"Fire Burning" is a song by Jamaican-American singer-songwriter

Sean Kingston Kisean Paul Anderson (born February 3, 1990), known professionally as Sean Kingston, is an American former singer and rapper. Born in Miami, Florida, and raised in Jamaica, he signed with J. R. Rotem's record label Beluga Heights Records ...

, released in April 2009 as the lead single from his second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

'' Tomorrow''. Unlike many of his previous singles, which are all produced by J.R. Rotem, the song is produced by

RedOne Nadir Khayat (, Latn, ar, Nādir Ḵayyāṭ; born 9 April 1972), also known as RedOne, is a Moroccan-Swedish record producer, record executive, singer and songwriter. He has worked in production for high-profile recording artists including La ...

. The song was used for the opening number of the

Miss Universe 2009 Miss Universe 2009 was the 58th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Imperial Ballroom in Atlantis Paradise Island, Nassau, The Bahamas on August 23, 2009. At the end of the event, Dayana Mendoza of Venezuela crowned Stefanía Fernández of ...

live at the

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. It was also used in '' Fred: The Movie'' where it shows

Fred Figglehorn Frederick "Fred" Figglehorn is a fictional character who appears in the YouTube web series ''Fred'' (stylized as "FЯED") created by American Internet personality Lucas Cruikshank from 2006 to 2015 and revived from 2020 to 2021. The characters' ...

standing up on his bed, singing the song.

Composition

"Fire Burning" is written by Nadir Khayat,

Bilal Hajji Bilal Hajji, sometimes also known as The Chef (at times Bilal "The Chef" or Bilal "The Chef" Hajji) is a Moroccan- Swedish songwriter and record producer. Based in Sweden, of Moroccan origin, he has worked with many worldwide artists and celebrit ...

, and Kisean Anderson. The song 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 In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of 123

beats per minute Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of in ...

and is written in the key of Db major.

Release

Kingston had released the song on his

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

webpage to promote it. The song was released to radio stations and for digital download on April 24, 2009. To date the song has been played more than 13 million times on his MySpace page. As of July 22, 2012, the song has sold over 3 million downloads. Sean Kingston performed the song for the first time live at the Teen Choice Awards 2009.

Music video

The music video premiered on MTV on June 15, 2009.

Rick Ross William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper. An influential figure in modern Hip-hop, hip hop music, Rick Ross has become known for his "Wiktionary:booming, booming" vocal perfor ...

makes a cameo appearance in the video along with fellow island singer

Iyaz Keidran Kenmore Jones (born 15 April 1987), better known by his stage name Iyaz (pronounced ), is a British Virgin Islands singer and songwriter, formerly signed with the record label Warner Music Group. He is known for his singles " Replay", " ...

. The video was directed by Gil Green. The video also shows Kingston's

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in the video.

Remixes

*"Fire Burning" (Remix) (featuring Pitbull) *"Fire Burning" (Remix) (featuring Adrian Banton & Pitbull) *"Fire Burning" (Jody den Broeder Remix) *"Fire Burning" (Jody den Broeder Radio Edit) *"Fire Burning" (

Dave Audé Dave Audé () is an American DJ, producer and remixer. He operates his own label Audacious Records, and is known for having more number ones than any other producer on the ''Billboard'' Dance Club Songs chart. He has done production for artists ...

Club Mix) *"Fire Burning" (Dave Audé Radio Mix)

Critical reception

Michael Menachem of ''

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 ...

'' reviewed the song as "the most danceable single yet" and commented on the fast

and Kingston's well-projected vocal "that allows producer RedOne to blend the infectious hook with heavy synthesizers and a variety of percussive sounds that made

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influ ...

's " Poker Face" so striking". He also comments that "the chorus is repetitive, it sounds just like '

Unstoppable Unstoppable may refer to: Film and television * Unstoppable (2004 film), ''Unstoppable'' (2004 film), an American film directed by David Carson * ''Unstoppable: Conversation with Melvin Van Peebles, Gordon Parks, and Ossie Davis'', a 2005 America ...

' by

Kat Deluna Kathleen Emperatriz DeLuna (born November 26, 1987) is an American singer. DeLuna began pursuing a career as a singer when she was a teenager and later signed with Epic Records. Her debut single, " Whine Up", released in 2007, went on to become ...

, but this song is often what makes for a sizzling club hit". Alex Fletcher of ''

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 ...

'' said that 'Fire Burning' has all the makings of a classic summer anthem with its swathes of GaGa-esque synths, infectious chorus hook and fuzzy bassline but he wasn't in favor of Kingston's reggae-tinged vocals.

Formats and track listings

;Digital download # "Fire Burning" (Album version) ( Kisean Anderson, Bilal Hajji,

) – 4:03 ;CD-Single (Germany) # "Fire Burning" – 4:00 # "War" – 2:59

Chart performance

"Fire Burning" debuted at #29 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, making it Kingston's highest debut on the chart. Since then it has entered the top ten peaking at #5. It also peaked at number two 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 ...

for eight consecutive weeks. It became a #1 Record in South Africa and holding off strong competition from

's "LoveGame". Prior to this "Fire Burning" was ranked 36th on

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

's Year-End-Chart.

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

Sean Kingston MySpace

Official website

Official UK website

Sean Kingston interview by Pete Lewis, 'Blues & Soul' August 2009
{{authority control 2009 singles 2009 songs Epic Records singles Geffen Records singles MNRK Music Group singles Music videos directed by Gil Green Sean Kingston songs Song recordings produced by RedOne Songs written by Bilal Hajji Songs written by RedOne Songs written by Sean Kingston