"It's My Life" | ||||
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Single by Bon Jovi | ||||
from the album Crush | ||||
B-side | "Next 100 Years" | |||
Released | May 8, 2000 [1] | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:44 | |||
Label | ||||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) |
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Bon Jovi singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"It’s My Life" on YouTube |
"It's My Life" is a song by American rock band Bon Jovi. It was released on May 8, 2000, as the lead single from their seventh studio album, Crush (2000). It was written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and Max Martin, and co-produced by Luke Ebbin. The song peaked at number one in Austria, Flanders, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Switzerland while charting within the top 10 across several other countries and peaking at number 33 on the US Billboard Hot 100. "It's My Life" is Bon Jovi's most well-known post-1980s hit single and helped introduce the band to a new, younger fanbase. [3]
The song has many classic Bon Jovi features, such as Sambora's use of the talk box, and a line in the second verse "For Tommy and Gina, who never backed down" refers to Tommy and Gina, a fictional working class couple that Bon Jovi and Sambora first wrote about in their 1986 hit "Livin' on a Prayer".
"It's My Life" is also notable for its line referencing fellow New Jerseyan Frank Sinatra: "My heart is like an open highway / Like Frankie said / I did it 'My Way'." Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora apparently had a disagreement over those lines, with Bon Jovi recalling: [4]
I had just come home from making U-571 and I said "Sinatra made 16 movies and toured till he was 80. This is my role model." He [Sambora] said, "You can't write that damn lyric. Nobody cares about Frank Sinatra but you." And I wrote it anyway.
In Paul Anka's cover of the song for his 2005 album Rock Swings , he sings the second line as "Frankie said he did it my way", since Anka wrote the English lyrics for "My Way".
"Nobody had anticipated the song 'It's My Life'," noted Jon Bon Jovi in 2007. "Except us. We knew we had a hit." [5] The song became an anthem that appealed to many fans. As Bon Jovi later stated: [6] "I thought I was writing very self-indulgently about my own life and where I was in it. I didn't realize that the phrase 'It's My Life' would be taken as being about everyone – by teenagers, by older guys, mechanics, whatever. 'It's my life, and I'm taking control.' Everyone kind of feels that way from time to time."
Veteran critic Robert Christgau later hailed "It's My Life" as a "schlock-rock masterpiece" and "everyman anthem" with a lyric that is "all well-meaning Democrat-as-everyman Jon Bon Jovi". [7]
The music video was directed by Wayne Isham. Will Estes (as Tommy) and Shiri Appleby (as Gina) are the two main characters. [8] At the beginning, Tommy is watching a video of a Bon Jovi concert on his computer when he is ordered by his mother to take out the trash. Suddenly, Gina calls and tells him to immediately come to the tunnel as the live concert has already started. Tommy starts running down to his apartment and obediently takes out the trash. He then runs through the streets of Los Angeles up to the concert, getting chased by dogs, running a marathon, posing for pictures, and jackknifing a truck. The video was inspired by the film Run Lola Run . [9] Jon Bon Jovi met Estes on the set of U-571 and chose him to be in the video. The music video features the 2nd Street Tunnel as one of the main settings.
It is the most viewed video for Bon Jovi on YouTube, reaching 1 billion views (the band's first song to do so) by the end of June 2021. [10]
US 7-inch single [11]
Australian maxi-CD single [12]
UK CD1 [13]
| UK CD2 [14]
European CD single [15]
European and Japanese maxi-CD single [16] [17]
|
A much slower, acoustic ballad version of the song is featured on Bon Jovi's 2003 album This Left Feels Right , a collection of their greatest hits that were adapted into new formats. This version was also released as a single. A live performance was uploaded to YouTube in May 2020.
