"Swear It Again" is a song by Irish

boy band A boy band is a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their Teenage, teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Many boy bands ...

Westlife Westlife are an Irish pop group formed in Dublin in 1998. The group consists of members Nicky Byrne, Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Mark Feehily. Brian McFadden was a member before leaving in March 2004. The group disbanded in 2012 and later reun ...

. The

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 ...

was released on 19 April 1999 in the United Kingdom as the first single from their self-titled debut album (1999). The song peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks, giving Westlife their first of 14 UK number-one singles. "Swear It Again" is Westlife's only single to have charted in the US, peaking at number 20 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and ranking number 75 on the ''

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 ...

'' Hot 100 year-end chart in 2000. The single has sold over 600,000 copies in the UK and has achieved platinum status there. It is the band's fifth-best-selling single in combined sales and seventh-best-selling single in paid-for sales in the UK as of January 2019.

Background

In ''Westlife - Our Story'' the band recalled being "excited" hearing the demo of this song saying "Wow, this is a great song. It's a big chorus, great harmonies. This is exactly what we want to be recording". "Swear It Again" is notable for being, along with " Flying Without Wings", one of the first two songs that

Steve Mac Steve McCutcheon (born 15 January 1972), known professionally as Steve Mac, is a British record producer, songwriter and musician. A multi-award-winning producer, he is one of the most prolific songwriters and record producers in modern Briti ...

wrote for both Westlife and

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality and businessman. He has judged on the British television talent competition shows ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003), ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor UK ...

. The success of the two tracks led to Mac becoming Cowell's preferred producer and songwriter. It was revealed that Cowell let his father Eric listen to all of the songs recorded by the group for their debut album to decide what would be the album's lead single, with Eric choosing "Swear It Again". Significantly, Eric died of a heart attack during the week the single was released. The song's B-side, "

Forever Forever or 4ever may refer to: Film and television Films * ''Forever'' (1921 film), an American silent film by George Fitzmaurice * ''Forever'' (1978 film), an American made-for-television romantic drama, based on the novel by Judy Blume * '' ...

", was a significant choice because, as originally recorded by

Damage Damage is any change in a thing, often a physical object, that degrades it away from its initial state. It can broadly be defined as "changes introduced into a system that adversely affect its current or future performance".Farrar, C.R., Sohn, H., ...

, it first alerted Cowell to the talent of Steve Mac and then led to the producer working with Westlife. It was composed in the traditional

verse–chorus form Verse–chorus form is a musical form going back to the 1840s, in such songs as "Oh! Susanna", " The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze", and many others. It became passé in the early 1900s, with advent of the AABA (with verse) form in the T ...

A major A major is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative minor is F-sharp minor and its parallel minor is A minor. The A major scale is: Changes needed for the ...

, with Filan and Feehily's vocal ranging from the chords of B₃ to F₅. An exclusive live track version of the single was included in the

Arista Records Arista Records ( ) is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously a division of Bertelsmann Music G ...

25th anniversary compilation album in 2000.

Music video

The original version of the video was not released. Simon Cowell had spent £150,000 on it, didn't like it and ordered a re-shoot. The remade British music video features the band members in a mini theatre and singing on a stage fitted with lighting panel flooring while they face a screen with black-and-white videos of their studio recording process. This version was directed by Wayne Isham and aired in May 1999. The video was shot at

Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to t ...

in March 1999. The American music video features the band members at a car wash and subsequently washing a white car as they're singing the song. This version was directed by

Nigel Dick Nigel Dick (born 21 March 1953) is an English music video director and filmmaker. Originally from Catterick, North Yorkshire, he is based in Los Angeles, California. He has directed music videos for artists such as Britney Spears, Toto, Ba ...

and aired in June 2000.

Honours and awards

Track listings

UK CD1 # "Swear It Again" (radio edit) – 4:04 # "

" – 5:05 # CD-ROM (includes filmed interview with Ronan Keating + video clips) UK CD2 # "Swear It Again" (radio edit) – 4:04 # "Swear It Again" (Rokstone mix) – 4:07 # "Ronan Keating Interviews Westlife" (audio) – 3:36 UK cassette single # "Swear It Again" (radio edit) – 4:04 # "Forever" – 5:05 # "Ronan Keating Interviews Westlife" (audio) – 3:36 European CD single # "Swear It Again" (radio edit) – 4:04 # "Forever" – 5:05 US CD and cassette single # "Swear It Again" – 4:06 # Snippets from ''

'' Australian CD single # "Swear It Again" (radio edit) – 4:04 # "Swear It Again" (Rokstone mix) – 4:07 # "Forever" – 5:05 # "Ronan Keating Interviews Westlife" (audio) – 3:36 # CD-ROM (includes filmed interview with Ronan Keating + video clips) Australian and Japanese CD EP # "Swear It Again" (radio edit) – 4:04 # "Until the End of Time" – 3:10 # "Forever" – 5:05 # "Everybody Knows" – 3:45 # "Let's Make Tonight Special" – 4:52 # "Don't Calm the Storm" – 3:46 # "Ronan Keating Interviews Westlife" (audio) – 3:37

Credits and personnel

Credits are lifted from the UK CD1 and ''

'' liner notes. Studio * Engineered and programmed at Rokstone Studios (London, England) Personnel * Steve Mac – writing, all keyboards, production, mixing, vocal arrangement *

Wayne Hector Wayne Anthony Hector is a British songwriter who is best known for his work with pop artists such as Nicki Minaj, One Direction, the Wanted, Toše Proeski and Olly Murs. He co-wrote seven of Westlife's number one singles, including " World ...

– writing, vocal arrangement * Paul Gendler – all guitars *

Richard Niles Richard Niles is an American composer, arranger, record producer, guitarist, broadcaster, and journalist. Biography Early years Niles was born May 28, 1951, in Hollywood. He is the son of Tony Romano, a composer, singer, and guitarist who writ ...

– string arrangement * Chris Laws – engineering, programming * Matt Howe – mix engineering * Daniel Pursey – mixing assistant

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

References

{{Authority control 1998 songs 1999 debut singles 1990s ballads Arista Records singles Bertelsmann Music Group singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Music videos directed by Nigel Dick Music videos directed by Wayne Isham Number-one singles in New Zealand RCA Records singles Song recordings produced by Steve Mac Songs written by Steve Mac Songs written by Wayne Hector UK singles chart number-one singles Westlife songs