"Out of My Head" is a song by American rapper

Lupe Fiasco Wasalu Muhammad Jaco (born February 16, 1982), better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco ( ), is an American rapper, record producer and Music education, music educator. Born and raised in Chicago, he gained mainstream recognition for his gue ...

, released as the third single from his third studio album, ''

Lasers A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...

''. The single features vocals from American R&B singer

Trey Songz Tremaine Aldon Neverson (born November 28, 1984), known professionally as Trey Songz, is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer and songwriter. After being discovered by record producer Troy Taylor (record producer), Troy Taylor in 2003, Songz ...

, and features production from record producer Miykal Snoddy, with co-production from fellow producers

Jerry Wonda Jerry "Wonda" Duplessis (born August 9, 1975) is a Haitian record producer and musician. His first major success came as the producer of the Fugees' 1996 album ''The Score''. He served as the bass guitarist for the group and is the cousin of Wyc ...

and Arden Altino. The song was released as a digital download on May 22, 2011, along with the rest of ''Lasers''. Fiasco performed this single with Trey Songz at the

2011 MTV Movie Awards The 2011 MTV Movie Awards were held on June 5, 2011 at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California and were hosted by Jason Sudeikis. On May 3, the nominees were announced. '' The Twilight Saga: Eclipse'' lead the nominations with eigh ...

. Lyrically, the song likens a love interest to that of a catchy song. The song was Fiasco's third top-40 hit in the U.S., reaaching number 40 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Critical reception was mixed, and it was named the 34th best song of 2011 by XXL.

Background

Lupe Fiasco says that the song "doesn't have any deep meaning behind it, and is for the chicks." Trey Songz has praised the song, saying that it was one of his favorite collaborations he ever did.

Music video

A behind-the-scenes video was released on June 19, 2011. The director of the video is Gil Green. The music video debuted on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

and YouTube on June 29, 2011. Model Tracey Thomas played the girl throughout the video.

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Confer ...

Serge Ibaka Serge Jonás Ibaka Ngobila (; born 18 September 1989) is a Congolese-Spanish professional basketball player for Real Madrid Baloncesto, Real Madrid of the Spanish Liga ACB and the EuroLeague. He was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics with the ...

made a cameo appearance in the video.

Critical reception

Critics had a wide range of views about "Out of My Head". Brad Wete of ''Entertainment Weekly'' called the song "spacey" and an example of "love and joy" on ''Lasers''. For ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'', Brandon Soderberg was complimentary of the songwriting for "skip

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icky lover-man clichés and employ ngan extended music-industry-as-romance metaphor instead". Matthew Cole 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 the song a "solid banger" but added that the chorus by Trey Songz "seems to incarnate Lupe's thesis that hip-hop radio provides materialistic escapism at the price of the listener's political consciousness." However, other critics were more negative, for instance ''USA Today'' critic Steve Jones considering the song an attempt at pandering to mainstream audiences. For ''

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of Hip hop music, hip hop music criticism and news. ''HipHopDX'' has over 3.5M monthly readers, the website encompassing hip hop news, interviews, music, and reviews. The website's founder and CEO is Sharath C ...

'', Edwin Ortiz called the lyrics "predictable" and the song's placement "a disconcerting lapse in execution" on the album. In a 2012 commentary on ''HipHopDX'', Omar Burgess regarded "Out of My Head" as "visibly forced" but an example of a commercially successful hip-hop ballad. Todd Martens of the ''Los Angeles Times'' regarded the song as "loaded with trendy synths and a pin-the-sympathy-on-the-song chorus". '' XXL'' ranked "Out of My Head" no. 34 in its "Top 100 Songs of 2011" list.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Trey Songz 2010 songs 2011 singles Lupe Fiasco songs Trey Songz songs Atlantic Records singles Songs written by Jerry Duplessis Songs written by Lupe Fiasco Music videos directed by Gil Green Songs written by Arden Altino