"Temptation" is a 2005 major hit single by

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian singer

Arash Arash the Archer () is a heroic archer-figure of Iranian mythology. According to Iranian folklore, the boundary between Iran and Turan was set by an arrow launched by Arash, after he put his own life in the arrow's launch. The arrow was tra ...

featuring

Rebecca Zadig Rebecca Zadig (born 27 July 1982) is a Swedish singer․ Career Rebecca Zadig was featured in Arash's song "Temptation". This song is a newer version of her own song "Temptation" which also featured Arash (then known as 'Alex'). Lyrics of the ...

and taken from Arash' debut album ''

''. The music for "Temptation" is from "Baila Maria", a Spanish tune recorded by Ishtar Alabina featuring Los Niños de Sara in 1996. "Temptation" in its own right has been subject of many covers and in a number of languages.

Rebecca Zadig version

"Temptation" was first recorded by

with additional lyrics and rendition vocals featuring Alex, the mononym of Alex Arash Labaf who started his career performing under his mononym Alex. The first version, had English as main vocals by Zadig featuring Alex that interpreted some additional Persian language lyrics. The song was launched with a separate music video that was directed and shot by

Alec Cartio Alec Cartio is an Swedish Iranians, Iranian-Swedish-American music video, automotive commercial and film director. He is best known for his work, which modernized the Iranian music video industry. Career Beginnings Alec Cartio was born in Tehr ...

.Music video for "Temptation" with Rebecca as main vocals
/ref>

Arash version

"Temptation" was re-released as a song mainly in the

Persian language Persian ( ), also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Farsi (, Fārsī ), is a Western Iranian languages, Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian subdivision ...

, this time crediting Arash as the main vocalist. Rebecca Zadig was reduced to a featuring role. This release became the definitive version and was Arash's third successful consecutive single after "Boro Boro" (that had reached number 1 in Sweden) and "Tike Tike Kardi" (that had peaked at number 2 in Sweden). The song credited to Arash made it to number 2 on

Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from IFPI Sverige. It was formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and has been known by its current name si ...

, the official Swedish Singles Chart, also charting in Germany, Switzerland and Finland. A music video was released with Arash as the lead singer.Music video of Arash featuring Rebecca in the official single version of "Temptation"
/ref>

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Accolades

Other versions

Russian version "Vostochniye skazki" with Blestyaschie

In 2005, a

Russian language Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...

version of the song was made by Arash with the Russian

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring two or more women in music, female singers who generally vocal harmony, harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female p ...

Blestyaschie (). The song titled "Vostochniye skazki" (, meaning Eastern fairytales) was credited to Blestyaschie featuring Arash. It appeared on Blestyaschie album also titled ''

Vostochniye skazki Vostochniye skazki is the sixth studio album by Blestyashchiye. Track listing #" Vostochniye skazki" (Eastern fairytales) (duet with Arash) #"Palmy parami" (Palms with couples) #"Agent 007" (-) #"Hey, allo au" (-) #"Kak zvezda" (Like a star) #"P ...

'' and released on Partija Russian record label. A separate music video was shot for the singleMusic video of Blestyaschie and Arash in a Russian version of "Temptation"
/ref> destined for the Russian market.

Charts

=Weekly charts

=Year-end charts

"Versoeking" by Hi-5

In 2006, the South African cover boy band Hi-5 covered the song in

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

under the title "Versoeking" (meaning temptation in Afrikaans). It was a main single and the title track of the album also titled ''Versoeking'' which is the band's follow-up to the ''Soebat EP'' (2003) and the self-titled ''Hi-5'' (2004).

"Verleid Mij" by Wing-Men

In 2015, the Dutch group Wing-Men covered the song in Dutch under the title "Verleid Mij". It is the debut single from the group.

References

{{Arash 2005 singles Arash (singer) songs 2005 songs Warner Music Group singles Songs written by Robert Uhlmann (composer) Songs written by Arash (singer)