How to Touch a Girl

Infobox Single
Name = How to Touch a Girl


Artist = JoJo
Album = The High Road
B-side =
Released = November 14, 2006
Format = Digital download, promo CD single
Recorded = Cryptic Studios
(Los Angeles, California)
Genre = R&B, soul
Length = 4:29
Label = Blackground, Universal
Writer = Billy Steinberg, Josh Alexander, Joanna "JoJo" Levesque
Producer = Billy Steinberg, Josh Alexander
Certification =
Last single = "Too Little Too Late"
(2006)
This single = "How to Touch a Girl"
(2006)
Next single = "Anything"
(2007)
Misc = Audiosample
Upper caption = Audio sample
Name = How to Touch a Girl
Audio file = 11HowtoTouchaGirl-Preview.ogg

"How to Touch a Girl" is an R&B–soul song written by Billy Steinberg, Josh Alexander, and Joanna "JoJo" Levesque for JoJo's second studio album, "The High Road" (2006). Released as the album's second single to Top 40 radio in December 2006, the song was co-produced by Steinberg and Alexander. Its release marks the first time a single with a writing credit from JoJo was eligible to chart.

Critical reception

The song was well received by critics. Chuck Taylor of "Billboard" said that "'How to Touch a Girl' again casts the youngster with a crafty melody, albeit strikingly similar in structure to the previous hit. Despite the bizarre, almost perverse title, this track could propel the burgeoning talent all the way." In a review of "The High Road", Bill Lamb called the song "a near perfect piece of teen pop." [cite web |url=http://top40.about.com/od/albums/fr/jojohighroad.htm |title=Review of JoJo's Second Album, The High Road |accessdate=2007-01-30 |last=Lamb |first=Bill |work=About.com]

Controversy over the song's meaning

Due to the song's suggestive title, it has led many to believe that the song has sexual content. However many fans have come to consensus that in fact it is metaphor for touching a girl's heart and not the other obvious sexual meaning. This is not the first time JoJo has used sexual imagery in the title of her songs, with "The High Road"'s "The Way You Do Me". The song contains an uncredited sample of Whitney Houston's 1985 classic hit "Saving All My Love for You".

Track listing

;U.S. promo CD single
#"How to Touch a Girl" (Radio Edit) – 4:02
#"How to Touch a Girl" (Instrumental) – 4:30
#"How to Touch a Girl" (Call Out Hook) – 0:42

Music video

The music video, directed by Syndrome, premiered on "TRL" on December 7, 2006. The video shows clips of JoJo sitting in a room filled with old vinyl records, sitting on a staircase, and singing on a rooftop at sunset. There are also scenes of her in an apartment in a green dress. Special effects allow JoJo to be seen multiple times in the same shot. There is also a storyline involving a young couple on a date. Near the end of the video, a boy, seemingly her boyfriend, meets JoJo in her room with the albums, and the two embrace.

Chart performance

Although the song appeared within the lower regions of the pop charts, it failed to chart on the "Billboard" Hot 100, becoming JoJo's second single to do so, the first being 2005's "Not That Kinda Girl". The single did, however, peak at number four on the "Billboard" Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles and number seventy-six on the "Billboard" Pop 100.

Charts

References