"Addiction" is a song written, produced, and performed by American singer and record producer

Ryan Leslie Anthony Ryan Leslie (born September 25, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. Working predominantly in contemporary R&B and hip hop, he has released six studio albums and written songs for artists ...

. It features vocals by American singer Cassie and American rapper

Fabolous John David Jackson (born November 18, 1977), known professionally as Fabolous, is an American rapper. Raised in Brooklyn, he first gained recognition for his ability upon performing live on DJ Clue's WQHT, Hot 97 radio show. Jackson then signed ...

, who wrote his guest rap verse. The song contains elements from the composition " I Can't Help It" written by

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

and

Susaye Greene Susaye Greene (born September 13, 1950) is an American singer and songwriter. She was the last official member to join the Motown girl group The Supremes, remaining in the group during its final year of existence from 1976 to 1977. She is a suc ...

, as performed by

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

. Released as the second single from his self-titled debut album, ''

'' (2009), it was sent to

rhythmic Rhythmic may refer to: * Related to rhythm * Rhythmic contemporary, a radio format * Rhythmic adult contemporary, a radio format * Rhythmic gymnastics Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform individually or in groups on a floor ...

and

urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contemporary r ...

radio stations in the United States on July 7, 2008. The track was made available for digital download the following day through

Universal Motown Records Universal Motown Records was an American record label that operated as a division of Universal Motown Republic Group. It was the contemporary incarnation of the legendary Motown Records label, and the " urban" half of the Universal Records label, ...

and Leslie's NextSelection imprint. A version of the song featuring just Cassie was also included in physical versions of the single. The R&B-

future soul Future soul is a term often used by UK singer-songwriter Daley in the 2010s to describe a style of music that emerged from soul and contemporary R&B. Although both soulful and conscious, future soul is distinguished from neo soul as it infuses mo ...

song originated after a lively night out in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

with Leslie having an impulse to go to the studio create a track that captured the "frenetic energy and electricity" he had experienced. He stated that music is his "addiction," but the track could be referring to a relationship or "anything that makes you feel that type of way." Commercially, the single failed to make an impact on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 but managed to appear at number fifteen on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

and number thirty-five on the

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

charts as a partial result of steady airplay received from R&B/Hip-Hop format radio stations. It was

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

ed and

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: * Sample (graphics), an intersection of a color channel and a pixel * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of something * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample ...

by multiple artists including

Kid Cudi Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi (born January 30, 1984), also known by his stage name Kid Cudi ( ; formerly stylized as KiD CuDi), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and fashion designer. Born and raised in Clevelan ...

Clipse Clipse, also known as the Clipse, is an American hip-hop, hip hop duo from Virginia Beach, Virginia. Formed in 1994, it consists of brothers No Malice, Gene "Malice" and Pusha T, Terrence "Pusha T" Thornton. Pusha T was known as Terrar during t ...

Wiz Khalifa Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and actor. Raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he signed with the local independent label Rostrum Records to re ...

and more. "Addiction" was accompanied by two music videos, which both premiered in September 2008. The first was directed by

Diane Martel Diane Martel (also known as Bucky Chrome and Diamond Martel) is an American music video director and choreographer. As a music video director, she has worked with Beyonce, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Sting and Jennifer Lopez. One of her ...

and shot in

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

with a "simple and photographic" style. An alternate second video, co-directed by Leslie with Aaron Platt and John Monopoly, depicts the story of a "

stalker Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance or contact by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring t ...

super-fan." Cassie wasn't available to shoot the visuals due to scheduling conflicts, despite Leslie's original plans to make the song a

duet A duet (italian language, Italian: ''duo'') is a musical composition for two Performing arts, performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a har ...

with a respective video showing the chemistry between the two.

Background

While working as a record producer, Leslie went on to create NextSelection Lifestyle Group, a music-media company he founded with marketing partner Rasheed Richmond. Leslie signed his first artist, Cassie, in 2005 and under his guidance led her to focus her creative energies on a series of demo recordings, including " Me & U," which was released as her debut single soon after going viral on

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

. "Me & U" went on to peak in the top ten of several countries, including number three on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, spending seven weeks atop the US Airplay chart and earned a Platinum certification by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

for sales of over one million digital downloads. Leslie then wrote and produced her entire self-titled debut album '' Cassie'', released the following year, as Leslie helped Cassie become the first artist to break on a large scale after being discovered by fans on a

social networking website A social networking service (SNS), or social networking site, is a type of online social media platform which people use to build social networks or social relationships with other people who share similar personal or career content, interests ...

like MySpace, resulting in

Yahoo! Yahoo (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web portal that provides the search engine Yahoo Search and related services including My Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, y!entertainment, yahoo!life, and its a ...

calling her "the first Internet pop star." Meanwhile, Leslie claimed he was "always working on an album of my own. Just doing everything organically," as he regularly shared new tracks online. He released the

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

of his US debut studio album in January 2008, " Diamond Girl." In April 2008, Leslie posted a new song on his

page titled "Addiction," featuring his

protégé Mentorship is the patronage, influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the perso ...

