Piccadilly Circus

"Piccadilly Circus"
Single by Romo from the album Romo
Released	May 2, 2011
Format	CD single Digital download
Recorded	2010
Genre	Electropop, synthpunk
Length	6:26 (album version) 4:29 (single version)
Label	Saturdays
Writer	Jenna Romo
Producer	Jenna Romo
Chart position	#1 (Urapopstar Singles Chart) #2 (Urapopstar Downloads Chart) #16 (Urapopstar Airplay 40)
Certification	Gold
Additional artwork
UK CD2
Romo chronology
"Music From Mars" (2010) "Piccadilly Circus" (2011) "Pandora Kills" (2011)

"Piccadilly Circus" is the second single from Romo's fourth album, Romo. It was commercially released on May 2, 2011, marking the longest distance between the releases of the first and second singles from any of Romo's albums.

The song is a social critique, concerning the role of advertising and product placement in people's lives and its increasingly invasive presence in everyday life. Musically, "Piccadilly Circus" is recognizable for its pulsating drumbeat loop.

"Piccadilly Circus" reached #1 upon its release, becoming the eighth chart-topping single of Romo's career.

Background

Romo explained the title "Piccadilly Circus" was chosen because the London landmark is bombarded with wall-to-wall advertising. "Piccadilly Circus to us Brits is what Times Square is to the states, you walk down the street and you see all these huge neon signs showing corporate logos. And that's the attraction. Going to Piccadilly is no different than watching the Super Bowl only for the commercials. It's a spectacle."

In the artwork campaign for the single, Piccadilly Circus is depicted in altered photographs as a dark setting, and the music video depicts it as a dystopia where corporate logos are embedded on people's shirts, on street signs, and on the pavements. This, Romo says, is intended to demonstrate how she believes advertising is one of society's evils.

Composition

"Piccadilly Circus" was musically influenced by experimental synthpop group The Knife and drum-and-bass band Pendulum. The song features an abrasive electronic drumbeat loop throughout the song that increases during instrumental breaks and decreases during the verses.

The song is noted for its motif, opening the first four verses with "I ... went to Piccadilly Circus", and its heavy use of alliteration, such as in the line "Potent placebos pose puzzling pandemics". Romo used these literary devices to draw attention to the song without using hooks or choruses; she said the song was originally supposed to have a chorus, but could not come up with one that could seamlessly transition between verses and ultimately decided against including a chorus.

Near the end of the song, there is a sample of spoken-word dialogue from the first episode of the television series Mad Men, spoken by Jon Hamm's character Don Draper: "Advertising is based on one thing, happiness. And you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It's freedom from fear. It's a billboard on the side of the road that screams reassurance that whatever you are doing is okay. You are okay."

Lyrics

Romo has said the anti-corporate tone of the song was inspired by punk rock music. In the song, Piccadilly Circus is used in a derogatory fashion as a metaphor for the excessive advertising within entertainment mediums. The verses describe the advertisements the narrator encounters while listening to the radio, going to the movie theater, watching television, browsing the Internet, and walking down the street. She uses the word "flaunt" three times to exemplify what she sees as "shameless" displays of corporate promotion.

The fourth verse uses the metaphor "crying cyclops" to refer to the penis when it ejaculates. Despite the subtle nature of the reference, the lyric has caused controversy because it is left intact on the clean version of Romo (though it is bleeped out in the radio edit).

Reception

Upon its release, "Piccadilly Circus" received generally positive reviews from critics. The song is cited as one of the highlights from Romo.

Allmusic described the song as "totally un-Romo" because of the song's experimental musical backdrop, anti-corporate lyrics and the lack of a chorus. The review praised Romo for "throwing something out of left field" at a time where many musicians are afraid to take risks. BBC Music described it as "a synthpunk stomper", while Popmatters compared the song's unconventional motif and lack of chorus to Zager and Evans' "In The Year 2525".

