"It's Not My Time" is the first official single from the

self-titled An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

fourth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by rock band

3 Doors Down 3 Doors Down is an American Rock music, rock band from Escatawpa, Mississippi that formed in 1996. The band's music is described as post-grunge, alternative rock, and hard rock. The band's 2000 debut single "Kryptonite (3 Doors Down song), Kr ...

. The song was serviced to US

modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. ...

radio on February 18, 2008. Lyrically, the song focuses on "being resilient, going against the grain and going against the world when the world's trying to push you down, or take you out," lead singer

Brad Arnold Bradley Kirk Arnold (born September 27, 1978) is an American musician who is the lead singer of the Mississippi-based rock band 3 Doors Down. Early life Arnold grew up in Escatawpa, Mississippi. He wrote 3 Doors Down's breakout hit single, "K ...

said. The song topped the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" ...

chart for three weeks. An acoustic version was also available on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

as a pre-order.

Background

"It's Not My Time" was originally written for the remake of the film '' The Poseidon Adventure''. Brad Arnold explained: "It was gonna be a track on that movie. In the movie, they're just trying to escape their death. And there's a ship sinking. They showed me like a 30-second clip of the movie, and I went and wrote that song from it. And they wound up not wanting it, so I was like, Cool, we'll keep it. And that's actually the second song off a film like that. I wrote " Let Me Go" off of ''

Seventeen Days ''Seventeen Days'' is the third studio album by American rock band 3 Doors Down. It was released on February 8, 2005, five years after the release of their debut album, '' The Better Life.'' It is the band's first album to debut atop the ''Bil ...

'' for ''Spiderman,'' and they didn't want it, so we kept it. I'm glad. I had no problem with it."

Release and chart performance

The song was officially added to US

radio on February 18, 2008. By its first official day of release, it was the most-added track at both active- and modern-rock radio stations. The song debuted at number 37 on the ''

Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" ...

chart for the week of March 1, 2008. It went on to top the chart, becoming the band's eighth top-10 single and fifth number-one single on the chart. It debuted at number 38 on the ''Billboard''

Hot Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

chart, eventually peaking at number five. The song peaked at number 17 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, making it the band's fifth top-20 hit on that chart. The song became their second number one on the

Adult Top 40 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 ...

, following "

Here Without You "Here Without You" is a song by American rock band 3 Doors Down. The power ballad was released on July 28, 2003, as the third single from the band's second studio album, '' Away from the Sun'' (2002). The song reached 5 on the US ''Billboard'' ...

". In Canada, Finland, and New Zealand, "It's Not My Time" reached the top 20, peaking at number 20 on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...

, number 12 in Finland, and number 18 in New Zealand. It was their third top-40 hit in Australia, peaking at 26. It has also reached the top 40 in Germany.

Music video

The video was shot in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, on April 1, 2008. The shoot was done in

Over-the-Rhine Over-the-Rhine, often abbreviated as OTR, is a residential neighborhood located in the urban basin of Cincinnati, Ohio. Over-the-Rhine is among the largest, most intact urban historic districts in the United States. Originally settled by Ohi ...

Fountain Square A fountain square is a park or plaza in a city that features a fountain. It may stand alone or as part of a larger public park. United States In the United States, there are numerous fountain squares, many of which are actually called "fountain ...

, Clifton and other locations around the city. The

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 ...

was officially premiered by Universal Republic on April 23, 2008. The beginning sequences were shot on top of the shelter structures, at Bellevue Park, edited to appear as a tall building. The video begins with a man (Gabriel Nunez of the free-running outfit Team Tempest) standing on the roof of a pavilion in a local park. A scene then shows a mother and her daughter driving in a car. As the clock in the car turns to 10:13 they are hit from the side by a truck. The video then goes back to the man on the rooftop, who looks at his

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

, displaying the time 10:08. When the time turns to 10:09, he immediately begins to run, and jumps off the building, landing safely on the ground. The video then proceeds to follow the man, as he rapidly traverses on foot through the city, avoiding numerous city obstacles by performing

acrobatic Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in acro ...

maneuvers of

parkour Parkour () is an athletic Training#Physical training, training discipline or sport in which practitioners (called ''traceurs'') attempt to get from one point to another in the fastest and most efficient way possible, without assisting equipment ...

. The man is shown jumping high fences, leaping across city rooftops, hopping over vehicles, somersaulting through an empty pool, among various other stunts. The video also shows the woman and her daughter in the car at several points, where the clock shows the times 10:11, and 10:12. At the end of the video, the man leaps in front of the woman's car right at 10:13, causing the woman to stop, thereby avoiding the fatal accident seen in the beginning. The band is shown throughout the video performing on the rooftop where the man started from. At the end they are seen performing on a skywalk, overlooking where the accident would have happened.

Track listing

EP version # "It's Not My Time" – 4:03 # "Who Are You" – 3:10 # "It's Not My Time" (acoustic) – 3:57

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2008 songs 2008 singles 3 Doors Down songs Music videos directed by Shaun Silva Song recordings produced by Johnny K Songs written by Brad Arnold Songs written by Chris Henderson (American musician) Songs written by Matt Roberts (musician) Songs written by Todd Harrell Universal Republic Records singles