One Less Lonely Girl

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"One Less Lonely Girl"
RBMG
Songwriter(s)
Johnnie Harris IV
Producer(s)
Justin Bieber singles chronology
"One Time"
(2009) 		"One Less Lonely Girl"
(2009) 		"Baby"
(2010)
Music video
"One Less Lonely Girl" on
YouTube

"One Less Lonely Girl" is a song by Canadian singer

rhythmic
radio soon after.

The song's accompanying music video was published on

Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest
.

Background and release

Regarding the concept of the song, Bieber told MTV News, "I think it's really important these girls have something so they can be one less lonely girl."[1] Bieber joked that "Lonely Girl" wasn't always the choice for his second single stating "It was either between that or 'I Love High School.'", a remix of "I Love College" by label mate, Asher Roth.[1] "One Less Lonely Girl" was released digitally on the iTunes Store on October 6, 2009.[2]

Composition and critical reception

"One Less Lonely Girl"
Bieber's "One Less Lonely Girl" is a mid-tempo R&B/Pop song compared to the work of
Chris Brown[3]
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Crystal Bell of

Allmusic listed the song as one of his recommended tracks from the album.[5]

Chart performance

In the U.S., the single had 113,000 downloads in its first week, propelling it to debut at number sixteen on the

My World, on the week ending January 9, 2010, the song rose thirty positions from sixty to thirty on the Hot 100.[8]
As of February 2011, the single has sold over 1,025,000 digital copies in the United States.[9] The song debuted at number ten on the Canadian Hot 100 on the issue dated October 24, 2009.[10]

It debuted in Austria at number fifty-four, where it peaked, and remained four weeks on the chart.

Belgian Tip Chart in Flanders at number twenty-five, where it peaked, and remained for two weeks.[12] It debuted in Germany at number twenty-two, where it peaked, and remained for nine weeks.[13] The song also peaked at sixty-eight in Australia and sixty-two in the United Kingdom.[14][15]

Music video

A boy hangs up a sign on a pole with an outside restaurant scene in the background
Bieber wearing the green sweatshirt and posting signs for his scavenger hunt in the "One Less Lonely Girl" video

In an October 7, 2009, exclusive with

dog tag. In a behind-the-scenes feature, Bieber said that a fan gave it to him, and it belonged to one of their friends that died in the war. Bieber stated, "I wear it because its cool and kind of a memory."[18] The basic concept of the video is Bieber's goal to win a girl's heart after leading her around the town. Director Roman White said, "It’s romantic, it’s in a laundromat...that’s all it takes to win a girl is strung lights".[18]

In the music video, Bieber is attracted to a girl (Grace Marie Wilson) he sees every day washing clothes at the local laundromat.[19] In the opening scenes, Bieber is wearing a green hooded sweatshirt, similar to the gray one he wore in the "One Time" video, along with a cranberry shirt. One day while he is waiting for his clothes and is tuning his guitar, she drops a scarf, and he picks it up.[18] In the laundromat scene Bieber is wearing a mixed purple, blue & orange plaid collared shirt, with a dark purple tee. The girl comes back the next day however he is not there. He then posts a sign beside the washer that he found her missing scarf. He leads the girl on a scavenger hunt for the scarf, posting signs with pictures of him on them around the town to encourage her to go on a date with him. He takes pictures of him in situations such as buying chocolate for her and the puppies scene, and others, with notes doting quips of what he would do for her. During the date and ending scenes Bieber has on a white striped collared shirt, with a dark cyan tee. She finally finds him at the end of the video, and they have their date.

MTV called the video "lost-and-found action with a scarf that eventually leads to some young love," and gives credit to Bieber as a new sensation, stating "The setting for "One Less Lonely Girl" seems to be Main Street, USA...And why not? Is this kid not the slice of apple pie cooling on the window sill of the American teen dream?"[19] AOL calls the video a "treasure hunt" and commended the pet store scene, saying "And then, as if the video couldn't get more cute, they bring out the puppies."[20] "One Less Lonely Girl" officially published on YouTube on May 31, 2013 (2013-05-31).

Merchandise

The "One Less Lonely Girl" phrase spawned several products from Bieber's official store to have the coined phrase on them. One of the products is a cranberry colored scarf, the same color as a shirt Bieber wore in the music video.

