"The Time (Dirty Bit)" is a song by American musical group the

Black Eyed Peas Black Eyed Peas (also known as The Black Eyed Peas) is an American musical group consisting of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo (rapper), Taboo. The group's line-up during the height of their popularity in the 2000s featured Fergie (singer ...

from their sixth studio album, ''

The Beginning The Beginning may refer to: Film and television * "The Beginning" (''Eureka Seven'') * " The Beginning...", an episode of ''Gotham'' * "The Beginning" (''Red Dwarf'') * "The Beginning" (''Samurai Jack'') * "The Beginning" (''The X-Files'') * ...

''. It was written by group members will.i.am and

apl.de.ap Allan Pineda Lindo (born November 28, 1974), known professionally as apl.de.ap (), is a Filipino-American rapper, singer and record producer. He is a founding member of the hip hop group Black Eyed Peas. Early life Allan Pineda Lindo was born ...

along with DJ Ammo, who produced the song with will.i.am. Additionally, Franke Previte, John DeNicola and Donald Markowitz received co-writing credits since the chorus interpolates 1987's '' Dirty Dancing'' soundtrack "

(I've Had) The Time of My Life "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" is a 1987 song composed by Franke Previte, John DeNicola, and Donald Markowitz. It was recorded by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, and used as the theme song for the 1987 film ''Dirty Dancing''. The song has won ...

", performed by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes. The song received generally mixed reviews from critics, who praised its catchiness but criticized the sample use. It peaked at number four on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the US, becoming the group's sixth consecutive top ten hit (following the five singles from their previous album, ''

The E.N.D ''The E.N.D.'' (an abbreviation of, and subtitled ''The Energy Never Dies'') is the fifth studio album by American group Black Eyed Peas, released on June 3, 2009. Critics described the album as containing more anthemic and inspirational song ...

''), and ninth overall. It topped the charts in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, while also charting inside the top ten of the charts in most European countries. Worldwide, it was the eighth best-selling digital single of 2011 with sales of 7.3 million copies.

Background and composition

After will.i.am tweeted: "Who wants me to drop the new Black Eyed Peas single from ''The Beginning'' earlier than we should???", he posted the song on

Dipdive Dipdive was a social networking website created by will.i.am. It is best known as the original source site of the 'Yes We Can' music video. The site allowed users to upload images, videos and audio files, post blog entries and create playlists. ...

. Group member Fergie noted the song's coincidental relation to ''Dirty Dancing'' actress Jennifer Grey's appearance on ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

'': "... that song reminds me of

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and ''Dirty Dancing'' and that whole time". The chorus of "The Time (Dirty Bit)" interpolates "

", originally performed by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes in the 1987 film '' Dirty Dancing''. In the chorus, the line "Yes I swear it's the truth" was changed to "And I swear this is true". ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' described the song as continuing the group's "evolution from hip-pop to dance heavyweights as will.i.am and Fergie sing and rap over a beat tailored to global dancefloors."

Reception

Critical response

Simon Vozick-Levinson of '' Entertainment Weekly'' praised the song's catchiness, but felt it failed to meet the standards of previous singles " Boom Boom Pow" and " I Gotta Feeling". Franke Previte, who won an Academy Award for co-writing "(I've Had) The Time of My Life", complimented the Black Eyed Peas' sample usage, saying, "It just reconfirms to me that the song is cross-generational. The song has now crossed over to the next generation in a huge way." Willa Paskin of ''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

'', however, criticized the choice of sample and was disappointed with the chorus, feeling it was "shoehorned into the rest of the song". Todd Martens of the '' Los Angeles Times'' called "The Time (Dirty Bit)" "the most assertive party song of the year".

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...

's Nick Levine gave a review of three stars out of five, disliking the many elements that constituted the song. '' The Independent''s Simon Price also criticized the sampling on the track, calling it a low quality attempt to satisfy listeners.

Comparisons to Deadmau5

After receiving Twitter messages about the song's similarity to his own work, Canadian record producer Deadmau5 compared the song to the remix of " You and I" by Medina, a song he produced. The record producer spoke of the similarities through his official Facebook account. "I so know that

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... and the pattern it was in... so I went to my masters folder, cracked open my instrumental mix of 'You and I' remix thing I did for Medina... and there it was again, staring me in the face". The producer stated he welcomed the usage of sampling in electronic music, "This isn't calling the Black Eyed Peas out at all. This is just another interesting factoid I keep finding about sampling and electronic music".

