All Pink Everything

"All Pink Everything"
Single by Curriculum
Released	21 October 2013
Format	CD single Digital download
Recorded	spring 2013
Genre	Indie pop Alternative pop Contemporary R&B Soul pop
Length	4:12
Label	Blacklight
Writer(s)	Phillip Mandelbaum
Producer	Shawn Middlesbrough Dana Breckenridge (additional)
Certification	Platinum (URAPS)
Curriculum singles chronology
"Honeymoon Anthem" (2013) "All Pink Everything" (2013) "Guess WHO" (2013)

"All Pink Everything" is a song by American indie pop band Curriculum. Written solely by band member Phillip Mandelbaum, the song was the band's first to not be co-written by the other members. The song was produced by Shawn Middlesbrough, featuring additional production from Dana Breckenridge, giving him his first ever production credit (though sometimes it is Breckenridge, not Middlesbrough, who is credited solely as producer.) It would be one of the last songs Middlesbrough produced for the group before he began to focus on his own career as a part of Cerise + Victor. The song was originally meant to be a solo release by Mandelbaum, known in Asia as Phil M, and as a follow-up to his debut solo single "Your Love's A Drug" (2013). Released via Blacklight Records on 21 October 2013 worldwide, the song was considered to be the lead single of their The Chess Club project before it was cancelled.

"All Pink Everything" initially garnered negative reviews for its lyrical content, which talks about a person who is so obsessed with the color pink that he has all of luxury belongings entirely in the color. With its production praised, however, the song started to gain acceptance and more positive feedback after the band focused the promotion of the single around Breast Cancer Awareness month, since it would be released in October. The band also publicly declared that they were donating all of their royalties made from the single to various breast cancer awareness and research charities.

Despite being critically panned, the single was very successful commercially, going on to be considered a surprise hit. In the UK, the single debuted and peak at #2 for two consecutive weeks on the UK Singles Chart. The single also reached the top five on the UK digital and airplay charts. Internationally, the single also performed including in the United States where it peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 while also gaining attention for surprisingly peaking at #1 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart.

"All Pink Everything" released an accompanying music video which features the band enjoying the luxury life with their pink material objects. The video received attention (and some criticisms) for being camp and for a scene were Mandelbaum is shown "twerking" on all fours in pink paint.

Background

"All Pink Everything" was written and recorded by band member Phillip Mandelbaum for his solo career in Asia. Meant to be a follow up to his debut solo single "Your Love's A Drug", which underperformed internationally, Mandelbaum gave up "All Pink Everything" after he was "suspended" by his South Korean record label and dropped by his Japanese record label (before being re-signed to them and taken off of suspension from his South Korean label both two months later) and also when the song leaked online in spring 2013 and got negative feedback from critics and the public. Mandelbaum decided to hand over "All Pink Everything" to his bandmates and he re-recorded the song with them in summer 2013, though there was some resistance from his bandmates in recording the song since they too were not so fond of it either.

"All Pink Everything" was meant to be the lead single from what would have been the band's first mixtape The Chess Club which was to be given away from free via online in November 2013. Days after "All Pink Everything" was released and days before the mixtape was to be released, the band announced that their label Blacklight Records decided to withhold it and later release it commercially as a rarities album or even market it as the band's third album "by a technicality". The band did nothing to combat their label's decision. The Chess Club project was later cancelled though some tracks were later salvaged for their EP Flunking Out. "All Pink Everything" does not appear on the EP.

Writing, composition, and recording

Phillip Mandelbaum wrote "All Pink Everything" solely by himself, making it the first song recorded by Curriculum to not be co-written by the other members of the band. Mandelbaum was inspired to write the song because of his fondness and love for the color pink. Indeed, lyrically, the song talks about a person who loves pink so much that they have all of their luxury belongings entirely in the color.

Mandelbaum's solo version was initially produced by Shawn Middlesbrough solely but after the band re-recorded the song, member Dana Breckenridge added additional production to Middlesbrough's original demo. The song was Breckenridge's first attempt at producing (and he would later go on to produce the band's upcoming sophomore album Sophomore after Middlesbrough left to focus on his career as apart of Cerise + Victor.)

"All Pink Everything" is an alternative/indie pop song with strong hints of contemporary R&B and soul pop, causing the band to essentially experiment with a new sound that they otherwise had never done before. It has a hip-hop vibe to it when the vocals are sung in a rhythmic type of pattern. The song begins with a crowd of screaming girls before the music begins and Phillip chants and eventually raps the first part of the verse. Phillip and Gregory Preston harmonizes on parts of the songs, mainly in the verses but Gregory Preston's vocals are mostly dominate in the song. All of the members sing the song's chorus.

While recording the song, the band used Mandelbaum's original solo version as a reference on how the song should sound.

Promotion

The band decided to release "All Pink Everything" in October 2013, in accordance with Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which is known for having incorporating pink as its official color, mainly because it uses the pink ribbon as its symbol. The band decided to center its promotion of the song around the color pink while also acknowledging the importance of breast cancer research, awareness, and prevention.

The band announce earlier during the single's promotion that they would give 100% of their royalties made from the single to various breast cancer awareness and research charities.

Release

"All Pink Everything" was released worldwide on 21 October 2013 on CD single and digital download. The song premiered on 11 September 2013.

Critical reaction

Critics, fans, and the general public initially gave the song mixed to negative reviews for its lyrical and thematic content, in which the song was called "childish", "foolish", and "too girly for a bunch of nearly grown men to be singing". Acclaim was, however, directed to other aspects of the song such as its production, in which the band received praise for experimenting with new sounds and genres.

