Yolanda Be Cool
| Yolanda Be Cool | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Australia |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 2009–present |
| Labels |
|
| Associated acts | DCUP |
| Members |
Andrew Stanley Matthew Handley |
Yolanda Be Cool is an Australian band made up of Andrew Stanley and Matthew Handley. Similarly to Zeds Dead, the name "Yolanda Be Cool" is also a reference to a scene in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.
Biography
In 2010, they collaborated with Australian producer DCUP (real name Duncan MacLennan) to release an international single "We No Speak Americano" on the indie Australian label Sweat It Out they founded, sampling on a 1956 Neapolitan language hit "Tu vuò fà l'americano" by Renato Carosone and written by Carosone and Nicola "Nisa" Salerno.
"We No Speak Americano" sold over 5 million copies and amassed over 200 million YouTube views worldwide. It topped the British, Spanish, German, Mexican, Argentinian, Swedish, Danish, Swiss, and Ecuadorian charts,[1] and reached the Top 5 in Australia, France, Italy, Spain and Norway. It was also a chart hit in Colombia, New Zealand, Mexico, Peru, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Venezuela, Honduras, Costa Rica and several other countries. The video was directed by Andy Hylton. Prior to the hit, they had collaborated with DCUP when he remixed their hit "Afro Nuts" in 2009.
The name is a reference to the scene in the film Pulp Fiction, where the character Jules (played by Samuel L. Jackson) tells a female armed robber named Yolanda (played by Amanda Plummer) "Be cool!" Yolanda Be Cool received two 2010 ARIA Music Awards nominations which include, "Best Dance Release" and "Most Popular Australian Single" for "We No Speak Americano".[2]
In 2011, Yolanda Be Cool collaborated with Crystal Waters on a track called 'Le Bump' [3] which then made it onto their debut album "Ladies and Mentalmen" released by Sweat It Out! and DIM MAK in 2013. The album featured indigenous Australian icon Gurrumul, house royalty Crystal Waters and Barbara Tucker, soul legend Betty Wright and US up n coming rap star Nola Darling. Also, Yolanda Be Cool notably remixed Cyndi Lauper's song "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", taken from the 30th anniversary reissue of her album She's So Unusual.[4]
In 2015, they got back in the studio with DCUP to make "Sugar Man", an edit of a song by Rodriguez that went on to go platinum in Australia[5] before writing Soul Makossa, which samples Manu Dibango's saxophone. The song currently has over 1 million plays on YouTube[6] and claimed number 2 on Beatport's Top Ten in addition to being the sixth most sold House record of the year.[7]
Yolanda Be Cool released "From Me to You" with DCUP on Spinnin' Records on 8 February 2016.
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Ladies & Mentalmen |
|
| Je Suis Music |
|
Singles
As lead artist
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [8] |
AUT [9] |
BEL | FRA [10] |
GER [11] |
NLD | SWE | SWI [12] |
UK [13] |
US [14] | ||||
| "Afro Nuts" | 2009 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |
| "Holy Cow" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "We No Speak Americano" (with DCUP) |
2010 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 29 | ||
| "Le Bump" (featuring Crystal Waters) |
2011 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Ladies & Mentalmen | |
| "Change" (featuring Nola Darling) |
2012 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Before Midnight" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Love Keeps" (featuring Barbara Tucker) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "A Baru in New York" (featuring Gurrumul) |
2013 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Sweat Naked" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "To Be Alone" (featuring Omar) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "All That She Wants" (featuring SYF and Fritz Helder) |
2014 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Cause I Like It" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | ||
| "Sugar Man" (with DCUP) |
15 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| ||
| "Soul Makossa (Money)" (with DCUP) |
2015 | 86 | — | 61 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "From Me to You" (with DCUP) |
2016 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||||||
Remixes
- 2010
- Alesha Dixon - "Drummer Boy" (Yolanda Be Cool and DCup Remix)
- ULC Hnan Solo - "Fortune Cookie" (Yolanda Be Cool Remix)
- Jazzbit - "Sing Sing Sing 2010" (Yolanda Be Cool & Dcup Remix)
- Dennis Ferrer - "Hey Hey" (Yolanda Be Cool Remix)
- 2013
- Cyndi Lauper - "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" (Yolanda Be Cool Remix)
References
- ↑ DanishCharts.com "We No Speak Americano" page
- ↑ 2010 ARIA Nominations Announced Archived October 2, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Take40 Australia (mcm entertainment). Retrieved 2010-09-29.
- ↑
- ↑ Cyndi Lauper She's So Unusual 30th Anniversary Celebration on allmusic.com
- ↑
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwWnYwYzwyc
- ↑
- ↑ Yolanda Be Cool – Discography on Australian charts Archived August 31, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Australian-charts.com Retrieved 2010-10-01.
- ↑ Yolanda Be Cool – Discography on Austrian charts Archived June 9, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Austrian-charts.com Retrieved 2010-10-01.
- ↑ Yolanda Be Cool – Discography on French charts Archived June 6, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Lescharts.com Retrieved 2010-10-01.
- ↑ Yolanda Be Cool – Chartverfurlong Musicline.de Retrieved 2010-10-01.
- ↑ Yolanda Be Cool – Discography on Swiss charts Archived August 14, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Swisscharts.com Retrieved 2010-10-01.
- ↑ Yolanda Be Cool – Discography on UK charts Chartstats.com Retrieved 2010-10-01.
- ↑ Yolanda Be Cool – Artist Chart History Billboard.com. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
- ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2011 Singles". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
- ↑ "British single certifications – Yolanda Be Cool vs D CUP – We No Speak Americano". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 6 December 2012. Enter We No Speak Americano in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select single in the field By Format. Click Search
- ↑ "American single certifications – Yolanda Be Cool vs DCUP – We No Speak Americano". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 6 December 2012. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH
- ↑ "New Zealand single certifications – Yolanda Be Cool and DCUP – We No Speak Americano". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
- ↑ Ryan, Gavin (7 March 2015). "ARIA Singles: Ellie Goulding Remains At No 1". Noise11. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
External links
- Yolanda Be Cool on Myspace
- Yolanda Be Cool on Twitter
- Yolanda Be Cool discography at Discogs