TITS-FM!

"TITS-FM!" is the first single from Romo's third studio album POPSTAR 2: Belle After Death. Like three of the four singles from her second album, it was written by Romo and co-produced by Romo and Indigo Peak's Andre Cassenove. The single was released November 2, 2009, exactly one year to the week of the release of her previous lead single, "Schizo Pop".
The title was announced on Romo's Twitter on September 4, 2009, and PopJustice leaked a 15-second clip ten days later. "TITS-FM!" leaked onto the Internet on September 20, 2009 and received its official premiere on BBC Radio 1 the following day.
Despite heavy anticipation to reach #1, "TITS-FM!" debuted at #3 on the Urapopstar Top 40 Singles Charts, but climbed to #2 the following week.
==Background and writing==
Due to its fast-paced electropop style, blending of shouty pop vocals with borderline philosophical lyrics, and countless pop culture references, "TITS-FM!" is considered a sequel to "Schizo Pop". "TITS-FM!" is a look at the impact Belle Ball's success left in the entertainment world, where the biggest stars are decided by who is the most physically attractive, regardless of talent. The song's title was inspired by the Scissor Sisters song "Tits On The Radio".
Romo considers the line "If image is everything I don't wanna be in pictures" to be one of the best lines she's written thus far.
The name of the DJ in the song, Jon E. Roman, is an anagram of "Jenna Romo". Romo wrote Jon E. Roman's dialogue, spoken by co-producer Andre Cassenove, as a parody of crude, obnoxious radio personalities such as British breakfast show host Chris Moyles (who Romo strongly repulses) and American shock jocks Opie & Anthony and Bubba The Love Sponge. This is Andre's second uncredited appearance on a Romo song; he performed a spoken word outro on the track "Faded Red Flags" on her previous album POPSTAR: The Life & Times Of Belle Ball, portraying a bailiff who releases Belle Ball from jail.
The line "Dope me up to forget that everybody knows my name" is an obscure reference to comments made by a label representative from Romo's former record label Elite Records about her constant feuds with Kerri Stevens from ROUGE: "If she goes into therapy maybe she can get her disagreements with Rouge out in the open and then get doped up enough so that she forgets why she got off with them to begin with." The first verses of the song lampoon manufactured female popstars, implying they're meant to be seen and not heard ("You've seen my video on YouTube 500 times just last week / And not once did you watch with the volume turned up"). Although not directly inspired by ROUGE, Romo admits she thought about them during the writing process.
The line in the chorus "Don't think that you can get an A if you don't have double D's", juxtaposing the letter grade system with cup size, was originally supposed to reference the 1-10 rating scale ("You can't be a 10 if you're not a 36"), but was changed because Romo found it difficult to rhyme.
==Reaction==
"TITS-FM!" was universally panned by critics. Many believed Romo was becoming "too repetitive", citing her use of the same formulas she popularized in "Schizo Pop", "Nocturnal Emission" and Amy Marshall's hit "Bang!" A number of reviews complained that Romo was attempting to use shock value to sell, by using the word "tits" in the hook, in addition to various sexual innuendoes. A reviewer for NME said Indigo Peak producer and frequent Romo collaborator Andre Cassenove was too good for the song, stating, "When Indigo Peak has put out some of the best pop music of this millennium, how Andre Cassenove could attach his name to this sick, vile excuse for music doesn't make any sense to me."
Another reviewer was not too fond of the shouting introduction, where Romo shouted her full name. "There's a reason why you go by a last name basis, because 'Jenna Jillian' is such a terrible name. Please, never say your full name in a song again." The intro has since become a source of parody when referencing Romo's habit of shouting out the intros and hooks on her songs, which Romo herself parodied when presenting at Urapopstar Awards 17. Romo included the "Jenna... Jillian... Romoooooo" shout because China (and later Elice Claire) introduced Romo with those same exact words to start her performances during the Belle's Ball tour.
Critics believed Romo titled the song "TITS-FM!" as a result of the success of Sophie Ramone's #1 single "Suck My Tits" just two months prior to its radio premiere. But Romo actually wrote the song before she even heard "Suck My Tits".
