Call on Me (Eric Prydz song)
"Call on Me" is a song by the Swedish DJ and producer Eric Prydz. It is based on a sample of the 1982 Steve Winwood song "Valerie", and was inspired by a similar track created by the French duo Together. "Call on Me" reached number one on several record charts. Its music video features women performing aerobics and dancing suggestively. In 2025, Billboard named "Call on Me" the 57th-greatest dance song. Prydz refused to play "Call on Me" at shows for years, calling it "lazy". In 2025, he played it for the first time in 20 years at a show in Austin, Texas.
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Call on Me (Eric Prydz song)
"Call on Me" is a song by the Swedish DJ and producer Eric Prydz. It is based on a sample of the 1982 Steve Winwood song "Valerie", and was inspired by a similar track created by the French duo Together. "Call on Me" reached number one on several record charts. Its music video features women performing aerobics and dancing suggestively. In 2025, Billboard named "Call on Me" the 57th-greatest dance song. Prydz refused to play "Call on Me" at shows for years, calling it "lazy". In 2025, he played it for the first time in 20 years at a show in Austin, Texas.
Background and production
Call on Me (Eric Prydz song)
"Call on Me" is based on a sample of the 1982 Steve Winwood song "Valerie". The Prydz song was inspired by a similar track created by the French duo Together, comprising Thomas Bangalter (of Daft Punk) and DJ Falcon. After Together declined to release their track, Prydz recreated it. Winwood rerecorded his vocals for "Call on Me". The "Valerie" instrumental was recreated by the company Replay Heaven, which recreates samples to simplify licensing. The "Call on Me" video was directed by Huse Monfaradi, who proposed a "throwaway idea about sexual aerobics". It features an aerobics instructor played by Deanne Berry and a class of female dancers.
Reception
Call on Me (Eric Prydz song)
"Call on Me" reached number one on the UK singles chart. It returned to number one on 17 October, selling 23,519 copies. It was the lowest-selling UK number-one since records began, as singles were facing competition from downloads, which were not included in the chart. In 2025, Billboard named "Call on Me" the 57th-greatest dance song, describing it as "a bright, bubbly and beloved anthem reminiscent of a sparklier time in dance music".
Reception to the music video was mixed. In 2004, the British prime minister, Tony Blair, said: "The first time it came on, I nearly fell off my rowing machine." In 2016, Vice wrote that "there's something so genuinely real about the video, something so almost tactile about it, so genuinely filled with priapic longing and lycra-encased lust that watching it now, feels like an act of genuine transgression ... 'Call on Me' definitely is a work of art. It is amazingly lurid, amazingly tacky, amazingly brash and amazingly bold." In 2011, NME named it the fifth-worst music video, citing its "lowest-common-denominator vibe".
Prydz refused to play "Call on Me" for years, calling it "super lazy". After he refused to play it at a show in Canada, some members of the audience threw bottles at him. On 15 March, 2025, Prydz played it at a show in Austin, Texas, for the first time two decades.
Certifications
Call on Me (Eric Prydz song)
<table><thead><tr><th>Region</th><th>Certification</th><th>Certified units/sales</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Australia (ARIA)</td><td>Platinum</td><td>70,000^</td></tr><tr><td>Denmark (IFPI Danmark)</td><td>Platinum</td><td>90,000‡</td></tr><tr><td>France (SNEP)</td><td>Gold</td><td>200,000</td></tr><tr><td>Germany (BVMI)</td><td>3× Gold</td><td>450,000‡</td></tr><tr><td>Italy (FIMI)</td><td>Gold</td><td>50,000‡</td></tr><tr><td>New Zealand (RMNZ)</td><td>2× Platinum</td><td>60,000‡</td></tr><tr><td>Spain (Promusicae)</td><td>Gold</td><td>30,000‡</td></tr><tr><td>Sweden (GLF)</td><td>Gold</td><td>10,000^</td></tr><tr><td>Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)</td><td>Gold</td><td>20,000^</td></tr><tr><td>United Kingdom (BPI)</td><td>2× Platinum</td><td>1,200,000‡</td></tr><tr><td> Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.</td></tr></tbody></table>
Release history
Call on Me (Eric Prydz song)
<table><thead><tr><th>Region</th><th>Date</th><th>Format(s)</th><th>Label(s)</th><th>Ref.</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>United Kingdom</td><td>13 September 2004</td><td></td><td>Data</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Australia</td><td>18 October 2004</td><td>CD</td><td>Ministry of Sound</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>United States</td><td>26 October 2004</td><td>Digital EP</td><td>Ultra</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>
Awards
Call on Me (Eric Prydz song)
Rádio Nova Era's (Portuguese regional radio from Vila Nova de Gaia) 2005 Best of the Year awards - Best Dance