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Single: Bonnie McKee - "American Girl"
Member Since: 1/22/2005
Posts: 13,429
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Quote:
@BonnieMcKee
Big week next week!! So excited to share with you guys! Love my #BonBons ;D #AmericanGirl
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I'm guessing that means the ITunes release is Tuesday? (Since I doubt the official video is finished.) Why does she have to be so cryptic.
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Also, the "American Girl" video just passed 700k views. Slowly closing in on a Million.
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Member Since: 12/3/2011
Posts: 11,947
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Yeah, probably the iTunes release.
The VMAs are August 25 -- I hope she'll perform. AG should be in a good position by then.
I wish Bon Bons wasn't her fan name. 
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ATRL Moderator
Member Since: 10/17/2011
Posts: 20,487
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I got the DJ at work to download this song, he played it 3 times last night in the club  So amazing!
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Member Since: 8/29/2011
Posts: 9,504
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Quote:
Originally posted by .Chad.
I'm guessing that means the ITunes release is Tuesday? (Since I doubt the official video is finished.) Why does she have to be so cryptic.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Evun
Yeah, probably the iTunes release.
The VMAs are August 25 -- I hope she'll perform. AG should be in a good position by then.
I wish Bon Bons wasn't her fan name. |
but is she going to "share" the iTunes release with us? that doesn't make much sense. who knows!
everybody who downloaded the song for free HAS to support it on iTunes still!! 
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Member Since: 1/1/2011
Posts: 37,539
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Quote:
Originally posted by Space
everybody who downloaded the song for free HAS to support it on iTunes still!! |
I'll definitely buy it if they'll release it here, Bonnie deserves it 
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Member Since: 1/22/2005
Posts: 13,429
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Quote:
Originally posted by Evun
Yeah, probably the iTunes release.
The VMAs are August 25 -- I hope she'll perform. AG should be in a good position by then.
I wish Bon Bons wasn't her fan name. |
If things go well, I could see her landing a pre-show performance slot.
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And yeah, I was a bigger fan of the name Bontourage... but oh well. Stan names are all awful imo. (I mean, Katycats....  )
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Member Since: 4/16/2012
Posts: 1,405
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purrty
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Member Since: 12/3/2011
Posts: 11,947
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She looks great in that photo.
Quote:
Originally posted by .Chad.
And yeah, I was a bigger fan of the name Bontourage... but oh well. Stan names are all awful imo. (I mean, Katycats.... ) |
Yeah. Fan names that are based on the artist's name are always the most tacky -- "Animals," "Little Monsters," etc aren't as bad as "Beliebers," etc. Sighhhhh.
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Member Since: 6/6/2011
Posts: 48,509
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POP
117 50 BONNIE MCKEE American Girl 348 39 309 3.293
Top50 on pop!!!  8 days before adds date!
That audiance is BIG too! This is coming to smash 
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Member Since: 3/15/2013
Posts: 43,126
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Quote:
Originally posted by I'mRihannaFan
POP
117 50 BONNIE MCKEE American Girl 348 39 309 3.293
Top50 on pop!!! 8 days before adds date!
That audiance is BIG too! This is coming to smash
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OMG Summer smash coming
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Member Since: 8/30/2012
Posts: 5,802
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Quote:
Originally posted by I'mRihannaFan
POP
117 50 BONNIE MCKEE American Girl 348 39 309 3.293
Top50 on pop!!! 8 days before adds date!
That audiance is BIG too! This is coming to smash
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oh god let's hope it smashes!
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Member Since: 9/15/2004
Posts: 5,924
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Member Since: 2/13/2012
Posts: 62,082
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This is already top 50 on Pop before the adds date? Smash.
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Member Since: 3/27/2012
Posts: 27,951
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This sounds cute when you're playing it in the car driving around, I hope this smashes for her.
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Member Since: 8/16/2010
Posts: 19,703
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Quote:
Originally posted by collin
This is already top 50 on Pop before the adds date? Smash.
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That's huge for a debut single.
Pop:
48 +2 BONNIE MCKEE American Girl 394 +46 339 +30 3.605 +0.312 --
Taking Off (Pop): - JAY Z Holy Grail f/Justin Timberlake +76 +1694
- BONNIE MCKEE American Girl +10 +193
- LANA DEL REY Summertime Sadness +7 +122
Most Picked (Pop) - Austin Mahone What About Love
- AWOLNATION Sail (Pop Mix)
- Bonnie Mckee American Girl
HAC Adds:
2 BONNIE MCKEE American Girl Epic ( KLTG-FM & WHBC-FM)
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Member Since: 2/13/2012
Posts: 62,082
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Well, this is doing phenomenally. Go Bonnie!
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Member Since: 1/22/2005
Posts: 13,429
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Things are going amazing thus far, let's hope it continues.
Bonnie deserves a smash.
