"Twist of Fate" is a song recorded by British-Australian singer

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British and Australian singer and actress. With over 100 million records sold, Newton-John was one of the List of best-selling music artists#100 million to 119 million record ...

for the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

to the 1983 film '' Two of a Kind''. Written by

Peter Beckett Peter Beckett (born 10 August 1948) is an English musician and songwriter who has written songs for recording artists, his own bands, solo work, and films. He is the lead singer and guitarist for 1970s soft rock band Player, which scored a U. ...

and

Steve Kipner Stephen Alan Kipner (born 1950) is an Australian songwriter and record producer. He has produced a number of international hit songs such as Olivia Newton-John's "Physical (Olivia Newton-John song), Physical", Natasha Bedingfield's "These Words ...

and produced by

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian record producer, composer, arranger, and musician. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His career began as a keyboardist for the pop group Skylark in the early 1970s befor ...

, the song was released as the first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from the album on 21 October 1983. It reached the top five on the pop charts in Australia, Canada and the US.

Background and lyrics

In 1978

John Travolta John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He began acting in television before transitioning into a leading man in films. List of awards and nominations received by John Travolta, His accolades include a Primetime Em ...

and

starred in '' Grease'', a

big-screen A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation ...

adaptation of the 1972

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

musical of the same name. Its success elicited offers to reunite them in another film; Travolta read the screenplay for ''Two of a Kind'' and persuaded Newton-John to star in it with him. His character in the film is an unsuccessful inventor who has been unknowingly selected to determine the fate of humanity. After he attempts to rob a bank where the teller (Newton-John) gives him a bag full of deposit slips and keeps the money for herself, fate brings them together again in a fatal accident. They are brought back to life when the hands of time are turned back under the condition, unbeknownst to them, that the two make sacrifices for one another before a week has lapsed so that God does not destroy the human race. The song, which was written by

and

and produced by

, alludes to the wrongdoings of the characters but mostly centers around the fact that they get a second chance at life.

Commercial performance

"Twist of Fate" made its debut on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 49 in the issue of the magazine dated 5 November 1983 and peaked at number 5 the week ending 7 January 1984. The song charted for 18 weeks. It also reached number 4 in Australia, number 5 in Canada and South Africa, number 20 in Switzerland, number 22 in New Zealand, number 33 in Belgium, number 42 in the Netherlands and number 57 in the UK. A

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a "single" or a few related sound tracks on each surface, compa ...

with an extended version of the song got as high as number 51 on ''Billboard''s

Dance Club Songs The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

chart in the US. A duet with Travolta from the film, " Take a Chance", was included as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

of the

7-inch single In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standa ...

in the US, where it peaked at number 3 on ''Billboard''s

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 ...

chart, as well as in Canada, where it hit number 1 on the same chart in ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' magazine.

Critical reception

In their review of the single, the editors of ''

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 ...

'' magazine described it as "a strong dance-rocker that floats Newton-John's light voice over a booming, bass-heavy rhythm track." ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' wrote that the song "shows an urgent David Foster production full of throbbing bass lines and multi-layered keyboard parts." They noted of Newton-John that "her full-throttled vocal performance bodes extremely well for a successful new beginning." Robin Smith of ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper published between 1954 and 1991, aimed at pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after ''New Musical Express'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK Album ...

'', however, wrote, "Our Livvy's heart just isn't in this one."

Music video

In 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 ...

for "Twist of Fate", Newton-John sings on a black soundstage surrounded by three raised jury boxes filled with people mostly shown in shadows. Scenes from the movie either start or end as still frames that are presented to the singer and the jury as large photographs. Travolta enters as she finishes the song. The video was directed by Brian Grant. "Twist of Fate" was listed on the reports that

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 ...

provided to ''

'' that indicated what videos were in rotation on the cable network and made its first appearance there in the 3 December 1983 issue, which indicated that it had been added to their playlist as of 21 November. A collection of videos for Newton-John's songs from ''Two of a Kind'' was also titled '' Twist of Fate''. The collection was nominated for Best Video, Short Form at the

27th Annual Grammy Awards The 27th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 26, 1985, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, and were broadcast live in the United States by CBS. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1984. Performers * Huey Lewis & Th ...

but lost to

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

's ''

Jazzin' for Blue Jean ''Jazzin' for Blue Jean'' is a 21-minute short film featuring David Bowie and directed by Julien Temple. It was created to promote Bowie's single " Blue Jean" in 1984 and released as a video single. The film won the 1985 Grammy Award for " Best ...

''.

Appearances in other media

In 2017, the song was featured in the second season of the Netflix series ''

Stranger Things ''Stranger Things'' is an American television series created by the Duffer brothers, Duffer Brothers for Netflix. Produced by Monkey Massacre Productions and 21 Laps Entertainment, the Stranger Things season 1, first season was released on N ...

'' and included on the soundtrack album, '' Stranger Things: Music from the Netflix Original Series''. The album was nominated for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media at the

61st Annual Grammy Awards The 61st Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on February 10, 2019, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Singer-songwriter Alicia Keys hosted. During her opening monologue, Keys brought out Lady Gaga, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jennifer Lopez, and fo ...

Track listing and formats

All tracks produced by

except "Coolin' Down" and "Jolene", produced by

John Farrar John Clifford Farrar ( ; born 8 November 1946) is an Australian Record producer, music producer, songwriter, arranger, singer, and guitarist. As a musician, Farrar is a former member of several rock and roll groups including The Mustangs (1963 ...

. *Australian 7-inch single (Interfusion Records) #"Twist of Fate" (Beckett, Kipner) – 3:39 #"Coolin' Down" (Farrar)– 3:57 *UK 7-inch single (

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a British multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company EMI in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succes ...

) #"Twist of Fate" #" Jolene" (

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...

) *US/Canadian 7-inch single (

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

) #"Twist of Fate" – 3:39 #"Take a Chance" (with

) (Foster,

Steve Lukather Steven Lee "Luke" Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to ...

, Olivia Newton-John) – 4:05 *US 12-inch single – Promo Only (MCA Records) #"Twist of Fate (Extended Version)" – 5:18 #"Twist of Fate" – 3:39

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

Bibliography

* {{Authority control 1983 songs 1984 singles Olivia Newton-John songs Song recordings produced by David Foster Songs written by Steve Kipner MCA Records singles EMI Records singles Songs written by Peter Beckett