"Fight for You" is a song originally recorded by

Stevie Hoang Stevie Hoang (born 9 June 1985) is an English singer, songwriter, and record producer signed to Mercury Records and Avex. Career Stevie Hoang (pronounced ''Hwong'') learned piano at the age of eleven and showed talent with it. He started his mu ...

, featuring

Iyaz Keidran Kenmore Jones (born 15 April 1987), better known by his stage name Iyaz (pronounced ), is a British Virgin Islands singer and songwriter, formerly signed with the record label Warner Music Group. He is known for his singles " Replay", " ...

, for his third independent album, ''Unsigned'' (2011). It was later performed by American recording artist

Jason Derulo Jason Joel Desrouleaux (born September 21, 1989), known professionally as Jason Derulo (; formerly stylized as Derülo), is an American singer, songwriter and dancer. Since the start of his solo recording career in 2009, he has sold over 250 m ...

, released as the fourth single from his second studio album, ''

Future History A future history, imaginary history or anticipatory history is a fictional conjecture of the future used by authors of science fiction and other speculative fiction to construct a common background for stories. Sometimes the author publishes a t ...

'', on December 2, 2011. The song was written by Derulo, Hoang,

David Paich David Frank Paich (born June 25, 1954) is an American keyboardist, singer, and songwriter, best known as the co-founder, principal songwriter, keyboardist, and secondary vocalist of the rock band Toto (band), Toto since 1977. He wrote or co-wrot ...

and

Jeff Porcaro Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer. He is best known for being the co-founder and drummer of the rock band Toto, but is also one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working on hundr ...

, while production was handled by

RedOne Nadir Khayat (, Latn, ar, Nādir Ḵayyāṭ; born 9 April 1972), also known as RedOne, is a Moroccan-Swedish record producer, record executive, singer and songwriter. He has worked in production for high-profile recording artists including La ...

, BeatGeek and Geo Slam. Musically, "Fight for You" is an urban-

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

, that interpolates the song "

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

" by American rock band Toto. The lyrics revolve around how Derulo, the protagonist, has "got a girl in his life he isn't ready to let go of just yet". Hoang had originally recorded "Fight for You" for his third independent album ''Unsigned'' (2011) featuring

. The song's production and Derulo's vocal performance garnered positive reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

, however, some criticized its lack of originality. "Fight for You" attained moderate chart success, peaking at number five in Australia, and reaching the top twenty in the United Kingdom. The accompanying

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

portrays a fictional relationship between Derulo and his love interest. Derulo performed the song at

KDWB-FM KDWB-FM (101.3 MHz) is an commercial radio station broadcasting in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces o ...

's annual Jingle Ball in 2011.

Jason Derulo version

"Fight for You" was written by Jason Derulo,

and

, while production of the song was helmed by

, BeatGeek and Geo Slam. Derulo's version of "Fight for You" was recorded and engineered by Gelly Kusuma, Slam and Teddy Sky at Serenity West Recording Studio and

Jim Henson Studios The Jim Henson Company, Inc., formerly known as Muppets, Inc., Henson Associates, Inc., and Jim Henson Productions, Inc. (commonly referred to as Henson), is an American entertainment company located in Los Angeles, California. The company is kn ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California. Derulo, RedOne, Laila Khayat, Samya Khayat and Sky performed

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...

on the song. The recordings were later mixed by Trevor Muzzy. All instruments and programming were provided by RedOne, BeatGeek and Slam. In a cover story for the '' Daily Star'', Derulo stated that "Fight for You" was the first song he worked on with RedOne, saying "I'm glad it turned out so dope". On working with RedOne, he said: "Red first became hot when he produced the album ''

The Fame ''The Fame'' is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Lady Gaga. It was released on August 19, 2008, by Interscope Records. After joining KonLive Distribution and Cherrytree Records in 2008, Gaga began working on the album with di ...

'' with

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influ ...

. He is one of the nicest guys I've ever met. ... RedOne was a nice, humble, down-to-earth, special person". "Fight for You" was added to mainstream radio playlists in the United Kingdom on November 9, 2011. A digital

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

, featuring four remixes of the song, was released in Ireland and the UK on December 2, 2011.

