"When You're Gone" is a song written by Canadian singer Avril Lavigne and Butch Walker. It was written for Lavigne's 2007 album The Best Damn Thing.[4] It was co-written and produced byButch Walker and released as the album's second single on June 19, 2007.
Background
Avril Lavigne has said the song "is about being with someone you love, and you have to say goodbye, and all the little things you miss about them". The song may have been inspired by Lavigne's ex-husband, Deryck Whibley, although in an interview in Northern Ireland with The Belfast Telegraph she did not confirm this.[5] According to her, she did not intend the song to be a love song, but she was writing a slow song and the process brought out "all that emotional stuff" in her. "It's not cheesy, because I wrote it", she said. "If I was older, a professional writer coming up with all that, that would be lame."[6]
Billboard magazine describes the song as "a power ballad with a piano and synthintroduction".[7] Composer Rob Mathes orchestrated the song with genuine string section, although the brief opening note, before the piano came in, was on a synthesizer.
[edit]Critical reception
Bill Lamb of About.com gave "When You're Gone" four out of five stars saying "Avril Lavigne's biggest hit singles are anything but subtle. "When You're Gone" is a big, yearning pop ballad pulling out all the stops on its words of the pain of separation from a loved one. A moody synth chord drops into a keyboard figure followed by downbeat strummed guitar accompanying Avril's opening vocals. The musical scene is set for an emotionally cathartic singalong".[3]
On a more negative note, Darryl Sterdan of JAM! described the song as "a standard piano-and-strings weeper" and went on to tell the reader to skip-it.[8]
[edit]Music video
The video was directed by Marc Klasfeld, who is most well-known from his works of director for Sum 41's music videos. Lavigne reportedly came up with the concept for the video. It features a young pregnant woman whose husband is away fighting in the war, an elderly man whose wife has recently died, and a teenage couple who are forbidden by the girl's mother to be together. The video portrays three relationships in different age groups but in the same situation. Lavigne said that the video is very personal.
Portions of the video were filmed at California State University, Northridge's Botanic Garden.[10] The video was premiered on MuchMusic in Canada on June 6, 2007 during the 5pm broadcast of MuchOnDemand. While in the United States it was premiered on MTV's TRL on June 21. It reached the #1 spot on both TV music channel countdowns on August.
One year later the video won the People's Choice: Favourite Canadian Artist award during the 2008 MuchMusic Video Awards.[11]
[edit]Chart performance and promotion
Before its release as a single in the United States, "When You're Gone" reached number ninety on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and number seventy-seven on the Billboard Pop 100, in the Billboard issue dated May 5, 2007. The song later re-entered the charts and peaked at numbers twenty-four and sixteen, respectively. It also done well on the charts in Canada where it reached number eight.
The single did well in European charts ending at number four of the European Hot 100. "When You're Gone" debuted at number thirty-two onUK Singles Chart, and peaked at number three. It ended the year as the 54th most purchased song in the UK. In Ireland, it reached number four. In the Continental Europe, "When You're Gone" peaked inside top twenty in countries such as Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden. However, the song was a minor hit in Belgium (Flandres and Wallonia), where it failed to reach top twenty.
In Indonesia it performed well, on the first week the song reach number forty-eight, following week the song jumps forty-two positions there, making it the third biggest jump there. By its fifth week, the song reached number one and knocked off "Big Girls Don't Cry" from Fergie and remained the top spot for six weeks.
On the November 9, "When You're Gone" also reached number one on the Argentinian Top 40 Chart after fifteen weeks, making it one of Avril Lavigne's longest enduring hits that could achieve a number-one spot.[citation needed] "When You're Gone" also became the first and nearly only English performed song so far that could reach the number one of the Argentinian Top 40 Chart in 2007, as before the song topped the charts in November, no song could make it.
The song was used in the second season finale of the MTV show The Hills, playing during the climatic "moving out" scene between former best friends Lauren and Heidi. It was also used in the series 7 finale of 2 pints of lager and a packet of crisps. Lavigne performed the song during European and Asian festivals that took part of her 2007 Promotional Tour as well as TV shows and award shows worldwide. There is an acoustic version of the song on the deluxe edition of The Best Damn Thing on the iTunes Store. It is very different from the album version and was produced by Dr. Luke.[12]
[edit]Track listings
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[edit]Charts and certifications
[edit]Charts
| [edit]Certifications
[edit]End of year charts
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[edit]Release history
| Region | Date |
|---|---|
| United States | June 19, 2007 |
| Japan | June 20, 2007 |
| Latin America | June 22, 2007 |
| Belgium | June 29, 2007 |
| Germany | |
| Netherlands | July 2, 2007 |
| United Kingdom | |
| Italy | July 6, 2007 |
| Taiwan | July 15, 2007 |
| Australia | July 28, 2007 |
[edit]Awards
| Year | Awards ceremony | Award | Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Paja Awards | Single of the year | Won |
| Planeta Awards | Best Balad | Won | |
| Best Pop Vocal Performance | Nominated | ||
| 2008 | MuchMusic Video Awards[9] | People's Choice: Favourite Canadian Artist | Won |
| Imperio Music Awards | Video of the Year | Won | |
| Socan Awards | Best Pop Song | Won | |
| 2009 | BMI Awards | Best Pop Song | Won |
[edit]References
- ^ "Avril Lavigne on SortMusic". SortMusic. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
- ^ a b Avril Lavigne - When You're Gone at Discogs
- ^ a b "When You're Gone review". 2007-02-28. Retrieved 2007-06-18.
