Greedy (song)

Last updated
"Greedy"
Song by Ariana Grande
from the album Dangerous Woman
ReleasedMay 14, 2016
Recorded2015
Studio MXM Studios, (Los Angeles), California
Wolf Cousins Studios, Stockholm, Sweden)
Genre
Length3:34
Label Republic
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Max Martin
  • Ilya

"Greedy" is a song recorded by American singer Ariana Grande. The track appears on Dangerous Woman (2016), her third studio album. The song was written by Max Martin, Savan Kotecha, Alexander Kronlund, and Ilya Salmanzadeh (known mononymously as Ilya), and produced by Martin and Ilya. The song was released on May 14, 2016, as an instant gratification track to accompany digital pre-orders of Dangerous Woman. Grande debuted "Greedy" on Apple Music the day after "Everyday". [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Recording and production

Max Martin (pictured in 2015) co-wrote and co-produced the song. Max Martin.jpg
Max Martin (pictured in 2015) co-wrote and co-produced the song.

"Greedy" was written by Alexander Kronlund, Ilya Salmanzadeh, Savan Kotecha and Max Martin who also produced the song with Salmanzadeh. The horn arrangement was provided by Jonas Thander who also performed saxophone, the musicians Karl Olandersson and Stefan Persson contributed with trumpet, Martin played the keyboards, percussion, guitars, drums and programming with Salmanzadeh. The song recorded in two studios: MXM Studios located in Los Angeles, California and Wolf Cousins Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. The mixing for "Greedy" was performed by Serban Ghenea at MixStar Studios, Virginia Beach, Virginia, with engineering for the mix by John Hanes. It was mastered at Sterling Sound in New York City, New York by Tom Coyne and Aya Merrill. [4]

Composition

Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg
"Greedy" (2016)
A 23-second sample of "Greedy" demonstrating the musical style which critics praised and compared to Mark Ronson's and Bruno Mars' 2014 song "Uptown Funk". [5] [6]
Problems playing this file? See media help.

According to the sheet music published by Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc. on the site Musicnotes.com, the song is composed in the key of Eb minor in 4
4 time signature with a tempo of 108 beats per minute. Grande's vocals range spans from the low note F#3 to the high note C#6 [7] A disco-pop, R&B, [8] and synth-funk [9] song, "Greedy" opens with Grande introducing the title using high vocal register, the first verse contains a "groovy bass" [2] [10] and faster breathy vocals harmonizes around the end of each line. [10] [11] [12]

As noted by Adam.R Holz of Plugged In , the first verses uses a suggestive double entendre about sexual attraction. [13] The pre-chorus is backed by synths that dropped out during the refrain where Grande singing: "Baby, you got lucky cause you're rocking with the best"/"And I'm greedy"/I ain't talking money, I'm just physically obsessed." [10] [11] Describing the lyrics, the editor Alex Rhiannon noted that "she describes a relationship in which it sounds like she's been trying to hold herself back and be chill, but she can't take it any longer, and needs to tell the guy how she feels." [10] Horns, bass and drums are introduced during the chorus. [8]

Critical reception

Greedy received critical acclaim from music critics. Billboard 's critic Katie Atkinson described the song as a "throwback trifle, which casts Grande as a lady Bruno Mars." [14] While Christopher R. Weingarten from Rolling Stone call the song as "uptown dunky of nonsense". [15] [16] Annie Zaleski from The A.V. Club commented: "The horn-peppered highlight “Greedy” in particular is an exuberant R&B-pop earworm on which she has a blast indulging her inner gospel diva. [8] A reviewer from Sputnikmusic call it as "slick and incredibly fun" and wrote the song "does all it can to save an otherwise middling second half of the album'. [17] Reviewing the album Dangerous Woman, Digital Spy's Lewis Corner described it as "a shiny disco-pop number with a groove so infectious the World Health Organization would have good grounds to label it an epidemic. And there's good reason for that, because the moral of this story is that Ariana has caught all the feels for her new boyfriend and she wants more, more, more." [18]

Auin Moreland of Pitchfork considered "Greedy" one of the highlights on the album, the editor described it as a romp that announces that Grande truly shines when she is given center stage. [19] Reviewing the song for Nylon , Jenna Igneri wrote positively: "Greedy" is everything you'd expect from the petite pop princess. It's upbeat and catchy, and very Ariana Grande, as she belts out lyrics such as, "You know that I'm greedy for love." There's no doubt that it'll have you dancing all summer long." [1]

Live performances

To promote Dangerous Woman, Grande performed "Greedy" on Good Morning America as a part of the "Central Park Summer Concert", during the show she also performed "Dangerous Woman" and "Be Alright". [20] She also performed the song as part of her album showcase for Vevo on May 21, 2016. [21]

Grande performed the song during the Summertime Ball 2016. [22] The song was included on the set list of her Dangerous Woman Tour during its performance, during which counterfeit money featuring Grande's face hit the stage. [23]

Usage in other media and covers

Drag queens Nina Bo'nina Brown and Valentina lip-synced to the song during the ninth season of the American reality competition television series RuPaul's Drag Race . [24] [25] [26] In the lip-sync, Valentina wore a mask over her face as she did not know the words, and was stopped by RuPaul and later eliminated, with Bo'nina Brown staying.

In 2017, Irene and Seulgi of the South Korean girl group Red Velvet did a duo performance of the song at their concerts.

