I Wanna Go

"I Wanna Go" is a song by American singer Britney Spears from her seventh studio album, Femme Fatale. It was written and produced by Max Martin and Shellback, with additional writing by Savan Kotecha. Spears first posted on her Twitter account a link to a clip of the song in February 2011, a month prior to the album's release. Following a poll on her official website, "I Wanna Go" was chosen as the third single of the album, and Jive Records released it on June 14, 2011.
"I Wanna Go" is a dance-pop and Hi-NRG song that features a heavy bassline and drum fills reminiscent of English rock band New Order. The pre-chorus has a whistled hook that received comparisons to the music of Bob Sinclar and Frankie Knuckles. The lyrics of "I Wanna Go" feature Spears singing about losing inhibitions. The song received favorable reviews from critics, some praised it for being effective and highlighted its hook, while others dismissed the processed vocals. The song was treated with different remixes, including a Bollywood mix with guest vocals by Sonu Nigam and another one by DJ Frank E and Alex Dreamz.
After the release of Femme Fatale, "I Wanna Go" charted due to digital sales in the upper end of the US Billboard Hot 100 and the Canadian Hot 100, and also topped the South Korean International chart. Following its release as a single, the song reached the top ten in several music markets, including Canada, France, Finland and the United States. In the United States, "I Wanna Go" made Femme Fatale the first album by Spears to have three top ten singles and with Spears' best radio airplay performance.
An accompanying music video for the song, directed by Chris Marrs Piliero, premiered on June 22, 2011. It depicts Spears daydreaming at a press conference about a series of events, including being chased by paparazzi cyborgs and being rescued by actor Guillermo Díaz. Piliero described the video as "a ridiculous, exaggerated rumor about her life and career". The video references the films Half Baked, Crossroads, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Michael Jackson's Thriller. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised its fun spirit. Spears has performed "I Wanna Go" on her Femme Fatale Tour and during her Las Vegas residency show Britney: Piece of Me.

Background and artwork

"I Wanna Go" was written and produced by Max Martin and Shellback, with additional writing by Savan Kotecha. The song was written in 2009 and registered on Broadcast Music Incorporated under the legal title "I I I Wanna Go O O". On February 22, 2011, Spears posted on her Twitter account a link to a 29-second clip of the song, while calling Martin "amazing". In an interview with Rolling Stone, Spears stated that the song's signature whistle gets her "every time hears it", adding that Martin's melodies are "Incredible ... Who would have thought of that? There is nobody I feel more comfortable collaborating with in the studio." Kotecha told Digital Spy in May 2011 that the song was likely a contender for third single due to positive reaction. On May 11, 2011, a poll was launched on Britney.com in which fans could choose the third single of the album. Two days later, "I Wanna Go" was officially announced as the third single from Femme Fatale by Jive Records through a press release after winning the poll. The cover art was revealed on June 6, 2011, and featured Spears on set of the music video, wearing colored hair extensions and crop top with a skeletal Mickey Mouse by designer Mila Fargo.

Composition

"I Wanna Go" is a dance-pop and hi-NRG song, which features a heavy bassline and drum fills; the latter are reminiscent of English band New Order's song "Blue Monday". Spears squeals and chuckles throughout the song, and her vocals are processed. In the pre-chorus, she draws out the "e"'s in lines such as "Shame on me / To need release / Uncontrollably." The section also has a whistled hook, which was compared by Rich Juzwiak of The Village Voice to the music of French recording artist Bob Sinclar and American recording artist Frankie Knuckles. In the chorus, Spears stutters "I-I-I wanna go-o-o/All the wa-a-ay/ Taking out my freak tonight". Ryan Brockington of the New York Post compared "I Wanna Go" to the music of her fifth studio album Blackout. In the lyrics, Spears sings about losing inhibitions, as evident in lines such as "I-I-I wanna sho-o-ow/All the dir-ir-irt/I got running through my mind.", while playfully apologizing for her need for sexual release. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times stated that she sings about "the scrum that surrounds her" in "Lately people got me all tied up / There's a countdown waiting for me to erupt". According to the sheet music published by EMI Music Publishing, "I Wanna Go" is written in the key of D minor, with an electropop beat infused metronome of 130 beats per minute. Spears' vocals range from the low note of D₃ to the high note of D₅.

