I'll Never Break Your Heart

"I'll Never Break Your Heart" is a song by American boy band Backstreet Boys. It was released in Europe on December 13, 1995 as the second single from their self-titled debut album.

"I'll Never Break Your Heart"
Artwork for early 1995–96 European release
Single by Backstreet Boys
from the album Backstreet Boys (international), Backstreet Boys (US)
B-side"Roll with It"
Released
  • December 13, 1995
RecordedSpring 1995
StudioParc Studios
Platinum Post Studios
(Orlando, Florida)[1]
GenrePop, R&B
Length4:25 (radio edit)
4:48 (LP version)
LabelJive
Songwriter(s)Eugene Wilde, Albert Manno
Producer(s)Veit Renn, Timmy Allen
Backstreet Boys singles chronology
"We've Got It Goin' On"
(1995)		 "I'll Never Break Your Heart"
(1995)		 "Get Down (You're the One for Me)"
(1996)
Backstreet Boys US singles chronology
"Everybody (Backstreet's Back)"
(1998)		 "I'll Never Break Your Heart"
(1998)		 "All I Have to Give"
(1998)
Alternate cover
Artwork for 1998 re-release
Music video
"I'll Never Break Your Heart" on YouTube

The song was written by singer-songwriters Eugene Wilde and Albert Manno and produced by Veit Renn and Timmy Allen. It was later included on their US debut album as well as their fourth single in the US right after "Backstreet's Back" reissue on March 31, 1998.

Background

The song replaced "I'll Never Find Someone Like You" on the album, which was to be the band's first single. The band's label, Jive Records, had not committed to using the song for the band, and as a result, it was offered to singer Keith Martin, who accepted it and released it as a single on the Bad Boys soundtrack, and his own albums It's Long Overdue and All the Hits. Brian Littrell discovered this when he heard Martin's song play on the radio one day.[2]

"I'll Never Break Your Heart" was supposedly recorded over two weeks, because Littrell and AJ McLean, the two lead vocalists on the song, had colds.[2][3] In an interview with Billboard, AJ McLean stated that the song "was the longest recording for any single BSB record in Backstreet history", as they had to manually rewind the tape in order to add brand new vocals in the track while they were sick.[3]

In October 2014, the group took ownership of the master recording of the song as part of a settlement agreement with their ex-manager, Lou Pearlman's bankruptcy estate.[4]

Critical reception

Music & Media wrote that "with the up-tempo, infectious We've Got It Goin' On still in the Benelux, German and Swiss top 10, the Backstreet Boys slowed their crystal clear vocals down to make one of those smooth R&B ballads which are typically aimed for the US market."[5]

Commercial performance

The song was first released in Europe in December 1995, then in 1996 for a few other markets, and subsequently was re-released June 1998 of the U.S. debut. The song peaked at number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the U.S., but fared better on the Adult Contemporary chart, where it became the group's first number one song on this chart.[6] Outside the U.S., the song peaked at #8 on the UK Singles Chart and also went to the Top 10 in Australia, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland.

Music videos

Two music videos were released for "I'll Never Break Your Heart".[3]

Original version

The video released in conjunction with the original single release follows a group of girls, one of whom has just broken up with her boyfriend as explained in the video's preface. The band members are on a ski vacation, and each partners up with one of the girls. Brian Littrell gets together with the girl who had just broken up with her boyfriend. The girl Kevin Richardson is matched with was his then-girlfriend and now-wife Kristin Willits, as she was asked by the director to be featured in the video as an extra.[3] The group had not skied before or seen snow, and would constantly fall off after the cameras stopped rolling.[3] This original video was filmed on November 1995 in Snowbird, Utah.[3][7] It first aired in December 1995 in Germany, France, and other nations in Western Europe.

Alternate version

The second video, directed by Bille Woodruff, was released to MTV in June 1998 for the US market. It later appeared as the first video on Total Request Live. The video features each band member singing in their own uniquely styled apartment which are stacked atop one another in a tall building. Late in the video, each of the members is shown to have a girl in their apartment. The group is also shown singing together in a cylindrical tunnel which has a rotating round porthole at the near end, though which the camera observes. A version of the video was also released for the Spanish version of the song. The dog in Littrell's apartment was actually his dog, and the lady in his apartment was his then-girlfriend, now-wife Leighanne Wallace.