Won:
Nominated:
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
Decade-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [79] | 6× Platinum | 420,000‡ |
Austria (IFPI Austria) [80] | Platinum | 50,000* |
Belgium (BEA) [81] | Platinum | 50,000* |
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil) [82] | Gold | 30,000‡ |
Denmark (IFPI Danmark) [83] | Platinum | 90,000‡ |
France (SNEP) [84] | Gold | 250,000* |
Germany (BVMI) [85] | Platinum | 500,000^ |
Italy (FIMI) [86] | Platinum | 50,000‡ |
Japan (RIAJ) [87] PC download | Gold | 100,000* |
Japan (RIAJ) [88] Full-length ringtone | Gold | 100,000* |
Netherlands (NVPI) [89] | Gold | 40,000^ |
New Zealand (RMNZ) [90] | 2× Platinum | 60,000‡ |
Spain (PROMUSICAE) [91] | 2× Platinum | 120,000‡ |
Sweden (GLF) [92] | Platinum | 30,000^ |
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland) [93] | Platinum | 50,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [94] | 2× Platinum | 1,200,000‡ |
United States (RIAA) [95] | 3× Platinum | 3,000,000‡ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
United States | May 8, 2000 | Hot adult contemporary radio | Island | [1] |
May 9, 2000 | [1] | |||
Japan | May 10, 2000 | CD | Mercury | [37] |
United Kingdom | May 22, 2000 |
| [96] |
"Now or Never" | ||||
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Single by Pitbull with Bon Jovi | ||||
Released | November 14, 2024 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 2:28 | |||
Label | Mr. 305 Inc. | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) |
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Pitbull singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Now or Never" on YouTube |
At the 25th Annual Latin Grammy Awards on November 14,2024,rapper Pitbull performed a cover of "It's My Life" under the title "Now or Never",featuring Jon Bon Jovi on chorus. The song was also released on streaming platforms on the same day. [97] [98] [99]
The two artists first met at the 2017 Songwriters Hall of Fame. [97] [98] [99] On September 12,2024,during Pitbull's show at the Jones Beach Theater in Long Island,Jon Bon Jovi made a surprise appearance before the duo performed "It's My Life". After the show,Pitbull posted on his Instagram account:"Always an honor! To all the fans,get ready for our new collab coming soon." [100]
Chart (2024) | Peak position |
---|---|
Japan Hot Overseas ( Billboard Japan ) [101] | 11 |
Latvia Airplay (TopHit) [102] | 4 |
Lithuania Airplay (TopHit) [103] | 53 |
New Jersey is the fourth studio album by American rock band Bon Jovi, released on September 19, 1988, by Mercury Records. The album was produced by Bruce Fairbairn and recorded at Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The album was the follow-up to the band's third album, Slippery When Wet, and reached number one on the Billboard 200 chart in its second week of release after debuting at number eight. It remained at the top for four consecutive weeks and was Bon Jovi's last album to do so until Lost Highway (2007). The album was named after the birth state of Jon Bon Jovi, New Jersey.
Keep the Faith is the fifth studio album by American rock band Bon Jovi, released on November 3, 1992, by Mercury Records. It is Bon Jovi's last studio album to feature all five original band members as bass guitarist Alec John Such was dismissed from the band in 1994, though it was not his last release with the band. It is Bon Jovi's first album to not be produced by either Lance Quinn or Bruce Fairbairn. The album was produced by Bob Rock and was recorded at the Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia. Keep the Faith marked a change to a "more serious interpretation of the band's pop-metal groove". It is also Bon Jovi's longest album to date, clocking in at 66 minutes.
These Days (stylized as (these Days)) is the sixth studio album by American rock band Bon Jovi, released on June 27, 1995, by Mercury Records. This was the first album Bon Jovi released after the dismissal of original bass guitarist Alec John Such, and their first album to be recorded officially as four-piece band (without an official bassist, but featured Hugh McDonald as a session/touring member on bass guitar). The album, produced by Peter Collins, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, is praised by many critics and fans as their best album. These Days is overall a darker album in contrast to the band's usual brand of feel-good, inspiring rock songs and love ballads.
Crush is the seventh studio album by American rock band Bon Jovi. It was released on May 29, 2000, by Mercury Records in the UK and on June 13, 2000, by Island Records in the US. It was produced by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and Luke Ebbin. The album marks the longest timespan between studio albums for the band, with five years between the release of These Days (1995) and this album. After the initial plan to team up with producer Bruce Fairbairn fell through because of his death a year earlier, Bon Jovi and Sambora hired Luke Ebbin to update their sound.
"Livin' on a Prayer" is a song by the American rock band Bon Jovi from their third studio album, Slippery When Wet. Written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Desmond Child, the single, released in late 1986, performed strongly on both rock and pop radio and its music video was given heavy rotation at MTV, giving the band their first song to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart and their second consecutive No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit.