Critical reception

"I Wanna Go" received generally favorable reviews from music critics. A reviewer for Samesame.com.au called "I Wanna Go" Spears' best song since "Toxic", and added that "I’d go so far as to say that it is probably the best song that she has ever recorded. How the decision was made that 'Hold It Against Me' would be a better first single over this is baffling". Parker Bruce of the Washington Square News stated that the song functions as "a sort of formal declaration and mission statement" for Femme Fatale, saying that "It is not an innovative song, but it is fantastically effective and endlessly enticing with its liberating, toss-your-cares-away, dance-like-a-complete–and-utter-fool cathartic chorus, repeated words and typically saucy Britney lyrics". The Daily Collegian writer Hannah Rishel said "I Wanna Go" would have been "another good lead single", while The Washington Timess Andrew Leahey said that along with "Till the World Ends", they are "bass-heavy tributes to club culture."
Robert Copsey of Digital Spy called it "anthemic" and noted the song would become a future single. Rich Juzwiak of The Village Voice called "I Wanna Go" the highlight of the album, and said "get ready for to score your summer". However, Juzwiak went on to note that Spears' vocals are heavily manipulated to maximize the chorus's potential, even though "the joy she sings about is palpable". The Chicago Sun-Times journalist also noted that the singer's vocals were processed to the point "these songs could be sung by anyone", exemplifying I Wanna Go' tweaks her up so high she could be Jackie Evancho". Andy Gill of The Independent also criticized the singer's vocals on Femme Fatale, stating that they sounded more programmed than natural, with "even the little whistling hook in 'I Wanna Go' has a synthetic character about it".
Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine noted that "If not for its infectious pre-chorus whistle, 'I Wanna Go' would be just another song off the Max Martin assembly line". The Guardian contributor Alexis Petridis gave the song a negative review, and said that although most of tracks of the album are "genuinely exciting there's certainly some unremarkable stuff on offer, notably 'Seal It With a Kiss' and 'I Wanna Go'". Evan Sawdey of PopMatters also noted that "I Wanna Go" is the point of the album in which "things stop being fun and start becoming intensely repetitious", criticizing specifically " utterly stupid set of syllables repeated ad nauseam for no reason whatsoever? the 'ably' part of 'uncontrollably' gets recycled far beyond the point where it just sounds stupid". Nicholas Hautman, from Us Weekly, called it "so beyond AutoTuned at points that it could be Ozzy Osbourne singing for all we know". In September 2011, "I Wanna Go" topped Rolling Stones reader's poll of The Best Songs of the Summer.

Chart performance

On the chart issue of April 3, 2011, "I Wanna Go" debuted at number 73 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and at number 52 on the Hot Digital Songs component chart due to strong digital sales. The song debuted at number 60 on the Canadian Hot 100 on the chart issue of April 16, 2011. It also debuted at number one on South Korea's Gaon International Chart, and remained on the same position for three consecutive weeks. After its release as a single, the song debuted at number 37 on the Billboard Pop Songs chart on the chart issue of July 2, 2011. It also re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 89. The following week, it surged up to number 29 on the Hot 100 due to the premiere of the music video, with sales of 67,000 copies. "I Wanna Go" became Spears's 21st top-forty single, the third-highest female total since her first week on the chart on November 21, 1998, and only behind Taylor Swift with 27 and Rihanna with 22.
On the chart issue of August 4, 2011, the song climbed from number 11 to number nine on the Billboard Hot 100, making Femme Fatale the first album by Spears to achieve three top ten singles. It became her fifth top ten single in a row, and her twelfth top ten entry overall, the third-highest female total since her first week on the chart, behind Rihanna with eighteen and Beyoncé Knowles with fifteen. "I Wanna Go" peaked at number seven on the Hot 100 on the chart issue of August 24, 2011. The song peaked atop the Pop Songs chart on September 24, 2011, becoming Spears' sixth single to top the chart, and setting a record for the longest span of number-one singles by an artist. Spears scored her first number-one single on the chart with "...Baby One More Time" on the chart issue of February 20, 1999. She also tied Mariah Carey and Knowles for the third-highest female total of number-one singles. As of July 2016, "I Wanna Go" has sold 1,780,000 digital downloads in the United States. It is her eighth best-selling digital single in the country.
In Australia, "I Wanna Go" debuted at number 33 on the ARIA Singles Chart on the chart issue of July 10, 2011. It peaked at number 31 three weeks later, on July 31, 2011. The song became the third lowest peaking single of Spears' career in the country, after "Radar" at 46 and "From the Bottom of My Broken Heart" at 37. It spent nine weeks on the chart. It has since been certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association for sales of 35,000 units. In New Zealand, the song debuted at number 25 on the New Zealand Singles Chart, and peaked at number 22 the following week. It became her lowest peaking single since "Radar", and her sixth single to not enter the top twenty. The song spent 10 weeks on the chart. On July 7, 2011, "I Wanna Go" debuted at 41 on the Irish Singles Chart. It became her first single to not chart in the inside the top 100 in the United Kingdom, peaking at number 138 on the chart issue of June 9, 2011. Across Europe, the song has peaked at number five on Belgium and France; number 10 in Finland; the top twenty in Belgium, Norway and Denmark; and the top forty in Czech Republic and Sweden.