Ready for the Floor

"Ready for the Floor" is a Grammy Award-nominated song by British electronic group Hot Chip, and the second single from their 2008 album Made in the Dark. It was released on 28 January 2008 and peaked at number six on the UK Singles Chart in February 2008.

"Ready for the Floor"
Single by Hot Chip
from the album Made in the Dark
B-side
  • "Bubbles They Bounce"
  • "My Brother Is Watching Me"
  • Remixes
Released28 January 2008
Genre
Length3:51
LabelEMI
Songwriter(s)Hot Chip
Producer(s)Hot Chip
Hot Chip singles chronology
"Shake a Fist"
(2007)		 "Ready for the Floor"
(2008)		 "One Pure Thought"
(2008)

Composition

Alexis Taylor gave an explanation about the use of the line, "You're my number one guy" in the song, and also explained how it visually impacted the music video (Taylor is dressed as the Joker):

"I really like this line in the first Batman film, not the very first one that was made, but the first Tim Burton Batman film. Jack Palance tells Jack Nicholson, 'You are my number one guy.' And it's a completely false statement. The very next scene is Jack Nicholson being set up and about to be killed off by Jack Palance's character. Then he survives all of this and he comes back as the Joker and he kills Jack Palance. And later on he quotes Jack Palance, he says it to his goon, Bob the Goon, 'You are my number one guy.' He says it in a really funny, mimicking way. I quite like it. He's not only mimicking the character in the film, he's also mimicking Jack Palance as an actor. He's mimicking his melodramatic style. That line has always stuck with me."[3]

Some media reports incorrectly asserted that Hot Chip had originally written the song "Ready for the Floor" for the Australian singer Kylie Minogue.[4] Alexis Taylor explained: "It started because someone asked me if we would ever write for Kylie. I said that we'd been asked to write for her but we'd never got round to it. And I said if we had to give her one of our songs, Ready for the Floor would probably be the most suitable. From that, I got misquoted. We didn't write Ready for the Floor for Kylie, didn't send it to her and she never heard it."[5]

Critical reception

"Ready for the Floor" was generally well received by music critics and charted well, peaking at number six on the UK Singles Chart in February 2008.[6] Drowned in Sound gave the single a score of 9/10 and described it as one that "might not sell a million records" but that it could make "'household name' an achievable status".[7]

Drowned in Sound said that it had "a chord change that uplifts the soul" and that the song was "a slice of sweetly insistent ‘80s Italo-house lite" but also said it could also be described "as a piece of sophisticated mainstream pop".[7] MusicOMH said that "Ready For The Floor" bore an "undoubted resemblance [...] at first glance" to "Boy From School" but said it was "more subtle in its use of brushed electro beats and clever countermelodies".[8]

A number of reviews discussed the style of Alexis Taylor’s vocals. MusicOMH described his vocals as "quietly dreamy" whilst Drowned in Sound said there was "something incredibly sweet about the way that Alexis Taylor croons 'you’re my number one guy'" and described his vocals as "full of nerdy sexual chocolate."[7][8]

Boomkat.com said that "Ready for the Floor (Smoothed Out on an R&B Tip version)", sounded "more in line with Morr-ish poptronica than R. Kelly" and was "undoubtedly tinted with a slightly more downbeat hue than the album and radio edits." Boomkat.com also commented on the B-side, "My Brother Is Watching Me", describing it as "a slow burning, exceptionally quiet electronic ballad".[9]

The song was also well received in the United States, where it was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording in December 2008.[10]

Pitchfork named it as the third best track of 2008 and the 76th best song of the 2000s.[11]

Music video

The music video for "Ready for the Floor", directed by Nima Nourizadeh, was described by Pitchfork Media as being "all about duality", showing Alexis Taylor "going back and forth (and sometimes split down the middle) between mild-mannered tech wiz and, basically, the Joker."[12]

Track listings

Enhanced CD

  1. "Ready for the Floor"
  2. "Shake a Fist" (Diplo's Noise of Art Remix)
  3. "Bubbles They Bounce"
  4. "Ready for the Floor" (Soulwax Dub)
  5. "Ready for the Floor" (music video)

7" single 1

  • A: "Ready for the Floor" (radio edit)
  • B: "Bubbles They Bounce"

7" single 2

  • A: "Ready for the Floor" (Smoothed Out on an R&B tip Version)
  • B: "My Brother Is Watching Me"

It is also featured as Soulwax Remix in the EA Sports game FIFA 09.

It is featured as soundtrack 2017 film Jupiter's Moon.

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[20] Silver 200,000

sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

References
  1. Ali, Reyan. "Tonight: Hot Chip DJ Set at Mezzanine".
  2. "2009 Grammy Predictions and Proclamations". Paste. 5 February 2009. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
  3. "Video: Hot Chip: "Ready for the Floor"". The Fader. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  4. "Kylie Minogue writes song for Hot Chip". NME. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
  5. Ryan, Gary. "Geeky date with Hot Chip". Manchester Evening News. Archived from the original on 2013-04-21. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
  6. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  7. Dobson, Gareth. "Hot Chip: Ready For The Floor". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on 2008-05-04. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
  8. Hogwood, Ben. "Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor". MusicOMH.com. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
  9. "Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor". Boomkat.com. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  10. http://content.grammy.com/grammy_awards/51st_show/list.aspx#02 Archived 2008-12-07 at the Wayback Machine
  11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-12-17. Retrieved 2008-12-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. Hogan, Marc. "Hot Chip's "Ready For Floor" Video Explained, Kind Of!". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 2007-07-24. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
  13. "Issue 937" ARIA Top 100 Singles. National Library of Australia. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  14. "Austriancharts.at – Hot Chip – Ready for the Floor" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  15. "Ultratop.be – Hot Chip – Ready for the Floor" (in Dutch). Ultratip. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  16. "Ultratop.be – Hot Chip – Ready for the Floor" (in French). Ultratip. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  17. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Ready for the Floor". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  18. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  19. "Official Singles Chart 2008" (PDF). UKChartsPlus. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  20. "British single certifications – Hot Chip – Ready for the Floor". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 1 February 2019. Select singles in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type Ready for the Floor in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
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