"I Never Told You" is a song by the American pop singer-songwriter

Colbie Caillat Colbie Marie Caillat ( ; born May 28, 1985) is an American singer-songwriter. She rose to fame on the social networking website Myspace in 2005. She signed with Universal Republic Records to release her debut studio album, '' Coco'' (2007), w ...

from her second album ''

Breakthrough Breakthrough or break through may refer to: Arts Books * ''Break Through'' (book), a 2007 book about environmentalism by Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger * ''Break Through'' (play), a 2011 episodic play portraying scenes from LGBT life * ...

'' (2009). The song was released on February 16, 2010 in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

as the second single. The song is a

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner. Balla ...

E-flat major E-flat major is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has three flats. Its relative minor is C minor, and its parallel minor is E minor, (or enharmonically D minor). The E-fla ...

and was written by Caillat, Jason Reeves and

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

and produced by DioGuardi. The song talks about the love the singer still has for her lover they felt strongly about at one point in their life. The song received positive reviews from music critics. In the charts, the song has performed moderately well, it has peaked at #48 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and #3 on the

Adult Pop Songs The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Syste ...

Background

In 'I Never Told You,' Colbie Caillat reveals she still has feelings for a previous love and misses him. Caillat originally penned this song while touring

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

in her hotel bathroom. She told Starpulse.com: "I wrote it about someone I had broken up with that I was missing at the time." Later, the song was completed during a three-week "writing camp" in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

that Caillat organized with fellow singer/songwriter Jason Reeves and American Idol judge

Critical reception

In the review of the album, ''Sal Cinquemani'' from

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yor ...

said that "

deserves some credit for helping Caillat deliver one of her most emotive performances to date on the melancholy "I Never Told You"; on any other record, the song would be easily tagged as mediocre filler, but here it's an album highlight".

Promotion

Colbie began promoting the song on the ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', sometimes shortened to ''JKL'', is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show tapes and is based out of the Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywo ...

'' show on January 8, 2010. Later, she appeared on ''

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the fourth and sixth installment of ''The Tonight Show''. Hosted by Jay Leno, it aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009, replacing ''The Ton ...

'' on March 11, 2010.

Music video

The official music video was directed by

Roman White Roman White is an American music video and film director who has directed most of Carrie Underwood's videos. He has also directed music videos for Taylor Swift, Kelly Clarkson, Florida Georgia Line, Kelsea Ballerini, Cassadee Pope, Josh Groban, ...

, and released on Vevo.com on April 2, 2010. It involves scenes of Colbie singing while painting, couples breaking apart but eventually were brought back again including herself and her love interest. The music video uses a different mix of the song (the "Single Mix") which is shorter than the Album Version and repeats the line "Oh no, I never told you" towards the end of the song. This version of the song was released by Promo Only in July 2010. The music video has also landed in the number #1 spot on the

VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown ''The 20'' (formerly known as the ''VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown'') is a weekly music video countdown television show that aired on the VH1 cable television network in the United States. The long-running show was first introduced in 1994 as ''VH1 T ...

. She has gone to #1 twice on different occurrences during the show.

Chart performance

The song debuted at number 99 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart on the week ending of April 10, 2010 and peaked at number 48. The song reached number three on

and number eleven on

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

. It charted on ''Billboard'' Radio Songs and peaked at number 54, while peaking at number 43 on

Hot Digital Songs The Digital Song Sales (previously named Digital Songs and Hot Digital Songs) ranks the best-selling digital songs in the United States, as compiled by Luminate and published by ''Billboard'' magazine. Although it originally started tracking so ...

chart. "I Never Told You" was ranked at number 15 on the year-end tally for Adult Pop Songs. The song was certified Gold by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA).RIAA Searchable Database
. Recording Industry Association of America with a total shipment of 625,000 copies. Retrieved 2011-04-30

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:I Never Told You (Song) 2000s ballads 2009 songs 2010 singles Colbie Caillat songs Music videos directed by Roman White Pop ballads Folk ballads Songs written by Kara DioGuardi Songs written by Jason Reeves (songwriter) Songs written by Colbie Caillat Universal Republic Records singles Song recordings produced by Kara DioGuardi