Alison Gold

Alison Gold (born May 9, 2002)[1] is an American former pop singer. She is best known for the single "Chinese Food".

For the American author, see Alison Leslie Gold.
Alison Gold
Born (2002-05-09) May 9, 2002
Fairfax, Virginia, U.S.
Years active2012–2014
LabelsPMW Live
Associated acts

Career

Alison Gold was born in Fairfax, Virginia.[1] In 2012, she began working with Patrice Wilson, with whom she has worked on all her songs to date. Her first single, "Skip Rope", was released as part of the musical duo Tweenchronic made up of Alison and another girl identified as "Stacey".[2] Her first single as a solo artist, "Chinese Food", was written by Wilson; Gold stated that she "loved it right away" after Wilson demoed it for her, and recorded it soon after.[3] Wilson raps on the chorus in an accent.[4] The song became a viral hit, charting at number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 2013 and reaching 14 million YouTube views by March 2014. The video for "Chinese Food" included images of Wilson dancing in a panda costume and dancers flanking Gold in (Japanese) geisha outfits.[5]

Despite its chart and viral success, both the song and music video received an overwhelmingly negative response by critics, with some of those critics regarding it as one of the worst songs ever. It was mainly criticized as having simplistic portrayals of other cultures, with Billboard calling it "outright racist" and ranking it 2nd in their 2015 list of "The 10 Worst Songs of the 2010s (So Far)".[6][7][8] The Chicago Reader thought it remarkable that the song's "having bugged millions of people in an interestingly annoying way has earned [it] a spot, however small, in pop's history books."[9] Both Gold and Wilson have rejected the song's accusations of racism, with Gold stating: "I don't really understand what that's all about... I mean, I'm not trying to criticize anyone – I just really love Chinese food!"[10] Patrice Wilson eventually removed the video from his channel in 2018, although it was later re-uploaded by others on YouTube.

She later went on to do another single with Wilson titled "ABCDEFG", which did not chart (this was also removed in 2018 by Wilson). The music video for her third and final single done with Wilson "Shush Up" received extensive backlash and further controversy relating to Gold's overtly sexualized appearance and its depiction of her as a criminal, at one point being executed in an electric chair.[11] The official copy of the video was later removed from YouTube, and Gold has not released any new music since.[12]

Discography
Year Single Peak positions
US
[7]
2013 "Chinese Food" 29
"ABCDEFG" —
2014 "Shush Up" —

Other releases

  • 2013: "Skip Rope" (credited to Tweenchronic)

References
  1. Alison Gold biography Archived 2015-04-27 at the Wayback Machine, AllMusic
  2. "TweenChronic". pmwlive.com. Archived from the original on 2014-04-15. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
  3. Tween Singer Alison Gold Doesn't Know Anything About "Chinese Food". Vice, November 15, 2013.
  4. ‘Chinese Food’ by Alison Gold: It could be the most annoying song ever. Los Angeles Times, October 15, 2013.
  5. Alison Gold’s ‘Chinese Food’ Is From The Guy Who Gave Us Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday,’ Only It’s Offensive. Huffington Post, October 15, 2013.
  6. "The 10 Worst Songs of the 2010s (So Far)". Billboard. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  7. 10 Viral Video Hits that Charted on the Billboard Hot 100 Archived 2016-02-22 at the Wayback Machine. Billboard, March 21, 2014.
  8. Wei, Clarissa. "Take It Down: Alison Gold's 'Chinese Food' Is Inaccurate And Racist | Commentary | Food". KCET. Archived from the original on 2014-03-28. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
  9. "The Fox," "Chinese Food," and annoyance as a pop strategy. Chicago Reader, October 29, 2013.
  10. Flanigan, Sarah (October 18, 2013). "Alison Gold Responds to 'Chinese Food' Racism Claims". Yahoo!. Retrieved November 3, 2013.
  11. Everyone is ‘outraged’ by Alison Gold’s ‘Shush Up,’ the latest pervy pre-teen video from Patrice Wilson. Vanyaland, February 10, 2014.
  12. "Alison Gold's Controversial 'Shush Up' Video Is "Art", Says Patrice Wilson - Music News, Reviews, Interviews and Culture". Music Feeds. Archived from the original on 2014-03-27. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
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