Bathroom Entourage

"Bathroom Entourage"
Single by Romo from the album POPSTAR 2: Belle After Death
Released	May 10, 2010
Format	CD single Digital download
Recorded	2009
Genre	Electropop
Length	3:27
Label	Ensemble
Writer	Jenna Romo
Producer	Jenna Romo Andre Cassenove
Chart position	#4 (Urapopstar Singles Chart) #14 (Urapopstar Airplay 40)
Certification	Gold
Additional artwork
UK CD2
Romo chronology
"Game Over" (2010) "Bathroom Entourage" (2010) "Music From Mars" (2010)

"Bathroom Entourage" is the third single from Romo's third studio album POPSTAR 2: Belle After Death, scheduled to be commercially released on May 10, 2010. The song was written by Romo and is one of three songs on the album co-produced by Romo and Andre Cassenove of Indigo Peak. "Bathroom Entourage" is a sequel to "Nocturnal Emission" from the previous POPSTAR album; both songs deal with intense partying, drug use and initiating sexual relationships.

"Bathroom Entourage" is the first song on the album written and performed from Hannah's point of view; to portray Hannah, Romo sings in a higher pitch than usual, channeling early Britney Spears.

Romo recorded an alternate version of the song for the deluxe edition of POPSTAR 2, adding a male perspective. The new version is a duet with Logan Cross.

Background

Having been marketed as a substitution for Belle Ball by her executives, Romo's aim for creating the Hannah alter ego was to "know no boundaries", and as such, decided to make her even more risque than Belle despite her age.

The term "bathroom entourage" was created by Romo herself to describe a large gathering of women in a public restroom, usually to stand around and chat. In the song, 16-year-old Hannah and her friends use fake IDs to gain entry to a 21+ nightclub, drinking and spending time in the bathroom shooting coke and engaging in lesbian sex acts. Hannah then makes her way to the floor to pick up a boy who also got in with a fake ID; the two are thrown out when security finds out they're underage, and they decide instead of going to another club they'll to go back to her place and have sex. This leads into the events of the following track, "Dirty Vinyl".

Pop culture references

The second verse begins, "You can fit more powder in my nose than in Elice Claire", a reference to Claire's "cokenose" nickname.

The closing outro, "I'll pass out in London and wake up in Cardiff", was inspired by a quote from Katy Perry about the meaning of her song "Waking Up In Vegas": "Vegas gives me that 'what the fuck' feeling. It's really close to LA so one night you could be having a beer with your friends and, when you wake up, you're in Vegas."

Reception

"Bathroom Entourage" received positive to mixed reviews. Allmusic referred to the song as "a satisfying dancefloor romp that takes us into Romo's wild world of ladies' restroom antics". BBC Radio 1 DJ Reggie Yates called it "absolutely massive" and that it's "the song of Romo's career". Other reviews were not as kind, noting that the song's theme and arrangement were too similar to "Nocturnal Emission" on the first POPSTAR album, and did nothing to improve on it except "add greater shock value".

Track listings

CD1

1. Bathroom Entourage (album version)
2. Bathroom Entourage (radio remix)
3. Bathroom Entourage (alternate version with Logan Cross)
4. Alcohol

CD2

1. Bathroom Entourage (Alesha's Everyone Nose Remix)
2. Bathroom Entourage (Darling Violetta's Glory Hole Dub)
3. Bathroom Entourage (Butterscotch's Coke Head Mix)
4. Bathroom Entourage (Ellen's Dirty 'n' Orgasmic Mix)
5. Bathroom Entourage (Moodring's Cubicle Mix)
6. Bathrooms & Dollars (Romo vs. Alesha & Putanovska's Diamonds & Dollars)
7. Bathroom Entourage (Quickie In The Stalls Mix)
8. Bathroom Entourage (Pat's Don't Slip on the Piss Mix)
9. Bathroom Entourage (Oh I'd Leave It A While Before You Go In There Mix)

Promotion

Romo began full-time promotion for the single on April 5, 2010. Her promotional tour included a group of dancers to form a "bathroom entourage".

During one of the first shows of her promo tour, she announced to the crowd that Alicia Jones was "pop music's greatest monster", adding fuel to intense fire against her in the wake of a viral campaign ripping on the cryptic iamwhoamiami campaign. Romo's remarks drew a mostly positive reception, but some boos were audible, to which Romo responded, "Why the fuck are you here right now? ... You have absolutely no reason to be here if you are a fan of Alicia Jones." Those remarks drew overwhelming applause and several standing ovations.

Romo was criticized for her unusual facial expressions in photoshoots, as well as for her outrageous demands of a teleprompter during her live performances. Reports that Romo was planning to retire in the coming months resulted in strongly supportive feedback urging her to stay in the business.

On April 28, 2010, a tabloid leaked information that China had an intimate relationship with her masseuse, including a photo sold to the media by Romo's personal assistant after he and Romo walked in on them by accident. The following day, China's management branded the act as "sabotage", believing Romo sought to humiliate China for not devoting attention to their friendship because of her work schedule and her relationship with Alexei Monaghan from Phoenix Rising. Romo claimed the reports were false and admitted she had no knowledge her assistant took pictures. The assistant was fired upon Romo discovering that he was set up by Paulo Araujo as an act of revenge.

Music video

Filming for the song's music video began April 11, 2010 and it was officially premiered May 6, 2010. Like the videos for "Bait & Switch" and "Hell Is A Discotheque", it featured Romo portraying POPSTAR 2 protagonist Hannah.

The video takes place in a nightclub for London's elite, directly inspired by legendary New York City discotheque Studio 54. Though it mostly follows the plot of the song, several scenes of dialogue pay homage to the 1998 cult film The Last Days Of Disco, including Hannah and her boyfriend's philosophical conversation about the Disney movie The Princess & The Frog, a reference to the main characters' discussion of romance as related to Lady & The Tramp. The video's premise, much like the film, involves Hannah as she is accompanied by a woman and a man (apparently mirroring the characters played by Chloe Sevigny and Mackenzie Astin). Cutaway scenes show Hannah in the bathroom with a group of girls acting as her entourage.

In a cameo appearance by Elice Claire, who is name-checked in the song's second verse, she jokingly says that her doctor told her to quit using cocaine and in an effort to keep her "Cokenose" nickname she spent weeks snorting Coca-Cola.

Chart performance

"Bathroom Entourage" debuted at #4 on May 16, 2010, becoming her lowest charting single to date. It sold a total of 202,759 copies in its chart run, becoming her lowest seller to date as well.

Romo said the charting was a wake up call that the "fake popstar" concept of her previous two albums was getting old. She later said the reason for the single's failure was that she neglected to appeal outside of her core base.

External links

Lyrics