"Strangers" (also known as "Stranger") is a song by Canadian singer/songwriter My Name Is Kay featuring guest vocals from American rapper

Pusha T Terrence LeVarr Thornton (born May 13, 1977), better known by his stage name Pusha T, is an American rapper, songwriter and record executive. He rose to prominence as one-half of the hip hop duo Clipse, which was mainly active from 1994 to 20 ...

. The song was released as the second single from Kay's self-titled debut EP, although she does not consider the track, or previous single " My Name Is Kay", as singles, but simply refers to them as "songs". Kay explained that the meaning of the song is that feeling when "your boyfriend only loves you when you're alone", and lyrically the song talks about Kay's character going to a party, and being treated like a "stranger" by her love interest. Inspiration for the song also came to her from watching re-runs of the late '80s, early '90s sitcom '' Perfect Strangers'', featuring the characters Balki and Larry. She says: "

Ryan Ryan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Ryan (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) *Ryan (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Australia * Division of Ryan, an elector ...

and I were looking at pictures of them and I was saying how one of them looks like my dad. Then we started writing this hook, this kind of old school 'na na hooo.' It just came to us: 'Let's write it about perfect strangers.'"

Critical reception

Critical reception of the track was mainly positive, however some criticized

's verses, and questioning the need for his vocals to be featured on the track. Liz Trinnear of

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31, ...

praised the song, picking it as the best track on the EP, and compared Kay's lyrics to the likes of "

Rye Rye Ryeisha Berrain (born November 25, 1990), known by her stage name Rye Rye, is an American rapper, singer, dancer and actress. Signed to N.E.E.T. Recordings, she released her first mixtape RYEot PowRR in 2011 and her anticipated debut album '' Go! ...

meets

Gwen Stefani Gwen Renée Stefani (; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, fashion designer and actress. She is a co-founder, lead vocalist, and the primary songwriter of the band No Doubt, whose singles include "Just a Girl", " Spiderwebs ...

". Homorazzi writer Tyrell highly praised the track, saying it "showcases what Kay does best - sing a catchy hook and tell an excellent story lyrically". Karen Bliss of MSN Entertainment also wrote a positive review of the track, however believed the song "Diddy Dum" should have received single status in its place.

Music video

A lyric video for the song was released on Kay's official

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channel on July 4, 2012, the day the song was sent to radio stations in Canada. The official music video for the track premiered on New.Music.Live on August 10, 2012, and almost two weeks later, on August 21, 2012, it was uploaded to Kay's official

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channel. It was shot in

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Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, with interior shots of independent burger outlet Apache Burgers. Pusha T is entirely absent from the video and it centers on Kay at first being enamored with a love interest, a mannequin, but gets gradually fed up with his antics and perpetual infidelity. After repeatedly reconciling with the interest, Kay gets fed up for the last time, finds him at a party, drags him outside and smashes his head into pieces with a crowbar, then does a dance. Kay explained that the concept of the video is that "everyone is treating her like a stranger", and all the people are "played" by mannequins. Originally, the mannequins were going to "come to life, like a fairytale" at the end of the video, but for unknown reasons these plans were changed. The license plate of the car used in the music video reads "BOSS2U".

Live performances

Although Kay had been performing the song on her tour, "Strangers" had its Canadian television premiere on

's live daytime program New.Music.Live., where she performed the song on stage by herself into a microphone made of plush tigers.

Chart performance

"Strangers" peaked at #47 on the Canadian Hot 100 Chart.

References

{{Reflist 2012 songs Songs written by Ryan Tedder Songs written by E. Kidd Bogart Song recordings produced by Ryan Tedder Songs written by Pusha T Songs written by Noel Zancanella