Composition

"Fight for You" is an urban-pop

with a length of four minutes and two seconds. According to Meena Rupani of DesiHits, the song finds Derulo as the male protagonist singing "that he's got a girl in his life he isn't ready to let go of just yet". The song contains an

interpolation In the mathematics, mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a type of estimation, a method of constructing (finding) new data points based on the range of a discrete set of known data points. In engineering and science, one ...

of the 1982 song "

" by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band Toto. Lewis Corner of

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its initial launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television pro ...

noted that "Fight for You" features "airy

synths A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis an ...

and bouncy castle-sized beats". During an interview with ''

New! ''New!'' is a British weekly magazine, specialising in celebrity news and is published by Reach plc, which also oversees ''OK!'' magazine, the ''Daily Mirror'', ''Daily Express'' and '' Daily Star''. Profile ''New!'' was first published in Ma ...

'' magazine, Derulo explained the concept of "Fight for You", saying: "It's very relationship-based and the line fight for you"means so much, whatever you believe in you should go for. The song is based on a personal experience, I was in a relationship and I put myself in that place again where you would do anything to keep the relationship together so I went back to that place."

Critical reception

"Fight for You" garnered positive reviews from

for its catchy production and Derulo's vocal performance. David Griffiths of

4Music 4Music was a British music television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. Launched on 15 August 2008, the original incarnation, replacing The Hits television channel, showed a mix of music and entertainment pr ...

called it a "catchy little ditty" that "is guaranteed to be stuck in your head for the rest of the day". Shawn Kitchener of Entertainment Wise described the song as "the kind of sweet-as-candy R&B fodder" that could have been featured on the ''High School Musical'' soundtrack. Meena Rupani of DesiHits noted that the song's lyrical theme is similar to "

It Girl An "it girl" is an attractive, well-known young woman who is perceived to have both sex appeal and a personality that is especially engaging. The expression ''it girl'' originated in British upper-class society around the turn of the 20th&nbs ...

", and that Derulo's "vocals are enough to put any girl into a trance". However, "Fight for You" also received unfavorable reviews from critics because of its lack of originality. Lewis Corner of Digital Spy gave the song a three out of five star rating, calling Derulo "extremely lazy" for sampling "Africa". Caroline Sullivan of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' described the song as "languid", while writing that the sample gives it "a bit of bounce". Although Jess Holton of ''

The Music Network ''The Music Network'' (''TMN'') is an Australian music magazine launched as a in 1994 by John Woodruff. It was printed weekly until March 2013, when it went fully online. In 2017 it was acquired by Jake Challenor, who served as its publisher an ...

'' described "Fight for You" as a "touching ballad", she added that sampling "Africa" does not do the latter "any form of justice". In an album review of ''Future History'', Michael Cragg of

BBC Music BBC Music is the arm of the BBC responsible for the music played across its services. The current director of music is Lorna Clarke. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio operational division; however, its remit also includes music used i ...

noted that the songs "revolve around the joys of being in a relationship or the pain of not being in one", however disapproved of the lyrical content and sample in "Fight for You", calling it "perhaps the worst offender" on the album.

Commercial performance

After the release of ''Future History'', "Fight for You" debuted and peaked on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 83 on the issue dated October 15, 2011, and on the UK Singles Chart at number 117 on October 22, 2011. Upon its release as a single in the latter country, "Fight for You" managed to peak at number 15 on the UK Singles Chart, and at number four on the

UK R&B Singles Chart Official Hip Hop and R&B Albums Chart The UK Hip Hop and R&B Singles Chart and the UK Hip Hop and R&B Albums Chart (also known as The Official UK Hip Hop and R&B Charts, and previously the Top 40 Hip Hop and RnB Singles and the Top 40 Hip Hop and ...

. In Ireland, the song debuted at number 31 on December 1, 2011, and peaked at number 28 the following week. On the

Danish Singles Chart Hitlisten (), formerly known as Tracklisten, is a Danish top 40 record chart that is updated every Wednesday at midnight on the website hitlisten.nu. The weekly Danish singles chart combines the 40 best-selling tracks from streaming and legal mus ...