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Member Since: 3/15/2013
Posts: 43,126
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Mark my words she will be up there with Katy, Rih, Gaga and the other Pop goddesses
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Member Since: 4/16/2012
Posts: 1,405
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She did an interview with Myspace:
Quote:
THE Q&A
Bonnie McKee, Katy Perry's Secret Weapon, Steps Out on Her Own
By Liz Culley • July 08, 2013
After writing hits for everyone from Ke$ha and Christina Aguilera to Taio Cruz and Leona Lewis, the crimson-haired singer-songwriter is once again ready to take the spotlight. Watch out, radio.
"It tastes like amazing sugary air,” I giggled to Bonnie Mckee as we dove fork first into a mocha-flavored sheet cake at 2:30 a.m. in her Hollywood Hills home. “Totally,” she responded, her bright tangerine- and melon-colored pigtails bobbing. She was dressed in a goth-inspired bathing suit at her best friend’s goth-themed birthday party, which turned into a pool party once 1:00 a.m. hit. She had effortlessly shed her impeccable costume for yet another impeccable aquatic version.
Transitions are nothing new to the 29-year-old, one of the most successful songwriters of the past decade. With writing credits on seven number one hits including Britney Spears’ “Hold It Against Me,” Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” and Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite,” the crimson-haired musician has also lent her pen to Carly Rae Jepsen, Ke$ha and Kelly Clarkson, to name a few. If it’s an inescapable pop anthem, chances are high that Bonnie touched it.
But after years of writing smash hits for others, Bonnie is ready to once again turn the pen inward. After signing with Reprise Records at the age of 16, she dropped her debut album Trouble in 2004. But success was fleeting: she was released from her contract and left broke. With no calls coming in, she took her personal songs to the auction block. A chance introduction to super producer Dr. Luke put her songwriting career on track, landing her numerous placements on Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream (Capitol, 2010) and turning her into a radio fixture.
Now, she’s ready to return to the spotlight. On June 26, Bonnie debuted her shiny new single “American Girl” with a viral video featuring cameos from Katy Perry, KISS, Macklemore, Joan Rivers and a slew of other famous friends. The song, released just in time for Independence Day, serves as the first offering from her untitled sophomore album, releasing later this year. A few days after we shared a sugar high, we sat down in her Christmas light-adorned studio in the Pulse Recordings building in Los Feliz to discuss how she got her pen game proper.
What was the inspiration for “American Girl?”
“American Girl” is my ode to the suburban teenage experience. I pulled a lot from my own adolescent experiences. So I literally fell in love in a 7-11 parking lot and I remember sitting on a skateboard with a boy in the parking lot, loitering, trying to get people to buy us beer and cigarettes and going to the mall and getting stoned and going to McDonald’s. That was my American teenage years and I tried to pull from that. I was also referencing stuff I love from the ’80s like “Jessie’s Girl.” I ripped the verse from that.
What’s the theme of your upcoming album?
[It’s a] fun, nostalgic, nice marriage of analog and modern pop. I have been writing the record for a few years now, secretly squirreling away. It covers a vast scope of emotions from getting heartbroken to partying to failing to persevering to remembering. So it’s kind of a deep album disguised as a pop explosion.
You obviously love the ’80s and ’90s. [Her house is a play land of Barbies and board games from the past]. What about that time inspires your look, sound and vibe?
I think there is something playful about the ’80s and ’90s, and it was the dawn of MTV, and I was literally raised by a television, like I say in the song. My earliest memories are from watching MTV and I learned social cues and life lessons from TV from sitcoms and music videos. It’s in my blood.
What’s your favorite show from the ’90s?
Full House. Obviously Beverly Hills 90210, style-wise. I love sex, drugs, rock and roll.
You obviously love a good theme party. Why is that?
My costume last Halloween, I was a double rainbow. I made an outfit out of fake spider webs to look like clouds, I added a strobe light to look like lightning. I don’t **** around. I am really crafty. The My Little Pony outfit was out of control. I am like, ugh, how am I going to top that? I find crafting really therapeutic and I love Halloween. It’s just so much fun, I love seeing other people’s creativity. I have been throwing Halloween parties my whole life.
Your debut album, Trouble was released in 2004. What has changed about your writing style from then to now? Is there a huge difference?
Yes, I would say there is a huge difference. The first album was all written before I turned 16 and when I got signed it was already all written. So basically it was all from my diary from when I was 14-16, which was really an intense, crazy and traumatic time for me, as it is for everyone I think. I can’t listen to it. It is so embarrassingly brutal and honest. And I don’t really do that anymore. I try and keep some… Well, of course I like to be honest in my music, but I am just not that literal and it’s not as sad. That first album is really sad album. There is a lot of hope in it. But it is just depressing. And I remember touring it, thinking, I don’t wanna tour this. I want people to be happy, and dance and I don’t want to be stuck behind the piano. And there were a lot of people crying. And that is great to move people. I get moved by artists, but I was tired of being sad.
It feels like you’ve written every fun song over the past few years. Most recently, you wrote Britney Spears’ “Ooh La La” for The Smurfs 2 soundtrack. How’d that come about?
I gotta be honest. I was really more of doctor on that song. It was written and then I came in and rewrote the lyric. It was too sexy and it needed to be more “Smurfy.” And more kid-friendly. But it still needed to work for radio, too. So I had to keep it tasteful but still have a little bit of that “Ooh La La,” if you will.
