Best Damn Night

"Best Damn Night" is the eighth single from British-born singer-songwriter Candi. Regarded as the singer's comeback single, the dance-pop song was written by Candi, and was released alongside her sophmore album, "The Lighthouse". The single is about Candi enjoying herself on a night out, however it is noted for it's clever word play. It has been well recieved by critics. The single was released in the United Kingdom on 14 January 2013 and charted at #1 on the charts and was Candi's first single since "That's Hot" (two years earlier) to chart at #1 on the singles, download and airplay chart.

Background
Details of Candi's comeback single were first announced on 16 October 2012, when she appeared on "The Late Late Show" and revealed that her next single would be released in January. Her comeback was officially announced on 27 November 2012, and on 30 November the comeback single was revealed to be titled "Best Damn Night". The track was originally written around April/May 2011, whilst Candi had only really just begun her assault on the charts. Originally titled "Hardcore", the song's title was changed in 2012 due to Candi believing the title "Hardcore" sounded too sexual and misleading. The song was tweaked a little throughout 2011 and 2012, however it remained mostly the same. Upon the re-release of "First Signs Of Sunlight", "Harcore" was going to be released as the re-release's lead single, however in the end Candi decided it would be a stronger lead single for her second album, and thus she decided to use "Sailors Vs Mermaids" for the single instead. Candi always knew "Best Damn Night" was going to be an album's lead single, stating "the first time I heard it [Best Damn Night] I knew it was a sure-fire hit. I don't agree with songs about being in clubs, as I just think that's far too generic, and music was made to be pushed. So I made sure I used some clever lyrics, to set this apart from the rest. It's very instant and I'm hoping the fans love it too!"

The single's b-side is a track titled "Candi Land", which is the theme song to Candi's new cartoon, "CandiLand".

Release and reception
The song officially premiered on 25 December 2012 on Candi's official website, as a Christmas gift to her fans. The following day, the song recieved it's first ever radio play on Radio 1 on the Scott Mills show.

The song received mixed to positive reviews from music critics. Digital Spy music editor Robert Copsey gave the song three out of five stars, stating, "Naturally, she's decided to change tack; vamping up her sound to match her cheekier girl-next-door look for the LP's trailer single 'Best Damn Night'. 'Someone tell these people I ain't on the stage I'm on the floor, Because for some reason they're calling out for an encore,' she announces over a light 'n' bouncy disco-pop beat, before asking us 'I'm just here having a good time but if you really want more, Then I suggest you fasten your seatbelts because I do it hardcore'. It might sound generic, but thankfully Candi's gentle tones and clever lyrics make this quite a classy affair." Pip Ellwood of Entertainment Focus, rating the song four out of five stars, viewed it as "another gem that sits nicely next to Candi's previous singles but stands alone as a strong pop track", also calling it "an absolute corker". OddOne of Unreality Shout, however, gave the track one star only and noted that it "barely tries to set itself away from the aggregation of cheaply produced electropop/dance hits", further concluding, "From someone who achieved six Top 3 singles from her début, her futility and inability to advance from genres that ran bereft of character, fun and personality over a year ago suggest she and her team are quite clearly out of ideas."

Music video
The music video premiered on 05 January 2013 on MTV, where it aired every hour on the hour for the entire day.

The video begins with a city view at night, as a bright pink helicopter flies through the night sky. The intercom in the helicopter is shown, as a man's voice asks "Candi, are you ready to make your comeback?". Candi is shown in the back of the helicopter, as she looks up and smiles. "Oh, I'm ready" she replies and the screen fades out to black.

The helicopter is shown landing on a skyscraper's rooftop. Candi climbs out the helicopter and struts towards the exit door on the roof as people chase after her, doing her hair and make-up. Candi gets to the door and gestures for the people to leave her alone. She then walks through the door alone.

The song begins, and Candi seductively walks down the run-down staircase in a hot little dress. She sings the first verse in the staircase as she leans over the banister etc. Finally she reaches a door. She gives the camera a cheeky wink and opens the door, entering an enormous party with hundreds of people.

