"Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby)" is the debut single by Irish pop duo

Jedward John and Edward Grimes (born 16 October 1991), collectively known as Jedward, are Irish media personalities and singers. They are Monozygotic, identical twins who first appeared as John & Edward in The X Factor (British TV series) series 6, th ...

. The song is a

medley Medley or Medleys may refer to: Sports *Medley swimming, races requiring multiple swimming styles * Medley relay races at track meets Music *Medley (music), multiple pieces strung together People *Medley (surname), list of people with this nam ...

of "

Under Pressure "Under Pressure" is a song by the British rock band Queen and singer David Bowie. Originally released as a single in October 1981, it was later included on Queen's tenth studio album ''Hot Space'' (1982). The song reached number one on the U ...

", originally recorded in 1981 by

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

and

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

, and the 1990

Vanilla Ice Robert Matthew Van Winkle (born October 31, 1967), known professionally as Vanilla Ice, is an American rapper, actor, and television host. Born in Dallas, raised in Miami, he was the first solo white rapper to achieve commercial success foll ...

single "

Ice Ice Baby "Ice Ice Baby" is the debut single by American rapper Vanilla Ice. It samples the bassline of the song "Under Pressure" by British rock band Queen and British singer David Bowie, who did not receive songwriting credit or royalties until after i ...

". "Ice Ice Baby" originally sampled the

bassline Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, and classical music, for the low-pitched P ...

from "Under Pressure". Vanilla Ice also provides vocals for the track. The song was released as a digital download in the UK on 31 January 2010, followed by a physical release on 15 February 2010. The song was also simultaneously released in Ireland. This is the duo's only single to be released on the

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

label. The physical release of the single included a double-sided poster and full lyrics. The single peaked at No. 1 on the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are ...

, followed by an entry at No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart.

Track listing

# "Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby)" (Radio Edit) (featuring

) — 3:41 # "Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby)" (Karaoke Version) (featuring

) — 3:41

Promotion

Jedward first performed the song on the sixth live show of the sixth series of ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

'', while they were still contestants on the show. The first official performance of the song occurred on 20 January 2010, where Vanilla Ice joined the duo at the

National Television Awards The National Television Awards (often shortened to NTAs) is a British television awards ceremony, broadcast by the ITV network and begun in 1995. The National Television Awards are the most prominent ceremony for which the results are voted o ...

in London. The song had its first radio airplay on 24 January with performances on ''

Friday Night with Jonathan Ross ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'' is a British chat show presented by Jonathan Ross and broadcast on BBC One between 2001 and 2010. The programme featured Ross' take on current topics of conversation, guest interviews (usually three per show ...

'', ''

The Chris Moyles Show ''The Chris Moyles Show'' is the title given to two differing versions of a radio programme hosted by Chris Moyles, originally broadcast as '' Radio 1 Breakfast'' from 5 January 2004 to 14 September 2012, before transferring three years later ...

'', ''

GMTV GMTV (an initialism for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ''ITV Breakfast, ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited'', was the name of the national ITV (TV network), ITV breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the Uni ...

'', '' This Morning'', ''

The Saturday Night Show ''The Saturday Night Show'' is a talk show hosted by Brendan O'Connor broadcast on RTÉ One between 2010 and 2015. The show features guest interviews, audience participation and live music. ''The Saturday Night Show'' is broadcast every Saturday ...

'' and '' RTE1'' following. Jedward were also scheduled to perform on the 5:19 show, however, pulled out due to contractual issues.

Background

praised the twins. He stated: "I think they're great — I didn't know much about them until a couple of weeks ago. I checked them out on YouTube and I went 'no way', and after I got over the laugh, they invited me to come out."

Louis Walsh Michael Louis Vincent Walsh (born 5 August 1952) is an Irish music manager and television personality. He has managed Johnny Logan (singer), Johnny Logan, Boyzone, Jedward and Westlife, four of Ireland's most successful pop acts in the 1990s an ...

said about the release: "Jedward really captured the public's imagination while on ''The X Factor''. Love them or hate them, you can't deny that they were the talking point of the series. As 'Under Pressure' was the track that really catapulted the boys to fame, it seemed only fitting to release the song as their first single."

Critical reception

Alex Fletcher of

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its initial launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television pro ...

reviewed the song negatively, giving it an average 2/5, saying "Quite where Jedward go next remains to be seen — can they squeeze out an entire album of corny pop-rap covers?" However the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

chart blog's Fraser McAlpine praised the single giving it five stars out of five, saying: "bottom line, pop music is about fun, and this is fun. WAY fun."

Music video

The music video was released on 2 February 2010. It was shot in the Mill Lane Studios in London and the dance moves were choreographed by American choreographer

Brian Friedman Brian L. Friedman (born May 28, 1977) is an American dancer and choreographer. Friedman has created the choreography for many popular music artists – such as Britney Spears, Cher, Beyoncé Knowles, and Mariah Carey – as well as for music ...

, who worked with the twins when they were on ''The X Factor''. The video is directed by American music video director Dale "Rage" Resteghini. The video features Jedward performing in front of a gigantic screen, displaying "JEDWARD" and "UNDER PRESSURE" as well as various words from the song lyrics. Jedward later also join a large dance routine with

pyrotechnics Pyrotechnics is the science and craft of creating fireworks, but also includes safety matches, oxygen candles, Pyrotechnic fastener, explosive bolts (and other fasteners), parts of automotive airbags, as well as gas-pressure blasting in mining, q ...

. Vanilla Ice joins the twins in a later scene, performing in front of a graffiti design prepared by Thomas Dolan. At the end of the video, Vanilla Ice sprays the word "ICE" on the camera screen in red

spray paint Spray paint (formally aerosol paint) is paint that comes in a sealed, pressurized can and is released in an aerosol spray when a valve button is depressed. The propellant is what the container of pressurized gas is called. When the pressure hol ...

, then covers the entire picture in paint as the song fades out.

Chart performance

On 5 February 2010, "Under Pressure" entered the

at number 1, following strong digital downloads. The following week, on 12 February, the single fell to number 2, following the release of the Helping Haiti "

Everybody Hurts "Everybody Hurts" is a song by American rock band R.E.M. from their eighth studio album, '' Automatic for the People'' (1992), and released as a single in April 1993 by Warner Bros. Records. It was written by the band and produced by them with ...

" single. However, on 19 February, the single climbed 1 place to resume its current peak of number 1. On 7 February, the song entered the UK Singles Chart at number 2, just missing out on the top spot behind "

Fireflies The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...

" by

Owl City Owl City is an American electronic music project created in 2007 in Owatonna, Minnesota. It is one of several projects by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Adam Young (American musician), Adam Young, who created the project while exp ...

. The following week, the single dropped 10 places to number 12. However, on 21 February, following the CD release, the single climbed 1 place to number 11.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Vanilla Ice 2010 debut singles Songs written by David Bowie Songs written by Freddie Mercury Songs written by Brian May Songs written by John Deacon Songs written by Roger Taylor (Queen drummer) Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Jedward songs Music medleys Songs written by Vanilla Ice 2010 songs 2010 singles Music videos directed by Dale Resteghini