"Cheerleader" is a song recorded by Jamaican singer Omi. The track was written and produced by OMI and Clifton Dillon, Mark Bradford, and Ryan Dillon. OMI first began developing the song in 2008, when he created its melody. It was refined over several years alongside famed Jamaican producer Clifton Dillon. It was first recorded with veteran session musicians

Sly and Robbie Sly and Robbie were a prolific Jamaican rhythm section and production duo, associated primarily with the reggae and dub genres. Drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare teamed up in the mid-1970s after establishing themselves separat ...

and

Dean Fraser Dean Ivanhoe Fraser (sometimes appearing as Dean Frazer; born 4 August 1957) Allmusic.com biography by Sandra Brennan/ref> is a Jamaican saxophonist who has contributed to hundreds of reggae recordings since the mid-1970s. He was awarded the Mus ...

. Released as a single on independent label Oufah, the song saw success in Jamaica, where it topped the charts, and also attracted airplay in Hawaii and

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

. Ultra contacted two disc jockeys to produce

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 versions of the original song. The label and song's producers preferred one remix, produced by a young German DJ,

Felix Jaehn Fee Jähn (born 28 August 1994 as Felix Kurt Jähn, ), known professionally as Felix Jaehn, is a German DJ and record producer. Jaehn achieved international success with their remix of OMI's song "Cheerleader", which topped the charts in multip ...

, that eschewed much of the song's original instrumentation for a

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

-flavored

deep house Deep house is a subgenre of house music that originated in the 1980s, initially fusing elements of Chicago house with the lush chords of 1980s jazz-funk and touches of soul music. Its origins are attributed to the early recordings of Larry Heard ...

rendition, prominently featuring a trumpet, a

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest ...

beat, and piano. A remix

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

was released in May 2014 by Ultra, which began to first see commercial success that fall. "Cheerleader" achieved commercial success in 2015, when it reached number one in 20 countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, Mexico, Ireland, Sweden, and Germany.

Background

OMI—the stage name of Omar Samuel Pasley—was born in the parish of Clarendon, Jamaica. He grew up with a love of American

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

, but grew more interested in melody after listening to singers like

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He began his musical career working behind the scenes for other artists, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Every ...

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, alternatively billed as Nat "King" Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's career as a jazz and Traditional pop, pop ...

, and

Sam Cooke Samuel Cooke (; January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964) was an American singer and songwriter. Considered one of the most influential soul music, soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred to as the "King of Soul" for his distin ...

. He first developed "Cheerleader" in 2008, when he woke up humming its melody. "It was like a little Jamaican nursery rhyme, like 'one, two, buckle my shoe,' that kind of thing—'ring game' is what we'd call it. The rest of the song just fell into place like a jigsaw puzzle", he later recalled. The following year, he was discovered by producer Clifton "Specialist" Dillon, an influential figure in the Jamaican music industry, who subsequently became his manager and collaborator. He originally wrote only two verses for the song, imagining it as an interlude for an album. Dillon convinced him to create a third verse, and the song began to take shape. Prolific Jamaican

rhythm section A rhythm section is a group of musicians within a music ensemble or band that provides the underlying rhythm, harmony and pulse of the accompaniment, providing a rhythmic and harmonic reference and "beat" for the rest of the band. The rhythm ...

and veteran saxophonist

contributed to the original recording, which was first issued in 2012 on Oufah, an independent label in Kingston. The following April, Patrick Moxey, president of U.S.

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

label

Ultra Music Ultra Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, which is a subsidiary of Sony Music Group. Company history Established in 1995 in New York City by Patrick Moxey, a former executive of PolyGram and Virgin Record ...

, discovered the song. According to Moxey, he was vacationing in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

when he first heard the song whilst listening to radio promoter showcase songs popular in the Caribbean. Meanwhile,

Salaam Remi Salaam Remi Gibbs (born May 14, 1972) is an American record producer. He is most known for producing material for close associates Nas, Amy Winehouse, and Jazmine Sullivan, but has also produced for other mainstream acts including Alicia Key ...

, an American hip hop producer that owned an imprint at Sony, was also interested in bringing the song to a wider audience. Ultra signed Pasley to a recording contract in late 2013. It soon began conversations with two disc jockeys—

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots reggae, roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2 ...

and hip-hop producer Ricky Blaze and German producer

. They sent them "Cheerleader" and an a cappella version to build remixes. Jaehn enjoyed the song's vocals, but felt its instrumentation did not attune to its "feel-good" essence; Jaehn hoped to craft a remix they deemed more "danceable." The Jaehn remix was completed in January 2014, and released that May on Ultra. The song would also see considerable use on Musical.ly, being lip synced to by multiple users.

Composition

The remix version incorporates a house beat with additional trumpet,

bongos Bongos (Spanish language, Spanish: ''bongó'') are an Afro-Cubans, Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. The pair consists of the larger ''hembra'' () and the smaller ''macho'' ...

and a "

samba Samba () is a broad term for many of the rhythms that compose the better known Brazilian music genres that originated in the Afro-Brazilians, Afro Brazilian communities of Bahia in the late 19th century and early 20th century, It is a name or ...

