Pound the Alarm

"Pound the Alarm" is a song by rapper and singer Nicki Minaj. It was released on June 12, 2012, by Young Money, Cash Money, and Universal Republic as the fourth single from her second album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (2012). The song was written by RedOne, Carl Falk, Rami Yacoub, Bilal Hajji, and Achraf Jannusi, with co-writing credits from Minaj, and production was handled by RedOne, Falk, and Yacoub. Despite the song not winning the poll where Minaj and her label asked fans to pick the next single from her album, the label went ahead and released "Pound the Alarm" due to a large number of airplay requests for the song.

Musically, "Pound the Alarm" is a techno song that talks about having a good time and partying all night, as well as going to festivals/carnivals as the music video portrays. The song reached the top ten in Australia, Canada, Finland, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom and in top twenty in Mexico and France. In the United States, the song peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number one on the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart.

The accompanying music video was shot in her native birth country, Trinidad and Tobago, and features Minaj performing at a national Trinidad and Tobago Carnival as well as dancing from locals of the country. The music video received positive reviews, with many enjoying the fun atmosphere. The song was featured on Minaj's Pink Friday: Reloaded Tour. The song is included in the game Just Dance 2014. It is also one of the select songs available on the demo version.

On May 24, 2012, a poll was posted on Minaj's official website asking the fans to choose the next single(s). The poll is divided into three categories. The third and final category asks to choose between "Pound the Alarm", "Whip It", and "Va Va Voom". "Va Va Voom" had the most votes and won the poll. "Whip It" came in second and "Pound the Alarm" came in third. After the poll results were finalized, a fan then told Minaj; "ΝΟΟΟ!! Pound The Alarm is way more energetic!!!", where Minaj replied: "I agree!!!! Fun2perform. But the polls don't lie do they?"." The song was eventually trending on Twitter for the choice of the songs. Moments later she tweeted: "Oop. Just got word that radio 1 in the uk and nova & 2day fm in australia are runnin w/ #poundthealarm due to the amount of requests" and later added after "Sorry va va voomers...Looks like France has chosen #poundthealarm for the win as well barbz."

Minaj confirmed on Twitter on June 6, 2012, that she chose "Pound the Alarm" as the next single instead of "Va Va Voom" owing to the number of radio requests "Pound the Alarm" was getting in the UK, Australia, and France. It officially impacted Australian radio on June 12, 2012, where it was the most added track of the week. It also impacted UK radio on June 15, 2012. In the United States, the song was released as the second mainstream single and fourth single overall from the album on July 17, 2012.

"Pound the Alarm" is a Techno song produced by RedOne, Falk, and Rami. It is composed in common time in the key of C♯ minor with a tempo of 125 beats per minute. It moves in common time and follows a chord progression of C♯m–G♯m–A–B, and Nicki's vocals span from B₃ to A₄. The song makes use of EDM, techno and electro in its composition, while also being influenced by rave. After each chorus there is a "frantic" Eurodance and dubstep breakdown, and also features the sounds of alarms, which were sampled from American artist Britney Spears from her 2000 single "Stronger", weaving beats, and "seize-the-night" lyrics.

Lyrically, it talks about having a good time and partying. However, in one of the verses, she warns her lover by saying, "I'm a bad bitch, no muzzle", meaning that whilst muzzles prevent dogs from barking, nobody can stop her from saying what she wants to say, as she is a 'bad bitch'. When the song received mixed reception from critics with it being too similar, RedOne, who produced both the song and "Starships" told MTV News that "Pound the Alarm" is sonically edgier. "It's got the pop element, but it's got some hard-core elements, some dance underground elements." Laurence Green from MusicOMH compared the song to 2 Unlimited by saying "The techno push of 'Pound the Alarm' comes on like [2 Unlimited] set loose in the studio [...]". Kitty Empire from The Observer described the song as firmly a "half-rap, half-pop" song.

Entertainment Weekly gave a positive review by describing the song as "The perfect trunk rattler to blast from your pink Barbie Bentley, with booming synths that build to a brain-numbing epiphany: 'Music. Makes Me. High.'" Slant Magazine stated that "Pound the Alarm", along with "Starships", "Whip It", and "Automatic", are "retro-techno-pop earsores comprised of indiscriminately arranged bits of LMFAO's 'Sexy and I Know It', Rihanna's 'We Found Love', and pretty much any recent Britney Spears or Katy Perry song you can name", adding that "Her repeated exhortation on 'Pound the Alarm' to get things 'hotter and hotter and sexy and hotter' is about as weak as club-jam come-ons get." Fact gave it a positive review, saying "its avalanche-force hoover noises are so over-the-top and its hooks so catchy that you may as well save time and cave into it now."