Army of Love

"Army of Love" is a single released by Estonian recording artist Kerli, from her shelved second studio album Utopia. The song was written by Kerli, Jean Baptiste, Mick McHenry and Ryan Buendia and was produced by Free School Music and Jean Baptiste. It was released on December 16, 2010 via free download on Kerli's official website. It was released for purchase as a single on April 12, 2011. A 9-track remix EP was released on May 3, 2011, and part 2 was released on June 21, 2011.

The song charted on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play Songs chart for a total of 11 weeks, and peaked at number 1 for the week of May 7, 2011. "Army of Love" was number 12 on the 2011 Billboard Year-End Dance/Club Songs chart.

Background

Kerli announced on November 4, 2010 that the first promotional single from her sophomore album would be titled "Army of Love" and that the video had nearly finished production.

Composition

"Army of Love" was written by Kerli, Jean Baptiste, Michael McHenry and Ryan Buendia. It was produced by Free School Music and Baptiste. "Army of Love" features a very distinct rhythmic electronic beat primarily consisting of an electronic keyboard, synths and a short drum beat. The song samples melody from 3 AM Eternal by the KLF.

Buddy Montgomery

Charles "Buddy" Montgomery (January 30, 1930, Indianapolis, Indiana – May 14, 2009) was an American jazz vibraphonist and pianist. He was the younger brother of Wes and Monk Montgomery. He and brother Monk formed The Mastersounds in the late 1950s and produced ten recordings. When The Mastersounds disbanded, Monk and Buddy joined their brother Wes on a number of Montgomery Brothers recordings, which were arranged by Buddy. They toured together in 1968, and it was in the middle of that tour that Wes died. Buddy continued to compose, arrange, perform, produce, teach and record, producing nine recordings as a leader.

Biography

Buddy first played professionally in 1948; in 1949 he played with Big Joe Turner and soon afterwards with Slide Hampton. After a period in the Army, where he had his own quartet, he joined The Mastersounds as a vibraphonist with his brother Monk, pianist Richie Crabtree and drummer Benny Barth in 1957. He led the "Montgomery-Johnson Quintet" with saxophonist Alonzo "Pookie" Johnson from 1955 to 1957. His earliest sessions as a leader are from the late 1950s. He played briefly with Miles Davis in 1960. After Wes Montgomery’s death in 1968, Buddy became active as a jazz educator and advocate. He founded organizations in Milwaukee, where he lived from 1969 to 1982; and Oakland, California, where he lived for most of the 1980s, that offered jazz classes and presented free concerts.

Army

An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine)) or ground force is a fighting force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps. Within a national military force, the word army may also mean a field army. They differ from army reserves who are activated only during such times as war or natural disasters.

In several countries, the army is officially called the Land Army to differentiate it from an air force called the Air Army, notably France. In such countries, the word "army" on its own retains its connotation of a land force in common usage. The current largest army in the world, by number of active troops, is the People's Liberation Army of China with 2,250,000 active troops and 800,000 reserve personnel followed by the Indian Army with 1,129,000 active troops and 2,142,900 reserve personnel.

Love

Love is a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes that ranges from interpersonal affection ("I love my mother") to pleasure ("I loved that meal"). It can refer to an emotion of a strong attraction and personal attachment. It can also be a virtue representing human kindness, compassion, and affection—"the unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another". It may also describe compassionate and affectionate actions towards other humans, one's self or animals.

Non-Western traditions have also distinguished variants or symbioses of these states. This diversity of uses and meanings combined with the complexity of the feelings involved makes love unusually difficult to consistently define, compared to other emotional states.

Love in its various forms acts as a major facilitator of interpersonal relationships and, owing to its central psychological importance, is one of the most common themes in the creative arts.

Love may be understood as a function to keep human beings together against menaces and to facilitate the continuation of the species.

Kerli

Kerli Kõiv ([ˈkerli ˈkɤ.iʋ]; born 7 February 1987), usually referred to mononymously as Kerli, is an Estonian recording artist and songwriter. Born in Elva, Estonia, Kerli entered multiple singing competitions before being signed to Island Records in 2006 by LA Reid. In 2007, she released her debut self-titled extended play and in 2008, released her debut studio album, Love Is Dead, the latter of which charted on the Billboard 200. The lead single from the album, "Walking on Air," charted in many countries and was also featured as the iTunes Store's Single of the Week where it was downloaded over 500,000 times, a record at that time. In the years following, Kerli was featured on Almost Alice with the song "Tea Party" and she began to abandon her alternative rock sound and started to adopt a more electronic and dance-influenced sound, as can be heard in her 2010 single "Army of Love".

Following the release of Love Is Dead, Kerli began production on a second studio album which became her second extended play Utopia, released in early 2013, where it became Kerli's second release to chart on the Billboard 200. Two promotional singles from the EP, "Army of Love" and "Zero Gravity", were released prior to the release of the album's first official single, "The Lucky Ones". All three songs entered the top ten of Billboard's Hot Dance Club Songs chart, two of them peaking at number one. Two songs which were co-written by Kerli for Utopia, "Skyscraper" and "I Feel Immortal", were later recorded by artists Demi Lovato and Tarja Turunen respectively. Kerli's version of "I Feel Immortal" was later released on Frankenweenie Unleashed!.