"Say You're Just a Friend" is a song by American singer-songwriter

Austin Mahone Austin Harris Mahone (;) is an American singer. Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, he gained initial recognition performing covers of pop songs on YouTube. He was discovered by record producers Rocco Did It Again! and Mike Blumstein in 20 ...

from his debut extended play, ''

Extended Play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

''. The song was released for a digital download on December 3, 2012, and features vocals from American rapper

Flo Rida Tramar Lacel Dillard (born September 16, 1979), known professionally as Flo Rida ( ), is an American rapper and singer. His 2007 debut and breakout single "Low (Flo Rida song), Low" was number one for 10 weeks in the United States and broke the ...

Composition

The song was written by

DJ Frank E Justin Franks, known professionally as DJ Frank E, is an American DJ and music producer from Denver, Colorado. Frank E started working closely with Adelio Lombardi, founder of Side 3 Entertainment and owner of Side 3 Studios in Denver, while wo ...

, Nick Bailey, Mike Freesh, Trent Mazur, Ryan Ogren, Ahmad Belvin and produced by DJ Frank E, Mike Freesh, Trent Mazur. The song interpolates the chorus of the hit song "

Just a Friend "Just a Friend" is a song written, produced and performed by American hip hop artist Biz Markie. It was released in September 1989 as the lead single from his album ''The Biz Never Sleeps''. It is Markie's most successful single, reaching numbe ...

" by rapper

Biz Markie Marcel Theo Hall (April 8, 1964 – July 16, 2021), known professionally as Biz Markie, was an American rapper, singer, songwriter, DJ, and record producer who gained prominence during hip hop's golden age. He was particularly recognized for ...

, which itself interpolates (You) Got What I Need, written by

Gamble and Huff Kenneth Gamble (born August 11, 1943, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Leon A. Huff (born April 8, 1942, Camden, New Jersey) are an American songwriting and production duo credited for developing the Philadelphia soul music genre (also known as ...

and performed by soul singer

Freddie Scott Freddie Scott (April 24, 1933 – June 4, 2007) was an American soul singer and songwriter. His biggest hits were " Hey, Girl", a top ten US pop hit in 1963, and " Are You Lonely for Me", a No. 1 hit on the R&B chart in early 1967. Life and ...

. Therefore,

are credited as songwriters. Mahone spoke about collaborating with Flo Rida in an interview with ''Hellenic News''. A piano version of the song was released in February 2013. Mahone revealed why he released the piano rendition of the song, explaining "I knew my fans love the original version, but I saw a lot of comments saying that they couldn't really hear my voice, so I wanted to reassure them that I can sing the song. I thought it'd be cool to not only have the original version but also the piano version and change it up."

Music video

A music video to accompany the release of "Say You're Just a Friend" premiered via

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 ...

on February 7, 2013. It was later released on YouTube the following day via

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 ...

. The video was directed by

Ray Kay Reinert K. Olsen (born 10 July 1978), known professionally as Ray Kay, is a Norwegian director and photographer who is currently based in Los Angeles. He is a music video and advertising director. Ray Kay mostly directs music videos and has wo ...

and the girl starring as Mahone's love interest is model Kimberly Schanks. A second music video was released online on February 27; this time it's the video of the piano version of the song.

Track listing

Credits and personnel

* Lead vocals – Austin Mahone, Flo Rida *

Lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, ...

– Austin Mahone,

, Flo Rida, DJ Frank E, Nick Bailey, Mike Freesh, Trent Mazur, Ryan Ogren, Ahmad Belvin * Producers – DJ Frank E, Mike Freesh, Trent Mazur * Label: Chase, Universal Republic Records, Republic Records

Awards and nominations

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

Say You're Just a Friend Music Video
on

{{Authority control 2012 singles 2010 songs Austin Mahone songs Flo Rida songs Republic Records singles Song recordings produced by DJ Frank E Songs written by Leon Huff Songs written by Kenny Gamble Songs written by Flo Rida Songs written by Ryan Ogren Songs written by DJ Frank E Songs written by Nick Bailey