Devil's Playground / Do Me Dirty

"Devil's Playground/Do Me Dirty" is the third single by singer Violetta DiNozzo and the debut single of group The Infinite. The single was released on February 23rd, 2009, as the collaborators' contribution to the 2009 Tango Challenge. "Devil's Playground" was written by Violetta, while The Infinite were responsible for "Do Me Dirty". A solo version of "Devil's Playground" later featured on Violetta's sophomore album. The Infinite refuse to acknowledge either song as their debut single.
==Background==
Violetta had originally been paired with Kaci Trent to compete in the Tango Challenge, but when Kaci disappeared Violetta was reassigned to work with newcomer group The Infinite, who had volunteered to step in for anyone missing out on a partner. The partnership began easily enough, with the two camps each supplying a song for the Tango Challenge single. It was once serious effort started on the single project that tensions began to spark between Violetta and The Infinite. A highly public feud ensued, which made progress difficult in developing and promoting the single; with differences of opinion concerning how the songs were to be produced, who would sing what parts, who had the final say on a lot of decisions, and whether agreements could be made over video treatments. Later that same year, Violetta recorded a solo version of "Devil's Playground" which was featured on the 'Damned' disc of her studio album "Blood Of The Sacred, Blood Of The Damned". In 2010 it was announced that all of the singles from "Just Another Girl" would be re-issued with new cover artwork for a 2-year anniversary boxed set of the album. Both songs appeared on the new version of the album, despite not originally featuring on the tracklisting. The Infinite could not be reached in order for Violetta's management to authorize the use of their image on the new artwork, so neither The Infinite or Violetta were featured on the new covers for the single.
==Reception==
The double A-side was surprisingly strongly received by the general public, partly due to the initial interest in The Infinite, being a new artist releasing their debut single as part of the challenge. Early predictions of the song's performance suggested that the pair were dark horse contenders to take out the competition or at least make the top 5. These predictions did not come to pass as the song disappointingly failed to hit the top 10, falling just short at #11. The songs were much better received at radio, with "Devil's Playground" receiving strong out-the-gate airplay and "Do Me Dirty" following closely behind. Again, it is believed that Violetta's bratty persona hampered the single during the promotional process, but the feud also complicated matters, as neither act involved was particularly well-established.
==Tracklisting==
===='Devil's Playground' Promo CD====
# Devil's Playground
# Devil's Playground (Devil Dice Remix Edit)
# Devil's Playground (Instrumental)
===='Do Me Dirty' Promo CD====
# Do Me Dirty (Radio Edit)
# Do Me Dirty (Moto Blanco Mix)
# Do Me Dirty (Motherfunking Disco Stomp)
====CD1====
# Devil's Playground (Single Mix)
# Do Me Dirty (Single Mix)
# Devil's Playground (Aftershock's Swings & Roundabouts Mix)
# Do Me Dirty (Instrumental)
# Devil's Playground (Video)
====CD2====
# Do Me Dirty (Video Mix)
# Devil's Playground (Single Mix)
# Do Me Dirty (Wideboys Mix)
# Do Me Dirty (Soulseekerz Dirty Club Mix)
# Do Me Dirty (Video)
==Music Videos==
The "Do Me Dirty" video was supposed to be premiered on music networks prior to the single's release, but this never came to pass. As a result, the video is only available on CD2, where it was featured as bonus content.
The "Devil's Playground" video starts by showing flashes of a normal day in the life of Violetta DiNozzo; she wakes up, is seen off by "parents" Carolina and Luke, goes to school (Will plays her teacher) and spends the day out with friends (the other Infinite members are seen out and about as well) before she goes to bed at the end of the day. The scene flashes stop on her digital alarm clock, as it hits midnight. In the background, we hear a church bell chiming. Cut to a shot of Violetta's face, and her eyes snap open in time to one of the bell's chimes - her irises have crimson rings around them. Violetta starts to sing acappella as she gets up out of bed. She opens her window and looks down; Will is there, and he sings his first lines acappella as Violetta leaps from the window down to him. He too has red rings around his irises. They're joined by Carolina and Luke (also with the red-eye effect) as Carolina sings her lines with synths building underneath. They meet up with the rest, and they all walk down the street together towards the busy part of town where all the nightlife is found.
The group make their way to a crowded street where people turn and stare at them; they give off an air of intimidation as they pass through the streets. A cop approaches to talk to them, but Violetta picks him up and throws him through a glass window, much to the crowd's surprise, shock and fear. A few other brave souls attempt to stand up to the 'devils' only to be taken care of by The Infinite. During the second verse, they stop outside an oddly-placed armoury. Breaking in, they casually browse through the guns on hand, picking out weapons as they see fit. As they're leaving the shop with their stolen goods, they're confronted by a small army of police; with a collective look, the police, their weapons and their guns all explode and with smirks of evil satisfaction, the 'devils' are off on their way, to terrorise more people.
They choose a nightclub as their target and they make their way inside. The music cuts out as the clubgoers look on in shock at the armed villains invading their club. Violetta smiles evilly and says to the others: "You know what to do." With that, the music comes back full force (starting with the bridge) as the 'devils' let loose with their firearms. We never see anyone getting hit, although there are multiple gratuitous shots of the weapons being fired, reaction shots from the crowd and the 'devils' enjoying the carnage they're causing. The 'devils' all leave the club during the final chorus, work completed. They go their separate ways. At the end of the video, we see Violetta with normal eyesjerk awake as though from a nightmare. It is morning, and she looks over at the clock. She looks back at the camera, but now her eyes have the red rings in them again. She smiles darkly at the camera as it cuts to black. Throughout the video are intercut shots of Violetta writhing on the bed of a pink and black gothic little girls' bedroom, Will in a white padded cell in a straitjacket and Carolina in the same nightclub from the main video, except it is empty and she is on stage singing into a skull microphone.
==Chart Performance==
"Devil's Playground / Do Me Dirty" debuted at #11 on March 2nd, 2009 with sales of 39,755 - the highest opening sales for either artist at that time. The song was a failure overall, freefalling on the chart and dropping out after only 3 weeks; it is The Infinite's lowest-selling single and Violetta's second lowest, ahead of her debut single "Wicked". On airplay each song was met more favourably, with "Devil's Playground" peaking at #6 and "Do Me Dirty" peaking at #12. Neither song was released in the US.
===Chart Run===
* Week 1: #11 - 39,755
* Week 2: #16 - 25,455
* Week 3: #35 - 6,038
TOTAL: 71,248
== Artwork ==
Image:VDi-DP-Promo.png|"Devil's Playground" Promo CD
Image:VDi-DMD-Promo.jpg|"Do Me Dirty" Promo CD
Image:VDi-DPDMD-CD1.jpg|Original CD1
Image:VDi-DPDMD-CD2.jpg|Original CD2
Image:JAG-DPDMD-CD1.png|Re-Issued CD1
Image:JAG-DPDMD-CD2.png|Re-Issued CD2