"Up" is a song recorded by Romanian singer

Inna Elena Alexandra Apostoleanu (born 16 October 1986), known professionally as Inna (stylized in all caps), is a Romanian singer. Born in Mangalia and raised in Neptun, Romania, Neptun, she studied political science at Ovidius University before ...

Global Records Global Records is a Romanian independent record label founded in 2008 by Ștefan Lucian. History Global Records's first signed artist was Inna in 2008, whose career has been spanning over 10 years. She has released a series of international ...

sent it to Romanian radio stations on 21 October 2021. Another version of the track with Jamaican rapper

Sean Paul Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques (born 9 January 1973) is a Jamaican dancehall musician. Paul's first album, ''Stage One'', was released in 2000. He gained international fame with his second album, ''Dutty Rock'', in 2002. Its single "Get Busy ...

was issued on 17 December 2021. "Up" was written by Inna, Sebastian Barac, Marcel Botezan, Alex Cotoi and

Minelli Minnelli (also spelled Minelli) is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Minelli (born Luisa Ionela Luca, 1988), Romanian singer, songwriter and lyricist. * Alessandro Minelli, multiple people *Liza Minnelli (born 1946), Am ...

, while the production was handled by Barac, Botezan and Cotoi; Paul received additional writing and production credits on his version. "Up" is a

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots reggae, roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2 ...

-influenced

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 ...

song, with its lyrics describing a healing love. Commercially, "Up" achieved success in Romania, where it became Inna's fifth number-one hit. It further topped the charts in Bulgaria, Russia, Poland, the

Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization, regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an ar ...

(CIS) and Ukraine. The

Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry The Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry (; ZPAV) is the trade organization that represents the interests of the music industry in Poland, and the Polish chapter of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). Founded ...

(ZPAV) awarded the song a

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

certification in Poland. An 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 ...

for the Sean Paul version of the track was uploaded to Inna's

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel on 17 December 2021. Directed by Bogdan Păun, it portrays Inna residing at a party with interspersed shots of Paul also being shown. For further promotion, "Up" was performed live on ''

SuperStar România ''SuperStar România'' is the Romanian adaptation of the ''Idols'' franchise and premieres on September 10, 2021. Originally announced at the beginning of 2021, the show is scheduled to start airing this Fall on Pro TV. Thus, replacing '' Vocea R ...

''.

Background and release

Sebastian Barac, Marcel Botezan and Alex Cotoi produced "Up", and wrote it with Elena Alexandra Apostoleanu (

) and

sent the single for

radio airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

in Romania on 21 October 2021. A day later, it was released for

digital download Digital download may refer to: *Downloading, the processing of copying data to a computer from an external source *Digital distribution, a method of downloading software or audio-visual media as opposed to buying it at a traditional point of sale * ...

and

streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

in various territories by

Warner Music Poland Warner Music Poland Sp. z o.o., is a Polish subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it was founded in 1994 in Warsaw. The label's CEO is Piotr Kabaj. The label started with a catalog of Polish national record label Polton which was bought from Starst ...

and in Romania by Global. Another version of the song featuring verses from

was similarly issued by the two aforementioned labels on 17 December 2021; Paul is credited as a co-lead artist alongside Inna and also received additional writing and production credits. Several remixes of the song's solo version were released, with one done by Romanian House Mafia featuring prominent

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

beats; Inna had previously collaborated with them on "Paris to London" (2021).

Composition and lyrics

Musically, "Up" is a

-influenced

song, featuring Inna singing about what Anna-Kaye Kerr of Urban Islandz described as "overcoming past hurt and disappointment ndopening her heart up again", as well as about "a love that lifts erup when everything in life seems to be going in the opposite direction", as noted by ''

Adevărul (; meaning "The Truth", formerly spelled ''Adevĕrul'') is a Romanian daily newspaper, based in Bucharest. Founded in Iași, in 1871, and reestablished in 1888, in Bucharest, it was the main left-wing press venue to be published during the Kingd ...

'' Maria-Alexandru Mortu. According to ''

Rolling Stone India ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known f ...

'' writers Anurag Tagat and David Britto, "the rhythms are a nod to both Romanian as well as Caribbean traditional music." Lyrics include: "Once upon a time, there was a girl who made a wish / To find herself a love and finally make a switch / Then you came around, you healed another stitch / And I'm glad about that, I can finally make the switch". The song's refrain—"When I'm down you can bring me up, up-p-p up-p-p up-p-p up-p-p / And when I'm hurt you know I don't need much / You can use that magic touch"—prompted a

viral The word ''Viral'' means "relating to viruses" (small infectious agents). It may also refer to: Viral behavior, or virality Memetic behavior likened that of a virus, for example: * Viral marketing, the use of existing social networks to spre ...

use of "Up" on the social networking service

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

due to the title word's alteration. On the version of the track including his rap verses, Paul is "optimistic about his chance for romance", according to Kerr.

