"All Hooked Up"
Single by All Saints
from the album Saints & Sinners
Released15 January 2001 (2001-01-15)[1]
StudioPierce Rooms, London, England
Genre
Length3:48
LabelLondon
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)K-Gee
All Saints singles chronology
"Black Coffee"
(2000)
"All Hooked Up"
(2001)
"Rock Steady"
(2006)
Music video
"All Hooked Up" on YouTube

"All Hooked Up" is a song by English-Canadian girl group All Saints from their second album, Saints & Sinners (2000). London Records released the song as the third and last single from the album on 15 January 2001.

Composition and lyrical interpretation

"All Hooked Up" is a hip hop,[2][3] P-funk,[4] and R&B song.[5] The Guardian's Caroline Sullivan commented that the group sings "'I know that you want a piece of mah ass' under the misapprehension that they're Mary J Blige", and that when Lewis sings "Why's this guy all up in my ass?", it "doesn't make her sound like anything but an English girl trying to do ghetto-fab".[6] The Sunday People's Sean O'Brien called it a "mid tempo song with a great groove created with a plodding bass, lots of P-Funk style and raunchy lyrics".[4]

Reception

Critical response

"All Hooked Up" received generally favourable reviews from music critics. Sean O'Brien of The Sunday People gave the song a rating of eight out of ten, deeming it a "dirty sexy track with a lot of attitude" and "a great groove".[4] Jon O'Brien from AllMusic likened it to songs by Lucy Pearl.[7] The Sunday Herald praised the track for "maintaining the Saints' trademark tough-girl buffalo stance" and "cowboy-hat-wearing sass".[8] Similarly, Nigel Packer from BBC News commended the song's lyrics which he felt had "bags of attitude".[9] John Walshe of the Hot Press wrote: "Time has not curbed their libidos one iota, thankfully, nor their independence."[10]

Russell Baillie of The New Zealand Herald criticised the group for fixating the lyrics on their buttocks and "trying desperately to be TLC".[5] John Robinson of the NME found the lyrics weird and discomforting to be sung by the group and "like someone reading from a textbook on foundry work, translated from the original Hungarian", and dismissed the song as "woozy cheese music".[2] In 2016, Lewis Corner from Digital Spy placed "All Hooked Up" at number nine in his ranking of All Saints singles, calling it "a so-so hip-hop-lite number that's about as gritty as a suburban cul-de-sac" and "not quite the swansong their fans were after at the time".[3]

Chart performance

Although expected to debut at number one,[11] "All Hooked Up" debuted at number seven on the UK Singles Chart dated 27 January 2001, becoming All Saints' eighth consecutive top 10 single in the UK.[12][13] It dropped to number 28 in its second week and went on to spend a total of 14 weeks on the chart.[14] As of November 2006, "All Hooked Up" has sold 54,699 copies in the UK.[15] It is the group's ninth best-selling single in the UK according to the Official Charts Company.[16] Elsewhere, "All Hooked Up" charted in Ireland (number 18),[17] the Netherlands (number 95),[18] and Switzerland (number 96).[19] In New Zealand, the song peaked at number 50 on the New Zealand Singles Chart for two consecutive weeks.[20]

Music video

The accompanying music video for "All Hooked Up" was directed by Douglas Avery.[21] The video was filmed over two days in London. The stunts done in the visual were painstakingly choreographed with no special effects.[22] The video aired on 11 December 2000.[23] At the time, the group was on the verge of splitting up because of internal arguing, and a further source of friction occurred when Melanie Blatt mimed to Natalie Appleton's voice on the video.[24] The music video itself features All Saints rooting out men in their motel rooms and then throwing them through windows, walls and closed doors.[22]

Live performances

All Saints pulled out of two television appearances after bosses wanted the group to change the lyrics to "All Hooked Up". A spokesperson for the band told that the band were asked to change the lyric "you want a piece of my ass" from the song for their appearances on both CD:UK on 6 January and T4 the day after. However, the spokesperson said the girls considered the line "an integral part" of the song, and did not want to change it for the shows. He added: "They've not snubbed it or anything, they're aware that it is a kids programme".[25]

Formats and track listings

Credits and personnel

Credits are adapted from the liner notes of Saints & Sinners.[29]

