Wikipedia

Ride It (Geri Halliwell song)

"Ride It" is a song recorded by English singer Geri Halliwell for her third studio album, Passion (2005). It was released on 22 November 2004 by Innocent Records as the first single from the album. "Ride It" was commercially successful in Europe; it peaked at number four in the United Kingdom and reached number three on the Spanish and Scottish charts.

"Ride It"
Single by Geri Halliwell
from the album Passion
B-side"It's Raining Men"
Released22 November 2004 (2004-11-22)
GenreDance-pop[1]
Length3:46
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Geri Halliwell singles chronology
"Calling"
(2001) 		"Ride It"
(2004) 		"Desire"
(2005)
Music video
"Ride It" on YouTube

Critical reception

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"Ride It" received mixed reviews from music critics. Writing for AllMusic, John Lucas described it as a "fine slice of campy dance-pop, the kind of which Halliwell has always sounded most comfortable with".[1] Music Week staff wrote that although the track was "aimed straight at Kylie's pop audience", it lacked the "sophistication of Minogue's pop masterpieces".[2] John Dingwall from the Daily Record panned it as a "ridiculous pop song", noting it "seems the former Spice Girl is so desperate for a pop comeback she has settled for a song which sounds like a Dannii Minogue cast-off".[3]

Matt Potter from Yahoo! Launch gave the single two out of ten stars, and said "Enter Halliwell, and her latest attempt to present herself as a sexy siren, all attitude and independence. It's not as if it's a bad song, either - think "Life Is A Roller Coaster", crossed with "Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves" but minus a proper chorus - but the steely, tears-at-a-hen-party desperation of Halliwell's delivery makes this the musical equivalent of getting the eighteenth call in one evening from a girl you met once at a party".[4]

Chart performance

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Due to the midweek position of number three, "Ride It" was predicted to peak within the top three, but due to competition from Girls Aloud, Destiny's Child, and Lemar, the song debuted and peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart. It gave Halliwell the best ever opening sequence for a female recording artist on the chart, with all her first 16 singles entering the top 10.[5] "Ride It" was the 143rd-best-selling single of 2004 in the United Kingdom.[6] The song also reached number three on both the Spanish and Scottish charts.[7][8] In the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the song peaked at number two and remained on the Tophit chart for 39 weeks, 31 of which were in the top 100.[9]

Music video

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The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Luca Tommassini and was filmed in Milan in September 2004.[10] In it, Halliwell dresses as a policegirl and spanks a male model with a truncheon before flashing her bra. She also sticks the truncheon between the man's legs. There is also a close-up of lifting her pink dress and shaking her bottom.

TV executives were worried the video would be too sexual for Top of the Pops Saturday viewers, which was watched by six to twelve year olds. The BBC then censored the video, saying: "TOTP Saturday will air Geri's video without a couple of unsuitable shots".[11]

Entertainment executive Simon Cowell criticized the music video on CD:UK, calling the video "rubbish" as well as "one of the worst videos I've ever seen in my life" whilst also stating, "If I was her record label and that video arrived on my desk, I would throw it in the bin". In response to his criticism, Halliwell wrote to Cowell demanding an explanation for his outburst as well as an apology.[12]

Live performances

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To promote the single, Halliwell performed the song on Children in Need, Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, Top of the Pops, CD:UK, GMTV, Ministry of Mayhem and This Morning.

Track listings

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UK and European CD1[13][14]

  1. "Ride It" – 3:46
  2. "It's Raining Men" – 4:18

UK and European CD2, Australian CD single[15][16][17]

  1. "Ride It" – 3:46
  2. "Ride It" (Hex Hector 7-inch mix) – 3:45
  3. "Ride It" (Ian Masterson extended) – 6:33
  4. "Ride It" (Maloney remix) – 5:35

UK 12-inch single[18]

A. "Ride It" (Hex Hector 12-inch mix) – 7:47
B. "Ride It" (Full Intention mix) – 8:10

Credits and personnel

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Credits adapted from the liner notes of Passion.[19]

  • Geri Halliwell – vocals, songwriter
  • Quiz & Larossi – songwriters, producers, instrumentation
  • Savan Kotecha – songwriter
  • Andreas Romdhane – producer
  • Josef Larossi – producer
  • Ian Masterson – producer, mixing, engineering, programming
  • Ben Dobie – engineering, programming
  • Mitch Stevenson – backing vocals
  • Maria Diephuis – backing vocals
  • Hannah Robinson – backing vocals
  • Magnus Lind – accordion

