"P.S. I Love You" | ||||
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Single by Robin Daggers | ||||
from the album How I Met Your Music: Deluxe | ||||
Released | February 4, 2013 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 2:34 | |||
Label | ||||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | John Swihart | |||
How I Met Your Mother singles chronology | ||||
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"P.S. I Love You" is a song written by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for the CBS television series How I Met Your Mother . The song was performed by Canadian actress Cobie Smulders in the role of Robin Scherbatsky, who has a secret past as a teenage Canadian pop star with the stage name Robin Sparkles. It appeared in an episode of the same name which aired on February 4, 2013.
The song, inspired by Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know" (1995), marks the last appearance of Robin Sparkles on the show. It was released as a single on the TV-premiere date, and appeared on the soundtrack album How I Met Your Music: Deluxe (2014). Smulders' persona was renamed "Robin Daggers", and lyrically "P.S. I Love You" depicts Daggers' obsession with a former lover. Its music video featured Daggers with a new look, inspired by Courtney Love. Television and music critics praised its humor and Smulders' performance.
Cobie Smulders played Robin Scherbatsky, a dedicated broadcast journalist who moves from Canada to New York for a job, in the CBS television series How I Met Your Mother . [1] In season 2's "Slap Bet" (2006), the character was revealed to have been a Canadian teen pop star with the stage name of Robin Sparkles. [2] Her songs "Let's Go to the Mall" (2007) and "Sandcastles in the Sand" (2008) pay homage to 1980s American pop music, and the former was inspired by Alanis Morissette's "cheesy" material before Jagged Little Pill . [3] [4] The songs had 4,000 and 1,000 digital downloads, respectively, in the United States by August 2008. [5]
Before Sparkles' appearance in season 6's "Glitter", series creators and executive producers Craig Thomas and Carter Bays came up with several ideas (including a story about a rivalry between her and Morissette). [6] The episode (which aired on November 15, 2010) ended with Sparkles appearing in the Canadian children's show Space Teens with Alan Thicke and her friend, Jessica Glitter (Nicole Scherzinger), in which Sparkles and Glitter sing "The Beaver Song". [7] Alyssa Fikse of Uproxx suggested that it referred to Morissette's appearance on the Canadian television show You Can't Do That on Television (1986). [8]
Smulders tweeted a photo of herself dressed as Sparkles in October 2012 with the caption, "Guess who's back ..." [9] [10] Bays confirmed with TVLine two months later that there would be an episode featuring Sparkles in season 8, exposing a "darker and edgier" side of the character. [11] [12] Shortly after the series was announced as renewed for its ninth and final season, [13] a number of celebrities (including James Van Der Beek, Alan Thicke, Jason Priestley, and Paul Shaffer) confirmed to be appearing in the episode on January 7. [14] [15] [16] Although Brad Roberts and Morissette were contacted, they did not appear in the episode. [17]
In an early February 2013 conference call, Thomas and Smulders spoke about the episode. [18] [17] Sparkles' new look and her song, "P.S. I Love You", were influenced by Morissette's "You Oughta Know" (1995). [17] Thomas discussed lost footage from Underneath the Tunes (a parody of the documentary series Behind the Music ), which showed a controversial side of Sparkles resembling "the Milli Vanilli skipping-CD-record moment". [17] The creators wanted viewers to observe her progression over the years, with Thomas saying that this "may be the craziest Robin Sparkles yet". [11] [17] It was Sparkles' last appearance on the show, although Smulders and Thomas expressed interest in reprising the character in the future. [17] [18]
Lost footage of MuchMusic's Underneath the Tunes in the episode reveals that after "Let's Go to the Mall" and "Sandcastles in the Sand" went maple, Sparkles reached a breaking point; she changed her stage name to Robin Daggers, and recorded "P.S. I Love You" about her obsession with Paul Shaffer. [19] Her record company, Dominant Records, refused to release it because of its dark theme. [19] Her career ended in 1996, when she performed the song and revealed her new persona at the 84th Grey Cup halftime show (when Alex Trebek and Geddy Lee claimed that grunge began). [19]
