"Wow" is a song recorded by Romanian singer

Inna Elena Alexandra Apostoleanu (born 16 October 1986), known professionally as Inna (stylized in all caps), is a Romanian singer. Born in Mangalia and raised in Neptun, she studied political science at Ovidius University before meeting the Roma ...

for her second studio album, '' I Am the Club Rocker'' (2011). Written and produced by

Play & Win Marco & Seba, previously known as Play & Win are a Romanian singer-songwriter and music production duo formed in 2000 by Radu Bolfea, Marcel Botezan and Sebastian Barac. Since then, they have been making music without Bolfea. They are a leading ...

members Sebastian Barac, Radu Bolfea and Marcel Botezan, it was made available for digital download on 20 April 2012 as the fifth single from the record through DIY Records. Musically, "Wow" is an

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...

song. An accompanying music video was shot by

Edward Aninaru Edward Aninaru (born January 4, 1976) is a Romanian commercial and portrait photographer and music video director, currently living and working in Los Angeles, California. He is best known for being the official photographer of Romanian singer-son ...

MediaPro Studios Bucharest Film Studios (Media Pro Studios) in Romania is Eastern Europe's largest and longest established film studios with a tradition in cinema spanning almost 70 years. The complex is located in the town of Buftea, 20 kilometers north-west o ...

Buftea Buftea () is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania, located north-west of Bucharest. One village, Buciumeni, is administered by the town. The film studios MediaPro Pictures and the Buftea Palace of the Știrbei family are located in Buftea ...

, Romania in January 2012. It was uploaded onto Inna's official

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channel on 5 April 2012 and references multiple

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

s and animated movies, including '' The Wizard of Oz'' and ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatur ...

'' (1951). Music critics applauded the visual, praising its contemporary production. The song was nominated for Best Dance at the 2012

Romanian Music Awards The Romanian Music Awards, or simply RMA, are a Romanian annual event awarding the best artists in Romania's music scene. It is organized by Music Channel Romania and has taken place in various locations in the country. It was held from 2002 until ...

. Commercially, "Wow" reached number 10 in Romania and position 171 in the

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Background and reception

"Wow" was written and produced by Romanian trio

members Sebastian Barac, Radu Bolfea and Marcel Botezan. It was made available for digital download in Italy on 20 April 2012 by DIY Records; both the Italian and American digital releases featured multiple remixes alongside the original track. The accompanying cover artwork for "Wow" was shot by

in a summer 2011 photo shooting session. Following its release to Romanian radio stations, "Wow" entered the nation's

Airplay 100 Multiple record charts have been inaugurated in Romania since the 1990s. The Romanian Top 100 was the country's national chart until 2012. Founded in 1995, it was a ranking based on the compilation of charts submitted by local Romanian radio stat ...

chart at number 77 on 22 April, reaching number 10 on 10 June. On the

's Tophit chart, "Wow" debuted at number 216 on 28 April and reached number 171 on 19 May 2012. The song was nominated for Best Dance at the 2012

Music video

An accompanying music video for "Wow" was shot by Aninaru at the

, Romania in January 2012, with whom Inna had previously collaborated for around 50 photo shootings at that time. According to the singer, Aninaru came with the idea of referencing multiple

characters — including Snow White and Dorothy Gale from '' The Wizard of Oz'' — in the visual, which she agreed to. The clip was uploaded onto Inna's

channel on 5 April 2012, preceded by a preview lasting 23 seconds. The music video — lasting for nearly five minutes — begins with Inna in a

van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across th ...

driving to an animated beach setting along with other people; while on journey, they sing a stripped-down portion of "Wow". Following this, they exit the van and encounter other summary dressed people lying on a confetti ground. After being hit by a beach ball, Inna faints and is afterwards looked from above by people dressed in black-and-white outfits. As the music video progresses, the singer is shown dancing and performing to the song in various fairy tale settings, while encountering various characters. Scenes include her appearing oversized while inside a room, and her dancing on a table at an ''

''–inspired meal with various characters in a background of

champignon ''Agaricus bisporus'' is an edible basidiomycete mushroom native to grasslands in Eurasia and North America. It has two color states while immature – white and brown – both of which have various names, with additional names for the mature ...

s; she wears a

Hatter Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners, typically women shopkeepers, produced or imported an inventory of g ...

–esqué hat. The clip ends with Inna performing a synchronized choreography with all characters before the screen turns black. An Urban.ro editor praised the visual and its production, calling it "sexy". Schaap of Direct Lyrics saw the clip as "out there... to say the least", and labelled it as a mix between ''Alice in Wonderland'', the 1971 American musical film '' Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory'' and American singer

Gwen Stefani Gwen Renée Stefani (; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, fashion designer and actress. She is a co-founder, lead vocalist, and the primary songwriter of the band No Doubt, whose singles include "Just a Girl", "Spiderwebs ...

's "swagger and theme" in her visual for "

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" (2004). A writer from Utv.ro thought that the music video "has everything to be successful: it's very dinamic, full of color and it's hard to look away from the screen."

Live performances

As part of her "Wow Session" series on YouTube, Inna performed the song in a setting similar to its music video on 3 March 2012 to celebrate five million fans on her

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

page. Inna's vocal delivery and the live instrumentation received praise from an Urban.ro editor. She also delivered a live performance of "Wow" at the

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in September 2012 along with other material from '' I Am the Club Rocker''.

Track listing

*Official versions #"Wow" – 3:09 #"Wow" (Radio Edit) – 3:09 #"Wow" (Extended Version) – 4:37 #"Wow" (Live Version) – 3:23 #"Wow" (Casey & Moore vs. Sandro Bani Remix) – 6:02 #"Wow" (Timmy Rise & Barrington Lawrence Remix) – 6:52 #"Wow" (Beenie Becker Radio Edit) – 3:11 #"Wow" (Beenie Becker Club Edit) – 4:41 #"Wow" (Steve Roberts Radio Edit Remix) – 2:24 #"Wow" (Steve Roberts Extended Remix) – 3:53 #"Wow" (Starz Angels M***** F***** Radio Remix) – 3:46 #"Wow" (Starz Angels M***** F***** Club Remix) – 6:16 #"Wow" (Starz Angels M***** F***** Dub Remix) – 6:16 #"Wow" (JRMX Edit) – 3:54 #"Wow" (JRMX Club) – 7:37 #"Wow" (JRMX Dub) – 7:38

Charts

Release history

Notes

References

External links

Official video
on

{{Good Article Inna songs 2011 singles 2012 singles English-language Romanian songs Song recordings produced by Play & Win 2011 songs