Goodies (song)

After leaving the group Hearsay at the age of fifteen, Atlanta native Ciara earned a writing job via her manager, for Atlanta's Tricky Stewart and The-Dream's RedZone Entertainment, penning songs for Mýa and Fantasia among others.[2] According to Ciara, no one believed in her dreams of hearing her own music on the radio until she met producer Jazze Pha in 2002.[2] Within five months of meeting her, Pha signed her to his Sho'nuff label and they had already recorded five tracks.[2] About Ciara, Jazze Pha said, "What was really lacking is the Janet Jackson, high-energy dance [music]. Ciara fills that void. She's pretty, she can dance, she can write music, and kids love her. Everyone loves her."[2]

Ciara wrote the song in response to Usher's "Yeah!"

Riverdale, Georgia in 2003, she was signed by LaFace Records executive, L.A. Reid, whom she was introduced to by Jazze Pha.[3] She began production on her debut album later that year. In early 2004, Ciara wrote a demo with record producer, Sean Garrett, co-writer of Usher's crunk hit "Yeah!"[4] After hearing a demo, crunk producer Lil Jon, who also produced and was featured on "Yeah!", began to work on the full record, to have it released on LaFace, which was also Usher's label.[4][5] Originally, Ciara was reluctant to work with the track produced by Lil Jon, reportedly disliking crunk music at first.[5]

However, she decided to use the song to go against the grain and deliver lyrics in contrast of female promiscuity lines delivered by fellow female artists.[5] To give her a title to stand out, Lil Jon dubbed Ciara as the "Princess of Crunk&B."[5] Dubbed the female counterpart to "Yeah!" and fellow crunk hit "Freek-a-Leek" by Petey Pablo, Laface looked to capitalize on the success of the previous songs.[5]

"Goodies" is heavily influenced by male counterpart crunk song "Yeah!" and also has been compared to Kelis's "Milkshake."[6] The song makes use of a repeated whistle, "faux operated vocals" in parts and a western guitar riff near the end.[6] "Goodies" is a midtempo crunk&B song. The song features a whistling beat, with several crunk-pop synths throughout its course. The songs features a guitar rhythm as it opens into its third verse and in its outro. Petey Pablo raps the first part of the first and third verses, while Ciara sings the rest of the song.

The song received positive reviews from music critics. Fazed.com called the song "both clever and ironic considering how sexy her image" and "singularly disarming combination of an empowering message backed by an intoxicatingly sexy beat."[7] The Situation declared the track as "a great dance tune with a solid beat." Also, it noted Ciara shows "a lot of attitude, with girl empowering lyrics."[8] Slant published, "it's not the chorus that gets stuck in your head... but the incessant oscillating whistle (I swear you can hear dogs barking halfway through the song)."[9] Musiccomh.com reviewed, "Goodies" as "an instantly recognisable tune" and called it a "typically upbeat benefiting from Lil' Jon."[10]

Hiphopgalaxy.com called the track an "ultimate party anthem of the summer, but it's one of the best singles of the year." The song has "an infectious chorus" and "a crunked up groove."[11] Blender published that Ciara "sounds like she's rapping right back at him, delivering her lines in a measured, sultry cadence with hardly any variation in tone or pitch."[12] In 2005, "Goodies" was nominated for "Best R&B/Soul or Rap Song of the Year" at Soul Train Lady of Soul Music Awards and in 2006. It won the Best Performed Songs in the ASCAP Repertory for the 2005 Survey Year at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards, including "1, 2 Step" and "Oh."

In the issue dated June 19, 2004, "Goodies" debuted at number 85 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks — now known as the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[13] It went on to peak at number one on the chart for six consecutive weeks.[14] The single debuted at number ninety-four on the US Billboard Hot 100 on July 27, 2004. The song quickly became a commercial success as it reached the summit of the chart after only twelve weeks. It spent seven weeks at number one, becoming the longest-running number-one debut single by a female artist since 1977.[15] It reached three on the Mainstream Top 40 chart.[16][17] It ranked number nine on the 2004 U.S. Billboard year-end chart.[18] According to the Billboard Hot 100 decade-end chart, it is the 31st most successful song of the 2000s. The single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over a million digital copies in the United States.[19]

