Released: 4th December 2006
Writers: Jamelia / Stuart Crichton / Karen Poole / Tommy Lee James / Martin Gore
Peak position: #10
Chart run: 34-10-24-34-35-36-43-54
Jamelia impressed critics and fans alike with the Depeche Mode-sampling Beware Of The Dog, which was widely expected to be a massive hit. So, it came as something of a surprise when the song (barely) scraped into the top ten.
In theory, when Jamelia made a comeback in 2006, it should have been the moment she consolidated the success of her second album, Thank You. Despite a slow start in 2003, it eventually peaked at #4 the following year thanks to the popularity of singles like Superstar, Thank You and – after a strategic re-release – See It In A Boy’s Eyes. The execution of the album campaign brought Jamelia mainstream visibility and put her at the forefront of British R&B. Thus, there was a not-unreasonable assumption that would continue to be the case for the follow-up: Walk With Me.
Yet, the transition wasn’t that smooth. The lead single – Something About You – shifted to a pop-rock direction more aligned with mid-‘00s radio trends. The track became a solid airplay hit but peaked at #9 in the chart, which, while by no means disastrous, was probably lower than Jamelia’s record label (Parlophone) would’ve hoped, considering they were launching Walk With Me off the back of it. The album subsequently debuted (and peaked) at #20, exiting the top 75 after two weeks. Suddenly – and somewhat unexpectedly – Jamelia was once again tasked with trying to turn around an album campaign. Still, she’d done it before, and there was a very obvious second single ready to be unleashed…
Beware Of The Dog is an immediate standout from Walk With Me, thanks to a prominent sample of the guitar riff from Depeche Mode’s Personal Jesus. It was originally released in 1989, peaking at #13 in the UK and #28 in America. However, the track had a more recent reference point after being covered by Marilyn Manson in 2004 when it once again reached #13 in the UK. Personal Jesus is, thus, not an obvious song to associate with Jamelia, but that’s partly what makes Beware Of The Dog such a good choice of single because it confidently subverts expectations. The riff that loops recurrently throughout gives the track a considerable presence, while the overall production – with a thumping beat, hammering drum kicks and a growling bassline – creates a song that sounds, in every respect, like a huge hit in waiting.
The sample is showcased during the intro, which, following an assertive instruction of: “Listen to me” by Jamelia, is accompanied by a series of spoken interjections: (oh, oh), uh, uh…yeah (oh, oh), yeah…yeah…yeah (oh, oh), uh, uh…(oh, oh), uh, uh…”. They allow Personal Jesus to set the tone of the song – which is precisely what it’s there to do – while unambiguously signifying that it exists as part of something else. Jamelia launches into a warning while the production throbs aggressively in the background: “Do you know how much you want him, you’re trying to be cool about it, you’re trying to be big about it, you’re constantly just denying, you’re like a moth to a flame, can hardly wane…”. Her lower register has a throatiness, which conveys a sense of danger about the situation. It’s a performance entirely at odds with the amiable poppiness of tracks like Superstar, giving Beware Of The Dog a bristling energy that is thoroughly compelling.
While Jamelia had already proven herself adept at knowing how to get under the skin of a song and sell it, the prominence of the sample could so easily have pulled focus. Yet, she matches its energy throughout; the second verse, in particular, is an exhilaratingly intense highlight: “Well I was damn near addicted, I got into trouble with him, I got in the bubble with him, where everything was just how he wanted, oh but then I got wi-i-ise, I got out of si-i-ight, so take my advice…”, that demonstrates how effectively Personal Jesus has been extrapolated to create a contemporary mid-00s electro-pop track. As Beware Of The Dog progresses, Jamelia adapts to the imposing production with a similarly heightened delivery. Her voice is raised to a commanding volume during the middle eight: “I know you hear me (I know you hear me), I know you hear me…” with guttural shrieks (“…Uh! Uh!”) that bring a palpable – almost alarming – urgency.
The production and performance culminate in a satisfyingly hooky chorus: “Stop! You better shake him off, before he gets ya (he’s coming to getcha, he’s coming to getcha). Stop! He’ll only build you up, and then he’ll getcha, he’s dirty to the bone, beware of the dog” that strikes a perfect balance in respecting the sample while cohesively repurposing it. Beware Of The Dog is immensely well composed; that much was already evident at the time. But, as chance would have it, this wasn’t the only song to sample Personal Jesus in the mid-’00s and with a point of direct comparison, the quality that Beware Of The Dog exuded only became more apparent.
