"Broken Arrow" is a song by English recording artist

Pixie Lott Victoria Louise "Pixie" Lott (born 12 January 1991) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. Her debut studio album, ''Turn It Up (Pixie Lott album), Turn It Up'' (2009), reached number six on the UK Albums Chart and sold over 1.5 millio ...

from the re-release of her debut album, '' Turn It Up Louder'' (2010). Written by Lott,

Ruth-Anne Cunningham Ruth-Anne Cunningham (born 2 April 1986), known professionally as RuthAnne, is an Irish singer-songwriter, artist, mother, and author. Starting her career at 17, she penned JoJo’s hit " Too Little, Too Late", propelling her into the spotligh ...

and

Toby Gad Tobias "Toby" Gad (born 28 March 1968) is a German music producer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. He is known for co-writing songs including John Legend's biggest hit, " All of Me", the fifth-highest certified single in RIAA history, and for ...

, the track was released on 10 October 2010 as 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 ...

from the re-release, reaching number 12 on the UK Singles Chart. An acoustic version of the song, available as a

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

to the single, was uploaded onto

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

a week prior to the single's release. "Broken Arrow" was used in the trailer for the 2011 film ''

Beastly ''Beastly'' is a 2007 novel by Alex Flinn. It is a retelling of the fairytale ''Beauty and the Beast'' set in modern-day New York City from the view of the beast. Flinn researched many versions of the ''Beauty and the Beast'' story to write he ...

'', as well as in its end credits.

Background and release

"Broken Arrow" is the lead single from the re-released version of her debut album, '' Turn It Up''. The song was premiered on 24 August 2010 on

BBC Radio One BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, hi ...

. It was written by Lott,

and co-written and produced by

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

based

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates 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 genre and film scoring. ...

/ producer

, who also penned

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...

's " If I Were a Boy" and Fergie's " Big Girls Don't Cry." It is a

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

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 ...

, with elements of R&B and it talks about not getting over an ex-boyfriend, even with another person, because she still has feelings for him.

Critical reception

The song received positive reviews from music critics. Nina Baniamer from

Contact Music ''Contactmusic.com'' is an online magazine of cultural criticism based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, ...

called it "a beautiful and tragic song. Haunting and yeaning, it is great to see unique emotion conveyed within the lyrics, rather than generic pop romantic clichés." In a review for

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its initial launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television pro ...

, Robert Copsey referred to "Broken Arrow" as "an autumnal midtempo number on which Pix sings about struggling to get over an ex", but felt that the lyrics "make for a predictably slushy affair, and the chorus doesn't quite have the instant impact of her best tunes." ''

Newsround ''Newsround'' (stylised as ''newsround'') is a BBC children's news programme, which has run continuously since 4 April 1972. Originally ''John Craven's Newsround'', it was one of the world's first television news magazines aimed specifically ...

'' noted that the song "isn't the catchiest of tunes but it will definitely grow on you". It also described the track as a "stormy heart-wrenching song", complemented by Lott's "powerful" vocals. Gerard McGarry from Unreality Shout agreed, calling the song " ormously radio-friendly but with muted hooks that aren't immediately catchy, but they add up over time." Priya Elan of

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

commented that "On Broken Arrow she's

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer and songwriter. A classically trained pianist, Keys began composing songs at the age of 12 and was signed by Columbia Records at 15. After d ...

but without, you know, the keys."

Music video

The music video for "Broken Arrow" was directed by Greg Masuak and filmed in North East London. Masuak described the shoot as "mental but fun: one single day for a bunch of different performances that included several costume and makeup changes, a narrative with Pixie and two different guys, a series of dance routines, and a cluster of different scenarios." The video features product placement in the form of the

Citroën DS3 The DS 3 (formerly known as Citroën DS3 and DS 3 Crossback) is a Supermini, luxury supermini initially produced by the French automobile manufacturer Citroën and officially launched in January 2010. Positioned below the DS 4, this was the firs ...

, marking the first instance of vehicle product placement in a music video in the United Kingdom. It premiered on Lott's official

Vevo Vevo LLC ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized in all caps until 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available ...

account on 16 September 2010. Model Alex Watson, brother of ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

'' star

Emma Watson Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson (born 15 April 1990) is an English actress. Known for her roles in both Blockbuster (entertainment), blockbusters and independent films, she has received List of awards and nominations received by Emma Watson, ...

, plays one of Lott's love interests in the video.

Track listings

*UK CD single #"Broken Arrow" #"Broken Arrow" (Acoustic Version) *iTunes EP #"Broken Arrow" – 3:39 #"Broken Arrow" (Paul Harris Vocal) – 6:37 #"Broken Arrow" (Paul Harris Dub) – 6:24 #"Broken Arrow" (Acoustic Version) – 3:48 #"Broken Arrow" (

Shapeshifters In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shapeshifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through unnatural means. The idea of shapeshifting is found in the oldest forms of totemism and shamanism, as well as the oldest exist ...

Remix) – 6:07

Personnel

* Pixie Lott –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

– producer,

instrumentation Instrumentation is a collective term for measuring instruments, used for indicating, measuring, and recording physical quantities. It is also a field of study about the art and science about making measurement instruments, involving the related ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

* Mark Pusey –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

* Jay Reynolds – additional producer,

programming Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

, mixing * Oliver Weeks – keyboards

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2009 songs 2010 singles Contemporary R&B ballads Mercury Records singles Music videos directed by Greg Masuak Music videos shot in London Pixie Lott songs Pop ballads Song recordings produced by Toby Gad Songs written by Pixie Lott Songs written by RuthAnne Songs written by Toby Gad