Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)

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"Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)"
Single by Phil Collins
from the album Against All Odds Original Soundtrack
Released	February 1984
Format	7"
Genre	Pop
Length	3:23
Label	Atlantic
Producer(s)	Arif Mardin
Chart positions
#1 (U.S. Billboard Hot 100) #6 (U.S. Adult Contemporary) #2 (UK Singles Chart)
Phil Collins singles chronology
"Don't Let Him Steal Your Heart Away" (1983)	"Against All Odds..." (1984)	"Sussudio" (1985)

"Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" is a song originally written and recorded by British singer Phil Collins. It is a ballad in which its protagonist implores his/her ex-lover to "take a look at me now", knowing that reconciliation is "against all odds" but worth a try. It has been covered by several artists.

Contents 1 About the record 2 Charts 3 Cover versions 3.1 Mariah Carey version 3.2 Others 4 Charts 5 See also 6 Notes

[edit] About the record

Originally titled "How Can You Just Sit There?", the song was initially from the sessions for Collins' debut solo album Face Value (1981), and it was one of about a dozen written for his first wife, who left him.^[1] Phil Collins released the song on the soundtrack to the film Against All Odds, and it was produced by Arif Mardin. Rob Mounsey played piano and keyboard bass, Collins sang and played the drums with his trademark gated-reverb sound, and a string arrangement by Mardin completed the production. It peaked at number two in the UK upon its release as a single in 1984 (see 1984 in music) and became Collins' third top ten single there, and it peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, from April 15 to May 5, 1984. It replaced "Footloose" by Kenny Loggins, and was replaced by Lionel Richie's "Hello". It is the first of six songs by Collins written specifically for a film soundtrack to appear on the Hot 100.

"Against All Odds" won the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 1985, and it was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song. Collins was the only nominee in the category not invited to sing his song on stage, and sat in the audience as Ann Reinking performed it. His perceived negative reaction shown on the telecast is considered to be one of the most awkward moments in the history of the ceremony, and has been a favorite reference for Dennis Miller to relate someone reacting in a horrified fashion.

Collins lost to the Stevie Wonder song "I Just Called to Say I Love You". The song was first included on a Collins album on the 1998 compilation Hits, and it also appeared on his compilation Love Songs: A Compilation... Old and New (2004).

The video was mainly a video montage of scenes from the film. These are intersected with a series of shots of Collins singing the song: he is first seen in a crossfade from an image of the Mayan mask from the film, and subsequently the camera pans around him standing in front of cascades of water illuminated with red, blue, and green light. The final scene pulls back from Collins to reveal him standing in the middle of a triangle formed from neon tubes in the same colours; the triangle becomes a visual representation of the love triangle of the film, with images of the three main characters appearing around its three sides.

MTV ranked the video as #4 in its 1984 year-end top 20 video countdown.^[2]

[edit] Charts

Chart (1984)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart	2
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1

Preceded by "Footloose" by Kenny Loggins

Billboard Hot 100 number-one single April 21, 1984- May 5, 1984

Succeeded by "Hello" by Lionel Richie

[edit] Cover versions

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[edit] Mariah Carey version

"Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)"
Single by Mariah Carey
from the album Rainbow
Released	2000
Genre	R&B
Length	3:25
Label	Columbia
Chart positions
#1 (Brazil, UK) #17 (Italy) #18 (UWC)
Mariah Carey singles chronology
"Crybaby"/"Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme)" (2000)	"Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" (2000)	"Loverboy" (2001)

American pop/R&B singer Mariah Carey co-produced her version of the song with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis for her sixth studio album Rainbow (1999). It was later re-recorded as a duet between Carey and Irish boyband Westlife, with the duet included on Westlife's second album Coast to Coast. It was released as the third single from Rainbow and the first from Coast to Coast in 2000 (see 2000 in music); in the United Kingdom it was released on August 18 with the simpler title "Against All Odds". Carey co-produced the single edit of the song with Steve Mac.