Similar to the previous songs, Smulders recorded "P.S. I Love You" with Thomas, [20] who said that she found the new voice of Sparkles in about the third take at nine in the morning. He described the experience as "different from all of the other ones we've done ... like learning a whole other language", and considered it his favorite moment. [20] Unlike the previous output, Smulders felt "more in tune" with the grunge-influenced song: "It's just fun to go and create something from words on a page and make a song out of it. And then choose the silly actions involved and the story lines that are happening within the song". [21] [20]
The 2:34 grunge song was written by Thomas and Bays. [22] [23] [24] Lyrically, "P.S. I Love You" describes Daggers' obsession with a former lover. [25] The song begins with "You, you're beautiful / On your pedestal / I see you, you don't see me". [26] Daggers insists that she would "never move on": "Even if I get married, he'll always be second to you". [26] The song refers to a restraining order, and contains a legal disclaimer from her record company: "The views expressed in this song do not necessarily reflect the views of Dominant Records or any of its subsidiaries". [26] Daggers reminiscences about wearing flannel, lacing her boots, reading fanzines and watching Reality Bites while she misses her lover. [26] Although she prays to God, "she doesn't reply". [26] [27] In the song, a robot says "Move on"; she replies, "I'm trying!". [26] Daggers performs the song in an angst-ridden manner, [28] [25] creepily whispering "P.S. I love you" during the bridge. [26]
Smulders said that the song is a breaking point for the character: "I feel like this is sort of at the tail end of her [music] career ... She's sort of breaking away from all that and she does that by becoming this character of Robin Daggers, which has a lot of similarities to Alanis Morissette." [21] Mark Graham of VH1 described it as a song "about being scorned", [28] and Ethan Alter of Television Without Pity called it an "amusingly anti-love song". [29] Kate Stanhope and Joyce Eng of TV Guide said that Daggers "lost it when she started obsessing over a mystery man" with the "Morissette-esque" song. [30] Alyssa Fikse wrote that the track demonstrates the evolution of Daggers from a "bubbly pop star ... into [a] 90s grunge riot grrrrrl": "Any song that name-checks Reality Bites is bound to be overdramatic." [8] Mark Perigard of the Boston Herald wrote that the song brings out Daggers' goth side, [31] and Sarah Freymiller of Bustle described it as a "grunge-infused stalk-fest". [25]
The music video for "P.S. I Love You" was directed by Pamela Fryman. [19] According to series costume designer Reiko Kurumada, the crew researched the "Courtney Love-ish era" to create Daggers' look. [32] Her costume includes slip dresses with fishnets, "Kurt Cobain-ish" silk nightgowns from vintage stores, ripped-up leggings, and Dr. Martens motorcycle boots with flannel and chokers. [32] [33] "It was very grunge. It was a little mix of grunge with a tiny bit of femininity in it," Kurumada recalled. [32]
According to The Hollywood Reporter , Daggers (in "grunge mode") wears dark flannel, cutoff jeans, black tights and boots, and heavy eye liner. [34] Liat Kornowski of HuffPost wrote that she "went goth/grunge '90s. Like, Black Hole Sun '90s". [35] Daggers is seen undressing and performing onstage (with a sign reading "Consider Questioning Authority, Please" in the background) [36] before a crowd full of slamdancing Mounties, [28] with interspersed shots of a shirtless old man and random words written in chalk. [28] Fikse and Graham noted many influences of "angsty 90s music videos", including Fiona Apple's "Criminal" (1997), Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (1991), Metallica's "Enter Sandman" (1991), Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" (1992) and Morissette's "You Oughta Know". [8] [28] Phoebe Reilly of Vulture wrote that the video also parodies Hole's "Miss World" (1994). [37]
"P.S. I Love You" appeared in an episode of the same name which aired on February 4, 2013. [19] A digital single was released by 20th Century Fox Records that day. [23] It was later included on the compilation album, How I Met Your Music: Deluxe (2014). [38] Portions of the music video were shown in the episode; the full video became available in a press release the following day. [26] [39] [40] The video was included in the series' season-eight DVD release. [41] The "P.S. I Love You" episode received a 4/11 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic and attracted 10.30 million American viewers, [42] up eight percent from the previous episode. [43] It was the night's top-rated show, and the most-watched of the series' season. [43]
