"Foolish" is a song by American singer-songwriter Ashanti. It served as her debut single, the first from her self-titled debut album (2002) and was released by

Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The l ...

, AJM, and Irv Gotti's

Murder Inc. Records Murder Inc. Records, LLC. (formerly The Inc. Records) is an American record label founded by brothers Chris and Irv Gotti in 1998. The label's flagship artist is Ja Rule. According to Chris Gotti, Murder Inc. had sold over 30 million units wo ...

. It was written by Ashanti,

Etterlene Jordan Etterlene "Bunny" DeBarge (born March 10, 1955) is an American soul singer–songwriter and the lone female sibling of the Motown family group DeBarge. She was the lead vocalist on the R&B ballad "A Dream", from the group's '' In a Special Way' ...

Mark DeBarge Mark "Marty" DeBarge (born June 19, 1959) is an Americans, American Contemporary R&B, R&B/soul music, soul singer-songwriter, drummer, percussionist, and plays a variety of wind instruments, such as the saxophone, flugelhorn, trumpet, and flute. H ...

and Irv Gotti, while production was overseen by Gotti. The song heavily samples DeBarge's "

Stay with Me Stay with Me may refer to: Film and television * ''Stay with Me'' (2004 film), an Italian film * ''Stay with Me'' (2010 film), a Canadian drama film * ''Stay with Me'' (2018 film), a South Korean romantic drama film * ''Stay with Me'' (TV series), ...

". Due to the inclusion of the sample,

and

are also credited as songwriters. A promotional version of the single called "Unfoolish" features a verse from

The Notorious B.I.G. Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta ...

from his song "F--king You Tonight". The song was released as the album's lead single on February 11, 2002. It spent ten weeks at number one on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and 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 ...

chart, becoming Ashanti's second number one and third top ten on both charts. Elsewhere, "Foolish" became a top ten hit in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The song was nominated for

Best Female R&B Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (previously called Best Rhythm and Blues Solo Vocal Performance, Female) was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards ...

at the

2003 Grammy Awards The 45th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 23, 2003 at Madison Square Garden in New York City honoring the best in music for the recording of the year beginning from October 1, 2001 through September 30, 2002. Musicians accomplishments ...

, and won the Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul Single – Female. In 2009, ''Billboard'' ranked it 19th on its Hot 100 Songs of the 2000s Decade.

Composition

The song is performed in the key of

C major C major (or the key of C) 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 ...

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note val ...

with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

of 89 beats per minute. It follows a chord progression of F–G, and Ashanti's vocals span from A₃ to C₆.

Commercial performance

"Foolish" spent 10 consecutive weeks at number one on the ''Billboard'' charts and a total of 17 weeks in the top 10. It would later get ranked the second best performing single of 2002, and listed as the 132nd best single.

Music video

The filming session of the video for the single took place during January 2002. It was directed by Irv Gotti. The video shows the viewer a relationship where a man, played by

Terrence Howard Terrence Dashon Howard (born March 11, 1969) is an American actor. Having his first major roles in the 1995 films ''Dead Presidents'' and '' Mr. Holland's Opus'', Howard broke into the mainstream with a succession of television and cinema roles ...

, gets involved into some criminal acts after telling his girlfriend shantithat he is in construction and is unfaithful to Ashanti with '' Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta'' reality star Althea, which ends up in a break-up after some quarrel. As the song suggests, Ashanti feels that she still loves her ex and that she just can't seem to get over him and becomes frusturated since her heart and her mind force her to love him and hate him at the same time. In supporting roles we can also see

Charli Baltimore Tiffany Lane (born August 16, 1974), better known as Charli Baltimore, is an American rapper and reality television personality. Her stage name is taken from Geena Davis's character in the film '' The Long Kiss Goodnight''. Career Charli Bal ...

Vita Vita or VITA (plural vitae) is Latin for "life", and may refer to: * ''Vita'', the usual start to the title of a biography in Latin, by which (in a known context) the work is often referred to; frequently of a saint, then called hagiography * Vita ...

Ja Rule Jeffrey Bruce Atkins (born February 29, 1976), better known by his stage name Ja Rule (), is an American rapper and actor. Born and raised in New York City, he debuted in 1999 with '' Venni Vetti Vecci'' and its lead single " Holla Holla". Dur ...

and Irv Gotti. The video is set in the fashion of the movie ''

Goodfellas ''Goodfellas'' (stylized ''GoodFellas'') is a 1990 American biographical crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, and produced by Irwin Winkler. It is a film adaptation of the 1985 nonfiction book '' W ...

'', with Ashanti in the role of Karen Hill and Terrence Howard in the role of Henry Hill. Irv Gotti and Ja Rule are also in a scene appearing to take the roles of Jimmy Conway and Paulie Cicero. The video was a three-time nominee at the

2002 MTV Video Music Awards The 2002 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on August 29, 2002, honoring the best music videos from June 9, 2001, to May 31, 2002. The show was hosted by Jimmy Fallon at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. During the show, Michael Jackson a ...

for Best Female Video, Best R&B Video, and Best New Artist.

Track listings

European CD single # "Foolish" (radio edit) – 3:52 # "Foolish" (instrumental) – 3:52 Australian and US maxi single # "Foolish" (radio edit) – 3:52 # "Foolish" (album version) – 3:48 # "Foolish" (instrumental) – 3:51 # "Foolish" (video) UK 5-inch CD single # "Foolish" (album version) – 3:48 # "Unfoolish" (clean album version) – 3:15 # "Foolish" (Topnotch Remix) # "Foolish" (video)

Credits and personnel

Credits are adapted from the liner notes of ''Ashanti''. * Instrumentation – 7 Aurelius * Mixing – Supa Engineer Duro, Irv Gotti * Production – 7 Aurelius, Irv Gotti *

Songwriting A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

– 7 Aurelius, A. Douglas, E. Jordan, I. Lorenzo, M. DeBarge * Recording – Milwaukee Buck * Recording assistance – Terry "Murda Mac" Herbert

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2002 debut singles Ashanti (singer) songs Contemporary R&B ballads Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles 2000s ballads Songs written by Ashanti (singer) Songs written by Irv Gotti 2002 songs Songs written by Channel 7 (musician) Def Jam Recordings singles Songs about infidelity