1-800-Flowers for a promotion. The company came out with a "One Less Lonely Girl"-branded bouquet of red "intuition" roses and a Valentine's Day card from Bieber, depicting the singer holding a heart.[22][23] Packages could either have a twenty-four or twelve count stems, and a red, silver or clear vase.[22] The flowers could be set for delivery between January 12-February 12, 2010, before Valentine's Day.[22] The first one thousand customers received a free replica of the scarf in the "One Less Lonely Girl" video.[24] A portion of the proceeds went to Pencils of Promise, a charity that helps build schools in developing areas of the world. Bieber frequently participates in the charity.[22] A contest was also set in place in which a winner would be greeted with their flowers by Bieber himself, or could win the flower bouquet and other Justin Bieber merchandise.[25]

Live performances

Bieber has performed "One Less Lonely Girl" as an acoustic rendition and with the original musical background. He premiered the song, performing an acoustic rendition when he made a return appearance to his native

BET's SOS: Help for Haiti Telethon.[35] With the telethon also being broadcast in Haiti, Bieber sang the first verse in French. The song was also on the set list for the My World Tour and the Believe Tour. When Bieber performed the song as part of the Believe Tour, instead of giving the "lonely girl" flowers, he placed a wreath of flowers on her head. During the Purpose World Tour, Bieber unexpectedly performed the song during the tour for the last time.[35]

Controversy

A parody of the song performed by Bieber caused controversy after a video of it was released by the entertainment news website TMZ on June 4, 2014. The video featured a then 15-year-old Bieber, parodying the song with the main lyric "One less lonely nigger," and singing that if he were to kill "one less lonely nigger," he'd be "part of the KKK." Sources stated that Bieber told his mentors, musicians Usher and Will Smith, about the video after it was filmed, after which Usher showed Bieber some videos about the history of racism in an effort to teach him about the derogatory intent of the word "nigger" and other racial epithets.[36][37] On June 5, 2014, the rapper and president of Young Money Entertainment, Mack Maine chose to defend Bieber after the racist remarks. Maine said Bieber is still family for the artists on Young Money, according to TMZ. The publication reports that Maine says Bieber has black friends and that "Bieber does not have a slave mentality." According to Mack Maine, Bieber "treats his people with respect." Mack Maine has said that he brought up a racial joke in his past. "I remember telling a White man, Chinese man, Black man joke as a kid that was terrible," Maine says, "and I told it to my friends because I thought they'd think it was funny." Mack Maine also confirms that Young Money and Justin Bieber are slated to continue working together.[38] On the same day, Bieber apologized for the parody, saying "I didn’t realize at the time that it wasn’t funny and that in fact my actions were continuing the ignorance" and "I take all my friendships with people of all cultures very seriously and I apologize for offending or hurting anyone with my childish and inexcusable behavior."[39]

Credits and personnel

Source [40]

Charts

Chart performance for "One Less Lonely Girl"
Chart (2009–2010) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[15] 68
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[11] 54
Belgium (Ultratip Bubbling Under Flanders)[12] 25
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[41] 10
Canada
CHR/Top 40 (Billboard)[42]
 39
Germany (GfK)[13] 22
Scotland (OCC)[43] 56
UK Singles (OCC)[14]
 62
US Billboard Hot 100[44] 16
US Pop Airplay (Billboard)[45] 21

Certifications

Certifications for "One Less Lonely Girl"
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[46] Platinum 70,000‡
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil)[47] Platinum 60,000‡
Canada (Music Canada)[48] Gold 40,000*
New Zealand (RMNZ)[49] Gold 15,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[50] Silver 200,000‡
United States (RIAA)[51] 3× Platinum 3,000,000‡

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Release dates and formats for "One Less Lonely Girl"
Region Date Format
Canada October 6, 2009[2] Digital download
United States
November 30, 2009 Mainstream and rhythmic airplay[52]

References

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  3. ^ a b Bell, Crystal (2009-10-16). "Justin Bieber, "One Less Lonely Girl"". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2009-12-12.
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  5. Allmusic
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  11. ^ a b "Justin Bieber – One Less Lonely Girl" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
  12. ^ a b "Justin Bieber - One Less Lonely Girl (Nummer)". Ultratop. Retrieved 2009-12-17.
  13. ^ a b "Justin Bieber – One Less Lonely Girl" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
  14. ^ a b "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
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  24. ^ "Justin Bieber Gets Into The Flower Business With A 'One Less Lonely Girl Bouquet'". MTV News. 2009-12-17. Archived from the original on April 3, 2010. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
  25. 1-800-Flowers.com. Archived from the original
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  49. ^ "New Zealand single certifications – Justin Bieber – One Less Lonely Girl". Radioscope. Retrieved December 14, 2024. Type One Less Lonely Girl in the "Search:" field.
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  52. ^ "Available for Airplay". FMQB. Archived from the original on 2009-09-01. Retrieved 2010-02-01.

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