About You Now

## **About You Now**Single by Sugababes

"**About You Now**" is the lead single and first track off Sugababes's fifth studio album, *Change*. The uptempo pop rock track was written and produced by Dr. Luke along with Cathy Dennis and Steven Wolf. It was released on 26 August 2007 by Island Records and was first to feature Amelle Berrabah on all tracks.

The song was generally well received by music critics, who complimented its genre mixing production as well as its US pop influence."About You Now" was nominated for a 2008 Brit Award for Best British Single. An acoustic version of the song appears as a bonus track on the group's sixth studio album *Catfights and Spotlights*.

## Background

Recorded at the Sarm West Studios in London, "About You Now" was written by Lukasz Gottwald and Cathy Dennis, while production was helmed by the former under his pseudonym Dr. Luke with additional production from Steven Wolf. The song combines heavy elements of pop rock and dance-pop and infuses light electronic sounds. Lyrically, "About You Now" finds the protagonist thinking deeply over her relationship with her love interest from whom she parted. was described by Popjustice as a "proper pop song".

### Reception

"About You Now" received generally favourable reviews from both music critics and fans alike. Popjustice reviewer Peter Robinson, who noted a similarity to Kelly Clarkson's 2004 single "Since U Been Gone" (also produced by Dr. Luke), described the song as a "pop-electro-rock masterpiece" and dubbed it "the best Sugababes single" since 2002's Round Round. He praised the song's unselfconsciousness and its "very pleased-to-be-exactly-what-it-is" attitude and noted that "it doesn't sound anything like what the Sugababes have done before but it is instantly recognisable as a Sugababes song". Alex Fletcher of Digital Spy summed it as "a pop dish fit for a king ... the lyrics are Waterman-esque perfect pop with the added spice of Sugababes kinkiness". He remarked that while "About You Now" lacked "the sauciness of a "Push the Button" or spiky attitude of "Hole in the Head", it makes up for it with robot voice effects, a pulsating electronic backbeat and a chorus so addictive that it should probably be taken away and labelled a class A drug".

Adam Webb, writing for Yahoo! Music, called the song a "classic Sugababes: ballsy, tuneful, sassy, slightly amateurish around the edges and generally better than 99.9 per cent of whatever else masquerades under the title of pop music in 2007". Though he noted a lack of edge, blunted by the departure of former band member Mutya Buena, Webb went on declaring it "a short, sharp jolt of classic, perfect pop", giving it seven stars out of ten. By contrast, IndieLondon gave a mixed reception to the song, writing that "it taps into a breezier sound that's designed to fizz with synths, guitars and perky beats. But it doesn't work as well as past hits and lacks the same crossover appeal of earlier cuts "Round, Round" or, most notably, "Freak like Me". Tom Young of BBC called "About You Now" a "fierce opening shot. It's one of their strongest tunes to date, and no surprise ... number one." In 2008, "About You Now" was nominated for a BRIT Award for Best British Single, eventually losing to Take That's "Shine".

### Release and performance

"About You Now" made its first chart appearance in the United Kingdom on 17 September 2007 ― for the week ending dated 22 September 2007. It debuted at number thirty five on the UK Singles Chart after the release of a remix package for legal download. A week later, a major boost in downloads, induced by the official release of the digital single, helped catapulting the song to the top of the British charts. This feat made the Sugababes only the fourth act and first homegrown act to chart at number-one on download sales alone. "About You Now" became the band's sixth chart-topper and spent four weeks at number-one, surpassing the chart run of latter single. According to The Official Charts Company, it was ranked both Britain's sixth most-downloaded and sixth best-selling single of 2007. Having sold almost 540,000 copies as of August 2015, it ranks as their best-selling single.