A critical analysis from Pitchfork Media compared Romo's level of desperation to sell records to Ellen Fitzpatrick, whose single "Boink!", promoted and released around the same time, also made obvious, repeated sexual references. The review went as far to raise questions of whether Romo and Ellen were about to usher in a trend towards "bathroom wall-style sex humor" in pop music.
Romo was also criticized for mispronouncing the name of the designer brand Burberry (pronounced "bur-bur-ree"), which she pronounced "bur-beh-ree" to rhyme with "Blackberry" and "Katy Perry".
Like "Schizo Pop", "TITS-FM!" was highly praised by fans and peers, in spite of the critical reviews.
==Artwork==
Promotional singles sent to radio showed the image of two tassels behind a red background, lifted from a child-size t-shirt sold by British retailer Twistedtwee.
The single covers show Barbie dolls engaged in lesbian sex acts. The backgrounds are colored in bright red to give the appearance the acts took place at a brothel in the red-light district. Although the sexual activity depicted on the covers was not initiated by humans, the artwork was highly controversial because of its depictions of cunnilingus. Retailers who refused to carry the single because of its cover were given the option to carry a "clean" version with plastic wrap over the offending image and the word "tits" censored.
==Censorship==
Several versions of "TITS-FM!" exist as a result of its frequent use of obscenities. Some stations play the song with the word "tits" still present in the song; these stations might play it completely unedited (some liberal-minded stations in areas such as Canada and the UK play the uncensored version) while others play it with "shit", "fuck", and "cock" bleeped.
All clean versions omit the song's intro and substitute the line "Hot shit, good shit, top bitch" with the line "Hot stuff, good stuff, top broad", but some leave the DJ's innuendos intact and others (like the super clean versions) have them completely removed. In clean versions, the censorship of the word "tits" in the song's bridge (in which it is repeated no more than six times) is dealt with in many different ways:
* The bridge is removed completely and replaced with a four-second instrumental buildup between the verse and chorus. Stations who play this version don't mention the title at all.
* Each repetition of "tits" is replaced with either a boinging effect ("Boing-FM") or the sound of a woman's moan of pleasure ("Uhh-FM").
* "Promotional" edits switch out each mention of "TITS-FM" with the name of the station playing it (ex. "Blast the speakers and turn on Choice FM"). Romo is said to have recorded 15 different "promotional" variations of the chorus, including one for the American market called "Kiss FM" (several American pop radio stations are branded as "Kiss"). In these promotional edits, the first four "tits" in each bridge is replaced with the sound of a woman's moan of pleasure. Romo is not the first to create regional variations of her song, as it was utilized in the past for songs such as Starship's "We Built This City" and LMFAO's "I'm In Miami Trick".
Super clean edits also omit the words "dope", "ass", and "suck".
The word "tits" is used a total of 19 times in the entire song.
==Track listings==
CD1
# TITS-FM! (album version)
# T**S-FM! (radio edit)
# Le Disko
# You're My Pornography
CD2
# TITS-FM! (Love Drunk Remix)
# TITS-FM! (Amy's D-Cup Remix)
# TITS-FM! (Phoenix Rising's Funktronik Boob Job)
# TITS-FM! (I'm not showing my tits, Im a lady remix)
# TITS-FM (EllenTASTIC Tittyboink! Mix)
# TITS-FM (Kirby Kurb Bra-Strap Mix)
==Promotion==
Ensemble Entertainment left the premiere time of "TITS-FM!" shrouded in mystery, failing to immediately reveal which Radio 1 DJ would have the premiere, when it would premiere, and whether or not the song would be played in full, as a promotional tactic to keep listeners tuned in to hear Jack Stevens' "Alright Dynamite" many times on end and encourage sales of his single. The stunt backfired when the single was leaked to the Internet a day earlier.
When "Alright Dynamite" beat Alesha's single "The Pretty Ones" on the singles chart - which Romo featured on and co-wrote - Romo stood up for Alesha when Jack labeled her song "Hold Fire" for SAVE URAPS (a project Romo founded), "shit", believing Jack's attacks on Alesha were motivated by racism. Romo, however, has since shown disdain for the second SAVE URAPS project.
iPhone app developers Tapulous announced that Romo would have her own Tap Tap app, Romo Revenge, to be released to iTunes' App Store timing with the release of the single and album. The clean version of "TITS-FM!" was also released as a free playable track on the newly released Tap Tap Revenge 3. This made Romo the first Urapopstar act to license her name to an iPhone application.
