| Giving You Up | ||
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| Single by Kylie Minogue | ||
| From the album Ultimate Kylie | ||
| B-side | "Made of Glass" | |
| Released | 28 March 2005 | |
| Recorded | 2004; London, England | |
| Genre | Dance-pop | |
| Length | 3:31 | |
| Label | Parlophone · Mushroom | |
| Writer(s) | Miranda Cooper · Brian Higgins · Tim Powell · Lisa Cowling · Paul Woods · Nick Coler · Kylie Minogue | |
| Producer(s) | Brian Higgins · Xenomania | |
| Kylie Minogue singles chronology | ||
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| Music Video | ||
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"Giving You Up" is a song by Kylie Minogue from her greatest album Ultimate Kylie (2004). The song was released as the album's second and final single on 28 March 2005. It was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins, Tim Powell, Lisa Cowling, Paul Woods, Nick Coler, and Kylie, while production was by Higgens and Xenomania. The song is a dance track, which features instrumentation of synthesizers and keyboards. The track was her last solo single after she was diagnosed with breast cancer two months later, and resumed with 2007 single "2 Hearts".
"Giving You Up" received favorable to mixed reviews from music critics, praising the production and composition, while some found it was not one of Kylie's strongest singles. Commercially, the song received generally good charting success, peaking inside the top ten in countries including Spain, Australia and the United Kingdom. An accompanying music video for "Giving You Up" was shot by Alex and Martin, which featured Kylie as a giantess walking through a town. Additionally, the song has been only performed on one of her concert tours, this being Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour in 2005.
Background and release[]
In 2003, Kylie announced the release of her third major greatest hits compilation, which was her first album to consist recordings from all three of her record labels; Stock Aitken Waterman, Deconstruction Records and Parlophone, which ventured from 1987 to 2004. "Giving You Up" was written and recorded during the summer of 2004 in London, England by Kylie and Xenomania for Kylie's greatest hits compilation, Ultimate Kylie. The song was released in various formats throughout the world. While most territories received a CD single and digital download release, the song was released as a limited edition vinyl single in the United Kingdom. In Australia, the CD single was limited to 25,000 copies.
Musically, "Giving You Up" is a dance-pop oriented song, which features elements of disco and synthpop. Lyrically, Kylie is trying to get her shy boyfriend to open up. It was stated that the song "is electric and light, its message is naive. People cannot be changed. They can only change if they want to." Dusk411 said the song is "has an 80s synth pop vibe to it."
The international CD single featured the B-side "Made of Glass", which was written by Kylie and Xenomania during the recording sessions for Ultimate Kylie in 2004. The song was also recorded by British pop singer Rachel Stevens, but released commercially as a B-side by Kylie in 2005. Two artwork covers were released for the single; the international cover and the Australian cover. During the production of Ultimate Kylie, she recorded tracks "Loving You", "Everything I Know" and "Made of Glass". Due to the success in her native Australia, the song "Made of Glass" was released as a double AA-Side single in that country, and due to its success, "Made of Glass" even managed to be featured on Now Spring 2005, a compilation in Australia. The song was released worldwide, but just not a A-Side. The instrumental version of "Giving You Up" has not been leaked, however a sample of it was featured on her Ultimate Kylie DVD.
Reception[]
Critical response[]
"Giving You Up" received mixed reviews from pop music critics. In a review for About.com, Jason Shawahn called the song "a sultry little throbber" and wrote that its "Minogue at her best". Chris Taylor of MusicOMH.com was less impressed, and wrote that the song was "not one of Kylie's most inspired singles". Pitchfork Media reviewer Nick Sylvester called the song "a return to big sound Fever electro, but with subtler production: all the hacksaw synth is pushed back and sanded off, so Kylie's head voice doesn't have to go through eight additional filters to compete with the bristle". Pop Trash Addicts gave it a negative review, stating the song is "Kylie's Worst Single to Date". He said ""Giving You Up" is one of the worst songs Kylie has ever recorded - let alone released as a single. Lazy lyrics, tinny production and a god awful video clip [...] makes this the low point of her entire career."