In Ireland, "About You Now" debuted at number ten on the Irish Singles Chart on downloads alone. A week later, it climbed to number five with the physical release, and later peaked at number two for two weeks, becoming the Sugababes' fourth single to peak on particular position. In Austria, it debuted at number 13 on the Austrian Singles Chart where it peaked at number 4 in its third week, becoming the band's third biggest hit there after "Push the Button" and "Overload". "About You Now" saw similar success in Germany where it also peaked at number four on German Singles Chart, eventually becoming the Sugababes' third biggest hit there, again behind "Push the Button" and "Overload". On the Australian ARIA chart, the song peaked at number 57. In New Zealand—despite spending 21 weeks on the charts—it only managed to peak at number 18. On 13 July 2008, "About You Now" re-entered the UK Singles Chart at number 48, moving to number 34 the next week after being prominently featured in an episode of Hollyoaks. This version, recorded for Radio 1's Live Lounge, was used for the funeral of Max Cunningham.

## Track listing

UK CD Single
1. About You Now (Radio Edit) - 3:11
2. Rocks (NapsterLive Session) - 3:03

Germany Maxi-single
1. About You Now - 3:32
2. About You Now (Sticky 'Dirtypop' Remix) - 4:48
3. About You Now (Spencer & Hill Remix) - 5:47
4. In Recline - 3:26

7" Vinyl Single
1. About You Now (Kissy Sell Out Remix) - 5:23
2. About You Now - 3:32

## Personnel

* Bass, Drums, Programmed By – Lukasz Gottwald
* Drums – Lukasz Gottwald
* Engineer – Kurt Read, Rob Smith, Smit
* Engineer [Assisted By] – Aniela Gottwald, Mark Lewis
* Engineer [Pro-Tools Engineer Assisted By] – Tim Roberts
* Engineer [Pro-Tools Enigneer] – John Hanes
* Guitar – Lukasz Gottwald, Tina Kennedy
* Mixed By – Serban Ghenea
* Producer – Dr. Luke
* Producer [Additional Production By] – Rob Smith, Smit, Steven Wolf
* Vocals – Sugababes
* Written-By – Cathy Dennis, Lukasz Gottwald

## Music video

The music video for "About You Now" was directed by Marcus Adams and shot on 24 August 2007 at the Festival Hall in Waterloo in London, England. Although various pictures of the clip were leaked on the net the following days, it was not until 6 September the full video made its world premiere via internet. By 7 September 2007, the video had also debuted on music channels. The video is dedicated to the late Tim Royes, who directed the videos for the Sugababes's 2006 singles "Red Dress" and "Easy". The Nokia 7500 mobile phone is used by the two actors in the video; the male actor has the black model whereas the female actor has the white model.

## Remixes

"About You Now" has 3 official remixes namely the Sticky 'Dirtypop' Remix, Spencer & Hill Remix, and Kissy Sell Out Remix, with the first two former released in CD singles and the latter on the 7-inch vinyl.

## Gallery

### Product covers

CD Single front coverCD Single back cover
*Images provided from Discogs. Photography by Rory Payne.*

## Trivia

* In the 2009 edition of Guinness World Records, "About You Now" was listed as the "first track by a British pop act to top the singles chart solely on downloads".
* The song is covered by American actress and singer-songwriter Miranda Cosgrove and peaked number 47 in Billboard Hot 100, making it her highest charted song in the United States.
* "About You Now" was used in the movie Wild Child and features as track three on the soundtrack.

## References

1. ↑ UK CD Single. Discogs. https://www.discogs.com/release/1139229-Sugababes-About-You-Now
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Germany Maxi-single. Discogs. https://www.discogs.com/release/1109623-Sugababes-About-You-Now
3. ↑ 7" Vinyl Single. https://www.discogs.com/release/1102573-Sugababes-About-You-Now
4. ↑ Change. Discogs. https://www.discogs.com/release/1208389-Sugababes-Change
5. ↑ "Amy Winehouse, Leona Lewis, Sugababes and Paul McCartney Down A Guinness Record". Undercover FM. Archive.

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