Cassie singing the

hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved/bent back or has a deeply grooved indentation, which serves to grab, latch or in any way attach itself onto another object. The hook's d ...

, "I'm addicted to you/ You're my addiction," as well as an in-studio video while he was making it. A new verse and additional ad-libs by Leslie's frequent collaborator, rapper

, were added to the track; the feature was announced the following month and included for the official single release. An alternate version of the song featuring

Keri Hilson Keri Lynn Hilson (born December 5, 1982) is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Decatur, Georgia, she began her musical career as a songwriter and backing vocalist for other artists under the wing of record producer Anthony De ...

instead of Cassie also surfaced online. The single was serviced to rhythmic and urban contemporary radio stations in the United States on July 7, 2008, before being digitally released the following day. A promotional CD single and 12-inch vinyl were also released on August 19, 2008.

Composition

"Addiction" is an R&B song, with a length of four minutes. A writer for ''

The Fader ''The Fader'' is a magazine established in 1999 as an outlet for Cornerstone Agency, a marketing and public relations firm established by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. History and work It is owned by T ...

'' described it as "over eccentric and breezy future-soul," while ''

'' characterized it as a track where "Leslie isn't too macho to admit he's sprung over a girl." It contains elements of " I Can't Help It" written by

and

, as performed by

. Leslie explained how its creation was related to the lyrical content saying that the song "came about one night after I'd gone to several different spots in New York City. One night after doing that, that energy and excitement was in me, and instead of going home, I went straight to the studio," continuing, "I don't drink or smoke, so the way that I creatively express myself is to get right in the studio. I wanted to create a track that captured that frenetic energy and electricity that I had experienced that night." He said that "Addiction" is about anything that makes you feel that type of way, concluding, "And it could be a relationship, but for me it's music."

Commercial performance

"Addiction" charted at number fifteen on the US ''

for the week of August 23, 2008. The single debuted on the ''Billboard''

Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 po ...

at number fifteen, reaching number thirty-five on the main

chart. Additionally, it peaked at number thirty-five on the

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay (previously known as Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay) is a chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the top R&B and hip hop songs in the United States, based on audience impressions from a panel of radio stations monitored ...

and thirty-nine on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop charts. It also appeared on the

Deutsche Black Charts Deutsche Urban Charts (DUC), former also known by various names including Deutsche Black Charts (DBC) and Deutsche Hip Hop/R&B/Dancehall Singles, is a German chart released weekly by Deutsche Trend Charts (owned by Public Music & Media Ltd. and iss ...

peaking at number thirteen, having spent ten weeks on the chart.

Remixes and other use

The song received a number of reinterpretations by various artists such as

, who freestyled over the song in "London Girls." Hip hop duo

released a remix of the track in December 2008, included on their mixtape '' Road to Till the Casket Drops''.

also recorded a remix called "Addicted." Baas B and Brace covered the song on "Stalker." It was sampled by

Olivia Olivia may refer to: People and fictional characters * Olivia (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Olivia (singer), American singer Olivia Longott (born 1981) * Olívia (basketball), Brazilian basketball playe ...

on her 2011 single "December," and by rapper Jay Wise on "Sneaker Head." Producer Lucas Patrick Smith, otherwise known by his moniker Robots With Rayguns, also sampled it on a song called "That Sound."

Trey Songz Tremaine Aldon Neverson (born November 28, 1984), known professionally as Trey Songz, is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer and songwriter. After being discovered by record producer Troy Taylor (record producer), Troy Taylor in 2003, Songz ...

shared his version of the track called "Addicted to Songz."

Lunice Lunice Fermin Pierre II (born May 15, 1988), better known by his mononymous stage name Lunice, is a Canadian record producer and DJ from Montreal. He is one half of the duo TNGHT along with Hudson Mohawke. Biography Lunice is the son of a Fili ...

and Altered Natives released their reworked versions in December 2010, as a part of ''Skydiver'', a Cassie tribute remix compilation album by independent British label Local Action. Producer Phazz uploaded his remix online in 2013 and Iman Omari posted his adaptation in 2014, with

Noisey ''Vice'' (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian-American magazine focused on lifestyle, arts, culture, and news/politics. It was founded in 1994 in Montreal as an alternative punk magazine, and its founders later launched the youth media company ...

writing that "he flips Ryan Leslie and Cassie's classic into a red-eyed slumber party where the snacks and conversation never run dry."

Music videos

Two music videos were shot for the song; the first was filmed on July 23, 2008, in a Chelsea studio, and directed by

. It premiered on

Yahoo! Music Yahoo Music was a brand under which Yahoo provided music services including Internet radio, a digital music store, music streaming service, media player software, and original programming. Yahoo Music was sold to Rhapsody in early 2008. Pro ...

on September 8, 2008. The entirely-

grayscale In digital photography, computer-generated imagery, and colorimetry, a greyscale (more common in Commonwealth English) or grayscale (more common in American English) image is one in which the value of each pixel is a single sample (signal), s ...

video shows Leslie performing the track after a small

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

television is turned on by a feminine hand covered by a

bed sheet A bed sheet is a rectangular piece of cloth used either singly or in a pair as bedding, which is larger in length and width than a mattress, and which is placed immediately above a mattress or bed, but below blankets and other bedding (such as ...