Chart performance[]
"Giving You Up" debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number six on 4 April 2005, and remained on the chart for eight weeks. In Ireland, the track reached a peak position of number twenty, and remained in the top fifty for six weeks. In Germany, the single reached number twenty-seven, backed by its inclusion in trailers for the American television series Desperate Housewives. Elsewhere, "Giving You Up" was largely successful, reaching number one in Portugal and the top twenty in Denmark, Finland, Greece, Spain, and Ukraine.
In Australia, "Giving You Up" was released as a double A-side with "Made of Glass". The single debuted at number eight on 18 April 2005, and remained in the top fifty for seven weeks.
Music video[]
The music video for "Giving You Up" was directed by Alex and Martin and filmed in February 2005 in London, England. The video features Kylie as a 17 foot tall, vampy, blonde giantess roaming through the streets and clubs of London at night. There are three sequences; the first features Kylie walking through a tunnel, the second of her walking through the streets and the third of her in a club. Throughout the video Kylie meets several people. In a sequence on the streets, she dances in front of a taxi cab that has stopped to let her across a zebra crossing. Kylie then heads to a club where she meets a shy man who is interested in her. In another scene on the streets, Kylie walks past three men, and begins to dance and sing to them.
The video premiered in February 2005 and was released commercially on the song's CD single. In 2006, the video was nominated for "Best International Video" at the 15th AnnualMVPA Awards.
Formats and track listings[]
These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Giving You Up".
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UK CD 1
UK CD 2
EU CD 1 and CD 3
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German CD 3
Australian CD Single
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Live performances[]
The song has only been featured on one of Kylie's tours, this being the Showgirl Tour in 2005; the song was featured in the first act of the tour, following performances of "Better the Devil You Know" and "In Your Eyes". The Australian and Asian legs of the tour, as well as a performance at the 2005 Glastonbury Festival, had to be cancelled due to Kylie's cancer diagnosis; the tour was continued in November 2006, as the Homecoming Tour, with original plans to revive the original showgirl in its entirety; however, the decision was made to revamp the show, and "Giving You Up" was replaced with "White Diamond", a song recorded during the sessions for her tenth studio album X (2007).
Charts[]
Personnel[]
The following people contributed to "Giving You Up":
· Kylie Minogue – lead vocals
· Xenomania - production
· Tim Powell - keyboards, programming, mixing
· Brian Higgins - production, keyboards, programming
· Paul Woods - keyboards, programming
· Jeremy Wheatley - mixing
· Ashley Phase - mastering
Lyrics[]
Last night I lost my head
And fell right back into your love
I lay intoxicated
While angels circled high above
Deep in a perfect moment
All at once, it feels so right
But when I wake I see reality turn back and bite
Ah, hah-ah, hah-ah
Ah, hah-ah, hah-ah
Ah, hah-ah, hah-ah
Ah, hah-ah, hah-ah
Your heartbeat's ticking
And your cool starts dripping
And you're tongue tied up on the phone
Your backbone's breaking
And your smooth starts shaking
Like you can't stand being alone
Your calm starts rocking
Little doubts are knocking
Like the whole world's slipping away
Attention's killing but the ride is thrilling
And you can't help going again
What you want is what you don't know
Turn me on and watch your ego
What you want is what you don't need
Stand up when you're talking to me
I can't start giving you up
I'm lost without you
Can't stop tickin' the tock
I can't start giving you up
I'm mad about you
Can't stop slipping it off
I can't start giving you up
I'm lost without you
Can't stop tickin' the tock
I can't start giving you up
I'm mad about you
Can't stop slipping it off
A girl's got to suffer for fashion
She knows what her body can do-ooh-ooh
She finds a man and she makes it her passion
I'm happy trying all the time with a boy like you
A girl's got to suffer for fashion
She knows what her body can do-ooh-ooh
She finds a man and she makes it her passion
I'm happy trying all the time with a boy like you
I can't start giving you up
I'm lost without you
Can't start giving you up
I'm mad about you
I can't start giving you up
I'm lost without you
Can't stop tickin' the tock
I can't start giving you up
I'm mad about you
Can't stop slipping it off
I can't start giving you up
I'm lost without you
Can't stop tickin' the tock
I can't start giving you up
I'm mad about you
Can't stop slipping it off
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