U.G.L.Y.

"U.G.L.Y." is a song by American recording duo Daphne & Celeste. It was released on June 5, 2000, as the second single from their studio album, We Didn't Say That!. The song was written and composed by Michele Chiavarini, Tracy Kilrow, Michael Marz and S. Burkes, while its producer was Chiavarini. "U.G.L.Y." is a teen pop and bubblegum pop song with a cheerleading style, making it similar in this respect to Toni Basil's song "Mickey". Lyrically, the song consists of insults towards people Daphne & Celeste think are ugly.

Commercially, the song performed well in New Zealand, where it peaked at number seven (its highest position on a chart anywhere in the world). It also reached the top 20 in the UK and the top 40 in Australia and Ireland. The song would later be used in the American box office hit film Bring It On (released August 2000) and its accompanying soundtrack.

Background

After the release of their first single, "Ooh Stick You", the duo decided to release "U.G.L.Y." as the second single from their debut album, We Didn't Say That! (2000). The song was written and composed by Michele Chiavarini, Tracy Kilrow, Michael Marz and S. Burkes, and was produced by Chiavarini. The chorus is taken from the 1985 Fishbone song "Ugly".

Critical reception

Dean Carlson from AllMusic reviewed the album, but did not at that point intend to review the track itself. However, he did go on to review "U.G.L.Y." individually, giving it two and a half out of five stars when so doing. Andy Capper from NME said: Template:"'UGLY' continues the playground putdown vibes of Daphne & Celeste's first single, 'Ooh Stick You'. It's a cool little tune, bolstered by a complete lack of irony or sickly kitsch vibes. Daphne & Celeste are queens in the making." Capper's review of the song was overall positive, but acknowledged nonetheless that it is "a bit ruder" than their previous single.

Retrospective comments came from Alex Denney of Dazed, who called the song one "of the era's most demented pop songs" and "pitched-up playground taunts torn from the pages of Malcolm McLaren's wrong-pop rulebook" along with "Ooh Stick You", while Pete Cashmore of The Guardian described it as "tartrazine-addled trash-pop" and Tim Jonze of the same publication labeled it "chipmunk pop".

Chart performance

The single was a big success in New Zealand, where it peaked at number seven on the New Zealand Singles Chart and was certified platinum. However, it did not do as well in any other country. The song debuted at number forty-seven on the Australian Singles Chart, but only managed to peak at number forty. The song entered the charts at number eighteen in the United Kingdom, where it only managed to go that far.

Music video

The music video was directed by Phil Griffin and filmed on April 16, 2000.

Track listings

UK CD1

1. "U.G.L.Y." (radio edit)
2. "U.G.L.Y." (Tomboy Mix)
3. "U.G.L.Y." (T-Total "Make Over" Mix)
4. "U.G.L.Y." (video)

UK CD2 and Canadian CD single

1. "U.G.L.Y." (radio edit)
2. "U.G.L.Y." (Uglier Mix)
3. Exclusive Daphne & Celeste interview

UK cassette single

1. "U.G.L.Y." (radio edit)
2. "U.G.L.Y." (Uglier Mix)

Charts

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Weekly chart performance for "U.G.L.Y."

Chart (2000)	Peak position
Canada (Nielsen SoundScan)	18
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)	69

Other uses

The song was featured in the 2000 film Bring It On.

The song has been used for Quaker Oats advertisements, with the tagline "Quaker Oats. Deliciously Ugly".