"Up" is a song by English singer

Olly Murs Oliver Stanley Murs (born 14 May 1984) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence after participating on the sixth series of the television talent show ''The X Factor'' in 2009, where he finished as runn ...

, released on 1 December 2014 as the second single from his fourth studio album, ''

Never Been Better ''Never Been Better'' is the fourth studio album by English recording artist Olly Murs. It was released through Epic Records on 21 November 2014 in Ireland and 24 November in the United Kingdom. ''Never Been Better'' peaked at number one on th ...

'' (2014). It features American singer

Demi Lovato Demetria Devonne "Demi" Lovato ( ; born August 20, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. After appearing on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004), she starred in the Disney Channel short series ...

and is also featured on the deluxe version of Lovato's fourth album, ''

Demi Demi is a feminine given name with Greek and Latin roots, and it is a surname with Albanian origins. Demi was originally a nickname of Demetria, the feminine form of the masculine name Demetrius, which is itself the Latin and English spelling of ...

''. It was written and produced by

Daniel Davidsen Daniel Heløy Davidsen (born 30 December 1978 in Copenhagen) is a Danish-Norwegian guitarist. He is known for his participation in bands like Czesław Śpiewa and JazzKamikaze and many record appearances as a studio musician, with artists like S ...

, Peter Wallevik and

Cutfather Mich Hedin Hansen (born 9 April 1968), known professionally as Cutfather, is a Danish music producer, songwriter, remixer and DJ based in Copenhagen. Cutfather has a studio in Njalsgade, Copenhagen. Career Cutfather is perhaps best known for his ...

, with additional writing from

Wayne Hector Wayne Anthony Hector is a British songwriter who is best known for his work with pop artists such as Nicki Minaj, One Direction, the Wanted, Toše Proeski and Olly Murs. He co-wrote seven of Westlife's number one singles, including " World ...

, and

Maegan Cottone Maegan Cottone (born July, 1981) is an American songwriter, singer, vocal producer and vocal arranger. In 2012, she signed to British publishing company Phrased Differently and managed by Wide Awake Music. She achieved international songwriting ...

. "Up" has peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart. It has also been certified Double Platinum in the UK for sales of over 1,200,000. It also reached the top ten in Austria, Ireland, New Zealand, Slovenia, and South Africa. It was the fourth-most-consumed song of 2015 in Slovenia. Murs performed this song at his 2015 Never Been Better Tour with support act

Ella Eyre Ella McMahon (born 1 April 1994), known professionally as Ella Eyre, is an English singer and songwriter. She is known for her collaborations with Rudimental on their UK number-one single " Waiting All Night" (2013), which won the 2014 Brit Aw ...

singing Lovato's lyrics.

Background

The song was written and produced by

, and Peter Wallevik, and it was co-written by

and

. According to Cutfather, the song is inspired by the music of

Mumford & Sons Mumford & Sons are a British folk rock band formed in London in 2007. The band consists of Marcus Mumford (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, drums), Ted Dwane (vocals, double bass, bass guitar), and Ben Lovett (British musician), B ...

and

Phillip Phillips Phillip LaDon Phillips Jr. (born September 20, 1990) Note: An inaccurate birthdate (Sept. 29, 1990) and birthplace (Leesburg, Georgia) appear in is an American singer-songwriter who rose to fame after winning the eleventh season of ''Americ ...

. "Up" was initially submitted to English-Irish boy band

One Direction One Direction, often shortened to 1D, were an English-Irish pop boy band formed in London in 2010. The group consisted of Niall Horan, Zayn Malik (until his departure in 2015), Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson. The group sold o ...

, but it was rejected by their label

Syco Music Syco Music, originally S Records, was a division of Syco Entertainment which operated from 2002 until 2020. The label was founded by British entrepreneur, record executive and media personality Simon Cowell, who was formerly employed at Bertels ...

. The song's chorus was then re-written by Maegan Cottone and then submitted to Olly Murs as a duet.

Music videos

The music video was directed by Ben and

Gabe Turner Gabriel Jeremy Simon Turner (born 21 December 1980) is a British Businessperson, businessman, film director and executive producer, known for directing the documentary films ''In the Hands of the Gods, In The Hands of The Gods'', ''The Class of '9 ...

and released on

Vevo Vevo LLC ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized in all caps until 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available ...

on 11 December 2014. The video features Murs and Lovato standing in two rooms separated by a wall. They begin to wreck the rooms before Murs uses a guitar to break a hole into the wall and he and Lovato begin to remove most of the bricks in the wall and look upon each other. A black and white video of the song's acoustic version was released on 18 December 2014, where Murs and Lovato recording the song in a studio.

Live performances

Murs and Lovato first performed the song live on the final of the eleventh series of ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

'' on 14 December 2014.

Chart performance

"Up" debuted at number 120 on the UK Singles Chart for the week of 6 December 2014, and rose into the top 100 at number 94 in its second week. The following week it reached number 43, before reaching its peak of number 4. The song debuted in New Zealand at number 38. The single has so far sold 606,500 copies in the UK and is certified platinum. This is Demi Lovato's first platinum hit in the UK, let alone the first by any

Hollywood Records Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by the Disney Music Group which focuses on pop, rock, alternative, hip hop and country genres, also specializing in recordings for a more mature audience not suitable for the flagship Wal ...

artist, despite this being released by

Epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

. In addition, Up has so far reached number 14 on the

ARIA Charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...

; thus becoming Lovato's second Australian top 20 hit. Worldwide, Up has currently sold over 1,000,000 copies.

Track listing

*Digital EP #"Up" (live acoustic version) – 3:49 #"Up" (

Wideboys The Wideboys are an English electronic music duo known for club remixes and for their own song "Sambuca", featuring Dennis G on vocals, which reached number 15 in the UK in October 2001. Another top 40 single, "Daddy-O" featuring Shaznay Lewis ...

radio mix) – 3:41 #"Up" (Max Sanna & Steve Pitron radio mix) – 3:43 #"

Dear Darlin' "Dear Darlin'" is a song by English recording artist Olly Murs, from his third studio album, '' Right Place Right Time'' (2012). The song was released as the third single from the album on 26 May 2013. It was co-written by Murs, Paul Flowers, Ed ...

" (

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

live performance) – 3:59 *German CD single #"Up" #"Up" (live acoustic version)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2014 songs 2014 singles Olly Murs songs Demi Lovato songs Syco Music singles Epic Records singles Songs written by Wayne Hector Songs written by Cutfather Songs written by Daniel Davidsen Songs written by Peter Wallevik Songs written by Maegan Cottone Pop-folk songs Black-and-white music videos