Fest i hela huset

"Fest i hela huset" is two minutes and 50 seconds long,[2] and was created by Basshunter and participants of the Swedish edition of the Big Brother franchise.[3] The song was written by Basshunter, Simon Danielsson, Gurkan Gasi, Sara Jönsson and Sonia Kamau,[1] and Basshunter was responsible for the production.[4] The song was Basshunter's first release since his previous single, "Saturday", which was released on 5 July 2010.[5]

On 8 April 2011 it was announced that Basshunter would appear on the Swedish edition of the reality television series Big Brother to record a song, with the artist revealing that he was a fan of Big Brother's format.[6][7] His manager Henrik Uhlmann noted that the project would require Basshunter to make the best of the special conditions associated with producing a song while participating in a reality television series.[6] Basshunter entered the Big Brother house on 11 April,[8] and identified Gurkan Gasi as an "obvious" candidate to sing.[9] None of the contestants had worked with music professionally.[10] The assignment room was transformed into a studio where Basshunter conducted auditions with the contestants,[11] and asked them about their creativity, strengths and weaknesses.[12] The contestants impressed Basshunter, who did not have high hopes, but he had enough material for a song after auditioning half the group.[13] After selecting the contestants with whom he would sing, the song was scheduled to be released on 14 April.[14]

On 12 April 2011, the working title of the song, "Fest i hela huset" was revealed,[13] and the song premiered during the 17 April episode of Big Brother.[15] The show's organisers wanted Basshunter to appear in the Big Brother house for the premiere of the song, but this was not able to be arranged.[16] Three days after the premiere, the song was released commercially in Sweden on 20 April for both digital download and streaming.[2][17] This was followed by a physical two-track CD single released on 11 May.[18] A three-track digital-only version that included the track alongside an instrumental version and ClubKid remix was then released to various countries on 23 May.[19] The song was followed in Basshunter's singles chronology by "Northern Light" on 21 May 2012,[20] and both tracks would go on to be included as part of Basshunter's studio album Calling Time (2013).[21]

The Big Brother episode featuring Basshunter was watched by 202,000 viewers, an increase of 20,000 compared to the previous week.[22] One of the vocalists, Annie Almén, praised the song's danceable beat,[23] while press officer at Big Brother, Erik Sidung referred to the song as fantastic.[3] On 6 May 2011 "Fest i hela huset" entered the Swedish singles chart at number 16,[24] spending 18 weeks on the chart and peaking at number five.[25][26] The song also made an entry on the Swedish year-end chart for 2011 at number 70.[27]

On 30 March 2012, the Top Cats released the single "Sad But True" for the following season of Big Brother. It also featured the show's contestants, however, unlike Basshunter's song, the contestants only performed as backup singers.[28][29] Viewers criticized the song for the limited participation of Big Brother participants and emphasized that Basshunter's "Fest i hela huset" was more appropriate for the program.[28]

• Official website