"Best Friend's Brother" is an uptempo and upbeat synth-pop song with lyrics about a girl having a crush on her best friend's brother. The song was met with generally positive reviews from critics,with the majority of them praising the melody. It peaked at number 86 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the US Kid Digital Song Sales chart. An accompanying music video was released in 2011,and portrays dreaming of attracting her best friend's brother.
Background
"Best Friend's Brother" was released as the fourth single from the American television sitcom Victorious's debut soundtrack albumVictorious:Music from the Hit TV Show (2011) on May 20,2011.[1][2][3] The song was later featured on the show in an episode titled "Prom Wrecker".[4] In the episode,Tori Vega (Victoria Justice) has her friends help her set up Hollywood Arts High School's first prom,inadvertently ruining a play meant for her frenemy Jade West (Elizabeth Gillies) for that day. Seeking vengeance,Jade tries to sabotage the prom while Tori tries to stop her. The episode concludes with Tori,Cat Valentine (Ariana Grande),and Andre Harris (Leon Thomas III) performing "Best Friend's Brother" in the pouring rain as the prom attendees dance along.[4][5][6]
Writing and music
Justice wrote "Best Friend's Brother" when she was 17-years-old,[7][8] along with Allan Grigg and Savan Kotecha. Grigg also produced the track,along with providing all the instruments and programming for it. The mixing for the song was provided by Greg Wells and took place at Rocket Carousel in Los Angeles,California with the engineering provided by Mighty Mike Garity at Westlake Studios and Mound Studios,both of which are also in Los Angeles.[9]
In an interview with Seventeen magazine,Justice revealed that "Best Friend's Brother" was inspired by a crush she had on her friend's older brother when she was 14. She stated the group would hang out at her friend's home,where they would play video games and go swimming. Justice mentioned that she and her friend's brother appeared to like each other,but never pursued a relationship. She explained that she didn't want to jeopardize her friendship by trying to date her friend's older brother.[10]
During an interview with Teen Vogue,Justice revealed that Victorious producer Dan Schneider liked the song and asked that she include it in the show.[11] Musically,"Best Friend's Brother" is an upbeat and uptempo synth-pop song.[12][13] The song's lyrics are about a girl obsessing over her best friend's older brother:"I don't want to,but I want to/'Cause I just can't get him out of my mind/Yeah,yeah,yeah yeah/My best friend's brother is the one for me!/BFB!/BFB!"[12][14][15]
"Best Friend's Brother" received positive reviews from music critics. Jessica Dawson,writing for Common Sense Media,mentioned that while the song's "music and lyrics aren't groundbreaking",she stated that it was "catchy and fun" and would be heavily rotated on many teenagers' playlists.[12] She thought that while the single's message "might be a little sketchy for younger kids",the song is "innocent enough and has no bad language or iffy content".[12] Jason Lipshutz,for Billboard magazine,mentioned that the song "zip[s] along with compact hooks and unabashed attitude".[16]
Nancy J. Parisi of The Buffalo News emphasized Justice's theme of crushing on her best friend's brother,describing the song as "ultra-direct".[17] Mark Wedel for the Kalamazoo Gazette wrote that the song has "positive lyrics for strong young women".[18] Brendan Wetmore of Elite Daily labeled the song as a "gem",noting that while Justice was busy working on her debut album,the song would "hold us over."[19] The staff of In Touch Weekly opined "Best Friend's Brother" is a "smash single".[20] Writing for Her Campus,Megan Gaertner and Allison Kane placed the song at number two on their "the Best Songs from Victorious" list,saying it is "just so catchy".[15]
"Best Friend's Brother" debuted at number 93 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart dated June 18,2011.[21] The song later peaked at number 86 on the chart,lasting four weeks on the chart and giving Justice her third Hot 100 hit in the United States.[22] "Best Friend's Brother" also peaked at number one on the US Kid Digital Song Sales chart and number 27 on the US Pop Digital Song Sales chart.[23][24]
Promotion
A music video for "Beggin on Your Knees" was first released in 2011 and was subsequently uploaded to the official VictoriousYouTube channel on September 20,2012.[12][25] The music video features Justice daydreaming and crushing over her best friend's older brother. It also features other members of the Victorious cast.[12]
Justice performed the song live during her 2012 and 2013 tours.[17][26] In 2022,fellow Victorious actor Matt Bennett performed the song live during some of his DJ concert sets.[5]
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