Groove Armada have been forced to change the lyrics and video to the single ‘I SEE YOU BABY’ for its American release, because of fears the chorus, which contains the line “shaking that ass”, might be deemed offensive for some US listeners.
The single, which was released in November of last year in the UK is the debut single for the band in America.
Their US label, Jive Electro, changed the original chorus “I see you baby, shaking that ass” to “I see you baby, shaking that thang” for the US market.
A spokesperson for Groove Armada told nme.com that the changes were made to the song and video because it was the band’s first single, and they wanted it to be as high profile as possible. She added: “There was a ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ edit of the song, and it was up to the individual DJs what they played. Some States in the US would object to the word ‘ass’ being used, especially in the more southern States where they are more religious.”
The band also re-shot their video for the American market. The original UK video is set in an aerobics class, with women performing exercise to the single. The US video however, is set in a nightclub, with a security guard watching people in the toilets via a hidden camera.
Following the release of the single, which charted at number 27 in the States, the band released their debut album, ‘Vertigo‘ which contained the ‘dirty’ version of ‘I See You Baby’.
Groove Armada‘s next UK release will be a remix album, ‘Groove Armada – The Remixes‘, which is released on April 24 through Pepper. The band are also about to commence work on their next studio album, which they hope to record in Brazil and release before the end of the year.