The song has also received some negative responses, some critics deeming the song "an act of hypocrisy" because many of Romo's past hits such as "Schizo Pop" and "TITS-FM!" contained examples of product placement, as does "Piccadilly Circus" itself. Drowned In Sound's review of Romo acknowledged the message of the song is "contradictory", noting many songs in Romo's back catalog - and even Romo songs such as "The Devil's Icon" - demonstrate Romo's tendency to "drop brand names like she was tripped over while walking home from a day of luxury shopping in the West End".

A reviewer for the A.V. Club laughingly praised Romo's shout-out to the Internet browser Mozilla Firefox, remarking, "We agree with you, Jenna - Internet Explorer sucks."

Product placement

Ironically, while the song condemns product placement in every aspect of people's lives, the song itself contains several examples of product placement. The lyrics refer to Cadillac cars, tequila brand Patron, designer fashion lines Gucci and Jimmy Choo, Internet browser Mozilla Firefox, McDonald's (specifically Big Macs), Coca-Cola, and Budweiser.

Romo said in an interview the product placements were intentionally used for ironic effect.

In addition to the product placements, the song contains a couple of pop culture references. The line "Dancing popcorn bags and chocolate bars / Flaunt fatty refreshments to bring my mouth to water" is a reference to the animated short "Let's All Go To The Lobby", which is used as an advertisement before the feature presentation at a movie theater to promote concessions. Later, the line "Bar band brigades march in search of good tips / As they sing of the joys of a free credit score" references a series of advertisements for FreeCreditReport.com.

Track listings

CD1

1. Piccadilly Circus (album version)
2. Piccadilly Circus (radio edit)
3. Advertising Lullaby
4. Sister

CD2

1. Piccadilly Circus (rap remix featuring KENYA)
2. Piccadilly Circus (Phoenix Rising's Big Top Vocal Slam)
3. Piccadilly Circus (Alesha's Advertising Space Remix)
4. Picadilly Circus (MC Tenty's Congestion Charge-Up)
5. Piccadilly Circus (Paulo's Lions, Tigers and Cash Remix)
6. Piccadilly Circus (Tamika's Hai On Tha Tightrope Remix)
7. Piccadilly Circus (Ximena! Mix)

KENYA remix

On April 18, 2011, Saturdays Records serviced a remixed version of "Piccadilly Circus" to radio featuring a rap verse from KENYA replacing the "Mad Men" sample in the final instrumental break. The remix was commissioned by Saturdays Records executive who feared Romo's risky single choice would cause her to lose ground to more commercially accessible competition.

Romo was reluctant to record a remixed version of "Piccadilly Circus" for radio play, but changed her mind when she heard the verse KENYA recorded: "I've always had massive respect for Kenya, and this puts her up above another rung for me. I don't like releasing collaborative remixes of my songs just to get radio play or boosted sales but this was fierce. Super fierce, even. Take that, everybody else."

KENYA's verse builds on the song's theme that the presence of advertising is too invasive, dropping lines such as "I don't drop names, bitch, I kick ass and take them." She also asserts her dominance over today's pop musicians, asking them to "find your place below my rug". Her verse also contains an interpolation of Romo's own single "Schizo Pop".

Promotion

Romo performed "Piccadilly Circus" at the Urapopstar Awards 19 ceremony in February 2011, where she also presented an award with China. She later performed the song at the Urapopstar 10th Anniversary Chart Show.

Before full time promotion began, Romo announced she became a "born again Christian" and no longer has the desire to feud with her celebrity peers, but that quickly proved untrue when she began trying to divert attention away from a Twitter feud between Vanessa Flowers and Tiffany Amber. It was soon revealed that what Romo really meant when she said she was a born again Christian was that she was worshiping Alesha as her god.

In late March, Romo was kidnapped by viral video star Rebecca Black.

