Hello Kitty (song)
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"Hello Kitty" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter
Avril Lavigne Avril Ramona Lavigne ( ; ; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is a key musician in popularizing pop-punk music, as she paved the way for female-driven, punk-influenced pop music in the early 2000s. List of awa ...
, taken from her self-titled fifth studio album, ''
Avril Lavigne Avril Ramona Lavigne ( ; ; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is a key musician in popularizing pop-punk music, as she paved the way for female-driven, punk-influenced pop music in the early 2000s. List of awa ...
'' (2013). It was written by Lavigne,
Chad Kroeger Chad Robert Kroeger (, Turton; born November 15, 1974) is a Canadian musician who is best known for being the lead singer, lead guitarist, primary songwriter, and founding member of the rock band Nickelback. In addition to his work with Nic ...
,
David Hodges David Hodges (born December 5, 1978) is an American songwriter and record producer from Little Rock, Arkansas. He was a studio contributor to the rock band Evanescence from 2000 to 2002, and has co-written and co-produced for pop, pop rock a ...
and Martin Johnson. Production was handled by Kroeger and Hodges, with additional production by Brandon Paddock and Kyle Moorman. Musically, "Hello Kitty" is a
J-pop J-pop (often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in trad ...
,
dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken ...
, and EDM song, featuring an electro-influenced drop. The song was influenced by Lavigne's affinity to the Japanese brand
Hello Kitty , also known by her real name , is a fictional character created by Yuko Shimizu, currently designed by Yuko Yamaguchi, and owned by the Japanese company Sanrio. Sanrio depicts Hello Kitty as a British anthropomorphized white cat with a red ...
, and has some sexual content. The song was released as a Japan-only fourth single. It was mostly panned by Western
music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...
, who criticized its sound and called it immature, while it was generally well-received in Japan. Lavigne shot a
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 track in Japan which was released on April 21, 2014. Due to the video's popularity, the song charted at number 75 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, becoming the second highest charting single from the album.


Background

Three months after the release of ''
Goodbye Lullaby ''Goodbye Lullaby'' is the fourth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne, released worldwide on March 2, 2011 through RCA Records. Recording sessions for the album began in November 2008 and continued over a period of nearly t ...
'' (2011), Lavigne announced that work on her fifth studio album had already begun, having eight songs written. Lavigne stated that the album would musically be the opposite of ''Goodbye Lullaby'', with a release date rumoured for sometime in 2012. Lavigne explained, "''Goodbye Lullaby'' was more mellow, utthe next one will be pop and more fun again. I already have a song that I know is going to be a single, I just need to re-record it!." In an interview, Lavigne said about her collaboration with Kroeger: "I have a song called Hello Kitty, which I wrote about Hello Kitty because I'm obsessed, and it's a really fun thing that I've never done before. It kind of has a kind of glitchy,
electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...
feel to it and it's... the only one on the record that sounds like that. It's really different and a lot of my friends I've played it for really like it. I'm having a lot of fun with that one."


Composition

"Hello Kitty" is a
J-pop J-pop (often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in trad ...
,
dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken ...
, and EDM track that is three minutes and eighteen seconds long. "Hello Kitty" was written by Lavigne,
Chad Kroeger Chad Robert Kroeger (, Turton; born November 15, 1974) is a Canadian musician who is best known for being the lead singer, lead guitarist, primary songwriter, and founding member of the rock band Nickelback. In addition to his work with Nic ...
,
David Hodges David Hodges (born December 5, 1978) is an American songwriter and record producer from Little Rock, Arkansas. He was a studio contributor to the rock band Evanescence from 2000 to 2002, and has co-written and co-produced for pop, pop rock a ...
and Martin Johnson, while the song was produced by Kroeger and Hodges. Brandon Paddock and Kyle Moorman became assistants in its production. The song was engineered by John Hanes, musical mixed by Serban Ghenea and additional programming was held by Paddock and Moorman.''Avril Lavigne'' Album notes (2013). Lavigne described the lyrics while talking to ''
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 ...
'', "'Hello Kitty' was such an interesting topic and subject ..It was really exciting for me. I didn't want it to sound like anything I'd done before. I wanted it to sound over the top so I ended up hiring a new producer to help me with it." The opening line of the song , is a reference to the Japanese
Kawaii ''Kawaii'' is a Japanese cultural phenomenon which emphasizes cuteness, childlike innocence, charm, and simplicity. ''Kawaii'' culture began to flourish in the 1970s, driven by youth culture and the rise of cute characters in manga and anime ...
culture. ''Kawaii'' is Japanese for "cute", and the word is popularly used to describe endearing physical characterizations in
Manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
and
Japanese video games Video games are a major industry in Japan, and the country is considered one of the most influential in video gaming. Japanese game development is often identified with the golden age of video games and the country is home to many notable vid ...
. She was later asked about the double meaning of the song, on account of the interchangeability of the sexual euphemisms 'kitty' and 'pussy', to which she responded, "Obviously it's flirtatious and somewhat sexual, but it's genuinely about my love for Hello Kitty as well." Additionally, she said at MuchMusic Awards, "It's really fun ndit's about a slumber party and loving the kitty."


