S.O.S. (Let the Music Play)

Album: Battlefield (2009)
Charted: 13
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Songfacts®:

  • This electro-pop girl-power anthem was the second single released from Season Six American Idol winner Jordin Sparks' sophomore album, Battlefield.
  • The song takes the pop/R&B singer in a dancier direction and samples the 1983 Latin freestyle hit "Let The Music Play" by Shannon. Sparks, who was born in 1989, was unaware of Shannon's tune until she borrowed its chorus for this song. The American Idol winner explained in a press conference that she wanted to test her disco chops. She said: "I'll always be the ballad girl from Idol, but I wanted to try something new, though not so far that people wouldn't believe me."
  • In this song Sparks takes to the dance floor and sends out an S.O.S. signal to ward off another girl who's dancing with her boyfriend. "S.O.S." is best known as the Morse code signal for distress. It also stands for the Latin "Si Opus Sit," which in medicine means "give relief where necessary." Barbadian Pop singer Rihanna used a similar analogy in her 2006 song S.O.S. (Rescue Me), which also sampled a 1980s tune (Tainted Love).

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