Do you feel like you have a Bonnie “stamp,” or do you change it up?
I think I have a distinctive style with really visual lyrics. I like to paint pictures and tell a story. I think it’s the difference between telling a story and explaining a dream. I go into dream mode, what do I feel, what do I see, what am I wearing… I just try and put people in that moment.
One of your first big hits was Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite.” How did that come together?
I wrote that song with Dr. Luke and Taio Cruz. They basically left me with the track and went to dinner and the melody was there, and I knew I wanted to light it up with something. Something just needs to light up. It felt really explosive. [Sings] “Like a Christmas tree, like it’s New Year’s Eve.” What lights up? Then, “Dynamite” happened. I thought it was the dumbest song I had ever written and thought it was going nowhere. And I actually think it was biggest song I have written so far.
What about Katy Perry’s “Wide Awake?”
Internationally, “Dynamite” was huge and it lasted and lasted. But, I guess “Wide Awake” was big, too. I don’t really look at the numbers. It’s more about what I see people reacting to and how many people know all the words.
Is giving up personal songs difficult?
The one that I have struggled the most with was “Teenage Dream.” Of course, I co- wrote with Katy, but I have had this theme of teenage nostalgia running through my own music since the beginning, like there was a song on my first album called “Confessions of a Teenage Girl,” and then I wrote another song called “Teenage Heart.” So to give up the word “teenager” and knowing that I would never be able to use it again was difficult for me.
How was it to work with Christina Aguilera for “Let There Be Love?”
I love the song. Generally with the big pop stuff, the producers make the track that already sounds like a hit. Then, it is my responsibility to find the story within the track. I am a lifelong Christina fan so it just gave me chills to hear her sing words that I wrote. I wish the song had broken a bit more.
How does your writing process evolve?
I usually start with a title because you can really build a story from there. I have a song on the new record called “Hot City” because I went to Indonesia with some friends and I was on a bus driving through the jungle and it was sweltering hot and the titled popped in my head, so I ended up writing a song about hanging out, being with my friends in the heat.
How do you link up with artists to write with?
Because I am an artist, I save all my artist development energy for myself. So I tend not to write with newer artists. That said, if someone came along and blew me away then I would totally write with them or for them. But for the most part, ain’t nobody got time for that. So when Katy calls, I write. When Britney calls, I write. I’m a huge American Idol fan and there were some kids last year that didn’t win but made it in the top three and I was sitting at home thinking, “Call me!” I was so blown away and moved, and I would love to work with an artist like that but labels don’t get it. They just go back into obscurity. I am really a fan. Those kids come out and just slay. They are amateurs, but there are a lot of professionals that can’t come out and do what those kids do.
What was it like to write with Ke$ha?
Awesome. I have known her since we were teenagers and she is super ****ing talented. Great singer, huge range, great lyricist, cool style and sense of pop culture, really down-to-earth. Rad chick. I am a huge fan.
Like you, Ke$ha has some major co-signs. Your video teaser for “American Girl” may in fact be the most co-signed video I have ever seen.
You know, it’s funny because that video might be the most important video I will ever make and it cost me nothing but 10 years of struggling in Hollywood.
Have you ever thought about hoarding songs and not giving them up?
I knew that I had to get to a certain point where I had ammunition. I was always trying to sell myself as an artist like, “Hey, I’m an artist too! I can sing, I can dance, I can write!” But people were interested in my writing and I knew that I had to follow what the universe was providing and sit tight, and I’m not going to say it was easy. I had a lot of jealousy and self-loathing, but it’s just been the perfect storm and I am really grateful and wouldn’t want it any other way. I think it gives me credibility a little bit.
How did you make the transition from starting out as an artist to being a songwriter?
I remember I was writing and demoing songs for myself with a producer and while in the studio, he looked at me and said, “You should be a songwriter,” and I was like, “**** you, I’m an artist! I don’t belong behind the scenes!” I was really mad and think I cried and stormed out. And then I was broke. Really broke. I didn’t have hot water. I didn’t have a cellphone. I was in the trenches and the slums of Hollywood. I met my boyfriend Oliver, and he was in a group called Ima Robot and was working with Josh Abraham, who started Pulse Recordings and signed Oliver. So I spoke up and said I would sing demos and Josh Abraham and Scott Cutler heard my songs and offered me a publishing deal. It was peanuts and I had nothing, and it was the best decision I ever made. They took a chance on me when no one else would.
Anyone you want to open for when you start to tour the record?
Katy Perry, obviously. Ke$ha or Lady Gaga because I think we have the same audience. I would love to write for Gaga, she is a brilliant performer. I would also love to open for Bruno Mars. He is a great performer.
What’s the scariest thing about releasing a record?
I just don’t know if I can survive another failed album. It just about killed me. Like it got real dark, so that is the scariest part.
What are you most excited about?
I am so excited to just share my art finally! I want people to hear it! I have been writing these songs for a while now, and I am excited for people to see what I am up to. I love having the fans interact with me and I love interacting with them right back. I want to make people feel good.
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Member Since: 9/20/2011
Posts: 13,921
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