"Turn the Night Up" is a song recorded by Spanish singer
Enrique Iglesias, released as the lead single off Iglesias' tenth studio album ''
Sex and Love''. It was written by Iglesias,
Niles Hollowell-Dhar
Niles Hollowell-Dhar (born October 6, 1988), known professionally as Kshmr (pronounced "Kashmir" and stylized in all caps), is an American songwriter, DJ, music producer, and musician. He was ranked 23rd on ''DJ Mag''s 2015 Top 100 DJs poll and ...
,
Marty James
Marty James Garton Jr. is an American singer-songwriter and record producer from Chico, California.
He has released albums and singles as the front man and producer of Scapegoat Wax and One Block Radius.Birchmeier, Jason (2011)One Block Radius ...
and
Rome Ramirez
Roman René Ramírez (born June 11, 1988), better known as Rome Ramirez or simply Rome, is an American singer and guitarist best known for playing with Eric Wilson from Sublime in the band Sublime with Rome.
Early life
Ramirez was born and ra ...
, and produced by
The Cataracs
The Cataracs were an American hip hop record production project and duo formed in Berkeley, California, United States, consisting of David Benjamin Singer-Vine (born March 9, 1988) and Niles Hollowell-Dhar (born October 6, 1988). The duo starte ...
. On 18 July 2013 Enrique uploaded the single's cover art on his official website, while the song was released to US Top 40 radio on 22 July 2013.
"Turn the Night Up" is a
dance-pop,
electropop and
EDM
EDM or E-DM may refer to:
Music
* Electronic dance music
* Early Day Miners, American band
Science and technology
* Electric dipole moment
* Electrical discharge machining
* Electronic distance measurement
*Entry, Descent, and landing demonstrat ...
song, following in the footsteps of his previous singles, "
Finally Found You", "
Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)" and others, and it was built from a phrase that he always uses with his girlfriend
Anna Kournikova
Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova ( rus, Анна Сергеевна Курникова, p=ˈanːə sʲɪrˈɡʲejɪvnə ˈkurnʲɪkəvə, a=Anna_kournikova.ogg; born 7 June 1981) is a Russian former professional tennis player and American televisi ...
. The song received mixed reviews from critics, who noted that the song is not groundbreaking or innovative, while it achieved minor success on the charts.
Background
After releasing "
Finally Found You" in September 2012, as the lead single from his upcoming tenth studio album. The song was a moderate success, reaching the top-forty in most countries,
however, the singer announced that the song "Turn the Night Up" would be the lead single of the album, during its premiere on
Elvis Duran show on
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
's
Z100, on 22 July 2013.
During the interview with Duran, Iglesias said, "You know how people are going to react to I and you put so much love into it, so much work into it and it all comes down to that second. The ultimate test for me is once I write a song… I’ll go to sleep, wake-up in the morning and I’ll play it. If it feels good, if it puts me in a good mood, that’s when I know there is something special."
[ The song became available for purchase on iTunes, on 13 August 2013.]
Composition and lyrics
"Turn the Night Up" was written by Enrique Iglesias, Niles Hollowell-Dhar
Niles Hollowell-Dhar (born October 6, 1988), known professionally as Kshmr (pronounced "Kashmir" and stylized in all caps), is an American songwriter, DJ, music producer, and musician. He was ranked 23rd on ''DJ Mag''s 2015 Top 100 DJs poll and ...
, Marty James
Marty James Garton Jr. is an American singer-songwriter and record producer from Chico, California.
He has released albums and singles as the front man and producer of Scapegoat Wax and One Block Radius.Birchmeier, Jason (2011)One Block Radius ...
and Rome Ramirez
Roman René Ramírez (born June 11, 1988), better known as Rome Ramirez or simply Rome, is an American singer and guitarist best known for playing with Eric Wilson from Sublime in the band Sublime with Rome.
Early life
Ramirez was born and ra ...
, while production was handled by The Cataracs
The Cataracs were an American hip hop record production project and duo formed in Berkeley, California, United States, consisting of David Benjamin Singer-Vine (born March 9, 1988) and Niles Hollowell-Dhar (born October 6, 1988). The duo starte ...
.[ Similar to his previous singles, "Turn the Night Up" is a dance-pop, electropop and ]EDM
EDM or E-DM may refer to:
Music
* Electronic dance music
* Early Day Miners, American band
Science and technology
* Electric dipole moment
* Electrical discharge machining
* Electronic distance measurement
*Entry, Descent, and landing demonstrat ...
song,[ and according to himself, it's "one of those powerful, fun energetic songs and when we wrote it, I was just focusing at making sure if I could pull off the vocals in the studio, I was like, 'This is it, this could be one of those fun songs.'"][ In one of the verses, Iglesias describes his affection, singing "You know my intentions / I know you can go all night / I just wanna touch you / girl just let me touch you / I know it’s been on your mind".]
Lyrically, the song came from a phrase he always says to his longtime girlfriend Anna Kournikova
Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova ( rus, Анна Сергеевна Курникова, p=ˈanːə sʲɪrˈɡʲejɪvnə ˈkurnʲɪkəvə, a=Anna_kournikova.ogg; born 7 June 1981) is a Russian former professional tennis player and American televisi ...
