"A Different Beat" is a song by Irish boy band

Boyzone Boyzone were an Irish boy band created in 1993 by the talent manager Louis Walsh. Before even recording any material, Boyzone made an appearance on RTÉ's ''The Late Late Show (Ireland), The Late Late Show''. Its most successful line-up was co ...

from their second studio album of the same name (1996). The song was written by

Ronan Keating Ronan Patrick John Keating (born 3 March 1977) is an Irish singer, songwriter, actor and presenter. He debuted in 1993 alongside Keith Duffy, Michael Graham, Shane Lynch, and Stephen Gately, as the co-lead singer (with Gately) of Irish pop g ...

Stephen Gately Stephen Patrick David Gately (17 March 197610 October 2009) was an Irish singer who, with Ronan Keating, was co-lead singer of the pop group Boyzone. All of Boyzone's studio albums during Gately's lifetime hit number one in the United Kingdom, ...

Shane Lynch Shane Eamon Mark Stephen Lynch (born 3 July 1976) is an Irish singer, best known as a member of Boyzone. He has also taken part in auto racing, participated in reality shows such as ''Celebrity Big Brother (British TV series), Celebrity Big Bro ...

Keith Duffy Keith Peter Thomas Francis Julian John Duffy (born 1 October 1974) is an Irish singer, actor, radio and television presenter and drummer who began his professional music career as part of Irish boy band Boyzone alongside Ronan Keating, Mik ...

, Martin Brannigan, and

Ray Hedges Ray "Madman" Hedges is an English songwriter and record producer from Surrey, England who has had over 60 top 20 singles and albums including seven UK number-ones as producer and or writer with many on his own record labels. Career Hedges has b ...

, and it was produced by Hedges with additional production by

Trevor Horn Trevor Charles Horn (born 15 July 1949) is an English record producer and musician. His influence on pop and electronic music in the 1980s was such that he has been called "the man who invented the eighties". Horn took up the bass guitar at an ...

on the radio edit. It was released as the album's second single on 2 December 1996 by

Polydor Records Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

, becoming their only UK number-one hit to be co-written by members of the group. In a 2025 interview band member Keith Duffy explained how the song was inspired and written to emulate

Take That Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead singer ...

's 1995 hit " Never Forget" as an anthemic sounding closing song for the group's own concert finales.

Critical reception

A reviewer from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'' rated the song four out of five, describing it as a "dramatic epic, enriched by African chants". Gerald Martinez from ''

New Sunday Times The ''New Straits Times'' is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print (though not the first), having been founded as a local offshoot of Singapore-based ''The Straits Ti ...

'' viewed it as "anthemic".

Track listings

* UK CD1 and Australian CD single # "A Different Beat" (radio edit) – 3:34 # "Angel" – 3:45 # "A Different Beat" (remix) – 6:10 * UK CD2 # "A Different Beat" (radio edit) – 3:34 # "Angel" – 3:45 # "

Key to My Life "Key to My Life" is the third single from Irish boy band Boyzone, taken from their debut album, ''Said and Done'' (1995). It was released in April 1995 by Polydor Records, and after two covers, it became their first single to be an original song ...

" (live at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

) – 4:12 # "A Different Beat" (remix) – 6:10 * UK cassette and European CD single # "A Different Beat" (radio edit) – 3:52 (3:24 on European CD) # "Angel" – 3:45

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Different Beat 1996 singles 1996 songs Boyzone songs Number-one singles in Scotland Polydor Records singles Song recordings produced by Ray Hedges Song recordings produced by Trevor Horn Songs written by Keith Duffy Songs written by Martin Brannigan Songs written by Ray Hedges Songs written by Ronan Keating Songs written by Shane Lynch Songs written by Stephen Gately