Hot Summer (song)

Danish musician Remee (pictured) co-produced "Hot Summer".[3]

"Hot Summer" was written and produced by Danish musicians Remee Sigvardt Jackman and Thomas Troelsen.[4] It is one out of several songs they contributed to Monrose's second album Strictly Physical (2007) and marked one of their first songs as a collaborative duo.[3] Much of it was created at the Delta Lab White recording studios in Copenhagen, Denmark in fall 2006.[3] Remee also provided backing vocals and rap parts on the song, while Troelsen played keyboards and oversaw the programming of "Hot Summer".[4] Vocals by Monrose members Mandy Capristo, Senna Guemmour, and Bahar Kizil were eventually recorded by Claus Üblacker at the Weryton Studios in Munich, Germany.[4]

The song was selected out of a total of three hundred songs for inclusion on Strictly Physical (2007).[5] Monrose cited its uptempo nature as a reason for their selection and described it as a perfect "good mood song."[5] An instant favorite of the band, "Hot Summer" was eventually picked as the lead single from Strictly Physical since they considered it a fitting break away from the ballad stereotype that they had established with the release of their singles "Shame" and "Even Heaven Cries".[5] Band member Senna Guemmour further elaborated in an interview with the band's official website: "The song is cool and sexy and goes straight into your dancing legs, [it's] our contribution to great summer parties." She also discussed the 1980s influences and house music elements of the record.[5] Mandy Capristo called the song a "promise" and added: "It instantly raises your spirits, no matter if you're sitting in your car, dancing on the floor or eating ice-cream — "Hot Summer" is just brimful of life."[5]

"Hot Summer" received a generally positive reception from music critics who complimented the song for its hit qualities as well as Monrose's decision to break away from the pop sound of previous releases.[6] Julia Dörfler from laut.de wrote that it "clearly has hit qualities."[7] Similarly, music magazine Musikwoche declared the song a "summer hit."[8] In his review for cdstarts.de, Albert Ranner compared it favorably to Canadian singer Nelly Furtado's "Maneater" (2006). He called the record "extremly danceable."[6]

Although a twenty-second clip of "Hot Summer" was previewed on the ProSieben network's daily gossip television magazine taff on 24 May 2007, the full song was not premiered until Monrose's performance during the season finale of the second cycle of Germany's Next Topmodel a few hours later.[9] Officially released on 29 June 2007, both the CD single as well as the digital single contained remixes by British-born DJ Tai Jason, Tomas Schmidt and Zafer Kurus from production team Beathoavenz, Patrick Flo Macheck of production team Mozart & Friends and German trio Nachtwandler, consisting of Christoph Riebling, Jens Klingelhöfer, and Patrick Ruhrmann.[10] In addition, previously unreleased recording "Scream", written by Charlie Mason, Karl Johan Rasma, Pelle Lidell, and Sebastian Larsson, was included on the CD single.[9]

In Germany, "Hot Summer" debuted at number two on the German Singles Chart — just behind German singer Mark Medlock's hit single "You Can Get It" which was released the same week.[11] The songs switched places the following week, when "Hot Summer" became Monrose's second number-one hit within a period of seven months.[12] This marked the first time since the No Angels's rendition of "There Must Be an Angel" (2001) that a Popstars winner was able to score a second number-one hit.[10] "Hot Summer" remained eight weeks within the top ten and also reached the top of the Download Chart as well as number eight on the German Dance Chart.[13] One of the biggest-selling songs of the year on German online music stores,[1] it was eventually certified gold by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI) for sales in excess of 150,000 copies.[14] In Germany, "Hot Summer" sold over 200,000 copies and was ranked 15th among the highest-selling singles of the year.[14][15]

In Austria, "Hot Summer" debuted straight atop the Austrian Singles Chart. Monrose's second chart topper following 2006's "Shame", the song spent another three weeks at number-one.[16] A major seller, it was awarded a gold certification by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) Austria,[17] and was ranked tenth on Austria's year end list.[18] In Switzerland, "Hot Summer" entered the Swiss Singles Chart at number twelve in the week of 12 July 2007.[19] It was not until its fifth week of release that the song also reached number one, also becoming Monrose's seecond single to do so.[19] It spent a second consecutive week at the top of the chart and was ranked 16th on the national year end chart.[20] Due to its major success all over German-speaking Europe, "Hot Summer" was also released in foreign music markets such as Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Turkey, as well as most of Eastern Europe.[14] Thus, it also entered the Dutch Top 40 and spent one week on the Finnish Singles Chart, peaking at number 19.[2] "Hot Summer" also entered the top 30 of the Slovenian Airplay Chart,[21] and peaked at number six on Billboard's European Hot 100 Singles.[22]

From left to right: Guemmour, Kizil, and Capristo in the music video.

An accompanying music video for "Hot Summer" was directed by Bernard Wedig and shot on 18 June 2007 in Berlin.[23] Production was helmed by Schuhwerk Filmproduktion.[23] A performance video that is built around different settings, it is primarily composed of individual close shots and dance sequences using split screen and bluescreen technique.[23] It premiered on 26 June 2007 on the band's official website, and received its first official airing on German music television network VIVA's show VIVA Live on 28 June 2007.[23]

The video does not have a substantial plot. Instead, the band is primarily shown dancing in front of white, black, blue and red backgrounds, intercut by several sequences of three male dancers. The camera work is hectic. In the middle of the video the black bars that appear on a 4:3 television at the top and bottom of the screen are displayed as video footage. The group members are able to interact with these bars and climb outside the screen. The version used in the video is different from the album version (aka radio edit) featuring a longer intro and an extended bridge featuring additional lyrics. Media sources compared it with Dolce & Gabbana's 2006 television commercial "Dancefloor."[23]

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Strictly Physical.[4]

"Hot Summer"
Single by f(x)
from the album Hot Summer
Released	June 14, 2011 (South Korea) August 4, 2012 (Japan)
Recorded	2011 (Korean Version) 2012 (Japanese Version)
Genre	K-pop dance-pop electropop
Length	3:44
Label	SM Avex Trax
Producer(s)	Remee Thomas Troelsen
f(x) Korean Singles singles chronology
"Pinocchio (Danger)" (2011) "Hot Summer" (2011) "Electric Shock" (2012)
f(x) Japanese Singles singles chronology
"Hot Summer (Japanese Version)" (2012) "Pinocchio (Danger) (Japanese Version)" (2015)
Music video
"Hot Summer" (Korean Version) on YouTube

In 2011, South Korean girl group f(x) recorded the song in Korean and Japanese. The Korean version was released on June 14, 2011 in South Korea, serving as the lead single from the re-packaged version of their debut album, Pinocchio.[26] On August 4, 2012, the group released a Japanese version.[27] The single was re-released in their first Japanese single called Summer Special: Pinocchio / Hot Summer on July 22, 2015.

The group performed the song live on KBS' Music Bank on June 17, 2011. They also performed on MBC's Music Core, SBS's Inkigayo and M-Countdown. Hot Summer managed to win an award on SBS's Inkigayo on June 26, 2011. The song was also performed as part of SMTown '10 and SMTown '12.

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics