He Said She Said

"He Said She Said"
Single by Ashley Tisdale
from the album Headstrong
B-side	"Be Good to Me" "Last Christmas"
Released	January 15, 2007 (2007-01-15)
Format	CD single, digital download
Recorded	2006 Los Angeles, California Chalice Recording Studios
Genre	R&B dance-pop pop rap
Length	3:08
Label	Warner Bros.
Writer(s)	Jonathan Rotem, Evan "Kidd" Bogart, Ryan Tedder
Producer(s)	J. R. Rotem
Certification	Gold (RIAA)
Ashley Tisdale singles chronology
"Be Good to Me" (2007) "He Said She Said" (2007) "Not Like That" (2008)

"He Said She Said" is a song recorded by American recording artist Ashley Tisdale. The song was written by Jonathan "J. R." Rotem, Evan "Kidd" Bogart, and Ryan Tedder, and produced by Rotem for Tisdale's debut studio album Headstrong. The song was first recorded in 2006 at Chalice Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California. It was released later that year for digital download, and was officially released as a single on January 15, 2007, as the second international single. The song was later released in the United States on February 5, 2007. A CD single was released in both territories, featuring remixes of the song and her previous single, "Be Good to Me". In 2009, a "MegaRemixes" edition of the single was released for digital download, and featured 16 remixes of the single. He Said She Said features musical elements of dance-pop, pop rap, and contemporary R&B.

The single received a mixed critical reception, but had moderate commercial performance. It is Tisdale's most successful single in the United States, peaking at number 58 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also reached number 37 on the Pop Songs chart and number 21 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. The single was later certified Gold by the RIAA for sales of 500,000 copies.^[1] The song also charted in countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom, though it failed to have much success in either country. The song performed best in Australia and Germany, where it reached the Top 40 and Top 20, respectively. Tisdale promoted the single mainly through live performances. She performed the song on the "High School Musical: The Concert" tour, along with other songs from her debut album. The song was also featured on the setlist of Tisdale's "Headstrong Tour Across America", a mall tour throughout the United States. Tisdale also performed the track on television shows such as Good Morning America and Live With Regis and Kelly. Additionally, the song was also performed on The Early Show.

Background

In 2006, following the success of the musical film High School Musical, Tisdale began working on her debut studio album. He Said She Said was recorded at Chalice Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California. Tisdale worked with writers such as J.R. Rotem and Ryan Tedder on the song, while Rotem also served as the producer for the track. Evan "Kidd" Bogart also helped write the song. Three versions of the song have been recorded. The first version is considered the "clean" version, and features small lyrical changes to the original version. The "clean" version leaked online in late 2006, and was the first heard version of the track. The "clean" version was used during performances of the song during the "High School Musical: The Concert tour. The version released for digital download in late 2006 is considered the "explicit" version, and features more suggestive lyrics than the other versions. The "explicit" version was used for Tisdale's debut album, as well as the song's music video. The last version is the "Radio Disney" version, which features re-recorded vocals and changed lyrics, which removes all suggestive content.

The single has received numerous released between 2006 and 2009. It was first released for digital download on December 19, 2006 as a promotional extended play along with remixes and her debut single "Be Good to Me". The EP was available for purchase at the High School Musical: The Concert.^[2] "He Said She Said" was officially released as her second single on January 15, 2007 in international territories. On November 6 of the same year, the single was released in the United States for radio airplay.^[3] The single was released physically in both Europe and the US in 2007. The European edition of the single featured the Radio Disney versions of both "He Said She Said" and "Be Good to Me",^[4] while the US version of the single features the album version of the song, as well as two remixes and Tisdale's cover of the song "Last Christmas".^[5] In 2009, a "MegaRemixes" edition of the album was released for digital download, which featured 16 remixes of the single.^[6][7]

Composition

	"He Said She Said" "He Said She Said" combines elements of teen pop and dance-pop.
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"He Said She Said" incorporates elements of dance-pop, teen pop, pop rap and contemporary R&B. Heather Phares of allmusic said that the song "features a hard-hitting beat and backing vocals".^[8] Tammy La Gorce, in an editorial review of Headstrong on Amazon.com, stated the song is "a steamy dancefloor seduction that ought to come with a PG-15 rating."^[9] The song features Tisdale singing to a man she meets in a club about hooking up without letting anyone know, claiming it would strictly be "he said, she said". There are two different sets of lyrics for the song, the Radio Disney version and the explicit version, while the clean one features lyrics from both versions of the track. The Radio Disney version of the song features re-recorded vocals with less production on them. The first verse is changed from "she blowin' your mind with her assets" to "she got everything, you can't pass it" in both the Radio Disney version and the clean version, while the chorus changes the words "touching" and "kissing" to "dancing" and "chilling". The Radio Disney version also changes the word "moving" to "being". The line "one night with you" is changed to "one day with you" in other versions of the song, and the line "he'd do anything to get with her" is changed to "he'd do everything to impress her".

Critical reception

Performing the song in the High School Musical: The Concert

Upon its release, "He Said She Said" received mixed critical reviews. Nick Levine of Digital Spy said "Sadly, 'He Said, She Said' fails to capitalize on Tisdale's onscreen charisma. With its Phantom of the Opera-style organ intro, fractured beat and smoothly cooing chorus, it sounds like a Destiny's Child album track from the early noughties."^[10] David Sanford of About.com said was generally negative about the song, commenting "Sometimes a song comes out that is upbeat and fun from the gate and really needs nothing added on to make it better. This is the case with Ashley Tisdale's "He Said She Said." As the song begins to make inroads at radio, remixes have been commissioned by a slew of top mixers like Friscia & Lamboy and Morgan Page amongst others. Unfortunately, few of them are able to maintain that poppy excitement of the original version.^[11] Later in the year, however, the website said of the song "Her first major pop chart hit is an uptempo pop/dance gem."^[12]

In reference to the song's lyrics, "Common Sense Media" stated "Parents need to know that Ashley Tisdale's tween-friendly pop is appealing and bright. The lyrics are family-safe, but unsubstantial, flirting around the edges of sexual innuendo on a couple of tracks like "He Said She Said" is an adorable tune about flirtation, the sexiest on the album ("Baby I can see us movin' like that/Baby I can see us touchin' like that"). Unfortunately, pedestrian rhymes and constant repetition of musical and lyrical hooks keep the poetry from taking flight."^[13] "He Said She Said" ranked number 81 in About.com's Top 100 Pop Songs of 2007 list and #99 in Z100's top 100 songs of 2007 list.^[14][15]

Chart performance

"He Said She Said" is one of Tisdale's most successful singles to date. The single debuted on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 at number 77 in January 27, 2007 for 2 weeks and re-entered the chart a year later in 2008 at number 97, then rose to number 58 in the following week for eight non-consecutive weeks.^[16][17] The song was Tisdale's first Top 40 entry in the Pop Songs chart, where it peaked at number 37. It was also Tisdale's first song to chart on the Hot Dance Club Play, where it peaked at number 21. The song has since been certified Gold by the RIAA, her only certified single in the country to date. In Canada, the song failed to have much success, peaking at number 62. On the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles, the song came to a peak of number 65 on the chart, and remained her highest charting single on the chart until her 2009 single "It's Alright, It's OK" peaked at number 38. In Australia, the song became Tisdale's first to enter the Top 40 in the country, peaking at number 21 on the chart. The song had the most success on the German Singles Chart, where it reached number 17, her first Top 20 chart entry in the country. It stayed on the chart for 15 weeks.^[18]

Music video

Tisdale performing the song in the High School Musical: The Concert

Scrapped version

The first video for "He Said She Said" was filmed on January 25, 2007. In the video, Tisdale is in a high school. She becomes attracted to a male student and does various things to impress him. Tisdale enters a classroom, and starts to daydream. Then the class room turns into a nightclub. She starts having a dance-off with the mean girls from her school, and at the end, dances with the object of her affection. Tisdale has mentioned on a YouTube video that for the first scene of the video, she slammed a locker door so hard that it could not be reopened for a retake.^[19] She has also stated that there was originally supposed be a kissing scene in the video, but it has been removed for the purpose of her younger fans. The first version was directed by Chris Applebaum. It has been confirmed by Tisdale herself in a YouTube video^[20] that video was scrapped.

Official version

In June 2007, Tisdale filmed the song's second music video which was directed by Scott Speer. The new video is the first part of the DVD There's Something About Ashley. In the video, Tisdale and her friends go to a club, where a man played by the actor Josh Henderson notices her. She starts to dance with her friends and looks after the man. Her older sister Jennifer Tisdale appears in the music video. The world premiere of the video was on MTV's Total Request Live on September 19, 2007.^[21] On February 25, 2008, the video was premiered in MTV Latin America. The video peaked at number one on the TRL video countdown four times in October 2007.^[22] And in Australia her video clips entered at number #10 on the top 10 request list for channel v in July 2010 and in the second day it was at number #8 then feel down to number #9 and then it short up to number #4 for 5 weeks.^[23]

Live performances

Tisdale performed the song in the High School Musical: The Concert alongside the songs "Headstrong" and "We'll Be Together". Tisdale also performed the song on several television shows such as Good Morning America, Live with Regis and Kelly, The Early Show and TRL.^[24][25][26] The song was used in a Red by Marc Ecko and Degree Girl commercial which she appeared in. She performed the song at her free mall tour, Headstrong Tour Across America.^[27]

Track listings and version

U.S. Digital single

1. "He Said She Said" (Radio Disney Edit) – 3:07
2. "Headstrong" (Album Version) – 3:06