3 Words

Album: 3 Words (2009)
Charted: 4
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Songfacts®:

  • This robo-pop R&B duet with Will.I.Am from the Black Eyed Peas is the title track of Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole's debut solo album. It is also the second single from the LP. Cole previously collaborated with Will.I.Am on a re-mixed version of his 2007 track, "Heartbreaker," which was a #4 hit in the UK.
  • This is one of four tracks on 3 Words, which are Cole/Will.I.Am collaborations. She explained in publicity materials that after she guested on "Heartbreaker:" "We became friends and he said he was interested in working with me again. It was a massive compliment but I didn't even register it, really. I was working hard with the Girls. They were my complete focus.'"

    After Girls Aloud finished their Out of Control Tour, Cole's record company asked if she was interested in Will.I.Am's offer and so the singer decided to take some time out to work with him in the studio. She explained: 'The way we work with Girls Aloud is that we'll go into the vocal booth and do our lines on a track that's already almost completed. With Will I was seeing music being made right from the ground up. He'd ask my opinion on the beats and the words. He'd send me off to write hooks.'"

    The recording process gathered momentum after Will and Cheryl had alighted on this song, which became the album's title track. Said Cole: "I still can't quite believe that that song is mine. Right from the start with this I knew what I wouldn't sing. If I heard a thumping dance beat or a phrase I wouldn't use, it'd go. If I was going to make a solo record it had to be a record that I'd play in the house. I love what the Girls do. I love the quirkiness and I love that it is our sound. But this time it had to be personal."
  • Cole said in a promotional video that this is her favourite song on the album, adding that it was "totally different from anything I've done [with Girls Aloud] or liked before."

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