Commercial performance

"The Time (The Dirty Bit)" debuted on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record chart in Canada; a n ...

at number 87 the week of November 5, 2010. The song also debuted at number 40 on the ''Billboard''

Mainstream Top 40 Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...

chart the next week and has currently peaked at number 19. Two weeks later, the song climbed to number one in Canada, the third time the group has achieved this, selling 31,000 downloads that week. The song also peaked at number one for two weeks in a row in New Zealand, becoming their sixth number one and 12th top 10 single in the country. While the song debuted at number ten in Australia, it reached number one in its second week. On the singles chart for Ireland and the Netherlands the song has peaked at number two. In the United Kingdom, "The Time (Dirty Bit)" climbed five places on the UK Singles Chart from its previous highest peak of number six to number one on December 12, 2010 ― for the week ending date December 18, 2010 ― beating " Whip My Hair" by Willow Smith to the summit of the chart. The song became the group's fifth chart-topping song in Britain, following 2003's " Where Is the Love?" and 2009's "Boom Boom Pow", "I Gotta Feeling", and " Meet Me Halfway". It also debuted at number one on the UK Dance Chart. In Germany, the song debuted at number seven on the German Singles Chart and reached number two in its third week, where it stayed for three consecutive weeks. In its sixth week on that chart, it finally reached number one, breaking the 12-week run of Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's " Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World". In February 2011, the single was certificated Platinum in Germany for 300,000 copies sold, making it their third single to do so (following " Shut Up" and "I Gotta Feeling"). After 4 weeks at the top, the song went down to No. 4, making it the biggest fall from the pole position since Mehrzad Marashi did so with his single " Don't Believe" in May 2010. As of July 2011, the single has sold 3 million copies in the US, making it the group's fourth to do so.

Music video

The music video for "The Time (Dirty Bit)" was released on November 23, 2010, and was directed by Rich Lee, who earlier directed the video for " Imma Be"/"

Rock That Body "Rock That Body" is a song by the Black Eyed Peas from their fifth studio album '' The E.N.D'' (2009). The song serves as the fifth international single from the album, and was released in Australia on January 29, 2010, in the United Kingdom on ...

", Pasha Shapiro, and Ernst Weber. It opens with a zoom-in to a city street where, as will.i.am sings the beginning, his head voxelizes and transforms into a television screen where Fergie is projected during her solo. The video then cuts to sweaty dancers at an underground nightclub, who, along with the Peas, also variously become voxelized throughout the song. The avatars seen on the cover of the new album ''The Beginning'' appear as posters, and the BlackBerry PlayBook also appears as pre-release

product placement Product placement, also known as embedded marketing, is a marketing technique where references to specific brands or products are incorporated into another work, such as a film or television program, with specific promotional intent. Much of th ...

, seen animating them in an

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application and making special effects. The animated versions of the band members are in this order: will.i.am, Fergie,

, and Taboo. As of August 2020, the video has received over 485 million views on YouTube.

Live performances

The Black Eyed Peas performed "The Time (Dirty Bit)" at the American Music Awards of 2010 on November 21. Each member wore a futuristic outfit and started off enclosed in a glow-in-the-dark yellow box chamber similar to an elevator, accompanied by dancers with boxes as heads. Martens gave it grade of C+, calling it the "oddest set of the night". During the performance, Fergie experienced some trouble when the door to her box remained stuck for a moment. On December 5, the group performed the single live during the semi-final results of season 7 of the British TV singing competition '' The X Factor''. They also performed "The Time (Dirty Bit)" in the

Super Bowl XLV halftime show The Super Bowl XLV halftime show took place on February 6, 2011 at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas as part of Super Bowl XLV. The Black Eyed Peas headlined, performing a medley of their songs, with Slash and Usher making guest appearances ...

, and then again at the "i.am.FIRST" performance at the FIRST Robotics Competition World Championship on April 29, 2011. For the first time in over 9 years, the Black Eyed Peas performed this song once again during the latter part of the closing ceremony of the

2019 Southeast Asian Games The 2019 Southeast Asian Games, officially known as the 30th Southeast Asian Games, or the 30th SEA Games, and commonly known as Philippines 2019, was the 30th edition of the Southeast Asian Games, a biennial regional multi-sport event which ...

, with recent member J. Rey Soul in place of Fergie.

Track listing

*Digital download # "The Time (Dirty Bit)" – 5:08 *CD single # "The Time (Dirty Bit)" (Radio edit) – 4:15 # "The Time (Dirty Bit)" (Main mix) – 5:08 *The Time (Dirty Bit): Re-Pixelated – Digital Remix E.P. # "The Time (Dirty Bit)" ( Afrojack remix) – 7:53 # "The Time (Dirty Bit)" ( Zedd remix) – 6:00 # "The Time (Dirty Bit)" ( Dave Audé club mix) – 7:16 # "The Time (Dirty Bit)" ( Felguk remix) – 5:18 # "The Time (Dirty Bit)" (

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, ...

full club remix) – 5:23 *Digital single # "The Time (Dirty Bit)" (Video edit) – 4:52 # "The Time (Dirty Bit)" (Edson Pride vocal edit) – 8:15

Credits and personnel

Vocals – will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Fergie

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References