| Ignition (Remix) | |
| Cover: | IgnitionRemix.jpg |
| Border: | yes |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | R. Kelly |
| Album: | Chocolate Factory |
| B-Side: |
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| Recorded: | 2002 |
| Genre: | R&B |
| Length: |
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| Label: | Jive |
| Producer: | R. Kelly |
| Prev Title: | The World's Greatest |
| Prev Year: | 2002 |
| Next Title: | Snake |
| Next Year: | 2003 |
"Ignition (Remix)" is a song written and produced by American R&B singer R. Kelly. It was released in 2002 as the lead single from his sixth studio album Chocolate Factory (2003). It is viewed as one of his most well-known songs and was a major hit in the United States, Europe, and Oceania.
"Ignition (Remix)" peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks. Outside the United States, the song topped the charts in Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom.[1] It was later included on the updated version of Rolling Stones 500 greatest songs of all time in 2010 at number 494. The song was listed at number 19 on Pitchfork Media's top 500 songs of the 2000s.
The original song "Ignition" was first recorded in 2002 after the alleged statutory rape tape was a hot topic in the media. The original "Ignition" was written for Kelly’s planned album Loveland; after the album was leaked, Kelly renamed Loveland as Chocolate Factory, a record with several new songs and remixes. "Ignition", one of the songs he decided to remix, had its original ending shifted to the intro.
On Genius, Kelly explained the song: "First of all it was an old, old track that I had in my computer for a long time. When I pulled it up, for some reason I just heard “ignition” on it, so I start really just messing with the words and a lot of metaphors start coming to me. You know “trying to get you to my hotel/ you must be a football coach/ the way you got me playing the field/ So baby give me that “toot toot, that beep beep.” You know what I mean? Just basically having fun with the song from there, once I tapped into the metaphor of it."[2] In a 2016 interview, Kelly claimed that he wrote the basis of "Ignition (Remix)", including the main lyric of the refrain, approximately five years before he wrote the song called "Ignition".[3]
The song is sometimes called simply "Ignition" colloquially and for marketing purposes, including as the title of one of its releases as a single and on the Billboard charts. While it shares the song title with the original version of "Ignition", the remix version is most commonly referred to in writing to avoid confusion with the original. The two songs share some instrumental elements (guitars and percussion) but are otherwise completely different.
The original "Ignition" was released first to urban contemporary radio stations although it never officially charted on Billboard in this manner at first. At the end of the song, Kelly gives the listeners "a lil' preview of the remix", which includes only the first verse then fades out. The "remix to Ignition" was released weeks later to urban and Top 40 pop stations, and it gained significantly more attention. While many stations never played the original but opted for the remix only, others played both songs, merged, at six minutes total; it was structured that way on the Chocolate Factory album.
The song contains a minor sample from the intro of R. Kelly's 2001 hit song "Fiesta (Remix)". Additionally, the original version opens with the same spoken-word intro that originally appeared in his earlier hit "You Remind Me of Something".
The music video was directed by Bille Woodruff. It was shot in a club where Kelly is seen wearing a Boston Celtics jersey. The club is meant to be the inside of a stretch Club Hummer limousine. Kelly is also seen in a different part of the club wearing a white fur coat. Nick Cannon appears in the music video, and DJ. David N. Feldman makes a cameo as the dancing white hipster. Ken Foree also makes a cameo.
The remix received positive reviews from both critics and fans upon release.[4] The remix was included on the updated version of Rolling Stone's 500 greatest songs of all time in 2010 at number 494.[4] The song was listed at number 19 on Pitchfork Media's top 500 songs of the 2000s.
