The Numa Numa Song / Dragostea Din Tei / Mai Ai Hee

[westlife]

Any thoughts on this international dance hit that is taking the Internet by storm? Could it be a hit on U.S. pop radio? Although an English version of it has been recorded, most people know it by the original version, sung in Romanian by a group called O-Zone. There is also some confusion over what the song is actually called (the original Romanian title is "Dragostea Din Tei", and while its official title in English is "Mai Ai Hee", Gary Brolsma's video has popularized it as "The Numa Numa Song"), but the song itself is instantly recognizable.

original CD cover

U.S. radio promo poster (big!)
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.ultrarecords.com/o-zone/ozone.jpg>http://www.ultrarecords.com/o-zone/ozone.jpg</a>

<P ID="signature">______________
It's a common mistake to not use punctuation in its proper form.
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/~csk/its.html>Be kind to your friend, the apostrophe.</a></P>

 

[CHRles]

> Any thoughts on this international dance hit that is taking
> the Internet by storm?

Huh? Didn't it do that two years ago??

 

[midwestclubber]

> > Any thoughts on this international dance hit that is
> taking
> > the Internet by storm?
>
> Huh? Didn't it do that two years ago??
>
Actually it was one year ago,, But it seems to be making a comeback WITH people making Cheesy, and sometimes funny Internet videos of themselves Lip Syncing to it. I did see one Internet Video that was kinda cute, featuring a 2 or 3 year old little girl singing and dancing to it, but most often the net videos contain (GUYS) acting retarted.... No I dont think CHR radio will do anything with it, As Chrles said,,, this record is done, as far as airplay goes.

 

[westlife]

> No I dont think CHR radio will do anything with it, As Chrles
> said,,, this record is done, as far as airplay goes.

According to MediaBase, it is getting a few spins on CHR/Rhythmic stations.<P ID="signature">______________
It's a common mistake to not use punctuation in its proper form.
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/~csk/its.html>Be kind to your friend, the apostrophe.</a></P>

 

[JeremyAndrews]

> Any thoughts on this international dance hit that is taking
> the Internet by storm? Could it be a hit on U.S. pop radio?
> Although an English version of it has been recorded, most
> people know it by the original version, sung in Romanian by
> a group called O-Zone. There is also some confusion over
> what the song is actually called (the original Romanian
> title is "Dragostea Din Tei", and while its official title
> in English is "Mai Ai Hee", Gary Brolsma's video has
> popularized it as "The Numa Numa Song"), but the song itself
> is instantly recognizable.
>
> original CD cover
>
>
> U.S. radio promo poster (big!)
> http://www.ultrarecords.com/o-zone/ozone.jpg
>
It was tried in early 2005. Didn't work. I remember listening to WXSS play it a bunch of times. Thats about all. It was dumped relatively quick.<P ID="signature">______________

</P>

 

[Slinky]

> > No I dont think CHR radio will do anything with it, As
> Chrles
> > said,,, this record is done, as far as airplay goes.
>
> According to MediaBase, it is getting a few spins on
> CHR/Rhythmic stations.

It's way off its peak airplay though.

As the other posters have stated, the time for this was a year ago when it was getting play in places like the Today show. It's done now.

 

[jcolletta275]

> > > No I dont think CHR radio will do anything with it, As
> > Chrles
> > > said,,, this record is done, as far as airplay goes.
> >
> > According to MediaBase, it is getting a few spins on
> > CHR/Rhythmic stations.
>
> It's way off its peak airplay though.
>
> As the other posters have stated, the time for this was a
> year ago when it was getting play in places like the Today
> show. It's done now.

Those few spins it is getting now are probably from network shows like OHP and Romeo's Playhouse. They'll occasionally run it every so often. It's cheesy, but if it's played at just the right time, it can work. Other than that, it's dead in the water.<P ID="signature">______________

http://theradioblog.blogspot.com</P>

 

[CHRles]

>
> Those few spins it is getting now are probably from network
> shows like OHP and Romeo's Playhouse. They'll occasionally
> run it every so often. It's cheesy, but if it's played at
> just the right time, it can work. Other than that, it's
> dead in the water.
>
Ditto on all that

 

[westlife]

Woo Hoo! (timing is everything)

> It was tried in early 2005. Didn't work. I remember
> listening to WXSS play it a bunch of times. Thats about all.
> It was dumped relatively quick.

I bet if James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" was targeted to U.S. CHR radio in early 2005, it wouldn't have worked then, either. Whether or not a song becomes a hit -- either on a particular radio format or in terms of "record sales" -- it determined equally as much by timing as by the quality of the song itself. For example, the Backstreet Boys first came on the scene in 1995, but their first single was a flop, because people were still suffering from "New Kids On The Block" hangover, and the market for teen pop just wasn't there yet. It wasn't until after the release of their second European album that they tried cracking the USA again in 1997, and that time it worked, because Hanson and a few other singers & groups paved the way for teen pop to make a big comeback.

And since we've finally come out of the 2001-2005 U.S. Great Depression of Pop Music, I wouldn't be surprised if more "lost hits" are pulled out of the gutter and given a second chance to have mainstream U.S. success -- or a first chance for many Euro hits which never gained any attention on this side of the pond while they were topping the charts overseas. We will probably have to wait half a year to hear them on CHR radio, though, as the current trend for pop music seems to be great success on AC and Hot AC months before CHR even begins to touch the song.

p.s. For the record, TM Century released O-Zone's "Dragostea Din Tei" on their U.K. and Latin American HitDiscs in the summer of 2004, but they've never put it on any of their mainstream U.S. HitDisc releases. (Trivia: they put it on the same U.K. HitDisc as another novelty song which gained considerable popularity in the USA without any radio airplay: "Woo Hoo" by the 5.6.7.8's.)
<P ID="signature">______________
It's a common mistake to not use punctuation in its proper form.
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/~csk/its.html>Be kind to your friend, the apostrophe.</a></P>

 

[ARivers]

The song is too annoying.If any rated CHR plays this song, they're just proving why they don't have ratings.