- ^ Graff, Gary (2007-05-03). "Avril's Agenda: New Video, Shows, Film Work". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2007-06-10.
- ^ Low, Shereen (2007-04-01). "Older and wiser". The Belfast Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-06-10.
- ^ Vineyard, Jennifer (2007-02-28). "Don't Know How To Spell 'Avril Lavigne'? Prepare To Be Scolded". MTV News. Retrieved 2007-06-10.
- ^ Cohen, Jonathan (2007-01-29). "Avril Sets Date For Clap-Happy New Album". Billboard.com. Archived from the original on 2007-06-22. Retrieved 2007-06-10.
- ^ Sterdan, Darryl (14 April 2007). "Jam! review". Retrieved 11 August 2010.
- ^ a b Cheung, Nadine. "Top 10 Avril Lavigne Songs". AOL Radio. Archived from the original on 15 January 2011. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
- ^ CSUN Licensing - Facilities Use[dead link]
- ^ MuchMusic.com | MMVA08
- ^ "When You're Gone (Acoustic Version)".[dead link]
- ^ eil.com - Japanese CD Single
- ^ eil.com - UK & French CD Single
- ^ eil.com - Taiwanese CD Single
- ^ "Australian-charts.com – Avril Lavigne – When You're Gone".ARIA Top 50 Singles. Hung Medien. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
- ^ "Avril Lavigne – When You're Gone Austriancharts.at" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Hung Medien. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
- ^ "Ultratop.be – Avril Lavigne – When You're Gone" (in Dutch).Ultratop 50. Ultratop & Hung Medien / hitparade.ch. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
- ^ "Ultratop.be – Avril Lavigne – When You're Gone" (in French).Ultratip. ULTRATOP & Hung Medien / hitparade.ch. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
- ^ "Avril Lavigne Album & Song Chart History" Canadian Hot 100for Avril Lavigne. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
- ^ "ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: insert 200745 into search. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
- ^ "Avril Lavigne Album & Song Chart History" European Hot 100for Avril Lavigne. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
- ^ "Lescharts.com – Avril Lavigne – When You're Gone" (in French). Les classement single. Hung Medien. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
- ^ "Die ganze Musik im Internet: Charts, News, Neuerscheinungen, Tickets, Genres, Genresuche, Genrelexikon, Künstler-Suche, Musik-Suche, Track-Suche, Ticket-Suche - musicline.de" (in German). Media Control Charts. PhonoNet GmbH. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
- ^ "Chart Track". Irish Singles Chart. GfK. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
- ^ "Italiancharts.com – Avril Lavigne – When You're Gone". Top Digital Download. Hung Medien. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
- ^ "Charts.org.nz – Avril Lavigne – When You're Gone". Top 40 Singles. Hung Medien. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
- ^ "SNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Radio Top100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: insert 200736 into search. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
- ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Avril Lavigne – When You're Gone".Singles Top 60. Hung Medien. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
- ^ "Avril Lavigne – When You're Gone swisscharts.com". Swiss Singles Chart. Hung Medien. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
- ^ "Archive Chart" UK Singles Chart. The Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
- ^ "Avril Lavigne Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Hot 100for Avril Lavigne. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
- ^ "Billboard Music-(Allmusic.com)".
- ^ [1] Retrieved Sábado 15/09/2007
- ^ "ARIA Charts – End Of Year Charts – Top 100 Singles 2008". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 2011-02-09.
- ^ "Associação Brasileira dos Produtores de Discos (ABPD)" (in Portuguese). ABPD. Retrieved 2011-02-09.
- ^ "RIAA – Gold & Platinum – Avril Lavigne". Recording Industry Association of America. 2008-02-13. Retrieved 2011-02-09.
- ^ "ARIA Charts – End Of Year Charts – Top 100 Singles 2007". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
- ^ "Austrian Annual Charts 2007". AustrianCharts.at. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
- ^ [2][dead link]
- ^ "Swiss Year-End Charts 2007". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
- ^ "2007 UK Official Singles Chart" (PDF). Charts Plus. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
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