I Can Transform Ya
"I Can Transform Ya" | ||||
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pop-rap | ||||
Length | 3:49 | |||
Label | Jive | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Swizz Beatz | |||
Chris Brown singles chronology | ||||
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Lil Wayne singles chronology | ||||
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Swizz Beatz singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"I Can Transform Ya" on YouTube |
"I Can Transform Ya" is a song by American singer Chris Brown from his third album Graffiti. The song features vocals from American rappers Lil Wayne and Swizz Beatz. The artists co-wrote the song with Lonny Bereal, Trayce Green, and Jason "Poo Bear" Boyd, with Beatz producing the track. The song was released as the lead single from Graffiti on September 29, 2009, and was Brown's first official release since his altercation with former girlfriend, Barbadian singer Rihanna. Originally known simply as "Transformer", it is an electro-composed song infused with hip hop, crunk and "industrial" R&B musical genres, while making use of robotic tones. It is lyrically about introducing someone to a life of luxury.
"I Can Transform Ya" received mostly positive reviews, noting the song's club feel and
Background
The song was originally titled "Transformer" according to producer and featured guest
Composition
The song, influenced by
Music video
Background
The song's music video was directed by Joseph Kahn. Kahn, who also directed the video for Brown and Ester Dean's "Drop It Low", said that Brown played him tracks from his album on the set, and had a clear idea of what he wanted for the "I Can Transform Ya" video.[7] Kahn said,
"...obviously, him going in there and dancing and turning into cars and trucks is right up my alley. His interests, in terms of kung fu and special effects and science fiction and all the boy-culture stuff, it falls directly in line with what I like. "His talent is phenomenal. I'm still struggling to try and capture that talent on film, and it's a challenge. Here's a guy who can literally do anything. If you watch this thing, he's doing nunchuck tricks, and I'm a huge kung fu aficionado, and they're mind-blowing. I've never seen stuff like that before in kung fu flicks. I would say it's like a pure aesthetic dance video from the very fiber of it. Everything dances onscreen. Everything has movement. Everything has a certain mechanical rhythm. He actually created a dance style for this that is mechanical. It's sort of a hyper-intense version of the robot. Even the transformations go directly in line with the movements."[7]
Kahn also said that instead of taking the song's lyrics and being "pretentious" about it, he wanted to show the audience exactly what Brown was singing about, commenting, "What if we just got ambitious and demonstrated the lyrics? The trick is to do it in a creative way. Let's try to display the lyrics and the feeling of the dance at the same time."[7] In October 2009, Brown released screencaps for the video, coincidentally the same day Rihanna released her video for "Russian Roulette".[8] The photos showed several scenes, including Brown in the middle of a squadron of black storm troopers, Brown in a gray suit, and him giving a karate kick in mid-air.[8] Another was also of Brown, Wayne and Swizz Beatz standing confidently against a white backdrop.[8]
Synopsis and reception
The video premiered on
Jocelyn Vena of
Critical reception
The song received generally positive reviews. Greg Kot of Chicago Tribune gave the song a positive review, calling it a "club banger".[14] Thomas Gonlianpoulous of Spin commended Swizz Beatz' "bombastic production", Wayne's "energetic yet nonsensical rap", and Brown's "joyful, brisk vocals."[15] Dan Gennoe of Yahoo! Music UK said the song, serving as lead single, says "Brown's promise for the future is to be an altogether more interesting kind of R&B artist."[16] Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly referred to the song as a "swaggering" lead single.[17] Jon Caramanica of The New York Times referred to the song as a type that he has made his specialty, and called it an "electric, brassy collaboration."[18] Although Nick Levine of Digital Spy called the song "a brutal, tuneless hunk of industrial R&B – as musically ugly as something like 'With You' was pretty", he said "for that matter, this track rocks", commenting "Whatever you may think of him, you can't claim that Chris Brown lacks balls."[19] Jude Rogers of BBC Music said the song was catchy, but was one of the album's tracks that were a "pale imitation of Justin Timberlake album tracks."[20]
Chart performance
In the United States, the song entered the
It reached five on the Flanders and Wallonia
Credits and personnel
- Vocals – Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, Swizz Beatz
- Songwriting – Chris Brown, Jason "Poo Bear" Boyd, Kasseem Dean, Joseph "Lonny" Bereal, Dwayne Carter
- Production – Swizz Beatz
- Audio Mixing – Manny Marroquin, assisted by Christian Plata and Erik Madrid
- Recording Engineer – Brian Springer
- Guitar – Rayfield "Ray-Ray" Holloman
- Mastering – Chris Bellman
Source[31]
Charts
Weekly chart
|
Year-end charts
|
Certifications
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA)[42] | Platinum | 70,000^ |
New Zealand (RMNZ)[30] | Platinum | 15,000* |
Norway (IFPI Norway)[43] | Gold | 5,000* |
United Kingdom (BPI)[44] | Silver | 200,000‡ |
United States (RIAA)[45] | 2× Platinum | 2,000,000‡ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Release history
Region | Date | Format |
---|---|---|
United States | September 29, 2009 | Digital download[2][46] |
October 5, 2009 | urban airplay[47]
|
References
- ^ Viacom). Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ^ a b c d e f Rodriguez, Jayson (2009-09-28). "Chris Brown's New Single Featuring Lil Wayne, 'Transformer,' Out Tuesday". MTV News. MTV Networks (Viacom). Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ^ a b c Rodriguez, Jayson. "Chris Brown's 'I Can Transform Ya,' Featuring Lil Wayne, Hits Web". MTV News. MTV Networks (Viacom). Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ^ a b Conception, Mariel (2009-10-09). "Chris Brown Featuring Lil Wayne And Swizz Beatz, "I Can Transform Ya"". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- The Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ^ a b c d Montgomery, James (2009-10-27). "Chris Brown's 'I Can Transform Ya' Video: A Shiny, Sexy Throwback". MTV News. MTV Networks (Viacom). Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ^ a b c d Vena, Jocelyn (2009-10-27). "Chris Brown's 'I Can Transform Ya' Moves Are 'Mind-Blowing,' Director Says". MTV News. MTV Networks (Viacom). Retrieved 2010-06-09.