Other versions

The Spanish version of the song, titled "Nunca Te Haré Llorar", was later recorded in Zürich along with a Spanish version of "Anywhere for You".[2] The idea came after they had started gaining success in Spanish countries such as Mexico and Spain. The label suggested they created Spanish versions to dedicate to those countries. Andy Williams released a version in 2007 on his album, I Don't Remember Ever Growing Up. The video for the Spanish version was shot directly after the English video for the US market. There is a Mandarin Chinese version "你怎麼沒看見”sung by Allan Moo Kai (巫奇）, the younger brother of Mandopop singer Eric Moo.

Track listing

Credits and personnel

Charts

Release history
Country Release Date Format
Europe December 13, 1995 (1995-12-13) Airplay
February 12, 1996 (1996-02-12) CD Single
United States June 1998 (1998-06) Airplay
July 14, 1998 (1998-07-14)[42] CD Single

References
  1. "Entertainment Weekly 10th Anniversary". Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  2. Interview with Backstreet Boys, management, and others from Entertainment Weekly 10th Anniversary Issue.
  3. Weatherby, Taylor (August 10, 2017). "'It's What America Needed at That Time': Backstreet Boys Look Back on Their U.S. Debut, 20 Years Later". Billboard. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  4. "Backstreet Boys We Got Out Music Back!". TMZ. October 24, 2014. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  5. "New Releases: Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  6. Chart info at billboard.com
  7. Stonebraker, Samantha (February 9, 2016). What You Wanna Know: Backstreet Boys' Secrets Only a Girlfriend Can Tell. ISBN 9781250112927.
  8. "Australian-charts.com – Backstreet Boys – I'll Never Break Your Heart". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  9. "Austriancharts.at – Backstreet Boys – I'll Never Break Your Heart" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  10. "Ultratop.be – Backstreet Boys – I'll Never Break Your Heart" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  11. "Ultratop.be – Backstreet Boys – I'll Never Break Your Heart" (in French). Ultratop 50.
  12. "Top RPM Adult Contemporary: Issue 6993." RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
  13. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 3183." RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
  14. Danish Singles Chart 19 April 1996
  15. Nielsen Business Media, Inc (April 13, 1996). Billboard. backstreet boys.
  16. "Offiziellecharts.de – Backstreet Boys – I'll Never Break Your Heart". GfK Entertainment Charts.
  17. "Íslenski Listinn Topp 40 (NR. 290 Vikuna 24.9. - 1.10. 1998)" (PDF) (in Icelandic). Dagblaðið Vísir. Retrieved July 10, 2018. Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  18. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – I'll Never Break Your Heart". Irish Singles Chart.
  19. "Nederlandse Top 40 – Backstreet Boys" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  20. "Dutchcharts.nl – Backstreet Boys – I'll Never Break Your Heart" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  21. "Charts.nz – Backstreet Boys – I'll Never Break Your Heart". Top 40 Singles.
  22. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  23. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". officialcharts.com. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
  24. "Swedishcharts.com – Backstreet Boys – I'll Never Break Your Heart". Singles Top 100.
  25. "Swisscharts.com – Backstreet Boys – I'll Never Break Your Heart". Swiss Singles Chart.
  26. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  27. "Official Singles Chart Top 100: 10 November 1996 – 16 November 1996". Official Charts. The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  28. "Backstreet Boys Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  29. "Backstreet Boys Chart History (Pop Songs)". Billboard.
  30. "Backstreet Boys Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard.
  31. 1996 Austrian Singles Chart Austriancharts.at (Retrieved April 20, 2010)
  32. 1996 Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart Ultratop.be (Retrieved April 20, 2010)
  33. 1996 Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart Ultratop.be (Retrieved April 20, 2010)
  34. url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wQ4EAAAAMBAJ&lr=&rview=1
  35. "Top 100 Single-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
  36. "Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 1996". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
  37. http://www.dutchcharts.nl/jaaroverzichten.asp?year=1996&cat=s
  38. "Årslista Singlar, 1996" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  39. 1996 Swiss Singles Chart Hitparade.ch (Retrieved April 20, 2010)
  40. 1998 Australian Singles Chart (Retrieved April 20, 2010)
  41. "Top RPM Adult Contemporary: Issue 6979." RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
  42. "Backstreet Boys – I'll Never Break Your Heart – Amazon.com Music". Retrieved November 9, 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.