Critical reception

"Hello Kitty" was generally panned by
music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...
. While labeling it "weird", Nick Catucci 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, ...
'' called it "a
dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken ...
track that seems to acknowledge its own tokenism by adopting a '
J-Pop J-pop (often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in trad ...
American Funtime Now!' sheen." Despite praising her "techno-pop" influence, Jason Lipshutz 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 ...
'' felt that "it's a bold stab at a genre outside of Lavigne's oeuvre, but it never comes together. By the 20th time 'Hello Kitty, you're so pretty' is declared, the listener's attention is already on the next track."
Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...
of
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 ...
wrote that the song "bypasses bubblegum so it can settle into the embarrassing". While reviewing and stating that most of the album was "soggy", Chuck Eddy from ''
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 ...
'' felt that "Hello Kitty" was the most playful song on the album and called it "
J-pop J-pop (often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in trad ...
-via-
Kesha Kesha Rose Sebert (born March 1, 1987), formerly stylized as Ke$ha, is an American singer and songwriter. Her first major success came in 2009 when she was featured on rapper Flo Rida's number-one single, "Right Round". Kesha's music and ima ...
". Robert Corpsey from ''
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 ...
'' was mixed on his opinion of the song, writing that "the juddering electro-pop beats of 'Hello Kitty' serve as an ode to her you-know-what as well as her sizeable Japanese fanbase. As a curveball, it works brilliantly; but as an attempt to make her sound current in today's EDM-pop dominated charts, it falls considerably short." Craig Manning of
AbsolutePunk ''AbsolutePunk'' was a website, online community, and alternative music news source founded by Jason Tate (the most recent CEO). The website mainly focused on artists who are relatively unknown to mainstream audiences, but it was known to featu ...
called it "the biggest leap of faith," describing it as "a trippy patchwork of EDM and pop that pays loving tribute to Lavigne's sizable Japanese following." Bradley Stern of MuuMuse named it "an off-the-walls EDM-infused stomper, where Lavigne conjures
Gwen Stefani Gwen Renée Stefani Shelton ( ; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani rose to fame as a member and lead vocalist of the band No Doubt, whose hit singles include " Just a Girl", " Spiderwebs", an ...
's bouncy, Japanese-minded '' Love. Angel. Music. Baby''." Laurence Green from
musicOMH ''MusicOMH'' (stylized as ''musicOMH'') is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B. History ''MusicOMH'' was founded an ...
called it a "trashy EDM moment; laced with snatches of Japanese lingo," pointing out that it "feels like a weird misstep more suited to a
Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Cultural impact of Brit ...
album than the predominantly rock-centric sounds present on the rest of the record." A reviewer from Sputnikmusic remarked that "Hello Kitty" is "laughably bad" and "insipid", and criticized Lavigne's attempt at trying to draw in a younger crowd. Gregory Hicks from ''
The Michigan Daily ''The Michigan Daily'', also known as "''The Daily''", is the independent student newspaper of the University of Michigan published in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Established on September 29, 1890, the newspaper is financially and editorially independe ...
'' gave the song a negative review, referring to it as an "obligatory 2013-dubstep mess created for the sole purpose of attempting to follow a trend."


Chart performance

"Hello Kitty" debuted at number 84 on the
Gaon Singles Chart The Circle Digital Chart, previously known as the Gaon Digital Chart, is the music industry standard record chart ranking the 200 most popular singles in South Korea. It provides rankings on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis, which is based on ...
and at number 70 on Download International Chart with 4,038 copies sold in its first week. It also spent one week on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, at number 75, due to the popularity of the video, where 73 of the 92 percent of its chart points were attributed to
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 ...
on
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 ...
views, according to
Nielsen BDS Broadcast Data Systems (also known as Nielsen BDS, BDS or Luminate BDS) was a service that tracks radio, television and internet airplay of songs. The service, which is a unit of MRC Data, is a contributing factor to North American charts publishe ...
. It became her second-highest charted song from her self-titled album; "
Here's to Never Growing Up "Here's to Never Growing Up" is a song recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne for her self-titled fifth studio album in 2013. The song was written by Lavigne, David Hodges, Chad Kroeger, Jacob Kasher, and its producer Martin Joh ...
", peaked at number 20 in June. It also became her highest debut on
Streaming Songs The Streaming Songs chart is released weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine and lists each week's top streamed radio songs, on-demand songs and videos on leading online music services in the United States. The chart represents one ...
to date, as the track debuted at number 14 (besting "Here's to Never Growing Up", which opened at number 26 in May following its official video debut). The song also surged to 5,000 downloads sold in the tracking week ending Sunday April 27, up from a negligible number the week before, according to
Nielsen SoundScan Luminate Data, LLC (formerly MRC Data and P-MRC Data) is a provider of music and entertainment data. Established as a joint-venture in 2020, it brought together Nielsen Music, Alpha Data (formerly BuzzAngle Music) and Variety Business Intellige ...
. On the Japanese Hot Top Airplay chart, "Hello Kitty" debuted at number 82 for the week ending of May 12, 2014.


