"Stupid Girl" is a song by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Cold Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjectivity, subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute t ...

and the

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

from their third

major label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and t ...

album, ''

Year of the Spider ''Year of the Spider'' is the third studio album by American rock band Cold. It was released on May 13, 2003, through Geffen Records. The album was Cold's most commercially successful, debuting at number three on the ''Billboard'' album charts, ...

''. It was the second song released for the album overall; "Gone Away" was released on the ''

WWE Tough Enough 2 ''WWF Tough Enough 2'' is a compilation album of music related to MTV's reality series of the same name. Cold's "Gone Away" served as the album's single with a popular music video released in mid-April 2002. According to a label spokesperson me ...

'' soundtrack while recognized as a ''Year of the Spider'' track a year prior to its release. "Stupid Girl" made its radio debut on March 18, 2003, and was the only Cold single to crack the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 staying on for 20 weeks and peaking at No. 87. The song, as well as its

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

, were heavily played on

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global, through PMN’s MTV Entertainment Group Subdivision. The channel launched initially as an all-music ...

and

Fuse TV Fuse is an American television channel owned by Fuse Media, LLC, that was originally launched in 1994 as MuchMusic USA, a localized version of the Canadian cable channel MuchMusic, owned by CHUM Limited which was also the parent company of City ...

throughout the several months following its release. The single was also included on the 2003 heavy metal compilation, '' MTV2 Headbangers Ball''.

Overview

"Stupid Girl" marks a shift in Cold's style into a substantially more commercial direction. Frontman

Scooter Ward Scooter Ward (born Ronald Ward Jr. on May 7, 1970) is an American musician who is best known as a founding member and lead singer of the rock band Cold. He has also performed occasional guitar duties both in the studio and live. Ward has been ra ...

began working on the song in 2002 and, although he liked the

guitar riff A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based on ...

, considered it too reminiscent of

Weezer Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Brian Bell (guitar, keyboards, backing ...

, a band that Cold had toured with earlier and befriended. Ward subsequently asked Weezer frontman

Rivers Cuomo Rivers Cuomo ( ; born June 13, 1970) is an American musician best known as the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Weezer. Cuomo was born in New York City and raised in several Buddhist communities in the northeaste ...

to lend a hand in the song's development for their first and only collaboration. The verse lyrics and opening/

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in whic ...

guitar riff were then written by Cuomo. Originally the two singers planned to trade off vocals, but after Cuomo heard Ward's tracks, he decided to limit his own vocal contribution to the pre-chorus. The song blatantly revolves around relationship troubles with bits of

tongue-in-cheek Tongue-in-cheek is an idiom that describes a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner. History The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walte ...

phrasing commonly found in Cuomo's writing style. The song begins with an

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

intro followed by an increasingly louder snare beat. This carries into a verse emphasizing vocals of disdain over the subtle guitar and drum beat. The song's

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

halts the established melody for a solo, acoustic

chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural, or simply changes) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from ...

. An anthemic vocal

harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

then ensues before returning to the chorus. An acoustic version of the song was performed on ''

Sessions@AOL AOL (formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City, and a brand marketed by Yahoo! Inc. The service traces its history to an online ...

'' which aired on Fuse TV in 2003. The CD single of "Stupid Girl" also includes a

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

Chris Vrenna Chris Vrenna (born February 23, 1967) is an American musician, producer, engineer, remixer, programmer, and founder of the electronic band Tweaker. Vrenna played drums for the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails from 1988 until 1996, and was ...

who hired a

string String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...

and used a complete string section as a basis for the mix.

Music video

The "Stupid Girl"

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

was directed by

Marc Webb Marc Preston Webb (born August 31, 1974) is an American filmmaker and music video director. He made his feature film directorial debut in 2009 with the romantic comedy '' (500) Days of Summer.'' He then directed ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' (2012 ...

, who previously worked with Cold on "Just Got Wicked", on February 22, 2003, in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

. The band drafted fans for the video to meet at the Bancroft schoolyard in south Minneapolis.MTV News staf
"For The Record: Quick News On Nick Carter, John Mayer, Trina, Dee Dee Ramone, Cold, Pete Yorn & More"

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 ...

.com (February 20, 2003). Retrieved on June 11, 2008. "Stupid Girl" has the band performing on a small outdoor stage in the cold February weather. Fans are shown tearing up signs with the names of their apparent former

significant other The term significant other (SO) has different uses in psychology and colloquial language. Colloquially, "significant other" is used as a gender-neutral term for a person's partner in an intimate relationship without disclosing or presuming a ...

s. The song is generally recognized simply as a Cold song and Rivers Cuomo, who contributed to its development, does not appear in the video. The band initially wanted shots of them performing on a frozen lake filled with fans, but with Geffen worrying about the potential for injury, the band opted for the schoolyard instead.

Track listing

Personnel

Cold *

– vocals * Kelly Hayes – lead guitar *

Terry Balsamo Terry Philip Balsamo II (born October 8, 1972) is an American musician who is best known as the former guitarist of the rock bands Cold and Evanescence. Biography Early projects and Cold After a brief run with the early lineup of Limp Bi ...

– rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar * Jeremy Marshall – bass, backing vocals * Sam McCandless – drums

Charts

References

External links

"Stupid Girl" Music Video
* Allmusic database entry {{DEFAULTSORT:Stupid Girl (Cold Song) 2003 singles Torch songs Songs written by Rivers Cuomo Cold (band) songs Songs written by Terry Balsamo Song recordings produced by Howard Benson