Sydney (song)

"Sydney" is a song written by Regina Harper and produced by Rick Nowels for her debut studio album "How Many Miles To Hollywood?" and serves as the third single taken from the album. The track was released on January 7th 2013 in the UK and January 8th 2013 in the USA.

The music video, directed by Chris Appelbaum (who previously directed Regina's video for "Your Own Reflection (Echo)"), premiered on December 8th 2012. On Sunday, January 13th 2013, the single charted at #2 on the Uraps singles charts. In the United States, it reached #87. This disappointing chart position was due to a severe lack of promotion in the country.

Song Information
Regina wrote the song alone in her home one night, when her then-boyfriend, Caymon, was on a promotional trip to Australia. Regina claims she "spun out of control" when she rang him and a woman answered the phone. "I got it into my head that he was cheating on me" said Regina "so I poured my heart and soul and... well... anger out into song! In a way, I'm glad it happened, because the song turned out to be amazing". For the record, Caymon wasn't cheating on Regina; it was his tour manager Melissa Hastings.

Composition
"Sydney" is considered an electro-rock song. The track uses heavy, electric guitars and drums but also incorporates electro music with the use of synthesizers. The album version was deemed "too much" to be sent to radio due to the heavy distortion in the song, especially the chorus. Fusion deemed the chorus to be too inaudible for a single release and sent the track back to Nowels to be given a radio edit. The radio edit of the track has much more toned down production, as well as giving the track a more "pop" feel to it. It also has a shorter intro and does not fade out at the end.

Critical Reception
Following the release of the album, Megan Hughes of Digital Spy commented, "we honestly didn't think Regina's album would be this amazing. But the best track by far is the storming "Sydney". The heavy-hitting electro-rock song made the hairs on the back of our necks stand up. The aggressiveness in Regina's voice sent shivers down or spines. This is one to listen to straight away when you buy the record". Cassie Davenport of NME considered the song to be "a bit messy and distorted. One may think that adds to the song, but I feel it simply takes away from it. It's way too much and makes the song sound like one piece of noise". Peter from Popjustice placed the track as "Song of the Day" during the week of the album release and cited that is was "The best electro/rock mash-up wannabe thing released since Miley Cyrus' "Robot". Well done".

Music Video
The music video was directed by Chris Appelbaum and premiered on Regina's official VEVO channel on December 8th 2012. It begins with footage of Regina walking through Sydney city at night time. The track hasn't begun yet and all that can be heard are her footsteps and the busy hum of the city. She walks down an alleyway and approaches a ladder. She climbs the ladder and makes it to the top of an abandoned building, where a group of people are waiting for her. They are all holding spray-cans and have rolls of green toilet tissue. Regina smirks and nods. The track begins to play. The majority of the video sees Regina, alongside her friends, vandalize the rooftop of the building by spraying graffiti on the walls and throwing luminous green toilet tissue everywhere as she mouths the words to the song. For the middle 8, shots of a young male having sex with an older woman are shown between the main scenes of the video. This is presumed to be the boy in the song she is singing about, who she accuses of cheating on her. These explicit scenes are not shown on television and thus the video has been flagged as 'inappropriate' on VEVO. As the song comes to an end, the police are shown to arrive at the scene. Regina and her friends quickly flee.

B-Side
Initially, it was announced that a brand new track titled "Creeper Man" would serve as the B-Side to the single. However, only days before the track's release, Regina's official newsletter informed fans that "Creeper Man" would no longer appear as the b-side to appear on CD2 as herself and the executives at Fusion Records felt that the track was too strong for b-side status. Instead, the new b-side was a cover of a song called "Goodbye to You", originally recorded by Michelle Branch in 2001. Regina said how she always loved the song and it felt right to release her cover of it to fans. Before signing off, she promised that fans would definitely hear "Creeper Man", most likely on her second studio album.

Tracklisting
Download
 * 1) Sydney (Radio Edit) &mdash; 3:08

CD1
 * 1) Sydney (Radio Edit) &mdash; 3:08
 * 2) Sydney (Live in Sydney, Australia) &mdash; 3:56

CD2
 * 1) Sydney (Radio Edit) &mdash; 3:08
 * 2) Sydney (Serotonin Thieves Mix) &mdash; 5:07
 * 3) Goodbye to You &mdash; 4:14

Remix EP
 * 1) Sydney (Radio Edit) &mdash; 3:08
 * 2) Sydney (Album Version) &mdash; 3:25
 * 3) Sydney (Fred Falke Club Mix) &mdash; 6:28
 * 4) Sydney (Fred Falke Radio Mix) &mdash; 3:39
 * 5) Syndey (Serotonin Thieves Mix) &mdash; 5:07
 * 6) Sydney (The Thin Red Man Remix) &mdash; 4:24