Although the song was promoted as part of Rainbow in the United States, it was not released as a commercial or radio single there. It was initially released in some markets in early 2000, and the duet with Westlife was released in September 2000. Although Carey did not re-record her vocals, the instrumental track was reproduced with a more organic sound complete with violins. The single was successful; in the UK, where the original Phil Collins song had reached no higher than number two, it reached number one and stayed there from September 24 to October 7, 2000. It replaced "Lady (Hear Me Tonight)" by Modjo, and was replaced by All Saints' "Black Coffee". It gave Westlife their sixth consecutive number-one entry in the UK charts, making them the first act in the UK to have their first six singles enter at number one. It also gave Carey her second number-one single in the UK; however, to date she has only managed one solo UK number-one, "Without You" (1994). It was her sixth number-one on the Brazil Singles Chart.

There is more than one video for the single. The video for the Carey-only version of the song, directed by Paul Misbehoven, consists of a montage of clips of Carey singing the song from her various Rainbow World Tour stops to cullings from her Homecoming special. A more popular video shows Carey and Westlife recording the song and exploring the island of Capri by boat. In one version of this video, the members of Westlife ogle Carey's body, but in another they do not. Remixes of this song, made by the Pound Boys, do not feature vocals by Westlife. The Pound Boys first gained attention from Carey and her label after completing an underground "white label" mix of her song "Petals", a track from Rainbow.

[edit] Others

Deja Vu and Tasmin recorded "Against All Odds" in 2001, which appeared on Dancemania X8 and was licensed to be featured in the dance video game Dance Dance Revolution 5thMIX. It later appeared in North America in Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME 2. The American indietronica band The Postal Service covered "Against All Odds" for the soundtrack to the 2004 film Wicker Park, and their version is available on the soundtrack. Later that year Steve Brookstein won the televised UK talent competition The X Factor, and recorded a cover of "Against All Odds" as his debut single. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number one, a position it held for one week from January 2 to January 8, 2005 (see 2005 in music). It replaced "Do They Know It's Christmas?" by Band Aid 20, and was replaced by Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock". It was later included on Brookstein's debut album Heart & Soul.

In 2005 Canadian Idol competitors Rex Goudie and Melissa O'Neil performed the song as their final duet together during the show's third season finale. Korean R&B singers Wheesung and Lena Park recorded a cover of "Against All Odds" for a 2006 Hyundai television commercial, and their version was later released as a digital single. In 2005 English-singing Japanese rock band Beat Crusaders recorded "Against All Odds" for their covers album Musicrusaders.

As of March 2007, LaKisha Jones' performance of this I Have Nothing on March 7, 2007 has made the Whitney Houston-recorded song the most performed song on American Idol (six times in total). This broke the tie with Phil Collins' song, performed five times-both "I Have Nothing" and "Against All Odds" were performed by Katherine McPhee.

[edit] Charts

Chart (2000)	Peak position
Brazil Singles Chart	1
UK Singles Chart	1
Sweden Top 60 Singles	3
Italy Top 50 Singles	17
France Top 100 Singles	18
United World Chart	18
Netherlands Top 100 Singles	20
Switzerland Top 100 Singles	20
Canada Singles Chart	22
Germany Singles Chart	29
Tokyo Hot 100	41
Japanese Oricon Singles Chart 1	78

¹ (Titled as "Mitsumete Hoshii (見つめて欲しい; Finding What I Want)".)

Chart (2005)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart	1

Preceded by "Lady (Hear Me Tonight)" by Modjo	UK number-one single (Mariah Carey/Westlife version) September 30, 2000	Succeeded by "Black Coffee" by All Saints
Preceded by "Do They Know It's Christmas?" by Band Aid 20	UK number-one single (Steve Brookstein version) December 11, 2004	Succeeded by "Jailhouse Rock" by Elvis Presley

v • d • e Mariah Carey
Albums Singles Unreleased songs Sales/charts achievements Awards Grammys DVDs and videos Tours

[edit] See also

• Hot 100 number-one hits of 1984 (USA)
• List of number-one singles from the 2000s (UK)
• Number-one singles in Ireland (2000)

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Tobler, John. "The Progressive Reign of Genesis". Billboard Magazine. 7 March 1987.
2. ^ Remember back when MTV used to be cool?. Platypus Comix. Retrieved on 2006-08-18.