Belle Ball/Covergirl

"Belle Ball/Covergirl" is a collaboration between British pop singer Romo and American pop singer China. "Belle Ball" is the fourth single from Romo's second album POPSTAR: The Life & Times Of Belle Ball; China has her own solo verse on the single remix, whereas on the original album version she only performed the intro, outro, and chorus. "Covergirl" is the fourth from China's second album Censor My Ambitions, re-recorded as a duet with Romo. The single was released June 22, 2009.

"Belle Ball" was written by Romo, and "Covergirl" was written by Yannik McQueen of Indigo Peak. Indigo Peak produced the single remixes of both sides of the single. "Covergirl" was the first single released by Romo where she was not credited as a writer. Both songs were highly influenced by Lady GaGa, with "Belle Ball" based on "LoveGame" and "Starstruck", and "Covergirl" based on "The Fame". The artwork campaign was directly influenced by Shepard Fairey's Barack Obama HOPE poster.

"Belle Ball/Covergirl" reached #1 in June 2009, becoming Romo's fifth and China's third. Both "Belle Ball" and "Covergirl" hit #1 on the Urapopstar Airplay 40, making it the first double A-sided single to have both sides reach #1 on airplay.

The single was nominated for Best Collaboration at Urapopstar Awards 17, losing to Lindsay Belle and Elice Claire's "Think Twice, Think Thrice", which coincidentally was kept out of the #1 spot by "Belle Ball/Covergirl".

Belle Ball
On the album version, the introduction to "Belle Ball" introduces the title character as "Britain's biggest selling female singer of the millennium", which is meant to imply that she goes on to overwhelming success. Belle is a full time college student with a dream to become a big-selling pop recording artist, working on building a resume during her off time by performing at local bars and clubs during open mic and karaoke nights. She cannot play an instrument and her vocals have flaws, so she relies on autotune, heavy electro-dance beats, and a sexualized appearance to get the crowds moving. She is a hit on the local scene and she takes the next step by recording a series of demos and sending them off to record labels. At the end of the song, an A&R rep informs her she has been signed with Elite Records.

The single version omits the original intro and outro, replaced with a new hook recorded by China. China also performs the middle 8, which was specifically added for the single release and written with her in mind. The line "versatile like Marilyn" is based on China's strong influence from Marilyn Monroe, who also influenced the Belle Ball concept.

The line "autotune her to bollocks" is a reference to one of Romo's earliest insults towards Rouge, while the line "They say it's better to burn out than to fade away" is lifted from the Neil Young song "Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)"; the line was famously quoted in Nirvana vocalist Kurt Cobain's suicide note, as well as in Def Leppard's song "Rock Of Ages".

Covergirl
A favorite from Censor My Ambitions, "Covergirl" was written by Indigo Peak and followed on the theme of China's previous single "Paper Dolls". The uptempo offering is China's third single to be penned by Indigo Peak, following "Tune Me In Stereo" and co-written track "Cutting You (Out Of My Life)".

Promotion
Romo and China produced and starred in their own web series, The Adventures Of Romo & China, with episodes posted sporadically on YouTube and their official web sites. The first episode showcased Romo's typical mouthiness and China's obsession with whales. The second saw Romo making fun of China's predictability and Elice Claire's habit of teasing fans by saying her single releases will be her last ever. The third began with Romo discussing her hatred of Sabrina, only to be interrupted by Sabrina herself while China wanders away. The final installation of the series features the pair looking drastically different than before, with Romo wearing her hair down and China wearing a black shirt and pants with her hair dyed blue. Romo blames this abnormality on the limitations of Xtranormal's avatars and backgrounds and thinks Sabrina caused the problem. Further discussion includes chart results, Cariah Marey, and POP BOX.

They also ran the special An Evening With Romo & China, a retooled version of the special that was supposed to air during promotion for China's previous single but never did. Guests on the special included Elice Claire & Lindsay Belle, Amy Marshall & Alesha, DAMNED, Esmeralda Dimuzio, and Morris David Cat. The Infinite, Carl Reeves, Aftershock and Violetta DiNozzo all collaborated with China during the show. Dhany G made a surprise appearance singing with Romo in a bit where they made fun of Dhany confusing Romo for Annie Lennox.

As per usual, Romo used her promotional campaign as an attack platform on the likes of Rouge, Ryan Dawson, Arwyn Knight, and especially Sabrina, who consistently made harassing Romo a theme of her promotional campaign for her single "Who's Got Your Money?"

Besides tiring the masses with her feuds, she caused further controversy by abusing her promotional budget by taking a trip to Hawaii and going out for seafood against China's pleas to "save the whales". China responded by announcing plans to open a vegan restaurant.

Further infuriating China, Romo stopped for hot dogs during an outing with Helena Rossi, where an obsessed fan treated the pair and ate noisily in front of them as they looked on in disgust.

