"Lonely" is a song by Senegalese-American singer-songwriter

Akon Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam (born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon (), is a Senegalese-United States, American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, businessman, and philanthropist. An influ ...

; it appears on his debut studio album, ''

Trouble Trouble may refer to: Film and television * ''Trouble'' (1922 film), an American silent comedy-drama film directed by Albert Austin * ''Trouble'' (1933 film), a British comedy film * ''Trouble'' (1977 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Trouble'' ...

''. Featuring a prominent, high-pitched

sample Sample or samples may refer to: * Sample (graphics), an intersection of a color channel and a pixel * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of something * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample ...

of the 1964 song " Mr. Lonely" by

Bobby Vinton Stanley Robert Vinton (born April 16, 1935) is an American singer and actor, who hosted his own self-titled TV show in the late 1970s. As a teen idol, he became known as "The Polish Prince", as his music paid tribute to his Polish heritage. One ...

, the single was released on February 22, 2005. "Lonely" reached number one in several countries, including in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Germany, where it stayed for eight weeks. It also entered the top five in France, where it reached number two, and in the United States, where it peaked at number four.

Background

When

was signed by Universal imprint

SRC Records SRC (Street Records Corporation) was an American record label created by former Loud Records CEO Steve Rifkind. It was a subsidiary of Universal Music Group and was distributed through Motown Records and Republic Records. Company history S ...

it was "Lonely" that had immediately caught the attention of SRC A&R Jerome Foster and convinced him of Akon's talents. On hearing the demo track he had said, "This kid is official - this is a huge record." Despite offering the album's best option in terms of commercial breakthrough,

chose " Locked Up" over "Lonely" as the first single because SRC wanted to break Akon in the streets first and work towards a cross-over. According to Foster in an interview with

HitQuarters HitQuarters was an international music industry publication and contact database founded in 1999. It was noted for its in-depth interviews with industry figures, as well as its A&R and manager contact directory, free artist promo pages and song ...

, ""Locked Up" is a street record. I thought that was the place for us to start to get a fan-base knowing that we had a record like "Lonely", which was more commercial, to follow it." The song was written by Akon, Bobby Vinton, and Gene Allan. The lyrics are sung mainly by Akon as well as Bobby Vinton doing parts of the choruses, with Vinton's voice sped up reminiscent of

Alvin and the Chipmunks Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks and billed for their first two decades as the Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for Novelty records in ...

. The song's tempo is 90 beats per minute in common time. "Lonely" is written in the key of

C major C major is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and its parallel min ...

Music video

A music video was produced to promote the single. The video was mostly filmed inside and in front of the Orpheum Theatre in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. The video was directed by Gil Green. Actress

Katerina Graham Katerina Alexandre Hartford Graham (born September 5, 1989) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and activist. She played Bonnie Bennett on The CW supernatural drama series '' The Vampire Diaries'' (2009–2017). Her film credits include ' ...

starred in the video as Akon's love partner. A competition winner from

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

, Daniel Ellwood, also starred in the video.

Track listings

UK CD1 # "Lonely" (clean version) – 3:58 # "Trouble Nobody" (explicit) – 3:21 UK CD2 # "Lonely" (UK radio edit) – 3:33 # "Trouble Nobody" (clean) – 3:21 # "Kill the Dance (Got Something for Ya)" (featuring Kardinal Offishall) – 2:54 # "Lonely" (video) – 3:58 US CD single # "Lonely" (clean version) – 3:58 # "Lonely" (instrumental version) – 3:58 # " Belly Dancer (Bananza)" (snippet) – 1:31

Charts

The song was a number-one hit in several countries, including

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. The song reached number two in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. The song also reached number 19 in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links