"No Boundaries" is the 2009 winner's single of

season 8 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

of the

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show ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

''. It was co-written by ''American Idol'' judge

Kara DioGuardi Kara Elizabeth DioGuardi (; born December 9, 1970) is an American songwriter, record producer, music publisher, A&R executive, and singer. She writes music primarily in the pop rock genre. DioGuardi has worked with many popular artists; sales o ...

, along with

Cathy Dennis Catherine Roseanne Dennis (born 25 March 1969)Gregory, Andy (2002) ''International Who's Who in Popular Music 2002'', Europa; , p. 133 is a British singer, songwriter, record producer and actress. She was the vocalist for D Mob, which had the s ...

, and

Mitch Allan Mitchell Allan Scherr, known professionally as Mitch Allan, is an American record producer, songwriter, and musician. He has written and produced songs for artists such as Demi Lovato, Third Eye Blind, Miley Cyrus, Carlie Hanson, Jason Derulo, ...

. It is the first single for winner

Kris Allen Kristopher Neil Allen (born June 21, 1985) is an American singer and songwriter from Conway, Arkansas, and the winner of the eighth season of ''American Idol''. Prior to ''Idol'', he self-released a 2007 album, ''Brand New Shoes''. Allen's ' ...

and runner-up

Adam Lambert Adam Mitchel Lambert (born January 29, 1982) is an American singer and songwriter. Since 2009, he has sold over 3 million albums and 5 million singles worldwide. Lambert is known for his dynamic vocal performances that fuse his theatrical tra ...

. It was first performed on the May 19th ''American Idol'' final performance show by the season's winner

, as well as the show's runner-up,

. A demo performed by

herself has leaked onto the Internet as well, but remains officially unreleased. Both Lambert's and Allen's versions of the song, however, were released to digital music retailers on May 20, 2009. It is the second ''American Idol'' winner single that was released by both winner and runner-up. The first single was "

Inside Your Heaven "Inside Your Heaven" is a song written by Andreas Carlsson, Pelle Nylén, Savan Kotecha, and produced by Desmond Child. Carrie Underwood and Bo Bice, the final two contestants on the fourth season of ''American Idol'', each released a version o ...

" of

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, released by winner Carrie Underwood and runner-up

Bo Bice Harold Elwin "Bo" Bice Jr. (born November 1, 1975) is an American singer and musician who was the runner-up against Carrie Underwood in the fourth season of ''American Idol''. Prior to auditioning for ''American Idol'', Bice released a solo alb ...

. It is also the second ''American Idol'' winner single that is not on the debut album of the winner, after

Taylor Hicks Taylor Reuben Hicks (born October 7, 1976) is an American singer who won the fifth season of ''American Idol'' in May 2006. Hicks got his start as a professional musician in his late teens and performed around the Southeastern United States fo ...

' " Do I Make You Proud" in 2006, although the song is included in the deluxe edition of Kris Allen's debut album. It was performed on

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by young boy band Connected.

Reception

The song overall has received mixed reviews. Between

's version and

's version, Allen's has sold more digital downloads to date. Former ''American Idol'' producer

Nigel Lythgoe Nigel Lythgoe OBE (; born 9 July 1949), also known as Nasty Nigel, is an English television and film director and producer, television dance competition judge, former dancer in the Young Generation and choreographer. He was the producer of the ...

described hearing the song as the "only downside" of American Idol's Grand Finale. Misha Berson of ''

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'' called the song "perhaps the most tuneless, hackneyed earful of 'inspirational' junk that any American Idol has been saddled with in their last chance at victory". The lyrics of the song have attracted particular criticism, with Gil Kaufman of MTV describing them as "a titanic mound of turgid clichés", citing the chorus "every step you climb another mountain / every breath is harder to believe / you’ll make it through the pain / weather the hurricane / to get to that one thing / when you think the road is going nowhere / just when you’ve almost gave up on your dreams / then take it by the hand and show you that you can". '' Billboard'' reviewed each version separately. On Allen's version, they gave a mixed review, by saying "Even though Allen sings lines like 'there are no boundaries,' his modest presentation implicitly recognizes there actually are. And though he sings he will 'climb another mountain,' this is a vocalist who will reach that peak with a trained, experienced guide." On Lambert's version, they gave a positive review, by saying "There's a slight hitch in his voice, but Lambert gets more comfortable as the rock-of-the-'80s orchestration builds to mind-boggling crescendos. Throwing caution to the wind, and maybe even leaving his cake out in the rain, Lambert shows on this towering if inelegant power ballad he can 'weather the hurricane.' The Huffington Post called this song "regrettable" when comparing it to his song, released as single in 2011, "Aftermath". Allen's single has sold 312,000 copies.

Track listing

No Boundaries – Single (Kris Allen version) #"No Boundaries": 3:30 No Boundaries – Single (Adam Lambert version) #"No Boundaries": 3:48 No Boundaries - Demo (Kara DioGuardi version/demo) #"No Boundaries": 3:36

Release history

Both versions

Chart performance

;Kris Allen Allen's version of "No Boundaries" entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for the week of May 29, 2009, at number 11, selling 134,000 paid digital downloads.''Idols'' inundate Hot 100, but ''Glee'' gloats with top debut
Retrieved on 2009-05-27 Also, during the same chart week, the song made its debut at number 27 on the ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary charts. ;Adam Lambert Lambert's version of "No Boundaries" entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for the week of May 29, 2009, at number 72, with sales of approximately 36,000 downloads.

References

{{authority control 2009 debut singles Adam Lambert songs American Idol songs Kris Allen songs Pop ballads Rock ballads Songs written by Cathy Dennis 2000s ballads Songs written by Kara DioGuardi Songs written by Mitch Allan 2009 songs