" setting and the "gutteral metallic swinging" to the "

Slap Bass Slapping and popping are ways to produce percussive sounds on a stringed instrument. It is primarily used on the double bass or bass guitar. Slapping on bass guitar involves using the edge of one's knuckle, where it is particularly bony, to ...

" setting. James Hamilton from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

s ''RM'' Dance Update deemed it as "'Start-Rite' techno for young "wannabe" ravers". Tom Doyle from '' Smash Hits'' stated that "the insufferable duo return with another ropey techno effort".

Chart performance

"The Magic Friend" was a major hit on the charts on several continents. In Europe, it peaked at number-one in Finland. It made it to the top 10 also in Belgium, Ireland (number three), the Netherlands (number three), Spain and on MTV's European Top 20. In the United Kingdom, the single reached number eleven in its third week at 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 ...

, on 23 August 1992. On the

UK Dance Singles Chart The UK Dance Singles Chart and the UK Dance Albums Chart are music charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company from sales of songs in the dance music genre (e.g. house, trance, drum and bass, garage, synthpop) in record ...

, "The Magic Friend" was an even bigger hit, reaching number nine. Additionally, it was a top 20 hit in Germany, as well as on the Eurochart Hot 100 and a top 30 hit in Sweden. Outside Europe, the single hit number-one on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' Dance/Urban chart and number 26 on the ''RPM'' Top Singles chart in Canada, number five in Zimbabwe and number 16 in Australia.

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for "The Magic Friend" was directed by British director David Betteridge. It was shot in The Pinnacles and Wave Rock in Australia. Ray and Anita sing the song in the video while a mysterious character dances around in the background. Selina Webb from ''

'' complimented "the slightly surreal" video, adding that it is "in particular standing head and shoulders above the average dance video." Betteridge also directed the videos for "

Get Ready for This "Get Ready for This" is a song recorded by Belgian/Dutch music group 2 Unlimited. It was released in 1991 as the lead single from their debut album, ''Get Ready!'' (1992). Originally, the single was produced as an instrumental, titled the "Orche ...

", " Twilight Zone" and "

Workaholic A workaholic is a person who works compulsively. A workaholic experiences an inability to limit the amount of time they spend on work despite negative consequences such as damage to their relationships or health. There is no generally accepted ...

". "The Magic Friend" was later published on 2 Unlimited's official

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

channel in July 2014. By September 2020, it had more than 222,000 views.

Track listings

* 7-inch single # "The Magic Friend" (vocal edit) (3:43) # "The Magic Friend" (instrumental edit) (3:02) * 12-inch maxi # "The Magic Friend" (Automatic remix) (4:23) # "The Magic Friend" (Rio & Le Jean mix) (5:15) # "Automatic Megamix" (4:55) # "Murphy's Megamix" (5:40) * CD single, Belgium # "The Magic Friend" (vocal edit) (3:43) # "The Magic Friend" (instrumental edit) (3:02) # "The Magic Friend" (extended version) (5:14) # "The Magic Friend" (Rio & Le Jean remix) (5:15) # "The Magic Friend" (Automatic remix) (4:23) # "Murphy's Megamix" (5:40) # "Automatic Megamix" (4:55) * CD single, UK # "The Magic Friend" (7-inch edit) (3:02) # "The Magic Friend" (Automatic remix) (4:23) # "The Magic Friend" (Rio & Le Jean remix) (5:15) # "Automatic Megamix" (4:55) * CD maxi, Germany # "The Magic Friend" (vocal edit) (3:43) # "The Magic Friend" (instrumental edit) (3:02) # "The Magic Friend" (extended) (5:14) # "The Magic Friend" (Rio & Le Jean remix) (5:05) # "Murphy's Megamix" (5:40) # "Automatic Megamix" (4:55)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magic Friend, The 1992 singles 2 Unlimited songs Number-one singles in Finland Pete Waterman Entertainment singles 1992 songs Songs written by Ray Slijngaard Byte Records singles ZYX Music singles Music videos directed by David Betteridge