Charts

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Release history

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Release history and formats for "Ride It"
Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref.
United Kingdom 22 November 2004 CD
[35]
Australia 28 February 2005 [36]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Passion - Geri Halliwell | Album | AllMusic". AllMusic.
  2. ^ "Reviews" (PDF). Music Week. 13 November 2004. p. 23. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  3. ^ Dingwall, John (26 November 2004). "Music: Singles". Daily Record. Glasgow. p. 61. ProQuest 327815819.
  4. ^ Potter, Matt (26 November 2004). "LAUNCH, Music on Yahoo! – Geri Halliwell – Ride It". Yahoo! Music Radio. Archived from the original on 11 December 2004. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  5. ^ "SINGLES 04.12.04: Geri Halliwell". Music Week. 4 December 2004. p. 24. ProQuest 232242678.
  6. ^ a b "UK Year-End Charts 2004" (PDF). UKChartsPlus. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
  7. ^ a b "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  8. ^ a b "Geri Halliwell – Ride It" Canciones Top 50. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  9. ^ a b Geri Halliwell — Ride It. TopHit. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  10. ^ ""Ride It" by Geri Halliwell | Music Video | VH1.com". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  11. ^ "TOO SPICY; EXCLUSIVE Top of the Pops tell Geri to tone down sexy video". Free Online Library.
  12. ^ Kilkelly, Daniel (30 October 2004). "Geri slated by Simon Cowell". Digital Spy. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  13. ^ Halliwell, Geri (2004). Ride It (UK CD1 liner notes). Innocent Records, Virgin Records. SINCD69.
  14. ^ Halliwell, Geri (2004). Ride It (European CD1 liner notes). Innocent Records, Virgin Records. 8169642/8169682.
  15. ^ Halliwell, Geri (2004). Ride It (UK CD2 liner notes). Innocent Records, Virgin Records. SINCD69.
  16. ^ Halliwell, Geri (2004). Ride It (European CD2 liner notes). Innocent Records, Virgin Records. 8169652.
  17. ^ Halliwell, Geri (2004). Ride It (Australian CD liner notes). Innocent Records, Virgin Records. 724381696521.
  18. ^ Halliwell, Geri (2004). Ride It (UK 12-inch single sleeve). Innocent Records, Virgin Records. SINT69.
  19. ^ Halliwell, Geri (2005). Passion (liner notes). Virgin Records. 0094631197321.
  20. ^ "Issue 784" ARIA Top 100 Singles. National Library of Australia. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  21. ^ "Geri Halliwell – Ride It" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  22. ^ "Geri Halliwell – Ride It" (in Dutch). Ultratip. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  23. ^ "Geri Halliwell – Ride It" (in French). Ultratip. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  24. ^ "European Top 20 Charts – Week Commencing 6th December 2004" (PDF). Music & Media. 6 December 2004. p. 25. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 December 2004. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
  25. ^ "Geri Halliwell – Ride It" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  26. ^ "Top 50 Singles Εβδομάδα 15–21/5" (in Greek). IFPI. Archived from the original on 22 May 2005. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  27. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Ride It". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  28. ^ "Arhiva romanian top 100 – Editia 1, saptamina 10.01 – 16.01, 2005" (in Romanian). Romanian Top 100. Archived from the original on 22 February 2005. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  29. ^ "Top Radio Hits Russia Weekly Chart: Feb 3, 2005". TopHit. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  30. ^ "Geri Halliwell – Ride It". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  31. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  32. ^ "CIS Year-End Radio Hits (2004)". TopHit. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  33. ^ "Top Radio Hits Russia Annual Chart: 2004". TopHit. Archived from the original on 23 April 2024. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  34. ^ "Top Radio Hits Russia Annual Chart: 2005". TopHit. Archived from the original on 21 April 2024. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  35. ^ "New Releases: Singles". Music Week. 20 November 2004. p. 41. Misprinted as 20 November on source.
  36. ^ "The ARIA Report: New Releases Singles – Week Commencing 28th February 2005" (PDF). ARIA. 28 February 2005. p. 28. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 March 2005. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
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