In the United Kingdom, "Goodies" debuted at the top of the UK Singles Chart on January 23, 2005 — for the week ending date January 29, 2005 — interrupting Elvis Presley's three week chart reign.[20] It topped the chart for one week. Then aged 19, Ciara became the third-youngest female solo artist to debut at number one in Britain with their inaugural song after Billie Piper's "Because We Want To" and Britney Spears's "...Baby One More Time". Piper and Spears were 15 years, 9 months, and 6 days and 17 years, 2 months, and 19 days old respectively when their inaugural songs debuted at the summit of the UK Singles Chart in June 1998 and February 1999. Ciara remained the third-youngest female solo artist to achieve the feat until former The X Factor season 5 contestant Diana Vickers topped the UK Singles Chart with her debut song "Once" in April 2010. Vickers was 18 years, 8 months, and 26 days old when she reached the listing's summit. Furthermore, "Goodies" become the second ever crunk song to top the UK Singles Chart, after "Yeah!" by Usher featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris achieved the feat 10 months previously. In the Republic of Ireland, the song debuted and peaked at number four on the Irish Singles Chart.[21]

In Switzerland, the song debuted at number thirty-eight on the Swiss Singles Chart, before peaking at number ten five weeks later.[22] In Australia, "Goodies" debuted at number twenty-two on the ARIA Singles Chart, before falling to twenty-three in its second week. The song rebounded in its third week to reach a new peak at nineteen.[23] In New Zealand, the single debuted at number twelve on the RIANZ Singles chart, and peaked at ten in the next week.[24] In Germany, the song debuted at number sixteen on the German Singles Chart, before peaking at ten two weeks later.[25] In France, the song debuted at number twenty-nine on the French Singles Chart, before peaking at twenty-seven in its second week.[26]

The music video for "Goodies" was directed by Benny Boom. It shows Ciara and her friends driving in an Oldsmobile 442 convertible along the Atlanta, Georgia streets to the local car wash. It features cameo appearances by BoneCrusher, Monica, Rasheeda, Jazze Pha, Young Jeezy, Lil Jon and among others. Ciara filmed the video for 27 straight hours with director Benny Boom. It begins with Ciara coming out her house. Her friend screams out, "What up dawg?!" and Ciara replies the same way. Ciara's sister then runs outside saying that Jazze Pha is on the phone. Jazze tells Ciara that they are going to the carwash to hang out and Ciara says she will also be coming along. She then gives the phone back to her sister and tells her to stay out of her room. The song then begins and Ciara starts singing her intro once Petey Pablo raps his verse. During this intro, we see Ciara going along with her friends driving to the carwash. On her way there she meets a few young men and invites them to the carwash. She then arrives to the carwash and meets up with different people, including Monica. During the song, Ciara dances in front of a blue and white background with her backup dancers. This scene is where Ciara first does the "Matrix," her signature move. The extended version of the video includes Ciara full-length dance with the backup dancers, and also features more of her and Monica duo shot.

Ciara performed "Goodies" many times. Her first-ever performance of "Goodies" was on BET's 106 & Park. In 2005, Ciara performed the song, along with "1, 2 Step" and "Oh," at the 2005 Billboard Music Awards. She also performed the song at various summer festivals around the United States.

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Goodies."

Recording

• Hitco, Atlanta, Georgia and Circle House Studios, Miami, FL and Sony Music Studios, NYC

Credits

• Ciara — vocals
• Petey Pablo — vocals
• Lil Jon — additional vocals, production, mixing, drum programming, sound design
• Sean Garrett — vocal production
• Charles Sanders — engineer
• Steve Nowacynski — engineer
• Brian Stanley — engineer
• Ray Seay — mixing
• Brian Stanley — mixing
• Craig Love — guitar
• Lamarquis Jefferson — bass guitar

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• List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 2004 (U.S.)
• List of number-one R&B singles of 2004 (U.S.)
• List of number-one singles from the 2000s (UK)

• Ciara (2006). BET Official presents Ciara: The Evolution (BET Exclusive DVD) New York: LaFace Records and Zomba Label Group – Ciara explains the writing process of "Goodies" and filming the music video.

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics