"Intuition"
US CD single cover
Single by Jewel
from the album 0304
B-side"Standing Still" (live acoustic version)
ReleasedApril 7, 2003 (2003-04-07)
StudioConway (Hollywood, California)
GenreDance-pop
Length3:49
LabelAtlantic
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Lester Mendez
  • Jewel Kilcher
Jewel singles chronology
"Serve the Ego"
(2002) 		"Intuition"
(2003) 		"Stand"
(2003)

"Intuition" is a song by American singer Jewel from her fifth studio album, 0304 (2003). The song was written and produced by Jewel and Lester Mendez. It was released on April 7, 2003, as the album's lead single. Following the club success of "Serve the Ego", Jewel shifted to a more pop-oriented sound with the release of "Intuition". The song, which strays from her usual folk style with simple acoustic guitar instrumentation, starts off with a French accordion and then experiments with dance-oriented beats with subtle urban influences, using synthesizers. The song's lyrics contain a number of references to popular culture, including namechecking celebrities such as singer and actress Jennifer Lopez, model Kate Moss, actor Charlie Sheen, magazines, film culture, and commercialism.

"Intuition" achieved moderate success in the United States, reaching number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. However, a number of Jewel's fans criticized her for abandoning her traditional folk style in exchange for a new pop sound. After the song was licensed to promote Schick Intuition razors, Jewel was accused of "writing a song that tells us all to resist the total marketing mentality... and then licensing that song to a consumer products company for a huge sales campaign."

Background and writing

Inspired by the sudden success of scoring a number-one single on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart with "Serve the Ego"—the final single from her previous album, This Way—in early November 2002, Jewel decided to make a radical departure from her previous folk-oriented musical efforts and recorded a dance album.[1][2]

"Intuition" was written and produced by Kilcher and Lester Mendez.[2] It features accordions and dance beats,[2] while she urges listeners to follow their hearts but then taunts, "Sell your sin/Just cash in."[3] In another part of the lyrics, she tries to make sense of her own situation on Intuition: "I'm just a simple girl in a hi-tech digital world... in a world of postmodern fad, what was good now is bad."[4]

The song's usage in a $70 million advertising campaign for Schick razors drew controversy due to the song's message of anti-consumerism.[5] Jewel later noted that the song came about in a "not ideal way" which was "the worst of what the music business is", when her label and her then-management got her involved in the Schick campaign. As part of the deal, Jewel had to write a song titled "Intuition" which was to serve as her first single from 0304, although Schick remarked that the song having the same name as its razor was merely "serendipitous".[6] Jewel felt that the creation process for the song was "inorganic" and that it was hard to make the song authentic, but that she did not feel like "the song was a sell-out" and that she is proud of the song. Jewel attributed changes in the music business and an overall decline in music sales for the necessity of commercial product sponsoring to have a music video produced.[7]

Critical reception

The song received mostly positive reviews from contemporary music critics. Todd Burns from Stylus Magazine wrote that the track is "one of the better singles of the year (2003), Jewel's vamps up the scale demand to be imitated whether lovingly or hatefully. Either way, you're singing along, which is exactly the point."[8]

Versions and commercial performance

The final release of the single saw no alteration from the album version. Radio stations, however, did receive a radio edit of the song, only deleting one repeated chorus verse from the ending of the song cutting it down to three minutes and 13 seconds. Commercial singles were released within the US and internationally. In the US there was a CD single and a CD maxi single release, the former contains "Intuition" and "Standing Still" (Live Acoustic Version) while the latter contains club mixes only. The single reached number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, while topping the Hot Dance Club Play chart for one week.

Music video

A shot from the "Intuition" music video, which shows Jewel pretending to star in a commercial

The music video for "Intuition", directed by Marc Klasfeld, was filmed on March 26, 2003, mainly in home-video quality but would switch to spoofs of commercials (such as Sprite, Levi's, Nike, and Corona) and female pop stars, with sensationalist images in high quality. The original video was later censored, after a lawsuit by Nike for using the swoosh symbol without permission. In part of the video, a fake TRL ticker-tape reads "Jewel's music sounds much better now that she's dancing!"[3] Jewel noted that the video was supposed to be "ironic and funny", but she felt that the video was misunderstood and that "nobody got it."[7]

Track listings

Charts

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[40] Gold 35,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref.
United States April 7, 2003
Atlantic [41]
Australia May 26, 2003 CD [42]
United Kingdom August 18, 2003 [43]

See also

References

  1. ^ Slomowicz, DJ Ron. "Jewel – 0304 CD Review". About.com. Archived from the original on April 11, 2014. Retrieved March 14, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "0304 – Jewel". AllMusic. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  3. ^ a b Cinquemani, Sal (June 6, 2003). "Review: Jewel, 0304". Slant Magazine. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  4. ^ Petridis, Alexis (August 22, 2003). "Jewel: 0304". The Guardian. Retrieved March 14, 2012.
  5. ^ Howard, Theresa (August 10, 2003). "Ads crank up the volume with tunes". USA Today. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
  6. ^ Walker, Rob (July 7, 2003). "Shilling for Schick". Slate. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  7. ^ a b "Jewel – Intuition on Greatest Hits". February 13, 2013. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved December 23, 2015 – via YouTube.
  8. ^ Burns, Todd (September 1, 2003). "Jewel – 0304". Stylus Magazine. Archived from the original on April 3, 2008. Retrieved March 14, 2012.
  9. ^ Intuition (US CD single liner notes). Jewel. Atlantic Records. 2003. 88108-2.((cite AV media notes)): CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  10. ^ Intuition (US maxi-CD single liner notes). Jewel. Atlantic Records. 2003. 88110-2.((cite AV media notes)): CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  11. ^ Intuition (Australian CD single liner notes). Jewel. Atlantic Records. 2003. 7567880872.((cite AV media notes)): CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  12. ^ Intuition (UK CD single liner notes). Jewel. Atlantic Records. 2003. W619CD, 7567-88193-2.((cite AV media notes)): CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  13. ^ Intuition (European CD single liner notes). Jewel. Atlantic Records. 2003. 7567-88143-2.((cite AV media notes)): CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  14. ^ Intuition (European maxi-CD single liner notes). Jewel. Atlantic Records. 2003. 7567-88142-2.((cite AV media notes)): CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  15. ^ "Jewel – Intuition". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
  16. ^ "Jewel – Intuition" (in Dutch). Ultratip. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
  17. ^ European Hot 100 Billboard.com
  18. ^ "Jewel – Intuition" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  19. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Jewel" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
  20. ^ "Jewel – Intuition" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
  21. ^ "Jewel – Intuition". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
  22. ^ "Romanian Top 100: Editia 48, saptamina 15.12 – 21.12, 2003" (in Romanian). Romanian Top 100. Archived from the original on October 13, 2004. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  23. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 12, 2014.
  24. ^ "Jewel – Intuition" Canciones Top 50. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  25. ^ "Jewel – Intuition". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
  26. ^ "Jewel: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  27. ^ "Jewel Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
  28. ^ "Jewel Chart History (Adult Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
  29. ^ "Jewel Chart History (Dance Club Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
  30. ^ "Jewel Chart History (Dance Singles Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
  31. ^ "Jewel Chart History (Dance Mix/Show Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  32. ^ "Jewel Chart History (Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
  33. ^ "ARIA Top 100 Singles for 2003". ARIA. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  34. ^ "Top 100–Jaaroverzicht van 2003". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
  35. ^ "2003 Year End Charts – The Billboard Hot 100 Singles & Tracks". Billboard.biz. December 27, 2003. Archived from the original on October 3, 2012. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  36. ^ "Year in Music: Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks". Billboard. Vol. 115, no. 52. December 27, 2003. p. YE-80. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved February 19, 2020 – via Google Books.
  37. ^ "2003 Year End Charts – Hot Dance Music/Club Play Titles". Billboard.biz. December 27, 2003. Archived from the original on October 6, 2012. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  38. ^ "Year in Music: Hot Dance Singles Sales". Billboard. Vol. 115, no. 52. December 27, 2003. p. YE-66. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved December 19, 2023 – via Google Books.
  39. ^ "The Year in Charts 2003: Most-Played Mainstream Top 40 Songs". Airplay Monitor. Vol. 11, no. 51. December 19, 2003. p. 14.
  40. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2003 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  41. ^ "Going for Adds" (PDF). Radio & Records. No. 1498. April 4, 2003. p. 28. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  42. ^ "The ARIA Report: New Releases Singles – Week Commencing 26th May 2003" (PDF). ARIA. May 26, 2003. p. 25. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 6, 2003. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  43. ^ "New Releases: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. August 16, 2003. p. 27. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
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