China released this single as she prepared her upcoming tour with Elice Claire, the Strictly Censored Tour. Coincidentally, both China and Elice followed up their opening stints on Romo's Belle's Ball tour. China followed in Romo's footsteps by becoming a label owner, named co-owner of Saturdays Records with Emily Henning.

Track listings
CD1 CD2 DVD
 * 1) Belle Ball
 * 2) Covergirl
 * 3) Spot Him, Charm Him, Bag Him
 * 1) Covergirl
 * 2) Belle Ball
 * 3) Fighter
 * 1) Belle Ball (music video)
 * 2) Covergirl (music video)
 * 3) Making Of featurette
 * 4) The Adventures Of Romo & China complete web series

Belle Ball
The video for "Belle Ball" begins with a portion from the album's closing track, "Dance On My Grave", which concludes with the title character committing suicide. Belle makes a noose out of a dress in her closet, and as Belle wrings her neck, she sees her life flash before her eyes, including photographs from the distant past supplied from Romo's family albums.

Belle sees her meteoric rise to fame, beginning as she just reached #1 for the first time and is being introduced at a concert where she's greeted by a large crowd. After that, China, who plays her personal assistant, drives Belle to a red carpet show, a massive event where the singer receives a thumbs up from the queen. Following that she gives a sultry club performance where she simulates masturbation with the microphone, then finds herself in endorsement deals and breaks into acting. China and Emily Henning, portraying themselves as Saturdays bosses, watch a YouTube video of a Belle performance that impresses them.

Immediately after that, Belle and China begin causing controversy, from ticking off elitists at a cocktail party to bum-rushing Sabrina at a karaoke bar. China then tries to help Belle into a limo coming back from a bar, but stumbles and causes the paparazzi to swarm around her because her skirt went up.

The video ends with more image flashes, concluding with Belle and China at a club, until Belle's lifeless legs are seen hanging from the closet, indicating she has successfully killed herself.

The video for "Belle Ball" is considered to be among Romo's best, and won an award for Best Collaboration Video at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Covergirl
In the video for "Covergirl", China plays a therapist who counsels Belle Ball, presumably between her arrest and her suicide. The therapist knows Belle can't handle fame, but Belle doesn't want to give it up. The thoughts of her patient's suffering overwhelm her, further doing so as she sees Belle's image everywhere she goes as she takes to the city streets.

As the video progresses, Belle and the therapist come to agree that one of the obstacles in the way is the false pretenses of the media, as magazines showing airbrushed photos of celebrities are all too prominent. The therapist offers Belle a bite of her sandwich, in shock over her offer.

Wallowing in deep grief for Belle, the therapist decides to take a stand, buying a handful of magazines only to burn them in protest, and then ripping apart a banner ad with Belle's face on it before she returns to her apartment for the night. The next day, as she takes the subway to her office, she notices a Belle Ball lookalike entering with a tip jar singing for change. The therapist looks on with a smile, knowing she is a genuine person and not just retouched to cover up the flaws.

In the last scene of the video, Belle returns to the therapist's office, threatened by the advertisements with her face on them. The therapist understands Belle's concern, as she remarks, "Welcome to my world."

Chart performance
Upon its physical release, "Belle Ball/Covergirl" debuted at #1 on the Urapopstar Top 40 Singles Chart with sales of 89,232 copies in its first week. For Romo, it provided her with her biggest first week sales to date, though for China, it didn't follow on the numbers accomplished by her Tango Challenge single "Bubble Pop Electric" and previous single "Cutting You (Out Of My Life)/Paper Dolls", both of which sold over 100,000 copies in the first week of release. The single is Romo's fifth #1 and China's third, ending both acts' second album eras on a high note. "Belle Ball/Covergirl" has sold 356,268 copies, enough to be certified platinum. It is the fourth consecutive Romo single and fifth consecutive China single to break the 300,000 mark. "Belle Ball/Covergirl" placed at #19 on the 2009 year end charts, marking Romo's highest appearance (not counting "Play The Game" by her charitable mission SAVE URAPS) and China's third highest.

On the airplay charts, "Belle Ball" reached #1 on the week of June 28, 2009, and the following week it was succeeded by "Covergirl". Romo and China's duet single became the first double A-sided single to have both sides reach #1 on airplay. Previously, it was common for one side to get to #1 and the other to top out at #2 due to split voting. Singles that had accomplished that include the3stars' "Here For You/Through With Love", Ben Johnston's "Addicted To Love/(I Just) Died In Your Arms", Christine Tyler's "Lonely Nights In L.A./Slow Motion Promises", Sandi York's "Discount First Dates/Cruel Intentions", and China's previous single "Cutting You (Out Of My Life)/Paper Dolls". Both "Belle Ball" and "Covergirl" reaching #1 upped Romo's airplay #1 count to five and China's to six, helping her tie with Amy Marshall for second most airplay #1s.

"Belle Ball/Covergirl" is Urapopstar's 350th #1 single.