"Blue (Da Ba Dee)" is a song by Italian music group

Eiffel 65 Eiffel 65 are an Italian Eurodance group formed in 1997 in the studios of the Turin based record company Bliss Corporation. The group consists of Jeffrey Jey, Maurizio Lobina, and formerly Gabry Ponte. They gained global popularity with their ...

. It was first released in October 1998 in Italy by Skooby Records and became internationally successful the following year. It is 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 the group's 1999 debut album, ''

Europop Europop (also spelled Euro pop) is a style of pop music that originated in Europe during the mid-to-late 1960s and developed to today's form throughout the late 1970s. Europop topped the charts throughout the 1980s and 1990s, with revivals and ...

''. "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" was developed before the formation of the group by its future members Jeffrey Jey (Gianfranco Randone),

Maurizio Lobina Maurizio Lobina (born 30 October 1973 in Asti) is an Italian musician and singer, most known as a member of the band Eiffel 65, an Italian group who hit big in 1999 with the international success " Blue (Da Ba Dee)." Lobina created the melody f ...

and

Gabry Ponte Gabriele "Gabry" Ponte (; born 20 April 1973) is an Italian musician, DJ and producer, best known as a member of Eiffel 65. He represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 with his song " Tutta l'Italia", qualifying for the grand final. Ca ...

and producer Massimo Gabutti, while working at Bliss Corporation in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. It was inspired by a piano hook composed by Lobina, and written by Randone, Lobina and Gabuti, with Ponte working on the beats and final arrangement. When released in 1998, it achieved little success, but became very popular globally the following year once it was broadcast on the radio. The song is the group's most popular single and among the biggest-selling songs of 1999, reaching number one in at least 18 countries, charting at number three in Italy, and peaking at number six on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in January 2000. In the United Kingdom, the song initially entered the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart purely on import sales; it was only the third single to do this. The song also received a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

nomination for Best Dance Recording at the 2001 Grammy Awards. "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" has also been heavily sampled and remixed in later years.

Writing and production

Written by Eiffel 65 lead singer Jeffrey Jey, keyboardist

, and producer Massimo Gabutti, "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" was inspired by Lobina's composed opening piano

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 ...

. The producers of the song then came up with the idea for a dance song. Jey explained that his inspiration for the lyrics was how a person chooses their lifestyle. The colour blue as the main theme of the song was picked at random, with Lobina telling him to write nonsensical lyrics. Gabutti came up with the "da ba dee" hook. The pitch-shifted vocal effect used in the song was created with a

harmonizer Pitch shifting is a sound recording technique in which the original pitch of a sound is raised or lowered. Effects units that raise or lower pitch by a pre-designated musical interval ( transposition) are known as pitch shifters. Pitch and t ...

Lyrics and composition

"Blue (Da Ba Dee)" is written in the key of

G minor G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative major is B-flat major and its parallel major is G major. The G natural minor scale is: Changes n ...

, with the vocal range spanning from C₃ to E₄, and is set in

common time A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...

with a moderate tempo of 128 beats per minute. The song's lyrics tell a story about a man who lives in a "blue world". It says that he is "blue inside and outside", which, alongside the lyric "himself and everybody around 'cause he ain't got nobody to listen", and "blue are the feelings that live inside me" may indicate that the term ''blue'' represents his emotional state; however, the song also explains that a vast variety of what he owns is also blue, including his house and his car ("a blue

Corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

"). Various blue-coloured objects are also depicted on the single's cover.

Critical reception

The song received mixed reviews from critics. Chuck Taylor from ''

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 ...

'' wrote that "the hook here, with its dancy but curiously compelling singsong rhythm and lyric, is destined to react instantly with listeners far and wide." He also noted that it has a "euro sound", and "it's creative, it will affect listeners on both ends of the demographic spectrum, and it's anthemic." A reviewer from ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' positively reviewed the song, calling the song "a fleeting, feel-good foot-tapper" and gave the song a rating of B−. Scottish newspaper '' Daily Record'' said it is the "strangest-sounding Euro-club hit of the summer". The Daily Vault's Christopher Thelen described it as a "quirky little hit" with a "bouncy chorus". He also noted that "the key is the use of the voice synthesizer". ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

'' reviewer Chris Massey, in his review of ''

'', described his initial reaction to the song as being "really, really bad." However, he later stated in the review that after many repeated listenings of the song he "loved it."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

editor Jose F. Promis described the song as a "hypnotic smash" in his review of ''Europop''. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'', however, in their review of ''Europop'', gave the song a negative review, commenting that the song "blends

Cher Cher ( ; born Cheryl Sarkisian, May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Goddess of Pop", she is known for her Androgyny, androgynous contralto voice, Music an ...

