Crush (David Archuleta song)

"Crush"
Single by David Archuleta
from the album David Archuleta
Released	August 12, 2008 (2008-08-12) (See release history)
Format	CD single, digital download
Recorded	2008
Genre	Pop
Length	3:33
Label	Jive
Writer(s)	Jess Cates, David Hodges, Emanuel Kiriakou
Producer	Emanuel Kiriakou
David Archuleta singles chronology
"Crush" (2008) "Angels" (2008)
Alternative cover UK Single Cover

"Crush" is the first single by American Idol season seven runner-up David Archuleta. It was first released to radio stations via New York City's radio station Z100 on August 1, 2008, and commercially in the United States on August 12, 2008, through digital distribution. "Crush" was produced by Emanuel Kiriakou and co-written by Kiriakou, Jess Cates and Dave Hodges.^[1]

The song was recorded for his self-titled first album, which was released on November 11, 2008.

Release history

Country	Release Date
United States	August 12, 2008 (2008-08-12)
United Kingdom	February 23, 2009 (2009-02-23)

Reception

"Crush" was met with positive reviews by many critics.

Chuck Taylor of Billboard praised it for being a suitable match for Archuleta, citing it as a "hummable, age-appropriate midtempo pop ditty for the 17-year-old, showcasing his fine mass-appeal vocal stylings with creamy harmonies and some nice falsetto effects." He also predicted chart success for the song, saying "'Crush' is likely to put its money where its title is on the charts."^[2]

Michael Slezak of Entertainment Weekly called the song "surprisingly good!" as well as "hip and contemporary." He stated, "David adroitly walks the line between giving his core fans their fill of vocal runs while showing enough restraint that he won't automatically alienate non-Idol-loving listeners."^[3]

Blender Magazine also praised the song, giving it three and a half out of five stars and claiming to have "just listened to the thing six times in a row and we're not terribly angry about spin seven." They also liked that the song seemed perfectly crafted for radio, saying, "Songs like "Crush" are great because they sound as if the radio immaculately conceived them."^[4]

Ken Barnes of USA Today liked the "effortless glides into falsetto and some rousing moments in the bridge and chorus", but also said it "tends to plod", and "could become pretty tedious with repetition."^[5]

Music video

The music video was directed by Declan Whitebloom. The music video was first leaked on September 7, 2008, through AOL, initially restricted to Canada and then released on September 16, 2008, on iTunes. The video now has over 30 million hits on YouTube.

It consists of Archuleta on a vacation trying to get the attention of a girl (played by Hagood Coxe) on whom he apparently has a crush. At the beginning, several teens go swimming in the lake near their summer house, with one of the guys flirting with the girl in the water. After they have finished swimming, the guy runs off, while Archuleta stays behind to help the girl out of the lake. The group is also shown in a cabin playing a game involving post its, while Archuleta is also shown playing his guitar in the cabin. Another scene shows the group by a campfire with several of them paired off into couples. At the end, Archuleta goes out on the deck of the cabin, and the girl follows him out, showing that she shares his feelings. Archuleta is also shown playing the piano near a lake throughout the video.

Chart performance

After being released digitally in the U.S., "Crush" entered at the Billboard Hot 100 at #2 in the week of August 21, 2008, with 166,000 copies sold in its first week.^[6] This was the highest entry for a song on the Hot 100 in 2008 and the highest for any song on this chart since Fall Out Boy's "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race", which also entered the chart at #2 in the chart week of February 3, 2007.^[7]

"Crush" entered the Billboard Pop 100, at #93 and peaked at #12; it also made the top ten on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. The song entered the Canadian Hot 100 at #7 in the same week.

The single has sold 1.9 million copies as of March 4, 2010 according to Nielsen SoundScan.^[8]

"Crush" was released digitally in UK on February 23, 2009, although no physical CD single was released.

"Crush" was awarded for Choice Music Love Song, in Teen Choice Awards 2009. It also received 'BMI Pop Award' in 2010.

Charts

Chart (2008)[9][10]	Peak position
Canadian Hot 100	7
Japan Hot 100 Singles[11]	37
Swedish Singles Chart	36
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	2
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks	6
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks	15
U.S. Billboard Pop Songs	13

Official versions

• Blast Off Productions Remix (6:16)
• Blast Off Productions Radio Remix (4:01)
• Mike Rizzo Funk Generation Club Mix (7:42)
• Mike Rizzo Funk Generation Radio Edit (3:56)
• Mike Rizzo Funk Generation Dub (6:54)
• Jason Nevins Extended Mix (6:49)
• Jason Nevins Radio Edit (4:07)
• Jason Nevins Extended Instrumental (6:49)
• Jason Nevins Radio Instrumental (4:06)
• Tonal Club Mix (5:18)
• Tonal Radio Edit (4:12)

Certifications and sales

Country	Certification	Sales
		Singles	Digital
United States	-		1,977,000[12]

In popular culture

• It was used in promotion for the third season of ABC Family's series Lincoln Heights.
• It was featured in episode 13, season 1 of 90210
• It was featured in a TV spot for the film New in Town
• The song is on the Radio Disney Jams, Vol. 11 album.
• The song was performed by Archuleta during Crush Night, February 7, 2009, on Nickelodeon.
• The song appears on Now That's What I Call Music! 30.

References

1. ^ "'Crush' at ASCAP". ASCAP. 2008. http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300&mode=results&searchstr=333556719&search_in=i&search_type=exact&search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v&results_pp=30&start=1. Retrieved 2008-08-01. 
2. ^ "Crush review.". Billboard. 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-08-22. http://web.archive.org/web/20080822112930/http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/content_display/reviews/singles/e3i334de7572cef8d49f3db1d1668e7badf. Retrieved 2008-08-15. 
3. ^ "David Archuleta's 'Crush' is surprisingly good!". Entertainment Weekly. 2008. http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008/08/david-archuleta.html. Retrieved 2008-08-12. 
4. ^ "We Really Want to Hate David Archuleta's New Single". Blender Magazine. 2008. http://www.blender.com/Listen-We-Really-Want-to-Hate-David-Archuletas-New-Single/Blender-Blog/blogs/1168/39631.aspx. Retrieved 2008-08-12. 
5. ^ "Archie out to 'Crush' competition". USA Today. 2008. http://blogs.usatoday.com/idolchatter/. Retrieved 2008-08-12. 
6. ^ "Rihanna Fends Off Archuleta Atop Hot 100". Billboard. 2008. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/search/google/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003841406. Retrieved 2008-08-21. 
7. ^ "Chart Beat: David Archuleta, Rihanna, Brandy and Monica, Journey, Isaac Hayes". Billboard. 2008. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/search/google/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003841437. Retrieved 2008-08-21. 
8. ^ Mansfield, Brian (March 4, 2010). "Bonus numbers! Kelly Clarkson, Kris Allen, Allison Iraheta, more!". USA Today. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/idolchatter/post/2010/03/bonus-numbers-kelly-clarkson-kris-allen-more/1. Retrieved 2010-03-04. 
9. ^ "David Archuleta - Crush: Billboard Magazine". Billboard. 2008. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/searchResult.jsp?exp=y&Ne=4&inert=25&Ntt=crush+%22david+archuleta%22&Ntk=Keyword&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&nor=10&an=bbcom&N=37&Ns=FORMATTED_DATE. Retrieved 2008-11-18. ^{[dead link]}
10. ^ "David Archuleta - Crush: αCharts". αCharts. 2008. http://acharts.us/song/37243. Retrieved 2008-11-10. 
11. ^ March 6, 2009 Billboard Issue.
12. ^ Idol Chatter 01-19-2011