"Prom Queen" is the lead single from

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all ...

's album, ''

Rebirth Rebirth may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Film * ''Rebirth'' (2011 film), a 2011 Japanese drama film * ''Rebirth'' (2016 film), a 2016 American thriller film * ''Rebirth'', a 2011 documentary film produced by Project Rebirth * '' ...

''. The track is produced by

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and Andrew "Drew" Correa. The song is written by and contains backing vocals from

Shanell Woodgett Shanell Lynn Woodgett (born November 15, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter from Atlanta, Georgia. She is best known for her guest appearance on Lil Wayne's 2009 single "Prom Queen", which peaked within the top 20 of the ''Billboard'' Hot 10 ...

. The song made its official debut on January 27,Lil Wayne Goes Rock With 'Rebirth'
''Billboard'' (January 26, 2009). Retrieved January 26, 2009. appearing on Lil Wayne's MySpace page. The following day, "Prom Queen" was made available for purchase on all

online music store A digital music store is a business that sells digital audio files of music recordings over the Internet. Customers gain ownership of a license to use the files, in contrast to a music streaming service, where they listen to recordings withou ...

s and Lil Wayne performed the single live for the first time during a concert in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, which was streamed live on AT&T's FREEdom of Choice and Mobile Music Facebook pages that evening. The song features the

Auto-Tune Auto-Tune is audio processor software released on September 19, 1997, by the American company Antares Audio Technologies. It uses a proprietary device to measure and Pitch correction, correct pitch in music. It operates on different principles ...

effect.

Musical style

"Prom Queen" is a

rap rock Rap rock is a music genre that developed from the early to mid-1980s, when hip hop DJs incorporated rock records into their routines and rappers began incorporating original and sampled rock instrumentation into hip hop music. Rap rock is co ...

song, featuring "mall-metal riffage" and

d vocals. The song also incorporates elements from

emo Emo () is a genre of rock music characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and from the Washington, D.C., hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands ...

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and Music of Olympia, Washington, O ...

and late-'90s rap-rock.

Music video

The music video premiered on ''

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''. The music video is about a young, high schooler Lil Wayne falling in love with a girl at school, but she denies him for someone else when she became prom queen. As they both age, Wayne becomes famous, while the girl becomes pregnant with the baby of her boyfriend who has left her. Wayne records the song "Prom Queen" as newspaper clippings of his life come up, such as his awards at the

2009 Grammy Awards The 51st Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 8, 2009, honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2007, through September 30, 2008. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the ...

and the major success of his album ''

Tha Carter III ''Tha Carter III'' is the sixth studio album by American rapper Lil Wayne, released on June 10, 2008, by Cash Money, Universal Motown and Young Money Entertainment. It follows a string of mixtape releases and guest appearances on other hip hop a ...

''. Later, Wayne performs with a Gibson Dark Fire guitar at a concert; Young Money artist Shanell Woodgett, who wrote the song, is also seen together with Wayne. During the concert, the girl who shunned Wayne in high school makes her way to the stage. When she reaches her hand out, hoping for Wayne to remember her, Wayne ''does'' remember her, and what she did to him; as a result, Wayne turns around just as they are about to touch hands, showing the girl how it felt when she did the same to him. At the end of the video, Wayne and Shanell are seen at the high school gym; they kiss and leave silently. The video also features the members of

nu metal Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, with a metal umlaut) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop music, hip hop, funk, industrial music, industrial, and grunge. Nu ...

band

Korn Korn (stylized as KoЯn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, originally formed in 1993 by James Shaffer, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald Arvizu, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu and David Silveria, who were members of the band ...

as Wayne's backup band, as well as Young Money artist Shanell Woodgett and her younger sister,

Danity Kane Danity Kane is an American music group whose most recent line-up consisted of Aubrey O'Day, Dawn Richard, and Shannon Bex. The group originally had five members, but D. Woods, Wanita "D. Woods" Woodgett left the group in 2008, and Aundrea Fimbre ...

member D. Woods.

Chart performance

"Prom Queen" started to make an impact on the charts in early February. It made a "Hot Shot Debut" at number 17 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 based on downloads in the US and rose to number 15 the next week, also a "Hot Shot Debut" at number 26 on the

Pop 100 The Pop 100 was a songs chart that debuted in February 2005 and was released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States until its discontinuation in 2009. It ranked songs based on airplay on Mainstream Top 40 radio stations, singles ...

and rose to number 22 the next week, and also charted at number 16 on the

Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 po ...

. In Canada it also made a "Hot Shot Debut" at number 71 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 ...

also based on downloads and skyrocketed up to number 36 the next week.

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Lil Wayne singles 2009 singles 2009 songs Cash Money Records singles Lil Wayne songs Music videos directed by Dave Meyers (director) Songs written by Lil Wayne Songs about heartache Songs about revenge Songs about proms