. Jamaican models Jeneil Williams and Gaye McDonald dance and lip sync to Cassie's parts throughout the clip. Leslie then appears on a bigger projection screen as the models move in front of it.

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

's "

Freedom! '90 "Freedom! '90" (also known simply as "Freedom!") is a song written, produced, and performed by English singer-songwriter George Michael, and released by Columbia Records in October 1990. The 90" added to the end of the title is to prevent conf ...

" music video served as inspiration. Leslie talked about the video stating: "one look and you'll notice I'm not wearing a tuxedo or even a suit in the clip. Director Diane Martel assured me that this one should be all about the beauty of simplicity." He considered it to be a statement "about the need for more diversity in the fashion business." Jaslene gonzalez by kevin sinclair

An alternate video directed by

Aaron Platt Aaron Platt, (born June 9, 1981) is an American film director and cinematographer. He previously resided in Venice, California, and Brooklyn, New York. He currently resides in Seattle with his wife, Karissa Hochberg, a wardrobe stylist. Platt ...

, John Monopoly and Leslie was released later that month. It shows Leslie spending a day with his love interest, played by ''

America's Next Top Model ''America's Next Top Model'' (abbreviated ''ANTM'' and ''Top Model'') is an American reality television series and interactive competition in which a number of aspiring models compete for the title of "America's Next Top Model" and a chance to b ...

'' Cycle 8 winner

Jaslene Gonzalez Jaslene Marie González (born May 29, 1986) is a Puerto Rican model, television host, and winner of Cycle 8 of ''America's Next Top Model''. Biography Gonzalez was born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico and grew up in Humboldt Park, Chicago. She attende ...

, as they're followed by another woman, played by Jeannena Flores from his previous "Diamond Girl" movie. The video ends after the woman poisons Leslie's date at a nightclub (who passes out in his arms) after sending him a

text message Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile phones, tablet computers, smartwatches, desktop computer, des ...

that reads: "we will be together." American record producer

Swizz Beatz Kasseem Daoud Dean (born September 13, 1978), known professionally as Swizz Beatz, is an American rapper and record producer. Born and raised in the Bronx borough of New York City, Dean embarked on his musical career as a DJ in 1994. At the age ...

makes a

cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...

with Fabolous during his verse. Shots of Leslie Leslie singing in a recording studio and playing piano are shown throughout the clip. Leslie said the video represented a different "imaginative, creative" side of him and expressed the concept was based on a "tale of a

super-fan come to life. ..This video finds me in studio, shopping with my girl, and catching her as she falls – swooning unconsciously from my stalker's poisoned libation." He explained Cassie's absence was due to her "hectic schedule" recording her new album, pointing out he initially had a vision for the song to be a duet between the two and have a video that showed their chemistry together. Despite Cassie not making an appearance in neither of the visuals, Fabolous has guest spots in both videos performing his rap verse.

Track listing

*Digital download #"Addiction" (featuring Cassie and Fabolous) – 4:00 *12-inch vinyl #"Addiction" (featuring Cassie and Fabolous) (Main) – 3:59 #"Addiction" (featuring Cassie) (Main) – 4:02 #"Addiction" (Instrumental) – 3:59 #"Addiction" (Acapella) – 3:55 *CD single #"Addiction" (featuring Cassie and Fabolous) (Main) – 3:59 #"Addiction" (featuring Cassie) (Main) – 4:02 #"Addiction" (Instrumental) – 3:59 #"Addiction" (Call Out Hook) – 0:19

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Addiction'' and ''

''. ;Locations * Recorded at

Chung King Studios Chung King Studios was a recording studio that operated in New York City under that name from 1986 to 2015. It was founded by producer John King and engineer Steve Ett with financial backing from the Etches brothers, occupying three different loca ...

and The Apartment,

* Mixed at Bennett Studios, Englewood * Mastered at

Sterling Sound George Marino (April 15, 1947June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s. Biography Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He attended ...

, New York City ;Personnel *

– vocals, composer, primary artist, producer, background vocals, instruments, engineer, programming * Cassie – vocals, featured artist *

– vocals, featured artist, composer *

– composer * Susaye Greene-Brown – composer * Rich Keller – mixing * Chris Athens – mastering * Anthony Palazzole – assistant engineer

Charts

Release history

References

External links

* {{authority control 2008 singles 2008 songs Black-and-white music videos Cassie Ventura songs Fabolous songs Music videos directed by Diane Martel Ryan Leslie songs Song recordings produced by Ryan Leslie Songs written by Ryan Leslie Songs written by Fabolous Torch songs Universal Motown Records singles