"Perfect" is a song by recorded by Canadian

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

band Hedley for their third studio album, '' The Show Must Go'' (2009). Lead singer Jacob Hoggard co-wrote the song with David Bendeth and Dave Genn, while Bendeth co-produced the track with Brian Howes. It was first released on February 8, 2010 through Universal Music Canada as the record's third single. "Perfect" was released in the United States through

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

on August 10, 2010 as the group's first official single in that country. Upon release, "Perfect" reached number seven on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...

, earning the band their second top-10 single from ''The Show Must Go''. It also became their first charting entry in the US by peaking at number 25 on the ''Billboard'' Adult Pop Songs chart. The song earned a nomination for Single of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2011. It also won a SOCAN Pop/Rock song award in 2010 for its strong radio presence and two MuchMusic Video Awards, including Video of the Year, at the 2010 ceremony.

Composition

"Perfect" is a

song written by Jacob Hoggard, David Bendeth, and Dave Genn which lasts for four minutes and ten seconds. The

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

opens on a short

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

riff A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based ...

, which is then repeated in the background during the verses. According to the sheet music published by Universal Music Publishing Group, "Perfect" is composed in the key of

C major C major is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and its parallel min ...

and set in common time to a moderate tempo of 76 BPM. The song follows a

chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural, or simply changes) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from ...

of Am – F – C – G – G (except for the chorus, which omits the G) and includes a vocal range of one

octave In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referr ...

and three notes, from G to C. Lyrically, the song is about a man owning up to his mistakes and vowing to try to be a better man. Hoggard told the ''

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices are located at Pos ...

'' that "Perfect" represents the band "feeling confident in this new line of ore maturemusic," and described the song as "a big turning point for

hem A hem in sewing is a garment finishing method, where the edge of a piece of cloth is folded and sewn to prevent unravelling of the fabric and to adjust the length of the piece in garments, such as at the end of the sleeve or the bottom of the ga ...

Awards and nominations

At the 2010 MuchMusic Video Awards, the video for "Perfect" was nominated in five categories: Video of the Year, Best Post-Production, Best Cinematography, Director of the Year (for Kyle Davison), and People's Choice (UR Fave). It won the awards for Post-Production and Video of the Year, their second win in the latter category. "Perfect" received a SOCAN Award in 2010 in the category of Pop / Rock for performing well on radio. The following year, "Perfect" was nominated for Single of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2011, but lost to Young Artists for Haiti's cover of K'naan's " Wavin' Flag". Jacob Hoggard of Hedley was one of the artists contributing to the supergroup, making him one of the recipients of the award.

Commercial performance

"Perfect" entered the ''Billboard'' Canadian Hot 100 at number 36 on the chart dated December 5, 2009. It was the week's highest-ranking debut and also notably debuted one spot above the position of their previous single, " Don't Talk to Strangers", which was the week's "airplay gainer". After reaching the top 10 in April 2010, "Perfect" peaked at number 7 on the chart dated May 8, 2010. The song reached a peak position of 5 on the Canadian Digital Songs component chart the same week. "Perfect" is the band's first song to enter one of the US ''

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 ...

'' charts, debuting at number 40 on the Adult Pop Songs chart dated October 2, 2010. The song spent 20 weeks on the chart and reached a peak of 25 on the chart dated January 1, 2011.

Music video

The music video for "Perfect" was directed by Kyle Davison and Mahlon Todd Williams and premiered March 5, 2010. It alternates between performance shots – first of Hoggard alone at a piano, and later the whole band – in an all-white room and "abstract vignettes" that depict a tumultuous relationship; the latter are presented in slow motion, with images of flames or shattered glass superimposed on the scene. Toward the end of the video, Hoggard is shown dressed all in white while the female character hurls a bucketful of red paint at him. This red splatter imagery is used in the single artwork. According to Davison, the video is meant to represent "a relationship at the beginning of the end."

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perfect (Hedley Song) 2009 songs 2010 singles Hedley (band) songs Universal Music Canada singles Island Records singles Songs written by Jacob Hoggard Songs written by Dave Genn Juno Award for Video of the Year videos Songs written by David Bendeth Song recordings produced by David Bendeth