"Need You Now" is a song recorded by Americancountry music trioLady Antebellum (now known as "Lady A"). The band co-wrote the song withJosh Kear, and produced it withPaul Worley. It served as the lead single and title track to their second studio albumof the same name, and was first released in the US on August 11, 2009, and it features lead vocals from both Scott and Kelley.[2][3] The song also served as their debut single in theUK andEurope, where it was released May 3, 2010. It won fourGrammy Awards in 2011, including forSong of the Year andRecord of the Year.
The song spent five weeks at No. 1 on theBillboardHot Country Songs chart in late 2009.[4][5] Thereafter, "Need You Now" crossed over onto various pop and adult contemporary music charts, becoming a top five hit in Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand, as well as a top ten hit in the Netherlands and Norway. The song won Single of the Year and Song of the Year at the 2010Academy of Country Music Awards,[6] as well as Group Video of the Year at the 2010CMT Music Awards.[7] For the chart week of November 30, 2010, the song became the group's highest-charting single on theBillboardHot 100, reaching No. 2,[8] the best position for a country song by a band on that chart sinceLonestar's "Amazed" topped the tally at the beginning of the decade.[9] It spent 60 weeks on the chart.[10] The single has beencertified 12× platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[11]
A music video was shot for the song, directed by Dave McClister. In the video the song has an extended piano intro, and features all members of the group acting out scenes related to the storyline.[12] The song was initially released only to the country radio format in the United States and Canada on August 24, 2009,[2] but was remixed and re-released to all other formats domestically and internationally at the beginning of 2010. The song gained prominence internationally, in Europe and South America. The trio re-recorded the song again inSimlish to accompany the release of theSims 3 expansion packAmbitions.[13] By April 17, 2011, the song became the ninth most downloaded song in history, moving five million copies, and surpassed Taylor Swift's "Love Story" as the most downloaded country song in history.[14][15] It has since sold over 6 million copies in the US.[16]
The lyrics describe placing a call to someone in the middle of the night due to being lonely and longing for companionship. Hillary Scott commented on the song, saying that "All three of us know what it's like to get to that point where you feel lonely enough that you make a late-night phone call that you very well could regret the next day." Charles Kelley toldThe Boot that the band's record executives initially had concerns regarding using the lyrics"I'm a little drunk", but he convinced the executives to leave the content in the song.[17]
David McClister directed the "Need You Now"music video, using a treatment he wrote in 10 minutes.[18]
The video features all three members of Lady Antebellum acting out scenes pertaining to the storyline. It begins in a hallway of a hotel where Kelley is sitting against a wall and Scott is in her room, with Haywood playing the piano. Kelley goes to a cafe and has a coffee, where Haywood arrives with his love interest. Scott then leaves her room and hails a taxi. Kelley leaves the cafe and goes outside to walk to a costume ball, to which Scott is also traveling. When they arrive at the ball, they both see their love interests wearing masks and embrace them. Haywood soon arrives at the ball with his love interest. The video ends with all three members embracing their love interests.[12] The video was filmed at theKing Edward Hotel inToronto,Ontario.[19]
Of the changes between the song and its music video, one of the most noted is Kelley drinking coffee instead of whiskey, since the song states the character is intoxicated. In response, McClister admitted he simply did not want the video to be a literal adaptation of the song, as he felt sitting in a diner in the middle of the night was lonelier.[18]
The song became the trio's second number one hit on theHot Country Songs chart dated November 28, 2009,[4] where it stayed for five weeks,[5] making it the first song to hold the number one position for more than four weeks sinceTaylor Swift's "Our Song" spent six weeks at number one between December 2007 and January 2008.[20] No other song would spend more than four weeks at number one until January 2016, whenThomas Rhett's "Die a Happy Man" spent six weeks at the top.[citation needed]
In theBillboard Hot 100 chart, the song peaked at number two and stayed there for two weeks, making it their highest-charting single on that chart and their first Top 5. The song also peaked at No. 2 on theCanadian Hot 100, making it their highest-charting and first Top 5 single there as well. "Need You Now" is only the second country song to reach number one on theBillboardAdult Top 40 chart, the first beingFaith Hill's "Breathe", which reached that same position in 2000.[21] For theBillboard tracking period of March 29 – April 4, 2010, "Need You Now" broke the record held byHoobastank's hit "The Reason" for most spins in one week on the Adult Top 40 chart.[22] The song debuted at No. 28 on theUK Singles Chart in its first week of release. It was covered in a live performance forQueen Elizabeth II'sDiamond Jubilee Concert in June 2012 by English singersGary Barlow andCheryl Cole which saw the song re-enter the UK Charts.[23] Over a month later it climbed to No. 15, its highest UK chart position and after 53 weeks in the chart.[24]
On December 9, 2010, the song was named the No. 2 Hot 100 song of the year byBillboard, behind "Tik Tok" byKesha, marking the highest position a country song has ever reached sinceFaith Hill's "Breathe" was ranked No. 1 in the year-end chart of the year 2000.[25]
In April 2011, "Need You Now" replacedTaylor Swift's "Love Story" as the best-selling country song of all time in the U.S.[26] It is also the second country song to sell over 5 million digital copies (after Swift's "Love Story").[27] It has sold over 6 million copies by January 2013, the first country song to do so.[16] As of June 2016, it had sold 6.7 million units in the U.S.[28]
Due to the band winning four Grammys, "Need You Now" debuted at No. 32 on theGerman Singles Chart in February 2011, 10 months after the digital release of the single. Before that happened, the song did not sell enough to enter the chart.[29][30]
"Need You Now" has received critical acclaim from music critics and is considered one of the best country songs of the 2000s. It won the 2011 Grammy award for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
The song received a "thumbs up" review fromJim Malec of the 9513. He said that although Charles Kelley's voice had a "surprisingly stuffy tone," lead singer Hillary Scott's voice fit perfectly for "dark" songs like "Need You Now." He said that both singers had a rawness in their voices that made the song feel "real".[31]
The track received a positive review from Ken Tucker ofBillboard, who said, "the song finds alto Scott trading lead vocals with a soulful Kelley, and it will connect with anyone who's ever dumped a significant other and regretted it in the early morning hours."[32]
Bobby Peacock ofRoughstock gave a positive review as well, comparing its sound favorably to that of "I Run to You." He also thought the traded-off lead vocals gave the song "more depth," and that Kelley and Scott sang more strongly than on the debut album.[33]
Mia Silva performed a Portuguese-language cover version entitled "Preciso de Voce" on her 2011 albumSaudade Magoa.
In 2017,Shane Filan ofWestlife included a version of the song on his albumLove Always. This was released as a promotional single in East Asia (with a new arrangement and a duet with Filipinobossa nova artistSitti), and it charted oniTunes Top Songs in Laos, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia.[38]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
^abNeed You Now (CD liner notes). Lady Antebellum. Capitol Records Nashville. 2010. 032062.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Paxman, Bob (September 28, 2009). "Pulling an All-Nighter: Lady Antebellum's video shoot for "Need You Now" was an after-hours blast in Toronto".Country Weekly.16 (33): 25.ISSN1074-3235.
