| "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" | ||||||||||
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| Single by Phil Collins | ||||||||||
| from the album Against All Odds soundtrack | ||||||||||
| B-side | "The Search" | |||||||||
| Released | February 1984 (US) 31 March 1984[1] (UK) |
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| Format | 7", 12" | |||||||||
| Recorded | 1980 | |||||||||
| Genre | Soft rock, pop rock | |||||||||
| Length | 3:23 | |||||||||
| Label | Atlantic | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Phil Collins | |||||||||
| Producer | Arif Mardin | |||||||||
| Certification | Gold (RIAA) | |||||||||
| Phil Collins singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" (also simply titled "Against All Odds") is a song by British singer Phil Collins recorded for soundtrack to the 1984 film of the same name. It is a power ballad in which its protagonist implores an ex-lover to "take a look at me now", knowing that reconciliation is "against all odds" while considering it worth trying. The single, while it reached number two in the United Kingdom, peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, the first for Collins.
The song has been covered by several singers, some of which versions have been successful in both the US and UK markets. One of the most notable versions was the pairing of Mariah Carey and boyband Westlife, whose single peaked at number one in the United Kingdom in September 2000.[2]
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Collins was approached to write a title song to the film Against All Odds when the latter was still in its "rough cut form".[3] While the soundtrack was being completed, Collins was on tour with British progressive rock group Genesis, being its vocalist. Director Taylor Hackford flew in to Chicago to catch one of the concert's venues. Collins watched the movie on a videocassette recorder in his hotel room, and thereafter agreed to appear on the soundtrack.[4]
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 had left him.[5] Collins wrote the entire song, while arranger Arif Mardin produced it.[4] The strings and piano tracks were recorded in New York to accommodate the tour, while Mardin did the vocals and drums in Los Angeles.[6] Rob Mounsey played piano and keyboard bass, Collins sang and played the drums with his (and Hugh Padgham's) trademark gated reverb sound, and a string arrangement by Mardin completed the production.
According to Collins in a 1985 interview with Dan Neer: "We recorded the song in two days: One day in New York, the other in Los Angeles. The mixes were done by phone and the song went to Number 1. I couldn't believe it." On 24 August 2007, Collins discussed the song in a phone interview as an example for break-up songs.[7] 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). A live performance of the song also appears on the Serious Hits… Live! album. The live version was recorded in 1990 on the B-side of the single "Do You Remember?".
Accordingly, "Against All Odds" was created explicitly for the movie.[6] Hackford, who previously used a song for the 1982 American drama film An Officer and a Gentleman, planned the same for the neo-noir 1984 film Against All Odds,[6] which is a remake of Out of the Past. When he signed with Atlantic Records, he was provided with a roster of artists, among of whom Collins was chosen to render the film's theme song based on the quality of his voice.[6] Hackford said that it was a "textbook case of designing a song to reflect what the film is".[6] The song appears in the movie as background music during the closing credits.[8]
Writing for the soundtrack's review, Allmusic editor Heather Phares claimed that the movie is best remembered for the inclusion of Collin's "classic theme song".[9] Phares added that the songs "remains not only one of Collins' definitive singles, but one of the 1980s' best love songs".[9] Director Hackford also had the same view, stating that it "decidedly" helped the film: people identified the song with the film and came to watch it.[6] When the single went top five, it contributed to the increased box office sales of the movie.[6]
"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 Original 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.
When another song Collins performed for a movie, "Separate Lives", was being nominated for an Academy Award, in interviews about the original snub by the Academy for "Against All Odds", Collins would jokingly say "the hell with him - I'm going up too", referring to what he would do if the Stephen Bishop written song were to win the award.[10] Collins lost to the Stevie Wonder song "I Just Called to Say I Love You".
"Against All Odds" peaked at number one upon its release as a single in 1984 and became Collins' third top-ten single in the United Kingdom. In the United States, it peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks in the spring of 1984.[4]
It is the first of six songs by Collins written specifically for a film soundtrack that would appear on the Hot 100. It also became Collins' only number 1 single on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart as a solo artist, although he would achieve two other number ones on this chart with his band, Genesis.
The single's music video was directed by Taylor Hackford and produced by Jeffrey Abelson. Hackford was paid US$20,000 for a complete Collins clip. The music was released alongside the single on the last week of February 1984.[6] A number one MTV video for several weeks, MTV ranked it as number 4 in its 1984 year-end top 20 video countdown.[11]
The music video is an early example of a highly conceptual approach to creating hybrid movie/music-videos that producer Abelson pioneered. Echoing the love triangle theme of the film, Collins is seen performing in front of a wall of rainwater that is alternately lit red, blue, and green—each colour representing one of the three main characters in the film. It is this colour schematic that is used as an organic segue to and from character-specific scenes in the movie. The final scene pulls back from Collins to reveal him standing in the middle of a water-filled triangle formed from neon tubes in the same three colours—completing the visual concept as the three main characters are superimposed around the neon triangle's three sides. The concept for the video was created by Keith Williams, a Welsh-born writer who had already worked with Abelson on the video for "Dancin' With Myself" (Billy Idol), and who would go on to also create concepts for "Holding Out for a Hero" (Bonnie Tyler) and "Ghostbusters" (Ray Parker, Jr.) for the same producer as well as "Say You Say Me" (Lionel Richie) from White Nights, which Taylor Hackford also directed.
| Chart (1984) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Singles Chart | 1 |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 12 |
| German Singles Chart | 9 |
| UK Singles Chart | 2 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks | 3 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks | 1 |
| "Against All Odds" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Mariah Carey | ||||
| from the album Rainbow | ||||
| Released | 3 October 2000 | |||
| Genre | Pop, R&B | |||
| Length | 3:25 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Mariah Carey singles chronology | ||||
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American singer Mariah Carey co-produced her version of the song with David Foster for her sixth studio album Rainbow. Carey co-produced the single edit of the song with Steve Mac.