, "Fight for You" debuted and peaked at number 27 on January 20, 2012. In Australia, the song debuted at number 27 on the

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian 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 became the offici ...

on February 20, 2012. "Fight for You" peaked at number five in its third week, and spent a total of seven consecutive weeks inside the top-ten. It was eventually certified triple platinum by the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival Records (Australia), Festival, Sony Music ...

(ARIA), denoting 210,000 equivalent units.

Promotion

Music video

The video for "Fight for You" premiered online on November 25, 2011. It begins with Derulo walking on a bridge in a city at night, before the video cuts to scenes of Derulo and his love interest hugging and drinking alcohol, as well showing him standing alone atop a roof of a building in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. Another scene finds Derulo and his love interest sharing a shower. The video continues to show the pair spending time together, including dining in restaurants, riding the subway, and dancing on the subway platform. David Greenwald of

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

Buzzworthy called it Derulo's "steamiest" video to date.

Live performances and cover version

On December 3, 2011, Derulo performed "Fight for You" at radio station

's annual Jingle Ball, which took place at the

Target Center Target Center is a multi-purpose arena located in Minneapolis that opened in 1990. It hosts major family shows, concerts, sporting events, graduations and private events. Target Corporation, founded and headquartered in Minneapolis since 1902, h ...

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

. The song was part of a

set list A set list, or setlist, is typically a handwritten or printed document created as an ordered list of songs, jokes, stories and other elements an artist intends to present during a specific performance. A setlist can be made of nearly any materi ...

, which included "

Whatcha Say "Whatcha Say" is the debut single by American artist Jason Derulo for his self-titled debut album. It was released for digital download on May 5, 2009, and officially released as a single on August 4 of the same year. The track reinterprets the ...

", " In My Head", "

Ridin' Solo "Ridin' Solo" is a song by American singer Jason Derulo, released as the third single from his self-titled debut album and produced by J.R. Rotem. The demo originally sampled " Bitter Sweet Symphony" by the Verve, but the sample was not cle ...

", "

Don't Wanna Go Home "Don't Wanna Go Home" is a song by American recording artist Jason Derulo, released as the lead single from his second studio album, ''Future History'', on May 23, 2011. The song was written by Derulo, Chaz Mishan, David Delazyn, William Attaway ...

" and "It Girl". According to Jon Bream of the ''

Star Tribune ''The Minnesota Star Tribune'', formerly the ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', is an American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2023, it is Minnesota's largest newspaper and the List of newspapers in the United States, seventh- ...

'', Derulo "turned it out with sweet vocals and smooth dancing". On May 21, 2012, Taga Paa performed a cover of "Fight for You" on ''

The Voice Australia ''The Voice'' is an Australian singing competition television series. It premiered on the Nine Network on 14 April 2012, before moving to the Seven Network in 2021. Based on the original Dutch singing competition '' The Voice of Holland'', a ...

''. Rosemarie Lentini of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' called it a "moving rendition", while Seanna Cronin of ''

The Gympie Times ''The Gympie Times'' is an online newspaper serving Gympie in Queensland, Australia. The newspaper is owned by News Corp Australia and was published from Monday to Saturday but ceased printed publication in June of 2020. The final printed editi ...

'' noted that Paa's performance "had a few pitch issues".

Track listing

*Digital EP # "Fight for You" – 4:02 # "Fight for You" (Suncycle Remix) – 3:34 # "Fight for You" (Mync Edit) – 3:25 # "Fight for You" (Mync Stadium Dub) – 5:34 # "Fight for You" (Mync Stadium Mix) – 5:34

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes for ''Future History''. *BeatGeek –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

, instruments and programming *Jason Derulo –

songwriting A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

, lead vocals,

*Stevie Hoang – songwriting *Laila Khayat – background vocals *Samya Khayat – background vocals *Gelly Kusuma – recording,

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

*Trevor Muzzy – mixing *David F. Paich – songwriting *Jeffrey T. Porcaro – songwriting *RedOne – production, background vocals, instruments and programming *Teddy Sky – recording, engineering, background vocals *Geo Slam – production, recording, engineering, instruments and programming,

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control 2011 songs 2011 singles 2010s ballads Stevie Hoang songs Jason Derulo songs Song recordings produced by RedOne Songs written by Jeff Porcaro Songs written by David Paich Warner Records singles Music videos directed by Colin Tilley Pop ballads Toto (band)