When ROUGE announced their comeback on March 27, Romo immediately restarted her rivalry against the group, making a counteroffer to Saturdays Records' $4 million offer to the group to return to music with an $8 million offer to break up. The stunt received universally negative reaction on the Internet, many saying that Romo's feud with ROUGE should be left in the past and the $8 million should instead be donated to the relief efforts in Japan following the tsunami that struck Tokyo earlier that month. Later during the promotion, when Kerri claimed Romo's feud towards them was because she hasn't gotten laid in a long time, Romo claimed Kerri's attitude was because "she has a loose pussy".

Rumors hit the Internet that China would leave Saturdays Records and step down from her co-management position. Romo then told Saturdays bosses she was interested in taking the position, but controversy ensued when the media quoted her as saying, "If you know me very well, my first act as label owner would be quite obvious." This quote implied that Romo is most interested in taking over the label so she could drop ROUGE and Taylor.

When actor Charlie Sheen's first show on his "My Violent Torpedo Of Truth" tour turned out to be a disaster, Romo decided to challenge him in a contest of "winning" by performing a one-off variety show at Brixton Academy, which she billed as "The Donkey Punch Of Brutal Honesty". Romo's show, which contained a mix of stand-up comedy and musical performances, received mixed reviews, but was not as coldly received as Sheen's opening night performance.

Performances

Romo performed "Piccadilly Circus" in a mashup with "Ghost Rider" by Suicide and "Fashion" by David Bowie in the 2020 livestream concert Feminist Christ's Revival (In The Name Of The Mother).

Music video

The video for "Piccadilly Circus" premiered on VEVO on April 14, 2011. Romo said the video for "Piccadilly Circus" is a satire of big budget music videos that display blatant product placement, such as Lady Gaga and Beyonce's "Telephone" and Britney Spears' "Hold It Against Me".

On the idea for the video, Romo said, "Remember the days where a music video was supposed to be an art form? Now you can't watch a video without seeing a fucking product shoved in your face. They're not just selling a song anymore, they have to hawk some shoddy wares on top of it. So even if the single bombs, at least the label and the artist will get some cash from advertising a fucking tablet computer." Romo's remarks have been compared to Katy Perry's criticism of product placement following the premiere of the aforementioned Britney Spears video.

Synopsis

The video opens as Romo satirizes one of the biggest cliches involving product placement in music videos by featuring the online dating site PlentyofFish.com. Romo is sitting next to a woman on a subway train who shows her a screenshot of PlentyofFish as she persuades her to use the website. Romo responds, "Lady Gaga, Kesha, Jason Derulo and Britney Spears already tried to convince me this site is awesome, and I didn't buy it." This references the fact that all four artists released music videos featuring product placement for PlentyofFish.com.

Romo steps off the subway and visits Piccadilly Circus. During her visit, her encounters parallel the lyrics to the song, as she passes by rappers peddling tourists on the street with CDs showing a picture of a Cadillac car while putting their liquor bottles and designer clothes on display, a street musician who checks his cell phone to find he received a text advertisement from his service provider, and two pop singers talking about their favorite TV shows during the first verse.

During the song's instrumental breaks, Romo is seen with an army of backing dancers, all of whom wear dresses with corporate logos embedded on them, dance in front of the neon signs outside Piccadilly Circus.

Following that, Romo visits a movie theater, where the concession stand is manned by a figure with a malfunctioning television for a head. When Romo faces the figure, the picture on the screen changes from static to the "Let's All Go To The Lobby" cartoon, and then to what is believed to be a movie trailer featuring scantily clad women brandishing guns. Romo buys a candy bar from the figure, only to throw it in his face.