"P.S. I Love You" received generally-positive reviews from television and music critics. Fikse enjoyed the song, which "perfectly mirrored the outsized emotion and angst that characterized the 90s". [8] Caryn Ganz of Spin called Daggers a "Grunge Goddess" and her transformation "angsty badass" and "historically accurate". [24] Max Nicholson of IGN liked Smulders' "angst-ridden" performance, saying that it "was a satisfying redemption" for the season. [44] Margaret Lyons of Vulture wrote that her comeback was "terrific ... maybe the best thing HIMYM has ever done". [10]
Maggie Panos of PopSugar called the video "torrid" and "ominous". [45] Vlada Gelman of TVLine praised Smulders' "anti-conformist" performance in the "hilariously twisted" music video. Gelman also liked the song: "It's damn catchy". [36] According to Mark Perigard of the Boston Herald , the song "gave you all the hints you needed" in a "middling episode". Perigard wrote that it was time to retire the character, and the show could not let go of a good idea. [31] A Yahoo! reviewer said that the song was impossible to "get out of your head". [40] Tom Eames of Digital Spy called "P.S. I Love You" "grunge-tastic", and called Daggers' storyline one of the series' best running gags. [46] Fox News rated it as the series' ninth-best musical moment. [47]
Alanis Nadine Morissette is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting, Morissette began her career in Canada in the early 1990s with two dance-pop albums. In 1995, she released Jagged Little Pill, an alternative rock-oriented album with elements of post-grunge, which sold more than 33 million copies globally and is her most critically acclaimed work to date. It earned her the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1996 and has been made into a rock musical of the same name in 2017, which earned fifteen Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical. The album was also listed in the 2003 and 2020 editions of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time Guide. The lead single, "You Oughta Know", was also included at #103 in their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. A highly anticipated, more experimental follow-up, electronic-infused album, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, was released in 1998.
"You Oughta Know" is a song by Canadian singer Alanis Morissette, released as the lead single from her third studio album, Jagged Little Pill (1995) on July 6, 1995. After releasing two studio albums, Morissette left MCA Records Canada and was introduced to manager Scott Welch. Morissette began working on new music after moving from her hometown of Ottawa to Toronto, but made little progress. In Los Angeles, she met producer Glen Ballard, with whom she wrote songs including "You Oughta Know".
How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005 to March 31, 2014, follows the main character, Ted Mosby, and his group of friends in New York City's Manhattan. As a framing device, Ted, in 2030, recounts to his son, Luke, and daughter, Penny, the events from September 2005 to May 2013 that led him to meet their mother. How I Met Your Mother is a joint production by Bays & Thomas Productions and 20th Century Fox Television and syndicated by 20th Television.
Jacoba Francisca Maria "Cobie" Smulders is a Canadian actress. She is known for her starring role as Robin Scherbatsky in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother (2005–2014) and as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero films The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), as well as the ABC action drama series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (2013–2015), the Disney+ animated anthology series What If...? (2021), and the upcoming Disney+ limited series Secret Invasion (2023).
P.S. I Love You may refer to:
Taran Hourie Killam is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is known for his television work on The Amanda Show, How I Met Your Mother, MADtv, New Girl, Saturday Night Live, and Single Parents. Killam is also known for his portrayal of a teen pop star in the 2004 Disney Channel Original Movie Stuck in the Suburbs. He voices the title character on the PBS children's cartoon series Nature Cat.
Robin Charles Scherbatsky Jr. is a fictional character created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas for the CBS television series How I Met Your Mother, portrayed by Cobie Smulders.
"Pilot" is the first episode of American television sitcom How I Met Your Mother, which premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005. It was written by series creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, and directed by Pamela Fryman The pilot takes place in 2030, as a future Ted Mosby is telling his kids the story of how he met their mother. It flashes back to 2005 to a younger Ted who meets Robin Scherbatsky, a reporter who he becomes smitten for. Meanwhile, Ted's lawyer friend Marshall Eriksen plans on proposing to his girlfriend Lily Aldrin, a kindergarten teacher.
