Bombs

Album: Armor On (2012)
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Songfacts®:

  • Dawn Richard was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her father is Frank Richard, who is the former lead singer and percussionist of the popular funk/soul band Chocolate Milk, and her mother owned a dancing school where Dawn spent much of her childhood developing her skills at choreography and singing. Richard's "big break" came in 2005 when she auditioned for the MTV show Making The Band 3, where she beat out numerous contestants to secure herself a spot in Bad Boy Records' label head, Sean "Diddy" Combs' girl group, Danity Kane. They disbanded four years later and in 2010 Richard joined Diddy-Dirty Money with Diddy and Kalenna Harper. The trio split up the following year and following her departure from Bad Boy Records, she launched her solo career. This bass-driven track is the lead single from Richard's debut EP Armor On. The record serves as a prelude to her GoldenHeart album and the alter-ego she uses, NEON. The Druski produced song was debuted on January 27, 2012.
  • The video was shot in the desert where Richard, who is wearing a feathered headpiece, and her dancers employ East Indian choreography. "I wanted the art direction to be cohesive with the song and sound of the EP," said Dawn. "Warriors fighting for the same cause. 'Bombs' is the 'Hearts have arrived' record ... It's such a confident record and the way we approached it is super aggressive and super cocky."
  • It was Richard's goal to push the boundaries not only on this song but also on the rest of Armor On. She told Billboard magazine: "I wanted people to feel uncomfortable when they heard it. Not just that record, but with the EP. It's so funny because when we play it, people's faces look like they're trying to grab [the music]. I love it because that's the feeling I got when I heard Phil Collins for the first time. That was the feeling I got when I heard Kanye [West]'s 808s and Heartbreaks, Sade's album and The Cranberries' album."
  • Richard told Billboard how her personal life influenced the EP: "It's my entire life," she said, "but that's how people can relate. It's honest. Most of it was [of] my relationship with music. Most of it was [of] the love life that I had with it. It wasn't even about a man. Armor On explains why I needed armor in the first place. Sonically you'll hear this battle of, 'I love you, no I don't. I love you, I hate you.' That's what you'll feel. You see the story kind of fight against itself."

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