Commercial performance

In the UK, the single surprisingly debuted and peaked at #2 on the UK Singles Chart and staying there for two consecutive weeks. The single sold 66,034 copies in its first week and sold 74,421 copies in its second week. To date, the single has sold 478,330 copies in the UK and has been certified Platinum by the Urapopstar Recording Association Phonographic Society (URAPS).

The single also peaked at #2 on the UK Digital Chart and #5 on the UK Top 40 Airplay chart.

Internationally, "All Pink Everything" was also successful. It garnered attention when it debuted at #4 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and eventually peaked at #1 there, though it failed to appear on the main Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Many people expressed surprise at the song's appearance on the chart since it was being sung by an indie pop band. The single surprisingly reached #2 on Billboard Hot 100 and has become their fourth #1 single on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart. In Canada, on the Canadian Hot 100, the single has surprisingly debuted and peaked at #2, becoming their highest charting single there and becoming their fourth #1 on the Canadian Alternative chart. The single was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.

The single also became their second #1 in Australia and New Zealand. It also peaked at #2 in Ireland and #3 in Germany, becoming their highest charting single in the latter. The single also reached #2 in the Netherlands, where it was certified Platinum.

Music video

Background and concept

The music video to "All Pink Everything" was shot in Los Angeles, California during late summer 2013. The pink mansion that Phillip would later walk out of had to be digitally colored pink in post-production. Most of the luxury objects used in the video (such as a peony pink Prada tote bag, a raspberry pink suede soft stirrup Gucci bag, and matching pink Gucci shoes among other items for example) were authentic and custom-made, though some last minute alterations had to be made to some of them so they could fit in with theme of the video. The expensive and fancy pink car seen throughout the video was given to Mandelbaum by his father who bought it for him a day before the video's shoot.

The concept of the video, according to the band, was to incorporate "as much pink as possible". Another concept of the video was to appreciate "life in a pink world" or "living in the pink-colored high life".

Synopsis

The video opens with Mandelbaum walking down the front steps of his pink mansion (the steps are also pink) as he is greeted randomly by a bunch of Korean college-aged girls who are dressed entirely in pink, screaming for him excitedly. Mandelbaum gets in his expensive car (and as he turns on the car radio, the music in the video starts) and he drives off smiling.

Along the way, he picks up Olivier, van Cleef, and Breckenridge, who are all also dress entirely in pink, in his car. The boys go on a shopping spree at an upscale luxury pink-color store and later go to a pink-themed club where they enjoy and party the rest of the day and night away.

Intercut are performance scenes of Olivier singing and Mandelbaum doing a complicated choreography with dancers in front of the same expensive pink car used throughout the video with doors open and the headlights on. In another cutaway scene, Mandelbaum is seen on all fours aggressively "twerking" in pink paint, making it splash with every twerk-related movement he makes.

Reception

Critics, fans, and the general public gave the video mixed to negative reviews, citing that the video had indeed "too much pink" (in which the band replied that the was the point of the video in the first place). The video received a lot of attention for Mandelbaum twerking in pink paint.

The video has been netted over 100,000,000 views, making it their most viewed video to date on YouTube and Vevo.

Live performances

The band performed the song on the first day of Breast Cancer Awareness Month (1 October) on the American live breakfast show Good Morning America. Performed in front a live audience, a heavy pink light was shown all throughout the stage, giving the impression that everything was indeed pink. With the band dressed in dress shirts and suits, the performance garnered (very) minor controversy when people pointed out that, though all of the members would be singing live (which is a first for them), de facto lead singer Olivier kept singing louder than them to which it was speculated that his microphone was turned up louder or he wanted to out-perform his members (though he sings the majority of the song anyway). Olivier denied such assumptions and stated he just "loves to belt" out songs and that he is "very loud" when compared to the rest of the band.

Formats and track listing

• Digital download

1. "All Pink Everything"
2. "Geek Like Me In Pink"

• CD single

1. "All Pink Everything"
2. "Geek Like Me In Pink"
3. "Geek In The Pink"
4. "Geek Like Me"
5. "All Pink Everything" (Ghettotabulous Urban Radio Edit)

• Remixes EP

1. "All Pink Everything" (Ghettotabulous Urban Radio Edit)
2. "All Pink Everything" (Ghetto Pink Club Edit)
3. "All Pink Everything" (Birdy Nam Nam Remix)
4. "All Pink Everything" (Nicky Romero Remix)
5. "All Pink Everything" (Pink Cotton Candy Extended Mix)

Credits and personnel

Locations

• Recorded and mixed at various studios in New York City, New York, United States.

Personnel

• Songwriting - Phillip Mandelbaum
• Production - Shawn Middlesbrough, Dana Breckenridge (additional)
• Instrumentation - Gregory Preston Olivier, Phillip Mandelbaum, and Wyatt van Cleef
• Programming - Dana Breckenridge

Charts

Chart (2013)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart (UOCC)	2
UK Digital Chart (UOCC)	2
UK Top 40 Airplay Chart (UOCC)	5
Australia (ARIA)	1
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)	2
Canada (Canada Alternative Chart)	1
Germany (Media Control AG)	3
Ireland (IRMA)	2
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)	2
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)	1
Scotland (UOCC Lew)	2
US Billboard Hot 100	2
US Alternative Songs (Billboard)	1
US Bubbling Under Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)	1

Certifications

Region	Certification	Sales
United Kingdom (URAPS)	Platinum	478,330
United States (RIAA)	Gold	500,000+
The Netherlands (NVPI)	Platinum	30,000+

Release history

Country	Date	Format	Label
Worldwide	21 October 2013	CD single (one track) Digital download	Blacklight Records
	28 October 2013	CD single (multi-track) Remixes EP