"Slap Bet" is the ninth episode of the second season of the American sitcom How I Met Your Mother. The episode, originally titled "Robin Sparkles", first aired on November 20, 2006; the title was changed in order to keep the episode's ending a secret. The episode received highly positive reviews and features in several lists of the best How I Met Your Mother episodes. The episode led to two recurring jokes and storylines in the show: "Robin Sparkles", Robin's teenage pop star career, and the Slap Bet, in which Marshall slaps Barney at various points throughout the series.
"Sandcastles in the Sand" is the 16th episode in the third season of the television series How I Met Your Mother and 60th overall. It originally aired on April 21, 2008.
The first season of How I Met Your Mother, an American sitcom created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, premiered on CBS in the United States on September 19, 2005, and concluded on May 15, 2006. The season was directed by Pamela Fryman and produced by Bays & Thomas Productions and 20th Century Fox Television. It consists of 22 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length.
The fourth season of the American television comedy series How I Met Your Mother premiered on September 22, 2008 and concluded on May 18, 2009. It consisted of 24 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. CBS broadcast the fourth season on Monday nights at 8:30 pm in the United States. The complete fourth season was released on Region 1 DVD on September 29, 2009. In the United Kingdom it aired on E4.
"Let's Go to the Mall" is a song written by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for the CBS television series How I Met Your Mother. The song was performed by Canadian actress Cobie Smulders in the role of Robin Scherbatsky, who has a secret past of being a teenage Canadian pop star and adopted the stage name Robin Sparkles. Thomas and Bays originally came up with the idea and spent weeks developing the story with writer Kourtney Kang. The song was first featured in the form of a faux music video in the episode "Slap Bet" that aired on November 20, 2006, before the song was digitally released as a single on September 4, 2007. The track later appeared on the soundtrack album How I Met Your Music (2012).
The ninth and final season of How I Met Your Mother, an American sitcom created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, premiered on CBS on September 23, 2013, with two episodes, and concluded on March 31, 2014. The show was renewed for the final season on December 21, 2012, after cast member Jason Segel changed his decision to leave the show after Season 8. Cristin Milioti, who was revealed as "The Mother" in the Season 8 finale, was promoted to a series regular, the only time How I Met Your Mother added a new regular cast member. Season 9 consists of 24 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length.
"P.S. I Love You" is the 15th episode of the eighth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 175th episode overall.
"Vesuvius" is the nineteenth episode of the ninth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 203rd episode overall. The episode features Ted in 2024, telling the Mother about the day of Robin and Barney's wedding. The final scene prompted some to think that the Mother was dead; this was proven correct in the series finale, "Last Forever".
"Last Forever" is the series finale of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. The episode serves as the 23rd and 24th episodes of season nine, and the 207th and 208th episodes overall; the episode's two parts are classified as two separate episodes. It aired on March 31, 2014.
How I Met Your Music is the name of two albums composed of songs from the CBS television series How I Met Your Mother, the first of which was released hours before the Season 8 premiere. It features 20 songs that had appeared in the first seven seasons of the show and was released only digitally, originally through iTunes. A second iteration, titled How I Met Your Music: Deluxe album, was released a year later. It contains an entirely different play list. Many critics have said that the albums reflect the series' consistently effective use of music.
"Sandcastles in the Sand" is a song written by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for the CBS television series How I Met Your Mother. The song was performed by Canadian actress Cobie Smulders in the role of Robin Scherbatsky, who has a secret past as a teenage Canadian pop star under the stage name Robin Sparkles. A follow-up to "Let's Go to the Mall" (2006), "Sandcastles in the Sand" was inspired by several 1980s pop ballads. The song was made available for streaming on April 15, 2008, before it appeared in an episode of the same name that aired on April 21. It was released as a single on April 23, and appeared on the soundtrack album How I Met Your Music (2012).
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)Last year we had her dark moment, her Alanis Morissette video. So much of it you couldn't see. But we did silk nightgowns that were very Kurt Cobain-ish -- ripped-up leggings, motorcycle Doc Martens, slip dresses and lacy nightgowns from vintage stores.