Romo drops her cell phone before the start of the third verse, revealing a logo for a fictional company called "JJR" (the initials for "Jenna Jillian Romo"). When the verse begins, she faces a pitchman representing the fictional company who tries to sell her what the viewer is led to believe is a phone better than hers. As the pitch gets more and more aggressive, Romo pushes the man to the side and continues her trek, encountering a bar band called "The ComplimentaryCreditRating.com-ers" (its name a reference to FreeCreditReport.com and the band a reference to the pop rock jingles frequently featured in their advertisements). At the fourth verse, a pop-under banner appears at the bottom of the screen, not unlike the banner ads that show up at the beginning of YouTube videos, advertising "Live nude girls". This is followed by pop-up ads that suddenly appear advertising a live webcam site and male enhancement pills. At the line "Rogues become welcomed guests to my humble abode", another ad appears that parodies scareware, claiming the computer is infected with a virus. Before the verse ends, another banner takes up the entire screen, reading "WARNING! YOU WILL NEVER SEE YOUR PRECIOUS MUSIC VIDEO AGAIN UNLESS YOU BUY MY GODDAMN SPYWARE REMOVAL PROGRAM!"

Romo takes the subway back to her home in Manchester, once again encountering the woman who persuaded her to visit PlentyofFish.com. The woman tells her to look behind her, and she discovers a Volkswagen logo is embedded on the inside of the train. She tells Romo she thought she would like it because, "I read on your blog that you enjoy the smell of a new Volkswagen Beetle." Visibly displeased by the invasive product placement, Romo vows to make the woman's life worse (though she never specifies how so) and then gets off the subway and walks home, giving the middle finger to a McDonald's restaurant in the process. As she makes her way to a busy meeting spot, she finds every person, building, street sign, and even the pavement below her have some sort of corporate logo embedded on them. She runs away to escape the invasive presence of advertising in her life, but to symbolize the aggressive advertising has succeeded in their goal, Romo reveals her wallet is completely empty.

Reception

Upon the release of the video for "Piccadilly Circus", critics gave it mixed to positive reviews. BBC Music called it "a strikingly clever commentary on product placement", while Popjustice was slightly more critical, saying, "We didn't get it."

The video was featured on an episode of Canadian music channel MuchMusic's comedy series Video On Trial, where "jurors" playfully criticized the video for over-exaggerating product placements and depicting unrealistic situations.

Chart performance

"Piccadilly Circus" charted at #20 on the Urapopstar Downloads Chart ahead of its original intended release date, but fell off when the single was delayed. On the week before the single's physical release, "Piccadilly Circus" re-entered the chart at #7, and on its release week, it reached #2, trailing behind its closest competition, Syd Wolfe's "Diamond Skies". It also reached #16 on the Urapopstar Airplay 40, becoming her first top 20 airplay hit from the Romo era.

Upon its physical release, "Piccadilly Circus" debuted at #1 on the Urapopstar Top 40 Singles Chart with 80,294 copies sold in its first week. The single is Romo's eighth #1 of her career, tying Andrea Twain for seventh-most #1s of all time. Following up her #1 comeback single "Music From Mars", it also marks the first time Romo has released two successive #1 singles since her early career, when her first four singles all reached #1. The single sold 215,430 copies, enough to be certified gold, but became Romo's lowest selling #1 single to date.

Cover versions and tributes

• Indie band FERROXYL - whom some critics believed Romo ripped off on her new album - covered "Piccadilly Circus" on the Live Lounge in January 2011.
• URAPS Idol 12 finalist Arianna DiCorso covered "Piccadilly Circus" during URAPS Top 40 Hits week.
• The Kidz Bop Kids released a kid-friendly cover of "Piccadilly Circus" on Kidz Bop 20.
• The music video for Romo's follow-up single "Pandora Kills" features a Romo lookalike performing "Piccadilly Circus" as a street musician in Piccadilly Circus. In an ironic twist of fate, the singer is killed when one of the sign advertisements falls from the building and crushes her.

External links

Lyrics

Preceded by "British Bulldog" by Sienna Martinez

Urapopstar #1 Single May 8, 2011

Succeeded by "Tarotist" by Just Ginger