"Wanted Dead or Alive" is a power ballad by American band Bon Jovi. It is from their 1986 album Slippery When Wet. The song was written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora and was released in 1987, as the album's third single. During a February 20, 2008 encore performance in Detroit, Jon Bon Jovi told the crowd about running into Bob Seger at a Pistons game. As he introduced his song "Wanted Dead or Alive", he said it was inspired by Seger's "Turn the Page" hit and called the song the band's anthem. The song peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 13 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, making it the third single from the album to reach the Top 10 of the Hot 100. As a result, Slippery When Wet was the first glam metal album to have 3 top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.
"I'll Be There for You" is a song by American rock band Bon Jovi, released as the third single from their 1988 album, New Jersey. The power ballad was written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora. The single reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number five on the Album Rock Tracks chart.
"You Give Love a Bad Name" is a song by American rock band Bon Jovi, released as the first single from their 1986 album Slippery When Wet. Written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and Desmond Child about a woman who has jilted her lover, the song reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on November 29, 1986, and became the band's first number-one hit. In 2007, the song re-entered the charts at No. 29 after Blake Lewis performed it on American Idol. Despite the lyrics of the chorus, the song should not be confused with "Shot Through the Heart", an unrelated song from Bon Jovi's 1984 self-titled debut album.
"Bed of Roses" is a song by American rock band Bon Jovi, first appearing on their fifth studio album, Keep the Faith (1992), then released as a single on January 11, 1993 by Mercury and Jambco. Jon Bon Jovi wrote the song in a hotel room while suffering from a hangover and the lyrics reflect his feelings at the time. The song contains drawn out guitar riffs and soft piano playing, along with emotive and high vocals by Jon Bon Jovi.
"This Ain't a Love Song" is the lead single from American rock band Bon Jovi's sixth studio album, These Days (1995). The rock ballad is an example of the strong rhythm and blues influence that Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora wanted the album to have. Released in May 1995 by Mercury, it reached number 14 on the US Billboard Hot 100, number two on the Canadian RPM 100 Hit Tracks chart, number six on the UK Singles Chart, and number one on the Finnish Singles Chart.
"Keep the Faith" is a song by American rock band Bon Jovi. It was written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and Desmond Child. It was released on October 7, 1992, as the lead single from Bon Jovi's fifth album, Keep the Faith (1992). It is characterized by its driving bass line and is a live staple for the band. "I Wish Everyday Could Be Like Christmas" appeared as a B-side to the song in the United States. In the US, the song reached number one on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart and peaked at number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100. Worldwide, "Keep the Faith" topped the charts of Norway and Portugal and reached number five in the United Kingdom.
"Bad Medicine" is a song by American rock band Bon Jovi. It was written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and Desmond Child, and was released on September 12, 1988, as the lead single from the band's fourth album, New Jersey (1988). The song reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, Bon Jovi's third single to do so, and became a top-10 hit in Australia, Canada, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.
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"Thank You for Loving Me" is a song by American rock band Bon Jovi. Written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, the song was released on November 6, 2000, as the third single from their seventh studio album, Crush (2000).
"These Days" is a song by American rock band Bon Jovi. It was released on February 26, 1996 by Mercury Records, as the fourth single from their sixth studio album, These Days (1995). It was written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, and produced by them with Peter Collins. The single peaked at number seven in the United Kingdom and reached the top-10 also in Lithuania.
"Hey God" is a song from American rock band Bon Jovi's sixth studio album, These Days (1995), released as the album's fifth and final single on June 24, 1996. Although it did not chart in the United States, it became a moderate hit in Canada and several European countries.
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"Queen of New Orleans" is a song by American rock singer Jon Bon Jovi, released as the second single from his second solo album, Destination Anywhere (1997) in August 1997. The single charted at number 10 on the UK Singles Chart and became a top-40 hit in Australia, Canada, Iceland, Ireland, and the Netherlands. The song features a music video which was released on the DVD Destination Anywhere: The Film.
"What Do You Got?" is a song by American rock band Bon Jovi. It is one of four songs written for the band's Greatest Hits album, released in November 2010. The song is the first single from the compilation album. The song was released on the band's official website on August 27. It was also released to radio airplay on August 27. It was officially released on September 21, 2010 as a digital download, but the physical single was released in Germany on October 22, 2010.
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