Let's Be Friends (Emily Osment song)

Let's Be Friends is a dance/rock song performed by American artist Emily Osment. The song was released as the lead single from Osment's debut album, Fight or Flight. The song was released for digital download on June 8, 2010, and was released to mainstream radio on July 7, 2010. It was written by Emily Osment, Toby Gad, and Mandi Perkins. The upbeat song has prominent pop rock characteristics, and lyrically talks about friends with benefits.

Background
The song was written by Osment herself, as well as Toby Gad (who has written hits such as Fergie's number one single Big Girls Don't Cry) and Mandi Perkins, who is the lead singer of Canadian rock band "of Verona". "Let's Be Friends" is a upbeat pop song that contains a strong use of drums and electric guitars. Lyrically, the song talks of friends with benefits, boasting lines such as "Let's be friend so we can make out. You're so hot let me show you around." The song shows a musical transition for Osment, leaning toward more of a mature audience. During an interview about the song, Osment stated. [...] “I have been working endlessly to make sure this song is like nothing that you have heard from me yet. I hope you are ready to dance, because I am ready to make you.”

Osment performed the song on her "Clap Your Hands" tour, along with previous singles "All the Way Up" and "You Are the Only One".

Critical Reception
The single has been met with mixed to positive reviews from critics. However, several critics, and many fans, have commented that the song sounds like a mixture of Miley Cyrus's Can't Be Tamed and P!nk's Funhouse. They also compared Osment to her Hannah Montana co-star Miley Cyrus, stating that she has turned to more of a mature and sexual image.

Music Video
The single's video features Osment going to the beach with her girlfriends, and flirting with random attractive men. It begins with Emily and her friends pulling into the parking lot of the beach in a mustang. They then proceed to go out to the water, where Osment finds a cute boy and begins to flirt. Despite the songs theme, the video shows nothing risque or innapropriate. Music Review said that it wasn't a good song in the first place, so the video couldn't be that good. They also predicted that the single wouldn't be a hit for Osment. However, bscreview was less critical of the video, stating "The fiery blond managed to work the hot beach setting of the video, a hot Mustang convertible, and hot black boots all to her advantage in this fun music video."

Live Performances
Osment has performed the song live several times, most notably while touring to promote her debut extended play, All the Right Wrongs. It was also performed on the morning television show Toronto Breakfast Television, in Canada. The acoustic performance changed many of the lyrics, changing phrases such as "let's be friends so we can make out" to "let's be friends get lost in the sound." Osment performed the original version of the song on "The Dome 55" in Germany.

Chart Performance
The single has so far failed to chart on any of the charts in the US or Canada, but has become her first single to chart in a foreign county, debuting and peaking at number 67 on the Official German singles chart. The following week it declined to number 85, it then dropped off the chart the following week.