Just Say Yes (song)

The song was written by Gary Lightbody in Los Angeles with producer Jacknife Lee. He wrote it at the request of the band's label in the United States for pop singer Gwen Stefani's then upcoming album. However, Stefani rejected it. Later, Lightbody allowed Pussycat Dolls lead singer Nicole Scherzinger to record it. Scherzinger had loved the song, and felt grateful and "blessed" upon being given permission to record it, even calling it an "honour" to sing something written by Lightbody. Scherzinger felt influenced by the Northern Irish Lightbody's accent, and attempted to record the song with an accent herself, with Lightbody acting as the producer. Though she was nervous about doing justice to the song, she was relieved when Lightbody told her that her singing had made his mother cry. According to ASCAP, who register recordings and song rights in the US, The Pussycat Dolls also recorded and registered the song. When Snow Patrol's label in the United Kingdom heard the song, they were shocked to learn that Lightbody had given away the song in the first place. Where Scherzinger's recording was a soft and slow song with an electronic beat, the new recording was far from that. The band changed the texture fully to predominantly electronic and synth. Drummer Jonny Quinn called the song a progression for the band. The song is about "loving someone so much that you get exasperated they aren't showing the same amount of passion that you are". The Denver Post described the song as an "electronic-infused, '80s-kissed track". ==Promotion and release==

The song received its first airplay on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show on 17 September 2009. Lightbody joined Lowe on air via phone from Toronto, the band's scheduled tour stop. The song made Xfm's main playlist, was also added on BBC Radio 1's C list on 30 September 2009 and was later promoted to the B list on 7 October and the A list on 21 October 2009. It was later added to BBC Radio 2's C list on 10 October 2009, and got played 5 times a week. The song became one of the three top songs in rotation on several radio stations in Netherlands. Additionally, it was picked up for Nokia's Comes With Music campaign on the TV and internet, which ran for eight weeks. The next night, the band visited the T4 Studio to play the single. The single was released on 30 October 2009 in Ireland and the Netherlands and 2 November 2009 in the UK, about a week before the album was released. In the United States, the single was released digitally on the iTunes Store and Amazon.com on 23 October 2009 (although the US iTunes Store records a 1 November release). The b-side of the physical single is a remix of the song, called the "Thin White Duke Mix". It was done by Stuart Price. ==Music video==

The music video for the song was produced by James Bolton and directed by Blue Leach, who has previously directed the video/mini-film for the sixteen-minute "The Lightning Strike", which was used during live performances and is included on Up to Now. The video for "Just Say Yes" premiered on 22 September 2009 on MSN and AOL, respectively for users in the United Kingdom and the United States. The video was shot in an inflatable dome (called the Eventhaus Plus) in Poland. The dome was enhanced by lighting and projection. MTV reviewer Chris Ryan felt that there was plenty about the video to make fun of, but found it to be good. Filter called it a "perfect winter time companion". ==Track listing==

• CD single: • "Just Say Yes" – 4:42 • "Just Say Yes" (Thin White Duke Mix) (Edit) – 4:14 • Australian iTunes: • "Just Say Yes" – 4:42 • "Just Say Yes" (Thin White Duke Mix) – 7:26 • "Shut Your Eyes" (Live) – 9:09 Live track recorded at V Festival, Chelmsford on 23 August 2009. • "Just Say Yes" – 4:42 • "Just Say Yes" (Video) – 4:12 • US iTunes/Amazon.com: • "Just Say Yes" – 4:42 ==Critical reception==

EW called Scherzinger's version "elegant" and Rap-Up magazine "understated". MTV reviewer Chris Ryan liked the song, and wrote that the vocal parts and the video's light show were very cheesy but they went well with the song. He however noted that the song had the same style of build-up and release of past hits "Run" and "Chasing Cars", with "some Simple Minds/sedated in the 80s keyboards" added to "up the romance." However, Digital Spys review of the single was negative. Reviewer Mayer Nissim gave it 2 stars out of 5 and said that the song does not succeed as a new sound for the band, and that it merely sounded as if it had been created on a "few floaty keys". He criticised the song for utilizing the "same over-earnest lyrics and soporific melodies as ever", and sarcastically noted that guitarist Nathan Connolly was not lying when he said that the band will continue to sound like "Snow Patrol", no matter what musical direction they take. BBC's Fraser McAlpine gave the single 2 stars out of 5. He said that it "wanted" itself to be seen as something magical, but did not have good enough tricks to do so. He criticised the linearity of the song, citing that it had only two melody lines: one for the verse and another for the chorus. The song has gained popularity with the Emmerdale fanbase after being used as backing music for Jackson Walsh and Aaron Livesy's second kiss. ==Commercial performance==

The song was described as being a potential worldwide hit, in the vein of the Snow Patrol song "Chasing Cars". and the third best selling single in Belgium. In the French-speaking part of the country, Wallonia, the song debuted the first position on the component Ultratip chart. The single did well in the Netherlands. It was chosen as the "Record of the Week" in the Netherlands by two radio stations: by Radio 538 for week 39 of 2009 and by 3FM. It subsequently debuted at the top of the Dutch Tipparade and 3FM Mega Top 50 in its first week on both charts, and also became the highest-charting single of the band in the Netherlands by reaching the first position, succeeding the success of "Shut Your Eyes" and "Crack the Shutters" which peaked at fourteen. The song also peaked at the second position on the Dutch Single Top 100 chart, which contains physical and digital sales, and became the most downloaded song in the country. In the United States, for the 25th anniversary of Billboards Adult Alternative Airplay chart in early 2021, the magazine would rank "Just Say Yes" at number 85 on its list of the top 100 most successful songs in the history of the chart. ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==