Reception

Mortu praised "Up" as one of Inna's catchiest releases in her catalogue, further stating that it is "a hymn of fun and good mood instantly giv nga state of energy and optimism due to tsfresh sound". Kerr commended Sean Paul's appearance as "smooth". Tagat and Britto deemed Paul's version a "buoyant reimagination" of the single. "Up" became popular on Shazam in multiple countries upon release, and originally reached a peak of number 51 on the last issue of Romania's

Airplay 100 Multiple record charts have been inaugurated in Romania since the 1990s. The Romanian Top 100 was the country's national chart until 2012. Founded in 1995, it was a ranking based on the compilation of charts submitted by local Romanian radio stat ...

chart on the week ending 28 November 2021. The song eventually reached the top position on the airplay chart published by

Uniunea Producătorilor de Fonograme din România Uniunea Producătorilor de Fonograme din România ( Ro for ''Romanian Phonographic Industry'' is the Romanian record industry's trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector associati ...

(UPFR) on 28 December 2021, becoming Inna's fifth single to peak at number one in Romania after "

Hot Hot commonly refers refer to: *Heat, a hot temperature *Pungency, in food, a spicy or hot quality Hot or HOT may also refer to: Places *Hot district, a district of Chiang Mai province, Thailand ** Hot subdistrict, a sub-district of Hot Distric ...

" (2008), " Amazing" (2009), " Diggy Down" (2015) and " Bebe" (2020). "Up" further reached number one in Bulgaria, Russia, Poland, the

(CIS), and Ukraine. In Poland, the single received a

certification from the

(ZPAV). On 19 February 2022, ''

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 ...

'' inaugurated Romania Songs, a streaming and digital download-based chart for Romania, and the Sean Paul version of "Up" was listed at number 15. At the 2022

Romanian Music Awards The Romanian Music Awards, or simply RMA, are a Romanian annual event awarding the best artists in Romania's music scene. It is organized by Music Channel Romania and has taken place in various locations in the country. It was held from 2002 unti ...

, the single's Sean Paul version was nominated for Best Dance.

Music videos and promotion

An accompanying

lyric video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to promote the sale of m ...

for "Up" was uploaded to Inna's

channel on 29 October 2021, and was directed by Bogdan Păun of NGM Creative. Alexandru Mureşan was further hired as the

director of photography The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

, while the make-up was done by Anca Buldur, the hair by Adonis Enache and the outfits selected by RDStyling. Mortu applauded Inna's styling in the visual, with her mainly being shown in the same setting as the single's cover art. The same aforementioned team was involved in the making of a

for the Sean Paul version of "Up", released on Inna's YouTube account on 17 December 2021. It received over 1.2 million views in less than a day. The music video opens with Inna walking into a room filled by partying people, wearing a black bodysuit with a transparent top. She resides there and, according to Kerr, "gyrat s which kick into overdrive as everyone g tsup and start partying, even dancing on top of the bar", showcasing eccentric dance moves. Paul is shown during his parts in front of a neon setting, sporting an all-black look. Further interspersed shots show Inna wearing a red outfit with oversized shoulder pads and red glasses as the sentences " Que nadie te limite me decía" ("Let no one limit you, he told me") and " Más de este amor ya no puede, puede ser" ("More of this love can no longer be, it can't be") are displayed on the screen, as well as show her sitting on a chair staring into the distance with other women behind her. An alternate video for the solo version of "Up" was released on 25 February 2022. To further promote the song, Inna performed the track live along with "De dragul tău" (2021) during the final of the first season of the singing competition ''

'' on 17 December 2021.

Track listing

*Official versions #"Up" – 2:30 #"Up" (with Sean Paul) – 2:28 #"Up (Casian Remix)" – 2:07 #"Up" – 2:00 #"Up (Mert Hakan & Onur Betin Remix)" – 2:34 #"Up (Robert Cristian Remix)" – 2:12 #"Up (Arem Ozguc & Arman Aydin Remix)" – 2:16

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Notes

References

{{Inna Inna songs Sean Paul songs English-language Romanian songs Number-one singles in Poland Number-one singles in Romania Number-one singles in Russia Songs written by Inna Songs written by Sean Paul 2021 songs 2021 singles Songs written by Alexandru Cotoi