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The Ting Tings
English musical duo
The Ting Tings are an English indie pop duo formed in Salford, Greater Manchester, in 2007. The band consists of Katie White and Jules De Martino.
The duo's debut studio album, We Started Nothing, was released in 2008 by Columbia Records to positive reviews and commercial success, peaking at number one on the UK Albums Chart and number 78 on the US Billboard 200. It spawned four singles, including "That's Not My Name", which topped the UK Singles Chart in May 2008 and reached number 39 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and “Shut Up and Let Me Go”, which earned them a MTV Video Music Award.
They received two Brit Award nominations, including for British Album of the Year and a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2010. Their second studio album, Sounds from Nowheresville, was released in February 2012, with the lead single "Hang It Up" released on 16 January 2012.
genres: synth-pop, indie rock, indie pop, dance-punk, new wave, post-punk revival
Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.
indie rockrockalternative rockdance-punkelectropopindie pop
The Elsewhere GazetteExtra
Background and formation
Katie White started her music career as a school-time hobby in a punk trio called TKO—short for Technical Knock Out—with two friends from Lowton School, Marion Grethe Seaman and Emma Lally. The band had minimal success, once sharing the same stage as the bands Steps and Atomic Kitten. While De Martino was in Manchester, the pair bumped into each other and discovered they had a mutual love of Portishead. De Martino and White both moved into the creative space Islington Mill Studios (the Mill) in the Salford, Greater Manchester area. The pair, along with friend Simon Templeman, went on to form the Portishead-influenced trio Dear Eskiimo, who signed to Mercury Records. However, due to a change of directors and managers, the management style...
Indie/Pop/Electro duo from Manchester, UK.
Formed in 2007 by ex-members of 'Dear Eskiimo'.
Also known as: Great Things, Tin Tings, Ting Things, Ting Ting, Ting Tings
From Discogs (free to use). Their entry
Liner notes
The Ting Tings, the records, oldest first
Fruit Machine
2008 ep
We Started Nothing
2008 album
wanted
Sounds From Nowheresville
2012 album
Super Critical
2014 album
The Black Light
2018 album
Home
2025 album
Dreaming
2025 ep
Records from MusicBrainz; covers from the Cover Art Archive.
"Be the One" is a song by English duo The Ting Tings from their 2008 debut album We Started Nothing. A pop ballad, the song was described as more restrained and gentle than the group's previous singles, with keyboards and synthesizers central to the song's instrumentation.
It also drew multiple stylistic comparisons to Blondie.
Composition
"Be the One" is a pop ballad written in the key of E Major with a tempo of 149 beats per minute. Its length is two minutes and fifty-six seconds. It has been described as sounding more calm and restrained than the group's previous singles, such as "That's Not My Name" and "Shut Up and Let Me Go", with singer Kate White's vocal in particular being described as "surprisingly gentle". The song features "warm" synthesizers, as well as a keyboard in the chorus. It has been described as a sad-sounding, "cute little ballad", as well as sounding "dreamy" and "melancholic and melodic in equal measure". The Buffalo News described the song as one of the "few emotional moments" on We Started Nothing. In the chorus, White sings "I don't wanna be the...
Music video
The music video, which was directed by Keith Schofield and produced by Gina Leonard, premiered on 10 September 2008 on handbag.com. It begins with Katie White waking up in a hospital, appearing to not know how she got there and sneaking out. White is joined by Jules De Martino while walking down a back street with their friends following them wanting to hang out, but White and De Martino refuse. Also following them are large screens showing their movements. In the end, they meet up and soon drive off in a black and white car. It is soon revealed that the entire video is set in a studio in Chicago.
"Shut Up and Let Me Go" is the fifth single from English musical duo the Ting Tings' debut studio album, We Started Nothing (2008). The song was released in the United Kingdom on 21 July 2008, and was the follow-up to the number one hit single "That's Not My Name".
The song was added to the coveted A-list of BBC Radio 1's playlist, and has received a substantial amount of airplay during the day on the station. The single peaked at number six in both the UK Singles Chart and the UK Download Chart.
Music video
The video for "Shut Up and Let Me Go" was directed by Alex and Liane for Factory Films. The video, filmed in one day, features The Ting Tings performing kung fu and uses a variety of hand gestures to transition from scene to scene.
"That's Not My Name" is a song by British musical duo the Ting Tings, released as their debut single. The song was originally issued as a double A-side with "Great DJ" by independent record label Switchflicker Records on 28 May 2007.
After heavy promotion from BBC Radio 1 and the NME, the single was re-released individually on 12 May 2008 on Columbia Records. It was later included on their first studio album, We Started Nothing (2008).
Composition
"That's Not My Name" is written in the key of E major with a tempo of 145 beats per minute. The vocals in the song span from G3 to G♯5.
Music videos
The song has three music videos, all of which are live action. The first features the Ting Tings with white background, performing the song on a set, with alternating scenes of White with blue and red backgrounds. This version of the video was used to promote the song and album upon its 2007 release. The video was directed by Sophie Muller and Stacey Hartly and is visually similar to the video for Toni Basil's "Mickey". By November 2023 the video had gained more than 82 million views on YouTube.
Covers and usage in media
Dizzee Rascal performed a version of this song in the Live Lounge on BBC Radio 1, changing the chorus to: "They call me 'blood'/ They call me 'rude boy'/They call me oi/They call me mate/ ...They use the 'N-word' like it's a game/ That's not my name..." During the Pittsburgh Penguins' Stanley Cup run in 2009, Pittsburgh radio station WDVE did a spoof of the song titled "That Is My Name" about Penguins player Evgeni Malkin, in which a man sounding like Malkin sang about his multiple nicknames. The song was also parodied as "He's Got My Name" for Cartoon Network's Johnny Test. Additionally, the song was used in a parody music video by Norwegian comedy duo Ylvis on their talk show I kveld med YLVIS (Tonight with YLVIS), titled "Jeg Heter...
