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"BTSTU"
Single by Jai Paul
from the album Leak 04-13 (Bait Ones)
Released21 April 2011
Recorded2007
StudioHome recording (Rayners Lane, London)
Genre
Length3:30
LabelXL
Songwriter(s)Jai Paul
Producer(s)Jai Paul
Jai Paul singles chronology
"BTSTU"
(2011) 		"Jasmine"
(2012)
Audio video
"BTSTU (Edit)" on YouTube

"BTSTU" is a song by British songwriter and record producer Jai Paul. A demo recording of the song received widespread blog coverage throughout 2010 after having been uploaded to Paul's MySpace page, as well as receiving numerous plays on BBC Radio 1 in the UK. The BBC's Zane Lowe made "BTSTU (Demo)" his Hottest Record in the World. On the strength of this demo, Paul was long-listed for the BBC Sound of 2011 poll.[1]

Release

[edit]

An edited version of "BTSTU" entitled "BTSTU (Edit)" was officially released on 21 April 2011, via XL Recordings.[2] The song received airplay again on UK national radio by DJs including Gilles Peterson, Annie Mac, Nick Grimshaw, Reggie Yates, and Fearne Cotton, with Zane Lowe making it his Hottest Record in the World for a second time.[3] Paul commented in 2011 that the name of the track is an acronym for "Back To Save The Universe", a reference to a lyric from the Radiohead song "Airbag".[4]

Critical reception

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The single received favourable reviews from the Daily Telegraph[5] and American blog 'The Wounded Jukebox'.[6] Ryan Dombal of Pitchfork compared the single to "the unmistakable lope of one J Dilla".[7]

"BTSTU" was included in the end-of-year lists in 2011 by Pitchfork,[8] The Fader, and Pigeons and Planes.[9] The Washington Post mentioned "BTSTU" in their 'Singles File: Best of 2011', describing it as "a precursor to the entire career of James Blake".[10]

Legacy

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The song has been influential on underground as well as mainstream pop music in the 2010s.[11][12] The song had struck a chord internationally. The Canadian rapper Drake leaked a track titled "Dreams Money Can Buy" which sampled "BTSTU (Demo)" in May 2011,[13] which got resampled by Charli XCX in June 2012.[14] In July 2011 the song was sampled again for Travis Garland and JoJo's duet "Paint",[15] and New York singer-songwriter Niia uploaded a cover version of "BTSTU" to her SoundCloud page.[16] The 2012 song "End of Time" by Beyoncé also sampled the song.[12]

Track listing

[edit]
Digital download[2][17]
No.TitleLength
1."BTSTU" (edit)3:30
2019 remastered vinyl[18]
No.TitleLength
1."BTSTU" (edit)3:29
2."BTSTU" (demo)3:41

Personnel

[edit]
  • Jai Paul – vocals, electric guitar, drums, synthesizers, programming, SFX, engineering, mixing, sound design (remastered vinyl)
  • Anup Paul – additional vocals, sound design, mastering (edit)
  • Sam Pickering – saxophone
  • Dave Cooley – mastering (remastered vinyl)

Charts

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Chart (2011) Peak
position
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[19] 139

Release history

[edit]
Version Date Format Label
Demo 2010 Digital download[2][17] —
Edit 21 April 2011 XL
6 June 2011 CD-R
Remastered 1 June 2019 12-inch single[20]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Sound of 2011 – Jai Paul", BBC Music. Retrieved 18 December 2010.
  2. ^ a b c "BTSTU (Edit) on iTunes", iTunes. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  3. ^ Zane Lowe's Hottest Record In The World – Jai Paul – BTSTU, BBC. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
  4. ^ "Musings".
  5. ^ "Top Ten Songs Of 2011". The Daily Telegraph. 25 December 2011. Archived from the original on 8 January 2012. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
  6. ^ "The Wounded Jukebox". The Wounded Jukebox. 6 June 2011. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
  7. ^ "The Top 100 Tracks Of 2011", Pitchfork. Retrieved 20 December 2011.
  8. ^ "Jai Paul's BTSTU", Pitchfork. Retrieved 20 December 2011.
  9. ^ "Pigeons And Planes". Pigeons And Planes. 21 December 2011. Archived from the original on 8 January 2012. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
  10. ^ Allison Stewart (20 December 2011). "The Singles File 2011". The Washington Post. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
  11. ^ "How Jai Paul changed the sound of pop with just two songs". Dazed. 12 September 2017.
  12. ^ a b Bassil, Ryan; Jones, Daisy (19 November 2018). "How Jai Paul's Influence Has Spread Beyond Simple Rip-Offs". Noisey.
  13. ^ "Drake Leaks New Song". Mtv.co.uk. 21 May 2011. Archived from the original on 31 July 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  14. ^ "Charli XCX Takes on Drake/Jai Paul, Blood Diamonds, Blood Orange, More on New Mixtape". Pitchfork. 12 June 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  15. ^ "Travis Garland – Paint ft JoJo", Singers Room. Retrieved 23 July 2011.
  16. ^ "Niia BTSTU", Soundcloud. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  17. ^ a b "BTSTU – Jai Paul – Amazon.co.uk". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  18. ^ "BTSTU Remastered — Vinyl [12"]". Jai Paul. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  19. ^ "CHART: CLUK Update 28.05.2011 (wk20)". zobbel.de. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  20. ^ "Jai Paul". Retrieved 6 June 2019.
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