  • Shaznay Lewis – writer, vocals, vocal arrangement
  • Karl "K-Gee" Gordon – writer, producer
  • Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing
  • Melanie Blatt – vocals
  • Nicole Appleton – vocals
  • Natalie Appleton – vocals
  • Jan Kybert – Pro Tools mix engineer
  • Aaron Prattley – assistant mix engineer
  • Octave – keys
  • Andrew Smith – guitar
  • Damien Taylor – additional editing
  • Neil Aldridge – recording
  • Richard Wilkinson – recording assistant
  • Zak – recording assistant

Charts

Chart (2001) Peak
position
Belgium (Ultratip Bubbling Under Flanders)[30] 16
Belgium (Ultratip Bubbling Under Wallonia)[31] 8
Croatia (HRT)[32] 10
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[33] 32
Ireland (IRMA)[17] 18
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40 Tipparade)[34] 11
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[18] 95
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[20] 50
Scotland (OCC)[35] 8
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[19] 96
UK Singles (OCC)[12] 7

References

  1. ^ "New Releases – For Week Starting January 15, 2001: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 13 January 2001. p. 23. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  2. ^ a b Robinson, John (12 September 2005). "All Saints : All Hooked Up". NME. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  3. ^ a b Corner, Lewis (13 January 2016). "All Saints' greatest hits: All 10 of their singles ranked from worst to best". Digital Spy. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  4. ^ a b c O'Brien, Sean (24 September 2000). "Hot People: Exclusive: My Verdict on the New All Saints CD". The Sunday People.[dead link]
  5. ^ a b Baillie, Russell (26 October 2000). "All Saints: Saints & Sinners". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 25 March 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
  6. ^ Sullivan, Caroline (10 January 2001). "When the saints go marching out". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  7. ^ O'Brien, Jon (27 September 2010). "Pure Shores: The Very Best of All Saints - All Saints". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 2014-10-16. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
  8. ^ Virtue, Graeme; Stuart, Simon; Didcock, Barry; Ross, Peter (24 December 2000). "The Best CDs in the World ever sort of!". Sunday Herald. Archived from the original on 5 May 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2016 – via HighBeam Research.
  9. ^ Packer, Nigel (15 October 2000). "CD Review: All Saints". BBC News. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  10. ^ Walshe, John (12 October 2000). "Saints & Sinners". Hot Press. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  11. ^ "Halo! Halo! It's good to be back!". NME. 15 January 2001. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  12. ^ a b "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  13. ^ "All Saints". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  14. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  15. ^ Jones, Alan (18 November 2006). "Singles: 3. All Saints". Music Week (46): 21. ISSN 0265-1548.
  16. ^ Myers, Justin (24 February 2016). "Everything you need to know about All Saints". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  17. ^ a b "The Irish Charts – Search Results – All Hooked Up". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  18. ^ a b "All Saints – All Hooked Up" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  19. ^ a b "All Saints – All Hooked Up". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  20. ^ a b "All Saints – All Hooked Up". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  21. ^ a b All Hooked Up (CD2 single liner notes). All Saints. London Records. 2001. LOCDP456, 8573 86545 2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  22. ^ a b Bychawski, Adam (8 January 2001). "Halo, We Shan't Be Going (Yet)". NME. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  23. ^ "All Saints - 'All hooked up'". Mvdbase.com. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  24. ^ Kutner, Jon (2005). 1000 UK Number One Hits. Omnibus Press. ISBN 1844492834.
  25. ^ "Bum deal for All Saints". NME. 5 January 2001. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  26. ^ All Hooked Up (CD1 single liner notes). All Saints. London Records. 2001. LONCD456, 8573 86544 2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  27. ^ All Hooked Up (CD maxi-single liner notes). All Saints. London Records. 2001. 8573868482.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  28. ^ All Hooked Up (Cassette single liner notes). All Saints. London Records. 2001. LONCS 456, 8573 86546 4.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  29. ^ Saints & Sinners (Media notes). All Saints. Germany: London Records. 2000. p. 8. 8573 85298 2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  30. ^ "All Saints – All Hooked Up" (in Dutch). Ultratip. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  31. ^ "All Saints – All Hooked Up" (in French). Ultratip. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  32. ^ "HR Top 20 Lista". Croatian Radiotelevision. Archived from the original on February 4, 2001. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  33. ^ "EUrochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 18, no. 6. 3 February 2001. p. 8. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  34. ^ "Tipparade-lijst van week 7, 2001" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  35. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 4 March 2016.