San Francisco (Cascada song)

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"San Francisco"
Single by Cascada
from the album Original Me
ReleasedJune 20, 2011
Recorded2011
Genre
Length3:46
LabelZooland
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Manuel "Manian" Reuter
  • Yann "Yanou" Peifer
Cascada singles chronology
"Pyromania"
(2010) 		"San Francisco"
(2011) 		"Au Revoir"
(2011)
Music video
"San Francisco" on YouTube

"San Francisco" is a song performed by German eurodance recording group Cascada from their fourth studio album, Original Me. The song serves as the album's official first single (second overall) internationally on June 20, 2011. It was written by Yann Peifer, Manuel Reuter, Tony Cornelissen, and Matthew Langlois and it was produced by Reuter and Peifer. Musically, "San Francisco" is an uptempo pop song which relies on electropop and dance-pop styles with influences of music from the 1970s. The song's lyrics are an ode to the city of San Francisco in Northern California. The song was officially released in the UK for download on July 4, 2011.

"San Francisco" received criticism for its similarity in sound to Katy Perry's song, "California Gurls". Both songs feature the same tempo and chord progression. The song reached the top fifteen in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. Unlike previous singles from the group, it failed to make any impact on the pop charts in the United Kingdom, peaking at number sixty-four. The song's accompanying music video sees Horler leading a group of dancers dressed as modern-day hippies to an underground party.

Composition[edit]

"San Francisco" is an uptempo dance song which derives from the styles of electropop and electronica while backed by a grinding synth beat. The song also has influences from 1970s music - in particular, it makes reference to Scott McKenzie's song by the same name, in one lyric that says, "where you've got flowers in your hair". The song is set in common time, and has a moderate tempo of 126 beats per minute.[1] It is written in the key of D minor[2] and Horler's vocals span from Eb3-C5.[1] The song is lyrically an ode to San Francisco, California. The song's composition has received notability from critics for its similar composition to Katy Perry's song "California Gurls".[3] "San Francisco" is similar to "California Gurls" in its lyrics, as they both pay tribute to the California area and all the good fun that happens there. "San Francisco" and "California Gurls", according to Jon O'Brien of AllMusic Guide, contained the similar floaty synth hook and grinding beats.[4]

Reception[edit]

Critical reception[edit]

Jon O'Brien of AllMusic Guide seemed unimpressed with the song, noting "that their ability to borrow from the biggest pop songs of the year remains as shameless as ever."[4]

Chart performance[edit]

"San Francisco" debuted in the Dutch Top 40 charts in the Netherlands at number twenty-seven on the week of July 2, 2011. The song peaked at number eleven seven weeks later, and remained on the charts for seven more weeks after that.[5] The song also debuted and peaked at number thirteen on the Media Control Charts in Germany.[5] The song was also successful in Austria, debuting and peaking at number fourteen on Ö3 Austria Top 75 on the week of June 15, 2011.[5] It lasted eleven weeks on the chart. The single was less successful in other countries, peaking at number sixteen in Bulgaria,[5] number forty in Slovakia, and number sixty-four in the United Kingdom.[5]

Music video[edit]

Cascada shot the video for the song on March 26th, 2011 along with the video for "Au Revoir". Both videos were directed by Lisa Mann and choreographed by Luther Brown. The video for the song premiered on May 6, one month before its official release. Although it shows some scenes of San Francisco, it was actually shot in Toronto, Canada, and was, according to their YouTube description of the music video, an expensive production. The reason for having the video filmed in Canada was that of San Francisco being too risky for filming due to weather conditions that time and the high crime rate.

Track listing[edit]

UK digital download
No.TitleLength
1."San Francisco" (Video Edit)3:46
2."San Francisco" (Extended Mix)5:25
3."San Francisco" (Cahill Remix)6:32
4."San Francisco" (Wideboys Remix)6:41
5."San Francisco" (Frisco Remix)4:45
6."San Francisco" (Frisco Radio Edit)2:58
7."San Francisco" (Cahill Radio Edit)3:22
8."San Francisco" (Wideboys Radio Edit)3:47
9."San Francisco" (Wideboys Dub Remix)6:39

Charts[edit]

Release history[edit]

Region Date Format Label
Germany[17] 3 June 2011 CD single, digital download Universal Music Group
Canada[18] Digital download
Worldwide 20 June 2011 Zooland
United Kingdom 4 July 2011 All Around the World
United States 4 November 2011 Zooland

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Love You Like a Love Song". Musicnotes. 27 July 2011.
  2. ^ "San Francisco - Cascada (Vocal Backing Track MP3)".
  3. ^ "Cascada Releases 'San Francisco' Video, Channels (Copies) Katy Perry".
  4. ^ a b "Original Me - Cascada". AllMusic. 2011-06-17. Retrieved 2011-09-24.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Cascada - San Francisco". ACharts. 2011-07-02. Retrieved 2011-10-14.
  6. ^ "Cascada – San Francisco" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  7. ^ "Cascada – San Francisco" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  8. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Cascada" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
  9. ^ "Cascada – San Francisco" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  10. ^ "Dance Chart :: Listy bestsellerów, wyróżnienia :: Związek Producentów Audio-Video" (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. 2011-07-16. Archived from the original on 2012-01-19. Retrieved 2011-09-22.
  11. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  12. ^ "ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: insert 201131 into search.
  13. ^ "Official Dance Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company.
  14. ^ "Cascada: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company.
  15. ^ "Global Dance Tracks". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. July 16, 2011. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  16. ^ "Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 2011". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  17. ^ San Francisco - Single by Cascada amazon (Germany)
  18. ^ San Francisco - Single by Cascada (iTunes Canada)
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