As her single repeatedly mentions breasts, Romo used it as an opportunity to lend her support for breast cancer charities.
Romo caused a minor controversy when she failed to show up at the second SAVE URAPS telethon, with gossips saying it was a stab in the back to her organization. SAVE URAPS 2.0 organizers Alesha and Shell Ruin did not seem to take it personal. Just a day later, Shell announced Romo would be the support act for all 31 dates on her Shell Ruin: Live at Last tour. Shell Ruin died in a car accident before the tour even began; Romo later paid tribute to her with a performance at the tribute concert, All That Glitters, and on her tour, Usurp The Throne, on which she was joined by Alesha on opening night in Manchester.
Tabloids leaked a letterbomb plot Romo planned to make against Aftershock following the group's prediction that her single would miss the top 10, despite Romo's strong record of six platinum singles and five #1s.
Romo took over ITV2 the week before the single's release for a promotional event entitled "TITS-TV!" The five-day event included the premieres of two different music videos for "TITS-FM!" and a costume party featuring a performance from Romo.
==Music videos==
===Version 1===
The first version of "TITS-FM!" (referred to by Romo as the narrative version) involves an alternate reality where self-indulgent females are nothing more than badly decaying dolls. Throughout the video, Romo is depicted living among the dolls in this alternate reality, distinguishing this phenomenon from actual reality where she is seen at the clubs with friends. Towards the end of the video it is revealed that the alternate reality is Belle Ball's vision of Hell, as the camera pans upwards from the alternate reality to above the ground where Romo is seen laying flowers by Belle Ball's tombstone.
Several sight gags appear in the video alluding to breasts, obviously in reference to the title. It also includes cutaways to a recording studio where a disc jockey mouths Andre Cassenove's spoken bits sprinkled throughout the song. Cassenove does not appear in the video, as Indigo Peak was busy with the promotion for their single "Electric Eccentric" at the time of filming.
===Version 2===
The second version was filmed as a response to the overwhelming critical praise of her video for "Nocturnal Emission", as Romo had enjoyed producing that video and wanted to do another one with a similar concept, blending the sexy with the surreal and strange.
The video is strongly influenced by advertising for American Apparel, as well as its style and the types of people who wear their fashions. It stays true to the influence, with its displays of provocative imagery and use of actors with hints of exposed imperfections. Like some of American Apparel's advertisements, the topless models featured are shown with their breasts fully exposed.
==Chart performance==
"TITS-FM!" entered the Urapopstar Airplay 40 at #26 on the week of September 27, 2009 and has since reached #3. The following week it hit the pre-release chart at #16, and on there it has since reached #1.
Despite predictions to become Romo's sixth #1 single, "TITS-FM!" reached #3, beaten out by China and Twisted Disco. However, its first-week sales of 76,019 copies gave Romo her fourth-highest sales week on the singles charts. Only the three #1 singles from POPSTAR: The Life & Times Of Belle Ball had higher one-week sales, with the peak figures for each achieved in the first week. The results of the charts drove Ensemble to panic in regards to the follow-up and thought Romo needed a change in personality to help keep up with the peers leading her generation.
The single did, however, climb to #2 in its second chart week, beaten out by Elice Claire's "Damn Wrong About Me". This was the second time Elice kept Romo out of the #1 spot, after "Keepin' U Up" beat "The Carpet Didn't Bleed By Itself"; Elice was in Romo's position during the time of her release of her collaboration with Lindsay Belle, "Think Twice, Think Thrice", which shockingly reached #3 despite universal speculation that the single would reach #1, then climbed to #2 the following week beaten by Romo's collaboration with China. Despite not reaching #1, "TITS-FM!" gave Romo the second-best sales week of her career at the time, with sales of 83,366 in its second week on the chart, a figure surpassed by her following two singles. It also maintained her streak of never charting below the top 2, which was broken in May 2010 when "Bathroom Entourage" stalled at #4.
"TITS-FM!" placed at #22 on 2009's year end singles charts. The single sold a total of 381,611 copies, enough to be certified platinum and rank as Romo's second highest seller to date.
==External links==
Lyrics
Category:2009 singles
Category:Romo singles