Mr. Vain

"Mr. Vain"
Standard CD single
Single by Culture Beat
from the album Serenity
Released16 April 1993 (1993-04-16)
Genre
Length
  • 5:37 (album version)
  • 4:17 (single version)
LabelDance Pool
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Torsten Fenslau
Culture Beat singles chronology
"No Deeper Meaning"
(1991) 		"Mr. Vain"
(1993) 		"Got to Get It"
(1993)
Audio sample

"Mr. Vain" is a song by German musical group Culture Beat, released in April 1993 by Dance Pool as the lead single from the group's second studio album, Serenity (1993). The song was written by Steven Levis, Nosie Katzmann and Jay Supreme, and produced by Torsten Fenslau. Tania Evans is the lead vocalist and Supreme is the rapper. The female part of the lyrics describes the narcissist title character Mr. Vain, while the rap embodies his selfish desires.[3]

"Mr. Vain" achieved success worldwide, reaching the number-one position in at least 19 countries,[4] including 9, 7 and 6 weeks at number one in Germany, Denmark and Finland. In the United States, it peaked at number 15 on the Cash Box Top 100, number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the Billboard Dance Club Play chart. In 1994, the song earned an award at the German Echo Award, in the category for "Best International Dance Single"[5] and an award in the category for "Best Hi-NRG 12-inch" at the WMC International Dance Music Awards in the US.[6] Its accompanying music video was directed by Matt Broadley and received heavy airplay on music television channels such as MTV Europe.[7]

  1. ^ Birchmeier, Jason. "Culture Beat – Artist Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  2. ^ Cooper, William. "Culture Beat – Serenity". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  3. ^ Farber, Jim (28 November 1993). "'Vain' eases pain for Culture Beat". New York Daily News. p. 29.
  4. ^ Spahr, Wolfgang; Pride, Dominic (4 December 1993). "After three decades, German dance music still floors the world". Billboard. Vol. 105. Issue 49.
  5. ^ Pride, Dominic (26 March 1994). "Dance Music (And a Punk Jester) Captivate Echo Awards Ceremony" (PDF). Billboard. p. 58. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  6. ^ Jimenez, Maria (26 March 1994). "Groovemix: Short Grooves" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 11, no. 13. p. 11. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  7. ^ "Station Reports > MTV Europe/London" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 10, no. 31. 31 July 1993. p. 17. Retrieved 13 December 2022.