"Ignition (Remix)" was a huge success for Kelly. In the United States, it peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks from March 29 to April 26, 2003. It became his most successful song in the United States in the 2000s. In the United Kingdom, the song debuted and peaked at the top of the UK Singles Chart, where it remained for four weeks, becoming Kelly's second number-one song in Britain after "I Believe I Can Fly" in April 1997.[1] In April 2013, a decade after its initial release, "Ignition (Remix)" re-entered the UK Singles Chart at number 43. "Ignition (Remix)" also topped the charts in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand. The song also peaked at number two on the 2003 Billboard Year-End Chart. Due to the success of this song and other songs by Kelly the same year, this also made him number two on the "Year End Best Artist" chart.[5]
Kelly often performed "Ignition (Remix)" at events and concerts; he sang this song three times at the BET Awards show (2003, 2004 and 2013). In 2013, R. Kelly surprised the crowd at the music festival Coachella coming in to the stage and performing a mash-up between "Ignition (Remix)" and "1901" with French rock band Phoenix; a year later, Kelly again surprised the crowd with the song, this time at Lollapalooza with Chance the Rapper.
Credits adapted from AllMusic.[6]
| Chart (2003) | Peak position | |
|---|---|---|
| Canada CHR (Nielsen BDS)[7] | 2 | |
| US Top 40 Tracks (Billboard) | 1 |
| Chart (2003) | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[8] | 10 | |
| Ireland (IRMA)[9] | 4 | |
| Netherlands (Single Top 100)[10] | 81 | |
| New Zealand (RIANZ)[11] | 18 | |
| UK Singles (OCC)[12] | 3 | |
| US Billboard Hot 100[13] | 2 | |
| US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[14] | 2 |
| Chart (2000–2009) | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| UK Singles (OCC)[15] | 76 | |
| US Billboard Hot 100[16] | 74 |
The song has been featured in the films Love Don't Cost a Thing (2003), Soul Plane (2004) and 30 Minutes or Less (2011).
The song is in the episode "The Gang Group Dates" on the sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
The song is featured in the Ubisoft Just Dance series of games, on The Hip Hop Dance Experience (2012).
Other artists who have covered the song include Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars.
The sketch comedy show Chappelle's Show had a 2003 skit parodying the R. Kelly sex tape, which consisted of music videos for the fictional songs "Piss on You" and "Piss on You (Remix)". "Piss on You" parodied the 2001 R. Kelly song "Feelin' on Yo Booty", while "Piss on You (Remix)" parodied "Ignition (Remix)".
A portion of Michael Jackson's Private Home Movies, a 2003 compilation of home movies which Jackson recorded throughout his life and narrated, showed him dancing to "Ignition (Remix)" in the back of Brett Ratner's car during a 2003 vacation in Miami, Florida.[28] Kelly, who claimed to have been unsuccessfully asked by Jackson to write a song similar to "Ignition (Remix)" for Jackson's use, later stated in 2009 after having seen the clip on the Web that "I cried when I first saw it on YouTube[...]I've written a lot of songs, I've been around the world, and I've won all kinds of awards and everything else, but[...]nothing told me, I didn't know I had made it until I saw Michael Jackson in the back of that car singing and dancing to my song 'Ignition'. That's when it became official. I've been in the business for over 20 years, but that's when it became official to me that Kels is here, baby."[29]
In March 2013, a petition was launched on We the People requesting that the U.S. national anthem be changed from "The Star-Spangled Banner" to "Ignition (Remix)".[30] Referencing the song's lyrics, the petition stated that "We, the undersigned, would like the Obama administration to recognise the need for a new national anthem, one that even a decade after its creation, is still hot and fresh out the kitchen."[31]
| Ignition (Viceroy Remix) | |
| Cover: | Ignitionviceroyremix.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Viceroy & R. Kelly |
| Released: | December 2, 2014 |
| Recorded: | 2002 (vocals) 2014 (song) |
| Label: | RCA |
| Producer: | Viceroy |
| Chronology: | Viceroy |
"Ignition (Viceroy Remix)" or "Ignition (Viceroy "Jet Life" Remix)" is a 2014 remix to "Ignition (Remix)", the song was released on iTunes as a single.[32] The remix was made by "Viceroy" as it says on the title. The song was uploaded to R. Kelly's Vevo the same day and also on his Spotify account.[33]