-esque

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''vo''ice and en''coder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder wa ...

vocals,

trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...

-like synth riffs, unabashed

Eurodisco Eurodisco (also spelled as Euro disco) is a genre of electronic dance music that evolved from disco in the middle 1970s, incorporating elements of pop music, pop and rock music, rock into a disco-like continuous dance atmosphere. Many Eurodisco ...

beats and a baby-babble chorus so infantile it makes the

Teletubbies ''Teletubbies'' is a British children's television series created by Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport for the BBC. The programme focuses on four differently coloured characters known as the Teletubbies, named after the television screens on t ...

sound like

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

." The magazine also placed the song on their list of the "20 Most Annoying Songs," at No. 14.

Chart performance

The single, released in October 1998, was a

chart-topper A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include r ...

in many European countries. The song initially found success in France, where it debuted in August 1999 and reached number one for three weeks. It then found success in other European countries, reaching the top spot on many charts in September the same year, including Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, and others. The song re-charted on 6 May 2013 at No. 40 on the UK Singles Chart, following its inclusion in ''

Iron Man 3 ''Iron Man 3'' is a 2013 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Iron Man, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to ''Iron Man (2008 film), Iron Man'' (2008) an ...

''. The song also found success in other regions, including Oceania and North America: it reached number one in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, and became a top ten hit on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100, reaching number six.

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for the song was released in 1999 by BlissCoMedia, a computer graphics division of Bliss Corporation, known at the time the video was produced and released as BlissMultiMedia.Blue: 10 anni, 10 milioni di download
(In Italian). Blisscomedia.com. Accessed from 11 May 2013. Like much of the Bliss Corporation's music videos, this one was done in a

green screen Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two or more images or video streams together based on colour hues ( chroma range). The technique has been used in many fie ...

garage studio at BlissCoMedia, and it featured computer-generated graphics that were done in

3ds Max Autodesk 3ds Max, formerly 3D Studio and 3D Studio Max, is a professional 3D computer graphics program for making 3D animations, models, games and images. It is developed and produced by Autodesk Media and Entertainment. It has modeling capab ...

. With very few resources, tutorials and books, and only one editing machine, the video was made between 1998 and 1999 in a garage in about two to three months. Former BlissCo employee Davide La Sala has talked about coming up with the story for the video: "We had brainstorming sessions and we were a very imaginative team, huge fans of sci-fi movies and video games: ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Di ...

'', ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'', etc… we were master in doing our best and working with the few tools we had to create complete short stories in a very short period of time." Similar to other music videos by BlissCo, a total of five people worked on this video. The green-screen footage was done in a short amount of time, and some of it was put into a computer-generated 3D environment, while components of the band were also shot. La Sala said, "We were very flexible but every person in the team had his own special skill who was more towards motion graphics, design and editing, others more skilled in architectural design and me and the CEO experts in animation." The video was listed in ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

s "50 Worst Music Videos Ever".

Synopsis

The video takes place on Tukon4, where lead singer Jeffrey Jey is abducted by blue-coloured aliens Zorotl and Sayok6 during a concert.

