All I Need (All I Don't)

"All I Need (All I Don't)" is a song by British girl group Loud Females, which was recorded for their 2003 debut album, Silence of the Overground. In 2011, American indie pop band Curriculum decided to cover the song by shooting a video of themselves performing the song from the garage of one of the band member's parents' home which was later posted on the popular video sharing website, YouTube. Curriculum's rendition of the song became a viral hit and managed to receive over five million views; it also managed to get mostly positive comments. Due to their success on YouTube, the band decided to release an audio version of their rendition and release it on iTunes in the United States on 4 October 2011. The band considers the song their first ever promotional/"buzz" single instead of their first official release (which has since been confirmed to be "So Mainstream").

Due to the popularity of the video, the band's version of "All I Need (All I Don't)" charted at #63 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States based on sales of digital downloads alone and no airplay whatsoever; it is technically the band's first chart entry in the US.

Background
"All I Need (All I Don't)" was written by Ava Knox, Chris Peters, and Drew Peters and was recorded by the British girl group Loud Females for their 2003 debut album Silence of the Overground. In 2011, band member Gregory Preston Athanasiadis suggested that the band cover the song since the band were planning on shooting video of themselves performing songs which they would later plan to post on the popular video sharing website YouTube.

The band's rendition of "All I Need (All I Don't)" was arranged by band members Shawn Middlesbrough and Stephanie Kesh who changed the style of the song from its original disco-pop fashion from when Loud Females sang it to a more instrument-driven, acoustic, and "low-key" version for the band; the song managed to stay uptempo despite attempted changes to make it mid-tempo or low-tempo. Athansiadis sings lead vocals and performs guitar on the song while band members Phillip Mandelbaum and Kesh sing background vocals; Kesh also sings additional lead vocals on the song and Mandelbaum performs guitar on it as well. The rest of the band performs instruments with Dana Breckenridge on guitar, Wyatt van Cleef on drums, and Shawn Middlesbrough on keyboards. Included on the band's debut album, Syllabus, the song was remixed to be a more uptempo and synthesizer-driven song. The remixed album version was produced by Middlesbrough solely.

When asked by a music blogger on why they decided to cover the song, Breckenridge stated that the song was inspired by "abandonment and being stuck in a difficult relationship that you are trying to stay nonchalant about even though you are truly hurting. Its also trying to stay indifferent to all the negative feelings people have towards you. Its basically about finding acceptance but not finding it - and also not crying about it. You just don't care what other people have to say even though you want them to say good things about you. But you can't win...and you don't care." van Cleef had a more cheerful reason on why they covered the song with him saying that "the original version oozed sexuality and coyness and that's what made it very fun to listen to. We pretty much came obsessed with the song and we constantly played it over and over again. Eventually we decided to cover it because we were very fond of it." Athanasiadis seconded van Cleef's statement as the reason they covered the song despite him saying that the lyrics were too "simplisitic for my taste. Honestly it was not stimulating enough. Yet somehow I could not get enough of it. It got under my skin and it got the best of me - which is very hard to do."

Release
Curriculum's version of "All I Need (All I Don't)" was released a a digital download-only single in the United States on US iTunes on 4 October 2011. The band managed to release the song independently.

With the launch of their professional music career in the UK and US, the band hoped to release the song as a promotional/"buzz" single in the UK to help promote their career and their debut single, "So Mainstream". However, the promotional release in the UK was cancelled so the band could focus on promoting "So Mainstream".

Reception
The original verison of the song by Loud Females was heavily compared to sounding like 4Tune.

Curriculum's version received mostly positive reviews with many people complimenting the band's arrangement for their rendition; however, many people were ambivalent towards the vocal performances of Athanasiadis, Kesh, and Mandelbaum (with the latter two performing background vocals and with Kesh performing additional lead vocals) with many people saying that they sounded "lusty, sexy, and somewhat orgasmic" while also sounding "bored and as if they wanted to be somewhere else but singing the song." The band's video of them performing the song received over five million views with it receiving mostly positive comments. Out of 500,000-plus who pressed "like" or "dislike" on the video, over 386,000 pressed "like" with the remainder of that number pressing "dislike". Despite the positive reviews towards Curriculum, many people overwhemingly felt that Loud Females' original version was superior to the band's rendition.

Music video
The band confirmed via Ustream, on 29 October 2011, while revealing behind the scenes details of their music video for "So Mainstream", that they had shot a proper music video for "All I Need (All I Don't)". The video to the song was eventually cancelled however so the band could focus on promoting their debut single "So Mainstream".

Chart performance
Due to digital downloads alone and despite no airplay whatsoever (since the song was not sent to radio), and because of the popularity of the video, Curriculum's version of "All I Need (All I Don't)" debuted at #87 on the Billboard Hot 100; it has since peaked at #63 on the Hot 100. The track also charted at #40 on the US Billboard Alternative Songs chart.

Track listing

 * US digital download
 * 1) "All I Need (All I Don't)" - 3:33