Boten Anna

2006 single by Basshunter

"Boten Anna" ("Anna the Bot") is a song by Swedish musician Basshunter, from his first studio album, LOL. Following the single's release in 2006, Basshunter gained popularity in his native Sweden, as well as Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Poland and the Netherlands. The song topped hit charts and, on 3 May 2006, was named Norway's official Russ song of the year. It was also the most popular song at The Gathering LAN party 2006. An English version titled "Now You're Gone", sung by Sebastian Westwood, using unrelated lyrics, was released in December 2007. In 2023 Basshunter collaborated with Victor Leksell on "Ingen kan slå (Boten Anna)". It peaked on Swedish singles chart at number four.

The Swedish lyrics of "Boten Anna" tell the story of a female Internet Relay Chat user who the vocalist believes is a bot but later finds out to be a beautiful woman, although she will always remain a bot in his eyes. The song is based on an actual experience of Basshunter. At the beginning of 2006 Channel users started laughing. It turned out that Anna was the fan's girlfriend. The double meaning of the word "kanal" – which can refer to an IRC channel, as well as a water canal, added to the confusion. "Boten Anna" has a tempo of 140 beats per minute and is written in the key of A minor.

Basshunter recorded "Boten Anna" in March 2006 in one night over the course of six hours. He made it available on his website for free download. The song has been downloaded 37,000 times in within twenty four hours. With this success, Basshunter received several proposals from managers and music labels. Swedish DJ and party organizer Joakim Jarny contacted Basshunter via Internet Relay Chat and Jarny was soon overwhelmed by hundreds of requests from club owners in Sweden, Norway and Denmark who wanted Basshunter to perform at their clubs. Jarny contacted his friend Henrik Uhlmann at Extensive Music and in April 2006, Basshunter signed with Extensive Music and Warner Music Sweden. On 9 May 2006, "Boten Anna" was officially released as a single. By 8 June 2006, the song had been downloaded over one million times. "Boten Anna" was included on Basshunter's second studio album LOL. Basshunter said that it is impossible to record a whole album in style of "Boten Anna", or it would take him a very long time, and he wanted to show that he is able to mix different styles. Basshunter said that he wanted to continue recording Swedish songs until he had six or seven songs in Swedish which satisfied him and then he wanted to translate them into English language. The music video to the song deliberately plays on double meanings. It shows Basshunter riding a pedal boat in Malmö. Music video features text based chat system for instant messaging mIRC.

An editor from Sundsvalls Tidning compared "Boten Anna" to songs "Hej hej Monika by Nic & the Family and "Axel F" by Crazy Frog. Christopher Lembke from Ystads Allehanda said that "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley is the only good song which can compete with "Boten Anna" for radio listeners' favor this summer. Brynjar Mår from FM957 recommended the song and said that "Boten Anna" is a hilarious dance song and has an addictive melody. Uffe Jørgensen from B. T. that "Boten Anna" consists of equal parts Swedish sense of pop and hard hitting beats reminiscent of 90s hits such as "Mr. Vain" by Culture Beat. In 2010 Danish musician Henrik Marstal described "Boten Anna" as a model summer hit and explained that in the past, the summer hit was something that people bet on a lot and it was a matter of having a song that could hit the mark and live for a single summer. Tom Jerry Boman in his ranking of summer hits for Mitt i described "Boten Anna" as the most unlikely summer torment of all time but he noted it is both festive and gives nerds a certain amount of fresh feeling. In 2018 Finnish singer Nelli Matula admitted in the publication that she did not know that the song is not about a boat but about a bot which caused discussion of the lyrics and Anna Abreu, Laura Friman and Kimmo Sainio also admitted not understanding the lyrics. In 2007, Birgitte Söndergaard and Johan Andersson danced to the song on Swedish television series Let's Dance. This year also saw the release of the computer game Singstar Pop Hits, the Scandinavian version of which includes the song "Boten Anna". "Boten Anna" was played in 2015 during The Gathering LAN party. In 2019 "Boten Anna" was ranked seventh in Gaffa poll for song that is the biggest summer torment. 2022 song "Vandraren" by Daniela Rathana was inspired by "Boten Anna". In 2023 "Boten Anna" was fourth the most streamed Swedish language song in Spotify with 99 million streams.

+ Awards for "Boten Anna" Award Year Category Result Ref. (Reference) Eurodanceweb Award 2006 Best Dance Track of the Year Gaygalan Award 2007 Swedish Song of the Year P3 Guld 2007 Song of the Year Rockbjörnen 2006 Swedish Song of the Year Russ. no Russ Song of the Year Telia 2007 Best Ringtone of the Year

Previous Basshunter single "End the Lies" released on 2 September 2022 was a collaboration with Italian duo Alien Cut [it]. In 2023 Basshunter collaborated with Victor Leksell on "Ingen kan slå (Boten Anna)". Previous Leksell single "Fånga mig när jag faller" was released on 28 April, and reached number three on Swedish singles chart. "Ingen kan slå (Boten Anna)" was written by Basshunter and Victor Leksell, and produced by Basshunter, Pontus Persson and Robert Uhlmann. Viktor Leksell said that the song rhymes with other songs on his set list, and he will play it live, Basshunter said that he doesn't have any concert scheduled in Sweden during summer, but he stated that it is posible for him to perform during Leksell's summer festival tour. On 28 July Victor Leksell sang the song at the Amaze Festival in Smögen.

In 2006 company JME Data used "Boten Anna" with different lyrics for their advertisement. An Israeli band called Hovevey Zion (חובבי ציון) spoofed "Boten Anna" with their popular single, "Rotze banot" (רוצה בנות, meaning "I Want Girls"). "Dicke Anna" by Kid Bob was released on 20 April 2007. It charted on singles chart in Austria and Germany. In 2010 Swedish band Torgny Melins released Dansbandsnatt studio album which cointaned cover of "Boten Anna". Dansbandsnatt peaked at number two on Swedish albums chart. In 2021 "Boten Anna" was covered by Finnish Millennium Project.