-like" piano part. It also speeds up Pasley's original vocal track, and eschews much of the original rhythm of the song with digital instrumentation. Fraser's saxophone is replaced by a sample of a trumpet. These attributes were considered more palatable for international audiences. Its genre has been variously described as representative of

reggae fusion Reggae fusion is a Music_genre#Subtypes, fusion genre of reggae that mixes reggae and/or dancehall with other genres, such as pop music, pop, rock music, rock, hip hop music, hip-hop/rap, Contemporary R&B, R&B, jazz, funk, soul music, soul, disco ...

, and electro–

ska Ska (; , ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...

. The song's lyrics center on the protagonist's joy at finding a "cheerleader"—a romantic companion that will be a support system for him, and is "always there when I need her." While the song's lyrics relate heavily to romance, Pasley considered it timeless: "It speaks to more than just a significant other. It's dedicated to anyone who is that support system."

Music videos

The song's original music video, directed by Tim Cash, was shot in

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

on a small budget. A second video, directed by Scorpio 21, was shot at Red Bones Café in

Saint Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Church stems from the Gospel of Jo ...

in January 2015. As the song began gaining worldwide success, a new music video for the Jaehn remix was commissioned. It was shot on location in Haulover Beach, Florida, which was designed to capture the song's essence, described by Pasley as a "constant warm sunshine-playful vibe." The clip was directed by Lenny Bass, who previously directed videos for Fantasia and

Gavin DeGraw Gavin Shane DeGraw (born February 4, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. DeGraw rose to fame with his song "I Don't Want to Be" from his debut album ''Chariot (album), Chariot'' (2003); the song became the main theme song for The WB/The CW, ...

. As of June 2023, this music video of the remix has received over 1.2 billion views on YouTube.

Chart performance

The remix of "Cheerleader" was a gradual global smash single; it first topped charts in European countries before making its way to the United States. The original track was first placed on reggae charts in Hawaii and

in 2012, after which it became a hit in his home country of

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

. Dillon "strategically planned" the song's rise to fame, having released the song to "community sound systems in Miami and disc jockeys that toured with talian reggae artist Alborosie." Upon its remix, the song began gaining traction in Swedish markets, first through the streaming service

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

. It soon spread to Italy and France. In January 2015,

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

, the conglomerate that owns Columbia and Ultra, named it their "Song of the Month"; as a result, all subsidiaries of the company put forth additional promotion of the single. By that time, the song had peaked at number one in five European territories. In March, a deal was signed with

Syco Music Syco Music, originally S Records, was a division of Syco Entertainment which operated from 2002 until 2020. The label was founded by British entrepreneur, record executive and media personality Simon Cowell, who was formerly employed at Bertels ...

, a label owned and operated by British music mogul

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality and businessman. He has judged on the British television talent competition shows ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003), ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor UK ...

, to promote and distribute the song throughout the United Kingdom. The song's popularity on streaming media in the UK brought forth its official release date there to mid-April. It shortly thereafter debuted on the country's pop charts and was assisted by a

viral video Viral videos are video, videos that become popular through viral phenomenon, a viral process of Internet sharing, primarily through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhon ...

of Cowell singing the song. By early May, the song had topped the UK Singles Chart; four weeks in, it broke chart records as the longest-running single by a Jamaican artist. The song debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the United States in early May, as the song peaked in the UK. The release of a revised music video to the song catapulted it to the top of music identification application Shazam's worldwide charts. Application data predicted that the song would top the Hot 100 at some point; the song eventually reached number one in the U.S. on 13 July. It remained on the top of the chart for six non-consecutive weeks, until finally being replaced by

The Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (; born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is best known for adding Pop music, pop, electronic music, electronic and hip-hop stylings ...

's " Can't Feel My Face". It was later named ''Billboard''s Song of the Summer. Much of the song's rise to prominence was attributed to its performance on streaming services. On Spotify, the song attracted over 910 million plays (as of January 2019). Outside of national charts, it peaked at number one on the iTunes Store in over 55 markets. "Cheerleader" was the most streamed song of 2015 in the UK, racking up 71.7 million streams throughout the year.

Reception

While Chris Molanphy of ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

'' found the song's lyrics "laughably retrograde", he praised the chorus as "universally relatable and cross-culturally memorable." Nick Messitte, a ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' contributor, opined that the song has brought

music into the mainstream of the United States.

Usage in media

The track appears in the streaming service, ''Just Dance Unlimited'', as an exclusive for '' Just Dance 2016''.

Track listing

*Digital download #"Cheerleader" – 3:00 *Digital download #"Cheerleader" – 3:01 *Digital download #"Cheerleader" – 3:00 *US digital download #"Cheerleader" – 3:03 #"Cheerleader" – 2:54 *German CD single #"Cheerleader" – 3:00 #"Cheerleader" – 2:54

Charts

Weekly charts

Felix Jaehn remix

Year-end charts

Felix Jaehn remix

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Radio and release history

References

External links