"Let's Get Crazy" is a song by American singer–songwriter and actress

Miley Cyrus Miley Ray Cyrus ( , born Destiny Hope Cyrus, November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and director. Regarded as a contemporary pop icon, Cyrus has been recognized for her evolving artistry and image reinventions. She is ...

, performing as

Hannah Montana ''Hannah Montana'' is an American teen sitcom created by Michael Poryes, Rich Correll, and Barry O'Brien that aired on Disney Channel for four seasons between March2006 and January2011. The series centers on Miley Stewart (played by Miley Cy ...

– the

alter ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I") means an alternate Self (psychology), self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original Personality psychology, personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other ...

Miley Stewart Miley Ray Stewart is a fictional character and central protagonist of the Disney Channel television series ''Hannah Montana'', portrayed by Miley Cyrus. She first appeared on television in the pilot episode " Lilly, Do You Want to Know a Secr ...

– a character she played on the

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

television series ''

''. It was released to '' Hannah Montana: The Movie'' and its soundtrack. The song is also included on the ''

Hannah Montana 3 ''Hannah Montana 3'' is the soundtrack album for the third season of the television series ''Hannah Montana''. Thirteen of its fourteen tracks are performed by the series' primary actress Miley Cyrus, and are credited to her titular character ...

'' soundtrack. A

karaoke is a type of interactive entertainment system usually offered in nightclubs and bars, where people sing along to pre-recorded accompaniment using a microphone. Its musical content is an instrumental rendition of a well-known popular song. I ...

version is available in '' Disney's Karaoke Series: Hannah Montana 3''. The song is musically

dance-rock Dance-rock is a dance- infused genre of rock music. It is a post-disco genre connected with pop rock and post-punk with fewer rhythm and blues influences. It originated in the early 1980s, following the decline in popularity of both punk and dis ...

based. Lyrically, the track speaks about having fun and cutting loose. The song received critical success and garnered average commercial outcomes for Cyrus in several countries, compared to those of her previous efforts as Montana. This includes Canada and the United States. The song reached its highest international peak in the

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

, at number twenty-six. It therefore became Cyrus' highest charting song in Canada, as Montana. The song never received an official music video, but three promotional music videos were, of which two aired on

. Cyrus promoted the song through several venues, including a performance on her second headlining tour, the Wonder World Tour.

Background

The song is associated with

with a slight

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

twang Twang is an onomatopoeia originally used to describe the sound of a vibrating bow string after the arrow is released.Hensleigh Wedgwood, ''A Dictionary of English Etymology: Q - Z'' (1865), p. 433. By extension, it applies to the similar vibrat ...

Electric guitars Electric Guitars were an English band formed early in 1980 by Neil Davenport (vocals, lyrics) and Richard Hall (bass, vocals) who were both studying English at Bristol University. The band soon increased to a five-man line-up, with Andy Sander ...

and

synths A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis an ...

are also used. Near the start, the song begins to make a beat of

paparazzi Paparazzi (singular form paparazzo) are independent photographers who take pictures of high-profile people, such as actors, musicians, athletes, politicians, and other celebrities who go about their daily life routines. Paparazzi are known f ...

's flashbulbs. It is set in

common time A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...

with a moderated tempo of 120

beats per minute Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of in ...

. The song is written in the key of

A minor A minor is a minor scale based on A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major. The A natural minor scale is: Changes needed for the melodic ...

. Cyrus' vocals span two

octaves In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referr ...

, from A₃ to C₅. The song has the following

chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural, or simply changes) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from ...

, A5—C5—D5. The song was written by Colleen Fitzpatrick known as Vitamin C, Michael Kotch, Dave Derby, Michael “Smidi” Smith, Stefanie Ridel, Mim Nervo and Liv Nervo. The song's lyrics center around a

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

and having fun, once referencing to leading a

double life An alter ego (Latin for "other I") means an alternate self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a different personality. Add ...

with, "You see me on the cover of your

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

s, things are always different than the way they seem."

Critical reception

The song received generally positive reviews from critics. Warren Truitt of

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly The Mining Company, About.com and Dotdash) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, hom ...

stated "Let's Get Crazy" was a mirror of

Gwen Stefani Gwen Renée Stefani Shelton ( ; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani rose to fame as a member and lead vocalist of the band No Doubt, whose hit singles include " Just a Girl", " Spiderwebs", an ...

's musical style.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

reviewer Heather Phares described the song negatively, as a "fizzy

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

", drawing away from the original musical influences by

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Cultural impact of Brit ...

Christina Aguilera Christina María Aguilera ( , ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter, actress and television personality. Recognized as Cultural impact of Christina Aguilera, an influential figure in music and having received Public imag ...

, and

Avril Lavigne Avril Ramona Lavigne ( ; ; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is a key musician in popularizing pop-punk music, as she paved the way for female-driven, punk-influenced pop music in the early 2000s. List of awa ...

. Leah Greenblatt of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' stated that the song was a "

demographic Demography () is the statistics, statistical study of human populations: their size, composition (e.g., ethnic group, age), and how they change through the interplay of fertility (births), mortality (deaths), and migration. Demographic analy ...

" because of it is "

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

-heavy confection". Owen Gleiberman, also from ''Entertainment Weekly'' drew attention to the line "Everyone can rock out like a superstar!", saying it was "her

mantra A mantra ( ; Pali: ''mantra'') or mantram (Devanagari: मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words (most often in an Indo-Iranian language like Sanskrit or Avestan) belie ...

