Don't Play Those Games

"Don't Play Those Games" is the fourth UK single from Violetta DiNozzo's third studio album "Divide & Conquer", and the debut single by alternative electronic duo Audiodrama. Violetta invited Audiodrama onto the single version of the song after their failure in The URAPS Factor. The single became another top 3 hit for Violetta and a healthy debut for Audiodrama, but did not hold up well initially. A re-issue of the song helped it achieve gold status.

Background
China gave Violetta the demo for "Don't Play Those Games" in early 2010, which Violetta kept aside until she began work on the album. Violetta was inspired by film and orchestral music and used this style for the direction of the song. She incorporated "The Grid" by Daft Punk into the song's instrumental. Violetta drafted the song to be a single from the album, always intending to release it although she wasn't sure when. When she decided it was time to end the era in the UK, "Don't Play Those Games" was chosen to be the final single. Audiodrama was brought in thanks to Violetta's connection to Katrina Benson; Katrina was already involved in the original version of the song as Violetta's producer and one third of the Darling Violetta Project. Audiodrama was her side project with Chace Hadley, and the duo auditioned for The Uraps Factor, making it to the top 16 but becoming the first eliminated. Wanting to give them a fair shot after their rejection, Violetta invited them to appear on the single version of the song. Violetta shot two videos for the song, one for the original solo version and one for the remixed version, with Audiodrama featuring alongside her.

Reception
Initial industry reaction was mild compared to previous singles; due to the involvement of Audiodrama, who had not garnered much public favour due to their quick departure from The Uraps Factor. Interest improved upon premiere of the remix, which turned the song into a duet with Audiodrama's vocalist, Chace Hadley. The interest did not translate into sales however; sales were heavily front-loaded, but the single quickly plummeted down the chart. A re-issue of the single was organised, which helped stabilise the single so that it eventually sold to the same standard as previous singles. Radio did not embrace the single, nor did digital buyers, with the song performing way down in comparison to the rest of the era's singles.

Promo CD

 * 1) Don’t Play Those Games (Album Version)
 * 2) Don’t Play Those Games (ft. Audiodrama)

CD

 * 1) Don’t Play Those Games (ft. Audiodrama)
 * 2) Ultimatum
 * 3) Don’t Play Those Games (Guena LG Club Mix)
 * 4) Don’t Play Those Games (Instrumental)

Digital EP

 * 1) Don’t Play Those Games (ft. Audiodrama)
 * 2) The First Move
 * 3) Don’t Play Those Games (Gregori Klosman Remix)
 * 4) Don’t Play Those Games (Zedd Remix)
 * 5) Otherworld (ft. Victor Strong) (Dave Audè Club Mix)

Original Version
The video opens in an abandoned theatre; Violetta is walking through the building and looking around. The camera tracks her as she approaches the stage, and revolves around her as she stands in the middle of the stage singing the song. In another scene Violetta is seen lying in a dark negative space. A light shines from her hand and she cradles it, singing as she tries to hold onto the light. The Violetta in the dark space gets up to sit on her knees, and she makes the light from her hand grow and split into both hands. She uses that light to create wild grass around her, and she fills the ground with this grass. Meanwhile in the theatre, the other Violetta is just standing on stage still singing as the camera moves around her.

Theatre Violetta is still singing, but behind her lights on-stage begin to light up while the camera continues to move around her. The other Violetta is making stars in the sky with the light from her hands. Once she’s filled the sky with stars she stands up and begins to walk across the grass she created, the light trailing from her hands as she walks. Violetta stops at one point, and using the light from her hands draws a mirror in mid-air. She sings to her reflection for a little while before then creating a wall for the mirror to hang on, and a room to surround her. The other Violetta is now outdoors at night, singing in front of a New York city skyline. Some shots of this scene show her in silhouette.

As the song winds down, we see the theatre Violetta looking out across the city, then inside the theatre again leaving as all the lights switch off section by section. The Violetta in the self-created room notices a light shining through a crack in the wall, and she wanders over to look through it. Whatever she sees on the other side makes her walk over to the mirror and touch it. The mirror begins to break with light flooding through the cracks as she walks out of frame.

Audiodrama Version
The video opens to a dark bridge street. It seems deserted as the music begins, but Violetta steps out of the shadows and into the light from the streetlamps as she begins to sing. We see her from a distance, singing to the camera. Chace is seen singing his part walking along the same street, except Violetta is nowhere to be seen. Intercut is a fancy party scene where we see Kat talking to an unidentified man. While we see shots of Violetta in the street singing her verse and chorus, the story part of the video shows Katrina and the man still talking. They’re holding hands, and we see a ring on her finger, but then we see him pull the ring off her finger and walk away, leaving Katrina stressed and upset as people watch what’s happening. In the performance scene, we see a ghost-like Chace approaching Violetta.

The scene changes when we reach Chace’s verse and chorus; it is day, and he is laying in a field with Violetta, looking down upon her as he sings, looking pensive. There are shots of him remembering times where he and Violetta were happy together, but the Violetta lying in the field doesn’t seem to be remembering these things and is otherwise ignoring Chace. There are shots of Chace following Violetta along a dirt path, but time is moving slower for him and he’s being left behind. We go back to the field scene as Violetta’s next part comes in. This time when we see Violetta lying down, Chace is lying next to her and the two aren’t interacting. We see Violetta in another open space, singing for the camera as her own memories overlap the image on-screen. We also see the dirt path with Violetta walking alone. Eventually it cuts back to the night-time bridge scene, with a ghostly Chace watching Violetta as she continues to sing.

During Violetta’s next chorus we see Katrina standing alone on the rocks at the end of an ocean. A man approaches her (the same one from before) and we realise it’s Chace, who had left her before and is coming back to her. But Katrina has no feeling left for Chace and turns him away after moving in seemingly for a kiss. As Violetta sings on the dirt path, a ghostly image of Chace appears behind her. During the final part of the song, where Chace and Violetta trade off on the last parts, we see shots of the two of them in the field with the camera circling around them. On the ground at the bottom of the bridge, Chace is singing up to Violetta who is looking down on him from on the bridge. Violetta sings her part back down to Chace, then drops her blue scarf down to him, letting it drift in the breeze as it floats down.

Chart Performance
Violetta and Audiodrama faced major chart competition from Paige White, and from duet partners Kleo and Midnight, which brought into question the maximum chart potential of their single, but it became a top 3 hit for the collaborators. The single did not maintain healthy sales however, sliding down the charts quickly. The single barely made silver sales before the announcement was made that the single would be re-issued to try and support its sales. The re-issue helped the song reach gold certification eventually. Radio was not as open to the song, becoming the first and only airplay failure of the era, missing the top 20 where all of the era's previous singles all peaked within the top 5. Digital sales were also a major disappointment; after three consecutive #1 digital hits, "Don't Play Those Games" missed the top 10 altogether and suffered from low sales. After the singles relatively weak UK performance, plans for Europe following the success of "10,000 Butterflies" were scrapped. The single was initially the 3rd US single following "Running Undaunted", but after it gained no interest, the single was swapped out for "Contagion".

Chart Run
TOTAL: 223,602
 * Week 1: #3 - 78,197
 * Week 2: #9 - 33,141
 * Week 3: #15 - 17,431
 * Week 4: #29 - 6,817
 * Week 5: #18 - 17,716
 * Week 6: #23 - 12,209
 * Week 7: #22 - 11,242
 * Week 8: #16 - 16,806
 * Week 9: #21 - 10,294
 * Week 10: #23 - 11,021
 * Week 11: #38 - 4,001
 * Week 12: #39 - 4,727