Hello
by Martin Solveig (featuring Dragonette)

Album: Smash (2010)
Charted: 13 46
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song by the French electropop DJ and producer Martin Solveig became his first top 20 hit in the UK. It also topped the charts in several European countries including Belgium and the Netherlands.
  • The song features Canadian electropop group Dragonette. Their singer, Martina Sorbara, also provided the vocals for Kaskade's dance hit, "Fire In Your Shoes."
  • When South Africa's landline operator Telkom launched its Mobile arm 8ta(Heita) in 2010, it used this tune as its theme song for its adverts.
  • The music video for the song was recorded at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris and finds Martin Solveig facing another French DJ, Bob Sinclar, in a tennis match. Tennis stars Novak Djokovic and Gaël Monfils both make cameo appearances in the clip.
  • The song was used in an American advertising campaign by Trident to promote its new Vitality line of chewing gum.
  • The video features tennis player Solveig smitten with a girl who's unavailable. "The story in the song focuses on the character of the girl," he told Billboard magazine, "who just came to say 'hello' and nothing else."
  • The song was used in promo spots for the Zooey Deschanel starring sitcom New Girl.
  • Unusually, Solveig recorded the song after he shot the video. He explained why to Artist Direct: "I was working on a short movie as a director --that is my other passion. I direct videos. It was not meant to become a music video. The film was a story where you mix reality and fiction, which I like about making film. The inspiration for the song came from the shooting of this video. It was a bit of a premiere. It was shot for broadcast TV and we agreed with the directors of the tournament [The French Tennis Open, with 12,000 spectators on hand] to let us play a fake game for 15 minutes, so everyone was caught off guard, including the audience, and that inspired the song."
  • Martin Solveig's birth name is Martin Picandet. He chose his pseudonym as an homage to the French actress Solveig Dommartin.
  • "Hello" plays during Ted Lasso Season 2 Episode 9 ("Beard After Hours"). The music discovery website Tunefind reported the track's placement in the Apple show was their most-searched song sync in 2021.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Grateful Dead Characters

Grateful Dead CharactersMusic Quiz

Many unusual folks appear in Grateful Dead songs. Can you identify them?

Sam Hollander

Sam HollanderSongwriter Interviews

The hitmaking songwriter/producer Sam Hollander with stories about songs for Weezer, Panic! At The Disco, Train, Pentatonix, and Fitz And The Tantrums.

Is That Song Public Domain?

Is That Song Public Domain?Fact or Fiction

Are classic songs like "Over The Rainbow" and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in the public domain?

Second Wind Songs

Second Wind SongsSong Writing

Some songs get a second life when they find a new audience through a movie, commercial, TV show, or even the Internet.

Bill Medley of The Righteous Brothers

Bill Medley of The Righteous BrothersSongwriter Interviews

Medley looks back on "Unchained Melody" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" - his huge hits from the '60s that were later revived in movies.

John Kay of Steppenwolf

John Kay of SteppenwolfSongwriter Interviews

Steppenwolf frontman John Kay talks about "Magic Carpet Ride," "Born To Be Wild," and what he values more than awards and accolades.