". Gleiberman added that the song a "freeze-dried ersion ofAvril Lavigne". When reviewing Cyrus' Wonder World Tour, Jim Harrington, writing for ''

The Oakland Tribune The ''Oakland Tribune'' was a daily newspaper published in Oakland, California, and a predecessor of the ''East Bay Times''. It was published by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group. Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' ro ...

'', described "Let's Get Crazy" as "fun".

Chart performance

The song received mediocre

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

due to it not being released for mainstream radio and only

Radio Disney Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California. The network broadcast music programming ...

. However, the song debuted at number 33 on

Digital Songs The Digital Song Sales (previously named Digital Songs and Hot Digital Songs) ranks the best-selling digital songs in the United States, as compiled by Luminate and published by '' Billboard'' magazine. Although it originally started tracking ...

which led to it making into the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, for the week ending April 11, 2009. The song debuted and peaked at number 57 in the Hot 100 and spent a total of three non-consecutive weeks on the chart. On the same week, the song debuted and peaked at number 26 in the

due to its number 11 position on Canadian Digital Song Sales, becoming Cyrus' highest charting effort in Canada credited to Hannah Montana. The song then ascended and descended several times until falling off the chart for the week ending May 9.

Music video

The song's first promotional music video, directed by

Peter Chelsom Peter Chelsom (born 20 April 1956) is a British film director, writer, and actor. He has directed such films as ''Hector and the Search for Happiness'', ''Serendipity'', and '' Shall We Dance?'' Peter Chelsom is a member of the British Academ ...

, is an excerpt from '' Hannah Montana: The Movie'' that was premiered on

on January 19, 2009. The video begins with Montana entering Lilly Truscott's, portrayed by

Emily Osment Emily Jordan Osment (born March 10, 1992) is an American actress, singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Osment began her career as a child actress, appearing in numerous television shows and films, before co-starring as Gerti Gi ...

, Sweet sixteen at the

Santa Monica Pier The Santa Monica Pier is a large pier at the foot of Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica, California, United States. It contains a small amusement park, concession stands, and areas for views and fishing. The pier is part of the greater Santa Monic ...

. Montana is attempting to explain the scenario to Osment's character, saying, "I'll make it up to you, I promise." Then Truscott (Osment) says, "You will never make this up to me." Montana is being overwhelmed by fans, which proceed to lift her to a

stage Stage, stages, or staging may refer to: Arts and media Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly Brit ...

and perform the song. Throughout most of the video Cyrus' character performs the song with

background dancer A backup dancer also known as background dancer is a performer who dances with or behind the lead performers in a live musical act or in a music video. Their movements (especially where there are many moving together) improve the visual aesthetic ...

s, a band, and Steve Rushton on the

. In the conclusion, Rico Suave, portrayed by

Moises Arias Moises or Moisés is a male name common among people of Iberian origin. It is the Spanish, Portuguese and Tagalog equivalent of the name Moses. Notable people bearing the name include: * Moisés (footballer, born 1948) (1948–2008), Brazilia ...

, emerges from a massive

birthday cake A birthday cake is a cake eaten as part of birthday celebrations. While there is no standard for birthday cakes, they are typically highly decorated layer cakes covered in frosting, often featuring birthday wishes ("Happy birthday") followed b ...

that explodes on the crowd. A second promotional music video for "Let's Get Crazy" was filmed as promotion for the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

. The video was released in March 2009 on

Disney.com disney.com is a website operated by Disney Digital Network, a division of The Walt Disney Company, that promotes various Disney properties such as films, television shows, and theme park resorts, and offers entertainment content intended for ch ...

and features Cyrus singing in a

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...

. It was a part of a series of promotional videos entitled ''The Miley Sessions''. The song was also featured in the theatrical trailer of the film.

Live performances

Cyrus, dressed as Montana, premiered "Let's Get Crazy", along with eight other songs, at the concert taping for the third season of ''Hannah Montana'', which was set on October 10, 2008 in Irvine, California at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre. The performance began with Montana, in a

T-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt, or tee for short) is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a '' crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shir ...

with a pink star, zebra-patterned skirt, tennis shoes and metallic jacket, coming out from behind a giant mirror ball. She then roamed the stage singing the number. The performance was later premiered on July 1, 2009 on

to promote ''

''. Proceeded by "

Fly on the Wall Fly on the wall is a style of documentary-making used in film and television production. The name derived from the idea that events are seen candidly, as a fly on a wall might see them. In the purest form of fly-on-the-wall documentary-making, ...

" and succeeded by " Hoedown Throwdown", "Let's Get Crazy" is one of the songs on the set list of Cyrus' second headlining concert tour, the Wonder World Tour. The song is one of two Hannah Montana songs that she performed as herself. The performance featured Cyrus wearing white tutu-like dress and an

Asian culture The culture of Asia encompasses the collective and diverse customs and traditions of art, architecture, music, literature, lifestyle, philosophy, food, politics and religion that have been practiced and maintained by the numerous ethnic g ...

-themed video playing on a couple of overhead screens.

Charts

Certification

References

{{authority control 2009 songs Hannah Montana songs Dance-rock songs Songs written by Vitamin C (singer) Walt Disney Records singles Songs written by Stefanie Ridel Songs written by Olivia Nervo Songs written by Miriam Nervo