Although the song was promoted as part of Carey's 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. This was also the last single with her then label Columbia. The song reached top twenty in several countries. The highest peak of the song was number two in Norway.
The video for the Carey 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.
| Chart (2000) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgian Flandres Singles Chart[12] | 26 |
| Belgian Wallonia Singles Chart[13] | 15 |
| Canadian Singles Chart[14] | 22 |
| Dutch Singles Chart[15] | 20 |
| French Singles Chart[16] | 18 |
| German Singles Chart[17] | 29 |
| Italian Singles Chart[18] | 17 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart[19] | 2 |
| Swiss Singles Chart[20] | 20 |
| "Against All Odds" | ||||||||||
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| Single by Mariah Carey featuring Westlife | ||||||||||
| from the album Rainbow and Coast to Coast | ||||||||||
| Released | 18 September 2000 | |||||||||
| Recorded | Flyte Tyme Studios, Edina, MA & Capri Digital Studios, Capri, Italy & Rokstone Studios, London, England & Parc Studios, Orlando, FL & Olympic Studios, London, England July 1999—2000 | |||||||||
| Genre | Pop, R&B | |||||||||
| Length | 3:25 | |||||||||
| Label | BMG | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Phil Collins | |||||||||
| Producer | Mariah Carey, Steve Mac | |||||||||
| Certification | Silver (UK) | |||||||||
| Westlife singles chronology | ||||||||||
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Mariah Carey later re-released "Against All Odds" as a duet with Irish boyband Westlife. This version was released as the first single from Westlife's second album Coast to Coast. The song was released in September 2000, a few months after Carey's solo version. Carey did not re-record her vocals for the duet, however, the instrumental track was reproduced with a more organic sound complete with violins.
The single was more successful than the original in the UK and Ireland where it peaked at number 1, giving Westlife their sixth consecutive number one.[21] It also gave Carey her second number 1 single in the UK. The song has sold 375,000 copies in the total in the UK.[22] The music video shows Carey and Westlife recording the song and exploring the island of Capri by boat. The UK version of the single includes a limited edition Enhanced CD with video, poster and Westlife-only version and CD with Westlife video interview and picture sleeves.[23]
| Chart (2000) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart[24] | 52 |
| Belgian Flanders Singles Chart[25] | 50 |
| Belgian Wallonia Singles Chart[26] | 31 |
| Danish Singles Chart | 2 |
| Dutch Singles Chart[27] | 29 |
| Irish Singles Chart[28] | 1 |
| Japanese Singles Chart[29] | 78 |
| Swedish Singles Chart[30] | 3 |
| UK Singles Chart[31] | 1 |
| Chart (2000) | Position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart | 28 |
| "Against All Odds" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Steve Brookstein | ||||
| from the album Heart and Soul | ||||
| Released | 20 December 2004 | |||
| Format | CD single, digital download | |||
| Recorded | 2004 | |||
| Genre | Pop rock | |||
| Length | 3:12 | |||
| Label | Sony BMG | |||
| Steve Brookstein singles chronology | ||||
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"Against All Odds" is a song by by English singer and X Factor winner Steve Brookstein from his debut studio album, Heart and Soul. It was released as his debut single on 20 December 2004 by Sony BMG. The single charted at number one in the United Kingdom and at number 11 in Ireland. It sold 127,701 copies in its first week in the UK, making it the lowest-selling X Factor winner's single to date.[32]
In 2004, Brookstein won the televised UK talent competition The X Factor, and recorded a cover of Phil Collins 1984 hit "Against All Odds" as his debut single. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number two behind "Do They Know It's Christmas?", and then climbed to number one where it stayed for one week from 2 January 2005 to 8 January 2005. 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 and Soul.
The music video for the song shows Steve's highlights from the show through to the moment he was announced X Factor winner, in a similar manner to other winner's videos from both The X Factor and Pop Idol. No original footage was recorded for the video.
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Irish Singles Chart[33] | 11 |
| UK Singles Chart | 1 |
Seattle music columnist, Megan Seling began an experiment on Monday, 6 July 2009 wherein she vowed to listen to Collins' "Against All Odds" at least once every hour that she was awake for an entire week and chronicled the journey here [2].
"I've done dumber things." – Megan Seling
This song is on the video game Karaoke Revolution Volume 3. It is also downloadable content for the game Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore.
The song also features heavily on the first Act of the This American Life episode 'Break Up'. The segment featured an interview with Collins, as well as narration from a woman who listened to the song to get over a break-up and vowed to write her own break-up song.[39]
| Preceded by "Footloose" by Kenny Loggins |
Billboard Hot 100 number-one single (Phil Collins version) 21 April 1984 – 11 May 1984 (3 weeks) |
Succeeded by "Hello" by Lionel Richie |
| Preceded by "Lady (Hear Me Tonight)" by Modjo |
UK number-one single (Mariah Carey/Westlife version) 24 September 2000 – 8 October 2000 |
Succeeded by "Black Coffee" by All Saints |
| Preceded by "Lady (Hear Me Tonight)" by Modjo |
Irish IRMA number-one single 25 September 2000 (3 weeks) |
Succeeded by "Beautiful Day" by U2 |
| Preceded by "Do They Know It's Christmas?" by Band Aid 20 |
UK number-one single (Steve Brookstein version) 2 January 2005 |
Succeeded by "Jailhouse Rock" by Elvis Presley |
| Preceded by N/A |
The X Factor winner's single 2004 |
Succeeded by "That's My Goal" by Shayne Ward |