Cupid's Chokehold

"Cupid's Chokehold"
Single by Gym Class Heroes featuring Patrick Stump
from the album The Papercut Chronicles and As Cruel as School Children
Released2005
Length
  • 4:03 (The Papercut Chronicles version)
  • 3:58 (As Cruel as School Children version)
Label
Songwriters
ProducerS*A*M
Gym Class Heroes singles chronology
"Papercuts"
(2005)		 "Cupid's Chokehold"
(2005)		 "The Queen and I"
(2006)
Gym Class Heroes singles chronology
"New Friend Request"
(2006)		 "Cupid's Chokehold"
(2006)		 "Shoot Down the Stars"
(2007)
Music video
"Cupid's Chokehold" on YouTube

"Cupid's Chokehold" is a song by American rap rock band Gym Class Heroes, featuring the vocals of Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy. The song relies heavily on the melody and chorus from Supertramp's song "Breakfast in America" written by Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies.

Gym Class Heroes first released "Cupid's Chokehold" on their album The Papercut Chronicles (2005). It was reissued on the album As Cruel as School Children (2006), which was released as a single on November 4, 2006, along with a new music video. It peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2007, No. 1 on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 radio chart, No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart and the Canadian Hot 100.

Overview

Gym Class Heroes initially released "Cupid's Chokehold" on their 2005 album The Papercut Chronicles, but it attracted little attention. The band returned to the song for their 2006 album As Cruel as School Children after it began to gain airplay when the radio station WXSS-FM in Greater Milwaukee added it to its rotation. "I always knew 'Cupid's' had potential," McCoy said to Newsday. "I think people are sick of bands banking off brokenhearted-ness. It's time for a song about how awesome girls can be."

The song was featured on Discover and Download and Total Request Live. It won an ASCAP award on April 9, 2008, for being one of the most-played songs in the ASCAPs repertory from the end of 2006 through the end of 2007. As of September 2011, the song has sold 1,936,000 digital downloads.

In 2021, "Cupid's Chokehold" went viral on TikTok, appearing in more than 350,000 videos. In March, the song received over 12 million streams, 800% increase from February, propelling Gym Class Heroes to a career high No. 388 on Rolling Stone's Artist 500 chart.

Composition

Drummer Matt McGinley described the song's creation as an accident, explaining that the band had gathered to rehearse rather write new material. Their friend Sie One (Steve Decker) played the chorus of Supertramp's "Breakfast in America," singing "Take a look at my girlfriend, she's the only one I got." The band developed their own bridge around the chorus, and, McGinley recalled, "that song happened really, really quickly. And then we went and recorded it for under $300 in probably 3 or 4 hours."

They couldn't clear the sample for "Breakfast in America," so labelmate Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy sang the chorus. The first version is a slower tempo and includes female backing vocals throughout the song. The second version includes vocals from Rand Bellavia of Ookla the Mok.

Music videos

The Papercut Chronicles version

The first version of the "Cupid's Chokehold" music video, directed by Andrew Paul Bowser for the album The Papercut Chronicles, features Travie McCoy working at a toy factory, where he discovers a life-size prototype doll that becomes his girlfriend and fulfills his wishes. The relationship deteriorates when the doll grows tired of being exploited, humorously spelling out "krush," "kill," and "destroy" during a game of Scrabble. After she begins malfunctioning, McCoy pushes her off a bridge. At the end of the video, Patrick Stump awakens the doll, revealing himself to be a robot as well. The two fall in love and walk down the road together. This version features repeated background vocals of the word "girlfriend," which does not appear in the second version of the song.

As Cruel as School Children version

Katy Perry (pictured in 2008), who was dating McCoy, starred as his "ideal girlfriend" in the 2006 "Cupid's Chokehold" music video.

The second version of "Cupid's Chokehold" was directed by Alan Ferguson for the album As Cruel as School Children. It follows the lyrics more literally than the original and became the more widely recognized version thorough airplay on MTV and VH1.

The video begins with a Krump dancing Cupid, portrayed by Princetón, shooting McCoy with a love arrow as he passes a woman played by actress Porscha Coleman. Patrick Stump watches from behind a newspaper. McCoy and the woman initially all in love, but their relationship ends after she discovers him gambling with his friends. Cupid then matches McCoy with another woman, but their relationship also fails after he disrupts a party by performing a part of "Wejusfreestylin Pt. 2" from The Papercut Chronicles, and he later finds her in a compromised position with a masked man.

McCoy's final relationship is with a fan, who was played by his real life girlfriend Katy Perry. The two meet at a bar, and a romance develops without Cupid needing to shoot McCoy again. In the closing scene, a female Cupid shoots Cupid with an arrow, and the two dance as McCoy and Perry watch.

In the United Kingdom, some music channels aired an edited version of the video the substantially cut the party scene.

Charts

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) 3× Platinum 240,000‡
New Zealand (RMNZ) 2× Platinum 60,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI) Platinum 600,000‡
United States (RIAA) 5× Platinum 5,000,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Format Release date
North America (original release) March 2005
North America (re-release) December 19, 2006
France April 30, 2007
United Kingdom April 2, 2007

Covers

UK happy hardcore producers Darren Styles and Whizzkid covered the song in 2007, this version being simply titled 'Girlfriend', which got an extended release on vinyl in 2009.

References

  1. ↑ Ross, Curtis (June 24, 2005). "Heroes Make Own Kind of Hip Hop". The Tampa Tribune. p. 102. Retrieved October 28, 2026.
  2. ↑ Eloise, Marianne (November 18, 2020). "Decaydance Records: an oral history told by Pete Wentz, Travie McCoy, Gabe Saporta, Spencer Smith and more". The Forty-Five. Retrieved October 28, 2026.
  3. ↑ Saldana, Hector (March 30, 2007). "Gym Class Heroes Get a Hassle-Free Return". San Antonio Express-News. pp. 12H. Retrieved October 30, 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 Gamboa, Glenn (October 26, 2006). "They Have an Eclectic Personality". Newsday (Suffolk ed.). pp. B2. Retrieved October 28, 2026.
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  11. ↑ Diehl, Matt (September 2008). "High Rollers". Blender. 24 (9): 93. ISSN 0886-3032. McCoy and Perry have dated for a couple years, well before either tasted stardom (she played the ideal girlfriend in the 'Cupid's Chokehold' video).
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