| Alison Gold | |
| Birth Name: | Allison Gorshkov |
| Birth Date: | 9 May 2002 |
| Education: | University of Southern California (BS) |
| Birth Place: | Fairfax, Virginia, U.S. |
| Label Name: | PMW Live |
| Years Active: | 2011–2014 |
Allison Gorshkov (born May 9, 2002), better known by her stage names Allison Kove and formerly Alison Gold, is an American actress and former singer. She is best known for her 2013 single "Chinese Food", which peaked at number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100. She has since further pursued an acting career, starring in several short films such as "Rotten" (2016), "The Experience" (2019) and "Continental Split" (2024).[1]
Allison Gorshkov was born in Fairfax, Virginia.[2] In 2012, she began working with Patrice Wilson, with whom she has worked on all of her songs. Her first single, "Skip Rope", was released as part of the musical duo Tweenchronic, which consisted of Gorshkov and another young girl identified as "Stacey".[3] Her first single as a solo artist, "Chinese Food" was written by Wilson; Gorshkov stated that she "loved it right away" after Wilson demoed it for her, and recorded it soon after.[4] Wilson performs an uncredited verse on the song, in which he advertises Panda Express.[5] [6] The song became a viral hit, charting at number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 2013 and reaching 14 million YouTube views by March 2014. The video for "Chinese Food" included images of Wilson dancing in a panda costume and dancers flanking Gold in (Japanese) geisha outfits.[7]
Despite its chart and viral success, both the song and music video received an overwhelmingly negative response from critics and audiences; it was mainly criticized for having simplistic portrayals of other cultures, with Billboard deeming it "outright racist" and ranking it second in their 2015 list of "The 10 Worst Songs of the 2010s (So Far)". The video was also the subject of reaction videos by YouTubers including LeafyIsHere and h3h3Productions.[8] [9] [10] [11] The Chicago Reader thought it remarkable that the song's "having bugged millions of people in an interestingly annoying way has earned [it] a spot, however small, in pop's history books."[12] Both Gorshkov and Wilson have discredited the song's accusations of racism, with Gold stating: "I don't really understand what that's all about... I mean, I'm not trying to criticize anyone – I just really love Chinese food!"[13] Wilson removed the video from his channel in 2018, although it was later re-uploaded by others on YouTube.
She later released another single with Wilson titled "ABCDEFG" in 2014, which did not chart (this was also removed in 2018 by Wilson). The music video for her third and final single with Wilson was "Shush Up". The original upload of the video was likewise removed from YouTube, and Gorshkov has not released any new music since.[14] [15]
| Year | Single | Peak positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| US | |||
| 2013 | "Chinese Food" | 29 | |
| "ABCDEFG" | — | ||
| 2014 | "Shush Up" | — |
Other releases
| Title | Year | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Life Fine Tuned | Family Friend (as Allison Kove) | Short film | |
| 2013 | Monster & Me | Mall Kid | Interactive web film | |
| 2013 | Rainy Nights | Alice (as Allison Gorshkov) | Short film | |
| 2014 | Lovesick | School student (as Allison Kove) | Interactive web film | |
| 2014 | The Cheerleader | Daughter (as Allison Gregory) | Short film | |
| 2016 | Rotten | Lisa (as Allison Gregory) | Short film | |
| 2019 | The Experience | Scarlet (as Allison Gregory) | Interactive web film | |
| 2024 | Continental Split | Emily Weddle | Interactive web film |