"Bulletproof" is a song by English

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

duo

La Roux La Roux ( ) is an English synthpop act formed in 2008 by singer Elly Jackson and record producer Ben Langmaid. The act's debut album '' La Roux'' (2009) was a critical and commercial success, winning a Grammy Award and producing hit singles su ...

from their eponymous debut studio album (2009). Written and produced by the duo's members,

Elly Jackson La Roux ( ) is an English synthpop act formed in 2008 by singer Elly Jackson and record producer Ben Langmaid. The act's debut album ''La Roux'' (2009) was a critical and commercial success, winning a Grammy Award and producing hit singles suc ...

and Ben Langmaid, the song was released digitally in the United Kingdom on 21 June 2009 and physically the following day as the album's third single. "Bulletproof" was met with both critical and commercial success, debuting 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 ...

. It was a

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in the United States, where it peaked at number eight on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in June 2010, following televised performances of the song on ''

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'' and ''

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''. It had been downloaded 2,324,000 times in the US as of September 2012. It also reached within the top 10 of Australia, Austria, the Belgian territory of Flanders, Ireland, New Zealand and Ukraine. The song was used in a 2022 advertisement for

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Writing

Jackson discussed writing "Bulletproof":

Critical reception

"Bulletproof" received acclaim from music critics. One author of ''

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'' called it "a catchy-as-hell electro-pop smash", and another, Joshua Love, called it the best song on ''La Roux''. ''

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'' music editor Nick Levine gave the song five stars and described it as "a bright, bouncy slice of Yazoo-ish electropop with a chorus every bit as immediate as ' In For The Kill'", adding that "Jackson's vocals are less shrill this time around, but she comes off just as formidable, informing a useless sod who's messed her about that she won't be letting him do it again." Fraser McAlpine of the BBC Chart Blog, who also awarded the song five stars, stated that "the one sentence that crops up most often goes something like this: ''"...yes, 'Bulletproof' is brilliant, but..."'', hinting that this might be a song which possesses magical powers of persuasion." He went on to give five points on why the song is good: marvellous verses, marvellous chorus, the music serves the song brilliantly, less shrill to the singing, and the vocoder breakdown. Adam R. Holz of ''

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'' opined "Homage isn't a strong enough word to capture just how uncannily La Roux has repackaged that vibe of yore popularized by the likes of

Erasure Erasure () is an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1985, consisting of lead vocalist and songwriter Andy Bell with songwriter, producer and keyboardist Vince Clarke, previously known as co-founder of the band Depeche Mode and a membe ...

The Human League The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album ''Dare' ...

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and

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." In a more mixed review from

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, however, Stephanie Bruzzese gave "Bulletproof" two stars, calling the song a "less creative imitation of the classic tunes created by

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and criticizing the chorus for being "nothing unique" and Jackson's vocal performance which she described as "a higher, whinier version of

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's". On a lighter note, she highlighted the lyrical content for being clean and the strong positive message, suggesting to parents that the song was appropriate for kids twelve years of age or older. In a September 2014 interview, Jackson expressed regrets of the song's critical and commercial success, because it was one of the reasons she was experiencing panic attacks while touring for the debut album: "I wasn't that keen on it. I don't know if I want to have a hit like that again ..But it's 10 years ago for me now and I think it's weird when so many people see you as being represented by that song, and you feel so far away from it. ..You stop being able to be respected in any way shape or form. I started to feel that basically ..I really didn't like it" Also in the interview, she looked back at the song's music video, saying she'd "wish I could erase it! I don't want it to erase the house that I bought from it."

Music video

Directed by The Holograms@UFO and Production Design by Alun Davies, the music video for "Bulletproof" opens with various

retro Retro style is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from history, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes. In popular culture, the "nostalgia cycle" is typically for the two decades that begin 20–30 ...

patterns and abstract geometric designs in one scene. Then the camera shows Jackson sitting in a chair in a bright setting with her eyes closed. As the song starts, Jackson leaves the chair and the camera pans to show random designs of La Roux which are shown behind her. She continues to walk, while singing the song itself. At the bridge of the song, she stops and then the song starts to build to the chorus and she starts walking again while

polyhedra In geometry, a polyhedron (plural polyhedra or polyhedrons; ) is a three-dimensional shape with flat polygonal faces, straight edges and sharp corners or vertices. A convex polyhedron is the convex hull of finitely many points, not all on ...

bounce around her. The video ends with Jackson sitting back in dark setting with her eyes open. During the video, there is a variation of Jackson in the setting of bright and dark colours. Throughout the video, Jackson is styled in high-fashion clothes by House of Holland and others where references to

Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (), after 1906 known as Piet Mondrian (, also , ; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), was a Dutch painter and art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He is known for being o ...

's lozenge works can be seen. The music video was also the final music video that aired on

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for it ceased broadcasting on August 31 2020 (in

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Accolades

Track listings

*UK CD single #"Bulletproof" – 3:25 #"Bulletproof" (

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Remix) – 4:49 #"Bulletproof" (Tepr Remix) – 5:36 *UK 7-inch single :A. "Bulletproof" – 3:25 *UK digital EP #"Bulletproof" – 3:25 #"Bulletproof" (Zinc Remix) – 5:48 #"Bulletproof" (Tepr TsunAimee Remix) – 5:35 *US CD single #"Bulletproof" – 3:25 #"Bulletproof" (Tepr TsunAimee Remix) – 5:35 #"Bulletproof" (Zinc Remix) – 5:48 #"Bulletproof" (Lagos Boys Choir Remix) – 5:16 *US digital EP – Remixes #"Bulletproof" (

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Cherry Radio Remix) – 3:55 #"Bulletproof" (

Manhattan Clique Manhattan Clique is a group composed of producers, remixers and songwriters Philip Larsen and Chris Smith, also known as "MHC". Their successes have been reflected in the ''Music Week'' Club and Pop charts in the UK, plus the ''Billboard'' dance ...

Remix Radio) – 3:27 #"Bulletproof" (Tepr TsunAimee Remix) – 5:35 #"Bulletproof" (Zinc Remix) – 5:49 #"Bulletproof" (Lagos Boys Choir Remix) – 5:16 *The Gold EP – digital #"Bulletproof" (live at

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) – 5:26 #"Bulletproof" ( Tim Bran Remix) – 3:26 #"Bulletproof" ( Tiborg Remix) – 3:27 #"Bulletproof" (

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Remix) – 7:48

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''

''.

Recording and management

* Recorded at Elfin Studios (

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, London) * Mixed at MixStar Studios (

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) * Published by Big Life Music Ltd.

Personnel

– vocals, production * Ben Langmaid – production * Serban Ghenea – mixing * John Hanes – mix engineering * Tim Roberts – mix engineering assistance

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulletproof (Song) 2009 singles 2009 songs Cherrytree Records singles Interscope Records singles La Roux songs Polydor Records singles Songs with feminist themes UK Singles Chart number-one singles