Music video

The music video for "Hello Kitty" was filmed in
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
,
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
, and premiered on Lavigne's official website on April 21, 2014. It was widely reported that the video was removed from her YouTube channel amid criticism and controversy. However, a spokesperson for Lavigne stated that the song's video was never officially released to YouTube and was stated to go live on April 23, and removals of the video from YouTube were merely unofficial uploads following its original premiere on Lavigne's website. The video officially went live on YouTube as planned on April 23, 2014.


Synopsis

The majority of the "Hello Kitty" music video finds Avril Lavigne parading around with four identically dressed Japanese women behind her, performing dance moves, in locales like a
bedroom A bedroom or bedchamber is a room situated within a residential or accommodation unit characterized by its usage for sleeping. A typical Western world, western bedroom contains as bedroom furniture one or two beds, a clothes closet, and bedsid ...
, a
candy store A confectionery store or confectionery shop (more commonly referred to as a sweet shop in the United Kingdom, a candy shop or candy store in North America, or a lolly shop in Australia and New Zealand) is a store that sell confectionery, whose i ...
and a
street A street is a public thoroughfare in a city, town or village, typically lined with Building, buildings on one or both sides. Streets often include pavements (sidewalks), pedestrian crossings, and sometimes amenities like Street light, streetligh ...
. The video also shows Lavigne playing guitar, wearing glasses, eating
sushi is a traditional Japanese dish made with , typically seasoned with sugar and salt, and combined with a variety of , such as seafood, vegetables, or meat: raw seafood is the most common, although some may be cooked. While sushi comes in n ...
, waving at admirers and fans and taking a single photograph, wearing gloves that are paired with pastel hair extensions and a pink tutu covered in three-dimensional cupcakes.


Reception and criticism

The video was heavily derided by Western critics. Jason Lipshutz of ''Billboard'' panned it as "even more abhorrent than the song." While saying that the album's previous videos were "excellent", he also said that the "Hello Kitty" video "tries to do nothing. Its laziness is demonstrated in the first 21 seconds, during which Lavigne holds a plush stack of cupcakes, shakes her hips, stares at the cupcakes, bounces her shoulders, and then, when she sings the line 'Someone chuck a cupcake at me'... tosses the fake cupcakes at the camera, her lip movement not matching up to the backing track whatsoever." Alexa Camp of ''
Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yor ...
'' called it "truly eyebrow-raising, taking cultural mis-appropriation to cringe-inducing levels." ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' suggested that "'Hello Kitty' will make your eyes and ears bleed". Its depiction of Japanese culture was met with widespread criticism from Western critics. This included suggestions of racism, which Lavigne responded to by stating: "I love Japanese culture and I spend half of my time in Japan. I flew to Tokyo to shoot this video...specifically for my Japanese fans, WITH my Japanese label, Japanese choreographers AND a Japanese director IN Japan." Nobuyuki Hayashi, a Tokyo-based tech and social media expert, commented that most of the reactions on
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were favorable, adding: “the people who are blaming the artist for racism are non-Japanese... but most Japanese people are not taking it that seriously.” Hiro Ugaya, a Tokyo-based journalist and media commentator, assumed that "images of cultures outside of one's own in mass media are always different from the reality. ..When you're trying to reach the majority of consumers, images tend to be lowest common dominator ic.


Live performances

Lavigne included "Hello Kitty" on her The Avril Lavigne Tour (2013–14) as the opening track. An instrumental version of "Hello Kitty" was used as an interlude on the Head Above Water Tour (2019).


Credits and personnel

*
Lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...
by
Avril Lavigne Avril Ramona Lavigne ( ; ; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is a key musician in popularizing pop-punk music, as she paved the way for female-driven, punk-influenced pop music in the early 2000s. List of awa ...
*Written by Avril Lavigne *Electric guitar by Martin Johnson *Engineered by John Hanes *Mixed by
Serban Ghenea Serban Ghenea () is a Canadian audio engineer and mixer. He has been nominated for a Grammy Award a total of 45 times and has won 21 times. Early life and education Ghenea was born in Romania, and in 1976 he moved to Montreal with his family. H ...
*Produced by Martin Johnson *Additional production and programming by Brandon Paddock, Kyle Moorman *Additional vocal production by Chad Kroeger, David Hodges *Recorded by Brandon Paddock, Kyle Moorman, Martin Johnson Credits Adapted from the liner notes of ''Avril Lavigne'' (2013).


Charts


Awards


References


External links

*
Avril Lavigne's website
{{authority control 2014 singles 2013 songs Avril Lavigne songs Dubstep songs Epic Records singles Hello Kitty J-pop songs Japan in non-Japanese culture Macaronic songs Music video controversies Race-related controversies in music Songs written by Avril Lavigne Songs written by Chad Kroeger Songs written by David Hodges Songs written by Martin Johnson (musician) Sony Music Entertainment Japan singles Sony Music singles Cultural appropriation