I Screwed It Up

"I Screwed It Up" is the fourth and final single from Amy Marshall's second album Peculiar Secret. It was written and produced by Marshall herself, and is generally regarded as one of her best singles.

The single became Amy's first #1 single and first to be certified higher than silver. However, two singles from her next album Morbid Lullabies outsold it without reaching the top spot.

Song information
Considered one of the most radio-friendly singles from the album, Marshall admitted in interviews this was her least favorite track from the album and felt it could be better. So she decided to experiment and do a complete rewrite of the song for single release to see if she did better, or worse, than the version featured on the CD.

In a later interview, she said the song was originally intended to be called "I Fucked It Up", but changed it under pressure from Alias executives.

An official bootleg of the track, "I Screwed Up I Screwed It Up", hit P2P shortly after the rewritten version of the song was released, and due to its underground success, was released as part of the iTunes EP format.

Critical response
When Peculiar Secret was first released, "I Screwed It Up" received positive to mixed reviews. Some reviewers praised the song's pop-infused rock feel which felt "made for radio", but others felt the lyrics could be better.

Reviews of the radio version of "I Screwed It Up" were overwhelmingly positive. It was praised not only for its superiority to the album version, but also for being lyrically different from much of Amy's previous body of work.

Music video
The video begins with Amy videotaping herself in a city scene. She is angry over a breakup because the consequences of her actions after the breakup led her to where she is now. In flashbacks, she remembers the breakup, which led her to join a gang of thugs. However, when she gets raped by one of the men, she shoots him to death in self-defense. She burns all evidence of the rape and murder, as well as all her identification, and begins her new life on the lam.

Track listings
CD1 1. I Screwed It Up (radio version) 2. I Screwed It Up (album version) 3. The Patron Saint Of Fakes & Liars CD2 1. I Screwed It Up (Angel's Tainted Perfection Mix) 2. I Screwed It Up (Kalan's Messed Up Masterpiece Mix) 3. I Screwed Up The Living Dead (Amy Marshall vs. Dirty Hands) 4. I Screwed That Collar (Amy Marshall & Robin Mashup)

Chart performance
"I Screwed It Up" debuted at #1 on the Urapopstar Top 40 Singles Chart on January 7, 2007 with sales of 64,323 copies sold. It spent eight weeks in the top 40 and sold 242,096 copies, becoming Amy's first single to go gold.

Due to an unintentional error regarding its release schedule submission, the official charts credit this single as "I Screwed Up", despite the title reading "I Screwed It Up" on the packaging for each format.

"I Screwed It Up" remained Amy's only #1 on the singles charts until "Game Over!" reached #1 in February 2010, over three years later.