- ^ a b c Dinh, James (2009-10-20). "Chris Brown Posts Preview Of 'I Can Transform Ya' Video". MTV News. MTV Networks (Viacom). Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ^ Wall Street Journal Online. Retrieved 2010-06-09.
- ^ Greenblatt, Leah (2009-10-27). "Chris Brown, 'I Can Transform Ya' video: Too soon?". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2010-06-09.
- BET Sound Off Blog. 2009-10-27. Archived from the originalon 2010-05-28. Retrieved 2010-06-09.
- ^ "Rap-Up.com – On Set of Chris Brown's 'Transform Ya' Video". Rap-Up.com. October 20, 2009. Retrieved March 7, 2014.
- ^ "Transform Ya < Fresher Than Chris". FresherthanChris. October 27, 2009. Retrieved March 7, 2014.
- ^ Kot, Greg (2009-12-01). "Album review: Chris Brown, 'Graffiti'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ^ Golianpoulous, Thomas (2009-11-25). "Chris Brown, 'Graffiti' (Jive/Zomba)". Spin. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ^ Gennoe, Dan (2010-12-08). "Chris Brown – Graffiti". Yahoo! UK. Retrieved 2010-04-08.
- ^ Greenblatt, Leah (2009-12-08). "Graffiti (2009)". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ^ "Critics' Choice – New CDs from Chris Brown, Allison Iraheta and Clipse". New York Times. 2009-12-06. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ^ Levine, Nick (2009-10-30). "Chris Brown ft. Lil Wayne, Swiss Beatz: 'I Can Transform Ya'". Digital Spy. Hachette Fillipachi UK. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ^ Rogers, Jude (2009-12-15). "Chris Brown Graffiti Review". BBC Music. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ^ a b c "Chris Brown Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
- ^ a b "Chris Brown Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard.
- ^ a b "Chris Brown Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
- ^ Ultratip. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
- ^ Ultratip. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
- ^ a b "Chris Brown: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
- ^ a b "Official Hip Hop and R&B Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
- ^ "I Can Transform Ya - Billboard.com". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2010-06-12.
- ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2009 Singles". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 2010-01-07.
- ^ a b "Latest Gold / Platinum Singles". Radioscope. 21 August 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-08-31.
- Zomba Label Group. (2009)
- ^ "Chris Brown feat. Lil Wayne & Swizz Beatz – I Can Transform Ya". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
- ^ "Chris Brown – Chart Search" Billboard European Hot 100 Singles for Chris Brown. Retrieved 2010-06-26. [dead link]
- ^ "Chart Track: Week 49, 2009". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
- ^ "Tipparade-lijst van week 2, 2010". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved March 12, 2023.
- ^ "Chris Brown feat. Lil Wayne & Swizz Beatz – I Can Transform Ya" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
- ^ "Chris Brown feat. Lil Wayne & Swizz Beatz – I Can Transform Ya". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
- ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
- ^ "Chris Brown Chart History (Rhythmic)". Billboard.
- ^ "Charts Plus Year end 2009" (PDF). Charts Plus. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
- ^ "Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs – Year-End 2010". Billboard. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
- ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2010 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association.
- ^ "Norwegian single certifications – Chris Brown – I Can Transform Ya" (in Norwegian). IFPI Norway.
- ^ "British single certifications – Chris Brown – I Can Transform Ya". British Phonographic Industry.
- ^ "American single certifications – Chris Brown – I Can Transform Ya". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved December 6, 2017.
- ^ "Chris Brown – I can transform ya + Remix Ft Lil Wayne and Swizz Beatz". View Nigeria. Retrieved 2014-10-04.
- ^ "Airplay Archive". FMQB. Archived from the original on 2005-10-31. Retrieved 2010-04-08.