On December 29, 2017, South Korean girl group Twice performed the song at the 2017 KBS Song Festival. Only four out of the nine members performed (Nayeon, Momo, Jihyo and Chaeyoung). [27]

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from Dangerous Woman's liner notes. [4]

Recording and management

Personnel

Charts

Chart (2016)Peak
position
France (SNEP) [28] 194
Israel (Media Forest)7
Portugal (AFP) [29] 86
South Korea International (Gaon) [30] 18
UK Singles (OCC) [31] 113

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [32] Gold35,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI) [33] Silver200,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Ariana Grande Is Greedy For Love In Her New Single". Nylon. May 14, 2016. Archived from the original on February 27, 2021. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
  2. 1 2 "Ariana Grande Is Gracious, Not 'Greedy,' on Funky New 'Dangerous Woman' Track". Spin. May 13, 2016. Archived from the original on March 3, 2017. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
  3. ↑ "Ariana Grande shares two new songs "Everyday" and "Greedy" — listen". Consequence of Sound. May 14, 2017. Archived from the original on March 7, 2021. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
  4. 1 2 Ariana Grande (2016). Dangerous Woman (booklet). Republic Records. p. 2. 47871096.
  5. ↑ Cinquemani, Sal (May 19, 2016). "Ariana Grande: Dangerous Woman | Album Review". Slant Magazine . Archived from the original on April 29, 2017. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
  6. ↑ Weber, Theon (March 2, 2017). "Review: Ariana Grande Asks Why We're Wearing That Stupid Man Suit on 'Dangerous Woman'". Spin . Archived from the original on December 24, 2020. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Ariana Grande "Greedy" Sheet Music". musicnotes.com via Kobalt Music Publishing, Inc. 19 July 2016. Archived from the original on 3 March 2017. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 Zaleski, Annie (May 20, 2016). "Ariana Grande finds her pop star footing on Dangerous Woman". The A.V. Club . Archived from the original on May 21, 2016. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Every Ariana Grande Song, Ranked: Critic's Picks". Billboard . Archived from the original on 2022-05-30. Retrieved 2022-01-12.
  10. 1 2 3 4 "Ariana Grande's "Greedy" Lyrics Perfectly Describe Taking Control Of A Relationship". Bustle. May 20, 2016. Archived from the original on March 3, 2017. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  11. 1 2 "Music review: Ariana Grande and Fifth Harmony – how to get from B to A-list". The National. June 1, 2016. Archived from the original on March 3, 2017. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
  12. ↑ "New Music: Ariana Grande - Greedy". Rap-Up. May 13, 2017. Archived from the original on February 4, 2017. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
  13. ↑ "Ariana Grande - Dangerous Woman (Review)". May 20, 2016. Archived from the original on March 30, 2017. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
  14. ↑ "Billboard's 50 Best Albums of 2016: Critics' Pick". Billboard. December 12, 2017. Archived from the original on April 18, 2019. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
  15. ↑ Weingarten, Christopher (May 20, 2016). "Ariana Grande's New Album: Dangerous Woman". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on May 21, 2016. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
  16. ↑ Bartleet, Larry (May 23, 2016). "Ariana Grande – 'Dangerous Woman'". NME . Retrieved March 2, 2017.
  17. ↑ "Review: Ariana Grande – Dangerous Woman". Sputnikmusic. June 18, 2016. Archived from the original on January 16, 2023. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
  18. ↑ Corner, Lewis (18 May 2016). "Ariana Grande's new album 'Dangerous Woman' our track-by-track review". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 16 November 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
  19. ↑ Moreland, Quinn (May 25, 2016). "Ariana Grande: Dangerous Woman | Album Reviews". Pitchfork Media . Archived from the original on June 1, 2022. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  20. ↑ "Watch Ariana Grande Perform Three 'Dangerous Woman' Tunes on 'Good Morning America'". Billboard. May 20, 2017. Archived from the original on August 14, 2020. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  21. ↑ "Ariana Grande Howls Louder Than Horns in New 'Greedy' Live Performance". PopCrush. June 2, 2016. Archived from the original on March 4, 2017. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  22. ↑ "Ariana Grande - 'Greedy' (Live At The Summertime Ball 2016)". Capital FM. June 12, 2016. Archived from the original on January 14, 2017. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  23. ↑ "Review: Ariana Grande puts on ethereal show at Madison Square Garden". Digital Journal. February 25, 2017. Archived from the original on August 14, 2020. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  24. ↑ "What Happened To Valentina? Her 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Lip Sync Performance Was Awkward". Bustle.com. Archived from the original on August 11, 2017. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
  25. ↑ "This Week's 'Drag Race' Eliminee Was In Shock About Her Meltdown". VICE. Archived from the original on 2017-08-11. Retrieved 2017-07-21.
  26. ↑ Harron Walker (May 19, 2017). "RuPaul's Drag Race's Valentina on Her Lip-Sync Nightmare". Vulture.com. Archived from the original on July 24, 2017. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
  27. ↑ "WATCH: TWICE get 'Greedy' with their super-hawt Ariana Grande song cover". SBS. 20 June 2017. Archived from the original on 23 June 2017. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
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  29. ↑ "Ariana Grande – Greedy". AFP Top 100 Singles. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  30. ↑ "Gaon Digital Chart – Issue date: 2016.05.22 – 2016.05.28". Gaon Music Chart. Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved July 19, 2017.
  31. ↑ Chart Log UK: "Update 28.05.2016". UK Singles Chart. Zobbel.de. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  32. ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2023 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association . Retrieved July 7, 2023.
  33. ↑ "British single certifications – Ariana Grande – Greedy". British Phonographic Industry . Retrieved December 11, 2020.
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