One Night

Album: The Bad Influence (2014)
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Songfacts®:

  • Indianapolis singer-songwriter Tiara Thomas first broke through when she featured on Wale's 2013 hit single "Bad." She signed in 2013 with producer Rico Love's Division 1 record label in a joint deal with Interscope Geffen A&M. This is Thomas' first single to be released from her debut solo album, The Bad Influence.
  • Thomas wrote the song with Rico Love when they were in Miami. She recalled to Artist Direct: "We did a week in the studio working. I sat down at the keyboard and played a little melody. We put some drums on it. We put the writing on there. It happened really organically."

    "I remember Rico left the studio that night," Thomas continued. "There were like 16 bars for the rap, and I think I spent all night in the studio writing that rap. He came in the next day and listened to it, and we were both like, 'This is dope.'

    "It sounds really different," she concluded. "I wanted my first single to be something that sounds different from all the other things on the radio. I wanted people to hear me rap and sing as well on my first look."
  • Thomas explained the song's meaning: "It's just a fun song talking about girls who use their money to get guys - not every girl though," she said.

    "They just want one night," Thomas added. "It's just a fun song. It's not promiscuous. I'm not saying, 'Go out and have one-night stands with everyone.' It's what a lot of girls think sometimes."
  • The song's music clip is based on Thomas' favorite movie, the 1996 crime action flick, Set It Off. "I didn't want the video to follow the lyrics. I hate when the visual is really literal with the words of the song. I wanted my first video to be really cinematic," she explained. "We came up with a storyline that fit so we could use the Set It Off idea. It was a lot of fun. It turned out really good."

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