"Foolish" is the debut solo single by American singer Ashanti. It was released as the lead single from her self-titled debut album (2002) by

Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The l ...

, AJM, and

Irv Gotti Irving Domingo Lorenzo Jr. (June 26, 1970 – February 5, 2025), professionally known as Irv Gotti or DJ Irv, was an American record producer and music executive. Gotti started off as a New York hip-hop DJ in the 1980s, then becoming an A&R t ...

's Murder Inc. Records on February 11, 2002. It was written by Ashanti, Etterlene Jordan,

Mark DeBarge Mark "Marty" DeBarge (born June 19, 1959) is an American R&B/soul singer-songwriter, drummer, percussionist, and plays a variety of wind instruments, such as the saxophone, trumpet, flugelhorn and flute. He is best known for his work as an origi ...

and Irv Gotti, while production was overseen by Gotti. The song heavily samples DeBarge's " Stay with Me". Due to the inclusion of the sample,

and Etterlene Jordan are also credited as songwriters. A promotional version of the single called "Unfoolish" features a verse from

The Notorious B.I.G. Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in the New York rap scene and gangsta rap tradi ...

from his song "F--king You Tonight". The song spent ten consecutive weeks at number one on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and on the

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart, becoming Ashanti's second number one and third top ten on both charts. It is Ashanti's highest charting single as a lead artist. Elsewhere, "Foolish" became a top ten hit in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The song was nominated for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance at the 2003 Grammy Awards, and won the Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul Single – Female. In 2009, ''Billboard'' ranked it 19th on its Hot 100 Songs of the 2000s Decade.

Composition

The song is performed in the key of

C major C major is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and its parallel min ...

common time A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...

with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of 89 beats per minute. It follows a chord progression of F–G, and Ashanti's vocals span from A₃ to C₆.

Commercial performance

"Foolish" spent 10 consecutive weeks at number one on the ''Billboard'' charts and a total of 17 weeks in the top 10. It would later get ranked the second best performing single of 2002, and listed as the 132nd best single.

Music video

The filming session of the video for the single took place during January 2002. It was directed by

. The video shows the viewer a relationship where a man, played by

Terrence Howard Terrence Dashon Howard (born March 11, 1969) is an American actor performing on film and television. He has received a Screen Actors Guild Awards, Screen Actors Guild Award as well as nominations for an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a Golden ...

, gets involved into some criminal acts after telling his girlfriend shantithat he is in construction and is unfaithful to Ashanti with '' Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta'' reality star Althea, which ends up in a break-up after some quarrel. As the song suggests, Ashanti feels that she still loves her ex and that she just can't seem to get over him and becomes frustrated since her heart and her mind force her to love him and hate him at the same time. The video is set in the fashion of the movie '' Goodfellas'', with Ashanti in the role of Karen Hill and Terrence Howard in the role of Henry Hill. Irv Gotti and Ja Rule are also in the video appearing to take the roles of Jimmy Conway and Paulie Cicero. The video was a three-time nominee at the

2002 MTV Video Music Awards The 2002 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on August 29, 2002, honoring the best music videos from June 9, 2001, to May 31, 2002. The show was hosted by Jimmy Fallon at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. During the show, Michael Jackson a ...

for Best Female Video, Best R&B Video, and Best New Artist. Murder Inc. manager Ron Robinson and Murder Inc. artists

Charli Baltimore Tiffany Lane (born August 16, 1974), better known by her stage name Charli Baltimore, is an American rapper, and television personality. Her stage name is taken from Geena Davis's character in the film '' The Long Kiss Goodnight''. Career Ch ...

, Vita, O1, and Jodie Mack make cameo appearances as well.

Track listings

European CD single # "Foolish" (radio edit) – 3:52 # "Foolish" (instrumental) – 3:52 Australian and US maxi single # "Foolish" (radio edit) – 3:52 # "Foolish" (album version) – 3:48 # "Foolish" (instrumental) – 3:51 # "Foolish" (video) UK 5-inch CD single # "Foolish" (album version) – 3:48 # "Unfoolish" (clean album version) – 3:15 # "Foolish" (Topnotch Remix) # "Foolish" (video)

Credits and personnel

Credits are adapted from the liner notes of ''Ashanti''. * Instrumentation – 7 Aurelius * Mixing – Supa Engineer Duro, Irv Gotti *

Production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

– 7 Aurelius, Irv Gotti *

Songwriting A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

– 7 Aurelius, A. Douglas, E. Jordan, I. Lorenzo, M. DeBarge * Recording – Milwaukee Buck * Recording assistance – Terry "Murda Mac" Herbert

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2002 debut singles Ashanti (singer) songs Contemporary R&B ballads Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles 2000s ballads Songs written by Ashanti (singer) Songs written by Irv Gotti 2002 songs Songs written by Channel 7 (musician) Def Jam Recordings singles Songs about infidelity