Candi walks through the crowd looking straight ahead and pushing people out of her way as she does so. People stop and watch her as she does. Once in the middle of the crowd, Candi gets out her pinkberry (the blackberry she designed last year, #ProductPlacement) and reads a text from "DJ" saying "Where R U?". She closes the phone and puts it back in her bag, as she makes her way towards the stage.

Candi gets on the stage and performs the chorus to the crowd, as everyone goes absolutely wild. As the crowd jump the floor begins to start to crack from the force. Candi notices and walks out of the door she came through. She walks into the next door she comes across and into a families living room, where she dances on their table where they were originally eating.

Candi then leads everyone outside, where a select group walk down the street behind her. Candi does her catwalk strut again. It wouldn't be a Candi video without a complicated dance routine, so once on the street - Candi and the party pals behind her start to perform some sexy dance routine. Suddenly the rain begins to pour down, and everyone evacuates as Candi is left dancing in the rain, which is pretty sexy. She finishes her dancing as the song comes to an end and notcies everyone around is gone. She walks slowly away as a car pulls up - and OMG it's Callum from Dante in the drivers seat! Candi smiles, and gets in the car ready for the best damn night to continue.

Track listing

 * CD1
 * 1) "Best Damn Night"
 * 2) "Candi Land"
 * 3) "Best Damn Night" (Chase Elite remix)


 * CD2
 * 1) "Best Damn Night"
 * 2) "Try"
 * 3) "Best Damn Night" (Instrumental)
 * 4) "Best Damn Night" (Music Video)


 * Digital Download
 * 1) Best Damn Night
 * 2) Best Damn Night (Dave Audé Remix)
 * 3) Best Damn Night (Billboard Remix)
 * 4) Candi Land (Untold Remix)
 * 5) Best Damn Night (Fred Falke Club Remix)
 * 6) Best Damn Night (Jason Nevins Dubstramental)

Performances
The first live performance of the song was on 31 December 2012, on ITV's "Happy New Year" show. She is also performed the song on Dancing On Ice, on 13 January 2013 and on the second series of The Uraps Factor (which she is a judge on) on 20 January 2013.

Cover Versions
The track was sung on week 3 of the second season of The Uraps Factor by girlgroup Kimono. Their cover of the track charted at #74 on the UK airplay chart.

Chart performance
Upon the singles release on 14 January 2013, it debuted at #1, beating new releases from Tommy Gunn, Jackson Bradshaw and Dakota Rain. it had first week sales of 91,884 copies.

For the Christmas week, the Download chart became a top 30 for one week only instead of a top 20, where "Best Damn Night" premiered at #28. The following week for the New Year's chart, it jumped 22 places to #6 before dropping to #7 the following week and then rising back to #6 and finally upon it's release, #1. It has also peaked at #1 on the airplay chart, making Candi one of only seven acts to achieve six or more airplay chart toppers. With "Best Damn Night" charting at #1 on the singles, download an airplay chart it became Candi's first single to achieve this since her debut, "That's Hot" two years prior. Also along with the album hitting #1 on the same week, this marked the first time Candi had been #1 on all four charts (singles, albums, download, airplay) on the same week.

Globally, "Best Damn Night" became Candi's most succesful single since her debut, "That's Hot" two years earlier. It charted at #1 on the majority of charts including Australia, Canada and Ireland as well as #2 in Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland. It also peaked at #3 on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Candi's highest charting US single, suprassing "That's Hot" which peaked at #4 in 2011.

Chart Run
TOTAL: 306,823
 * Week 1: #1 - 91,884
 * Week 2: #5 - 68,832
 * Week 3: #8 - 40,235
 * Week 4: #12 - 25,996
 * Week 5: #16 - 16,498
 * Week 6: #17 - 16,320
 * Week 7: #24 - 14,434
 * Week 8: #29 - 12,000
 * Week 9: #35 - 7,504
 * Week 10: #32 - 7,777
 * Week 11: #35 - 5,343