. Speaking to Ryan Seacrest, Enrique said, "You know how it started? I always walk around my house and I'm always joking around and there’s a phrase in the song that says ‘Gimme some of that.’ And I’m always saying that, saying ‘Gimme some of that’ and … doing a stupid little dance. ndmy girlfriend always starts laughing, so I went to the studio and said we’ve got to write the song around this!. Iglesias' line "One love, one love", originally included in his 2010 hit song " I Like It", was reused on the song. It was later reused again on his 2014 single " I'm a Freak".
Critical reception
The song received generally negative reviews from music critics
Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...
. Natasha Shankar of ''She Knows'' wrote that she "wasn't too thrilled with the track," calling it "another club-ready anthem" that cannot compare to his previous single, " Finally Found You".[ '' Direct Lyrics'' wrote the song is "not his best. Still, ]The Cataracs
The Cataracs were an American hip hop record production project and duo formed in Berkeley, California, United States, consisting of David Benjamin Singer-Vine (born March 9, 1988) and Niles Hollowell-Dhar (born October 6, 1988). The duo starte ...
-produced beat is hot and I can see some DJs creating cool remixes so they can make 'Turn The Night Up' a must-play song in clubs this summer of 2013." He also praised "the dance beat", calling it "dope", and "the pre-chorus", calling it "kind of good", but that 'sexy talk' Enrique 'tries' to do, and the actual chorus are just weak."[ Zi Wei of ''Spin or Bin Music'' wrote the song "incorporates all the elements that made his previous songs Tonight (I'm F**in' You) and 'I Like It'; a sexually charged vibe, with a dancefloor-ready europop beat. But the song falls flat, sounding like a track off ]will.i.am
William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "Will-I-am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the founding and lead member of the musical group Black Eyed Peas.
...
's " #willpower", and that is not a compliment." He also wrote that "Enrique’s Pitbull
Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...
-wannabe rap style is laughably bad".[
]
Commercial performance
While not reaching success on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, "Turn the Night Up" received positive reception from radio, where it immediately garnered an audience of over 12 million within only 24 hours. Meanwhile, over the course of four days, it climbed into the Top 20 audience rank of the Mediabase Top 40. The song debuted at number 30 on the Pop Songs
Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/ CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played on a panel of Top 40 radio stations in the Un ...
chart, becoming his second-highest debut on the "Pop Songs" chart, only behind of his first entry, 1999's "Bailamos
"Bailamos" ( en, "We Dance") is a single by Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias sung in Spanglish. The song was released in 1999 as part of the soundtrack to the film ''Wild Wild West'' (1999) and later as the lead single from Iglesias's fourth and ...
." The song sold 47,000 units in its first week, debuting at number 6 on Dance/Electronic Digital Songs
Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales, previously Dance/Electronic Digital Songs is a weekly chart that ranks the best-selling digital dance and electronic singles in the United States, according to ''Billboard''. Although it originally started trac ...
, while also debuting at number 62 on the Hot 100. Additionally, the song has topped the Hot Dance Club Songs chart making it Enrique's 12th number one there.
Music video
A fan version of the music video was uploaded on 22 July 2013, showing various images of his fans snaps and videos of partying. The fans were able to create their own version of the music video through the website "Turn the Night Up" to have a chance of winning two tickets to any Enrique Iglesias concert and a chance to meet him. The official music video was originally shot by Yasha Malekzad
Yasha Malekzad (born 1 October 1984) is an English music video director and producer from Beccles, Suffolk, England, who has worked with international artists including Enrique Iglesias, Will Smith, Pitbull, Usher, Lil Wayne, Sharon Stone, Nicky ...
, through his production company Artist Preserve
Synopsis
In the music video, Enrique hops in his Aston Martin and follows a girl (Kristen Carpenter) to a house party filled with gorgeous women. Then he appears in a daze as he walks through the home filled with ducks and acknowledges every piece of eye candy in the room.
Enrique and the mystery girl wrap up their night as they ditch the party scene and race off to a club where they take one too many shots and it is implied that they make out. This is also Iglesias and Carpenter's second music video collaboration following " Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)".
Track listing
# "Turn the Night Up"
# "Turn the Night Up" (DJ AKS Remix featuring Mustafa Zahid
Mustafa Zahid ( ur, مصطفی زاہد; born 18 December 1984) is a Pakistani music composer who achieved success with his 2007 singles "Toh Phir Aao" and "Tera Mera Rishta". He is also the band leader and the lead vocalist of Roxen, a rock ban ...
)
# "Turn the Night Up" (Laidback Luke Radio Edit)
# "Turn the Night Up" (Rosario Club Mix)
# "Turn the Night Up" (Rosario Radio Edit)
# "Turn the Night Up" (Rosario Nasty Dub)
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
See also
* List of number-one dance singles of 2013 (U.S.)
References
{{Enrique Iglesias singles
Enrique Iglesias songs
Songs written by Rome Ramirez
Songs written by Kshmr
Songs written by Enrique Iglesias
Songs written by Marty James
2013 songs
Republic Records singles
Song recordings produced by the Cataracs