In 2008, Hilary Duff used the same sample (including some additional elements) on Reach Out, which was intended to accompany a re-release of the Dignity album. However, that ended up being cancelled, so it instead became the lead single for Best Of Hilary Duff. Interestingly, both songs include the lyric: “Reach out and touch me”, adapted from Personal Jesus (“Reach out, touch faith”), but while it’s a subtle homage in Beware Of The Dog during the middle eight, it becomes the main hook of Reach Out. Yet, despite sharing such similarities in the source material, the glaring difference is that Hilary Duff’s interpretation isn’t particularly interesting. Considering how creative the Dignity album had been, Reach Out is far less than the sum of its parts. The track was never in competition with Beware Of The Dog, and each will have its fans (some people might even like both…). Still, it’s a rare opportunity to see how two acts approached the same sample within a similar timeframe and came up with very different results.
The accompanying music video employs black-and-white visuals that show Jamelia writhing around in the back of a taxi on her way to a nightclub, where she performs Beware Of The Dog to an enthusiastic crowd of revellers. In some respects, the aesthetic choice is well-suited because there’s a raw, offbeat edginess that fits the sound and delivery of the song. Rapidly edited cutaway shots create a dynamic, chaotic momentum as a fight breaks out in the club. Furthermore, Jamelia appears totally liberated (at one point, lying down on the stage while still singing). Yet, the video’s refusal to sanitise its quirkiness – however laudable – arguably comes at a cost because Beware Of The Dog needed to appeal to a mainstream audience, particularly concerning the album. And some of the sequences are probably too weird for that to happen. Shots of a man in the street whimpering as a dog barks at him are eccentric, but the jump cut of two bouncers staring down the camera to one of them wearing a cow’s head costume is plain bizarre. It’s subjective because some people love the video as it is. Creatively, it’s good. Commercially, it’s a risk, and given the circumstances and timing of the release, Parlophone probably needed to play it a bit safer. Regardless of the hype behind Beware Of The Dog, pulling back the concept or even doing something entirely different to present it instead as a vivid, eye-catching party track might’ve been a more prudent approach.
Predictions that Beware Of The Dog might earn Jamelia her first #1 single weren’t confined to internet hyperbole (though that certainly existed). It was widely regarded as a surefire hit, and everything seemed to be going to plan. The song was heavily promoted; radio support was reasonable for the type of track this is – it reached #14 on airplay – and the single entered the top 40 on download sales only at #34 the week before the physical release (as was the chart rule at the time). However, the first warning shot that something had gone awry came in the midweeks after the track was fully available, which put Beware Of The Dog at #12. It did recover by the end of the week to achieve a peak of #10, but while a top ten hit is far from an abject failure, most fans and commentators concluded that the single underperformed. And it’s not that overexcitement around Beware Of The Dog led to unrealistic predictions; it’s a great track with huge potential. This is a case where the general public didn’t react accordingly.
So, what went wrong? Rather than one thing, it felt like a culmination of factors. Something About You is, in retrospect, regarded as a good song but not necessarily the right lead single, which is probably fair. Jamelia had a clear musical identity at the end of the Thank You campaign. And, while it’s not to say she shouldn’t experiment, Something About You could have been released by pretty much any major pop act of the mid-‘00s. The timing of Beware Of The Dog might also have lessened its impact because Rihanna had already used a similarly effective formula for S.O.S. – which sampled Soft Cell’s Tainted Love – earlier in 2006. Yet, regardless of whether that inspired the creation or release of Beware Of The Dog, the use of an ‘80s sample isn’t unique to S.O.S. and that’s broadly where the similarities end, in any case. There was room for both songs to exist as hit singles in their own right. Jamelia has also since reflected on Walk With Me as a solid collection of individual songs that lack coherent flow as an album. This is a fair summation and arose as a critique even at the time. There probably isn’t one thing that would have changed the overall trajectory of the campaign, yet neither did it leave Jamelia in a position that felt irretrievable.
Yet, from a commercial perspective, that’s what happened. While Walk With Me re-entered the top 75 – climbing to #45 – its resurgence was short-lived. The next single, No More, peaked at #43, and after a hastily assembled greatest hits compilation (Superstar – The Hits) in 2007, which reached #55, Jamelia parted ways with Parlophone. Despite working on new material, nothing has been released, and she’s instead more widely known now as an actress and TV personality, though continues to perform as a pop star.
As is far too often the case where mid-’00s pop music was concerned, Beware Of The Dog didn’t experience commercial success on the same scale as the acclaim surrounding it. There was a willingness – indeed an expectation – for it to do well, and rightly so because the track is terrifically creative with far more about it than just a sample (however prominent). Maybe, in hindsight, there are things about the Walk With Me campaign that could’ve been handled differently, but Beware Of The Dog remains an unwavering highlight of the album and, indeed, Jamelia’s back catalogue.