Formats and track listings

* CD single (Italy) # "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" (DJ Ponte Ice Pop Mix) – 6:25 # "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" (DJ Ponte Radio Edit) – 4:43 # "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" (Glamour Jump Cut) – 5:19 # "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" (Dub Mix) – 4:47 * CD single 1 (UK) # "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" (Original Ice Pop Radio Edit) – 4:46 # "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" (Hannover Remix Radio Edit) – 4:04 # "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" (Glamour Jump Cut) – 5:19 # "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" (Dub) – 4:48 * CD single 2 (UK) # "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" (Original Ice Pop 12" Mix) – 6:30 # "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" (Hannover 12" Remix) – 6:25 # "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" (Paris Remix) – 7:03 # "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" (Video) – 3:40 * Digital single # "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" (Gabry Ponte Ice Pop Mix) – 6:27 # "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" (Gabry Ponte Ice Pop Radio) – 4:44 # "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" (Gabry Ponte Video Edit) – 3:40 # "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" (Dub Mix) – 4:47 # "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" (Molinaro Parade Mix) – 8:50 # "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" (Glamour Jump Cut) – 5:17 # "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" (Max 04 Ext Remix) – 6:35 # "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" (Hannover Remix) – 6:23 # "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" (Paris Remix) – 7:43

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Release history

Notable cover versions and parodies

* Wynter Gordon sang the chorus of "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" in

Flo Rida Tramar Lacel Dillard (born September 16, 1979), known professionally as Flo Rida ( ), is an American rapper and singer. His 2007 debut and breakout single "Low (Flo Rida song), Low" was number one for 10 weeks in the United States and broke the ...

's 2009 single "

Sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

" from his album '' R.O.O.T.S.'' *

Dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance musi ...

act Michael Mind Project interpolated of "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" in their 2012 single " Feeling So Blue". The single featuring Dante Thomas charted in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France. * In 2015, Colombian EDM duo released a remix of Blue featuring original vocals from Sara Tunes. In 2018, the group collaborated with Dzeko to release an updated version of the song. * In 2017, a remix of the song by

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta (; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 30 billion streams on Spotify. Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag ...

featuring vocals from

Bebe Rexha Bleta "Bebe" Rexha ( , ; born August 30, 1989) is an American singer and songwriter. She signed with Warner Records in 2013, and was credited with co-writing releases of other artists—such as Eminem's Grammy Award-winning single " The Monster" ...

, with completely different lyrics, was played at Ultra Music Festival 2017 but was not released. In 2022, the track became popular on

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

. This resurgence in popularity led Guetta and Rexha to finish the song, and it was released in August 2022 with the title " I'm Good (Blue)". * In 2019, Ceky Viciny released a cover called "

Ellos Ellos Group is a Swedish home shopping and e-commerce company headquartered in Borås, Sweden. Ellos Group has operations mainly in the Nordic countries, as well as elsewhere in Europe. History Ellos was founded in 1947 by Olle Blomqvist and Lar ...

". * In 2019, Swedish singer Nea interpolated the song in " Some Say". * In 2020, Italian rapper

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

sampled the song in his single "Auto Blu". * In December 2020, symphonic death metal band

Fleshgod Apocalypse Fleshgod Apocalypse is an Italian symphonic death metal band. Formed in 2007, the group resides in Perugia and are currently signed to Nuclear Blast. History Formation and ''Oracles'' (2007–2009) Fleshgod Apocalypse was formed in April 200 ...

released a cover of "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" in their own style. * In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the ''

Blue's Clues ''Blue's Clues'' is an American interactive educational television, educational children's television series created by Traci Paige Johnson, Todd Kessler, and Angela Santomero, Angela C. Santomero. It premiered on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block ...

'' franchise, a small parody video about this song was produced and performed by show hosts

Steve Burns Steven Michael Burns (born October 9, 1973) is an American actor, musician and television host. He portrayed a fictional version of himself as the host of the children's television series ''Blue's Clues'' from 1996 until 2002, for which he was ...

, Donovan Patton, and Josh Dela Cruz. * In July 2022, Softest Hard and

T-Pain Faheem Rashad Najm (born September 30, 1984), known professionally as T-Pain, is an American singer and rapper. He is known for popularizing creative use of Auto-Tune pitch correction, often used with extreme parameter settings to create electro ...

released a remix of the song. * In 2023,

Lil Uzi Vert Symere Bysil Woods ( ; born July 31, 1995), known professionally as Lil Uzi Vert, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, they gained initial recognition following the release of the commer ...

interpolated the song in " Endless Fashion" featuring

Nicki Minaj Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian rapper, singer, and songwriter. Regarded as the "Queen of Rap" and one of the most influential rappers of all time, she is noted for her ...

from their album '' Pink Tape''.

References