"A Different Beat" is a song by Irish boy band

Boyzone Boyzone were an Irish boy band, created in 1993 by talent manager Louis Walsh. Before even recording any material, Boyzone made an appearance on RTÉ's '' The Late Late Show''. Their most successful line-up was composed of Keith Duffy, Steph ...

from their second studio album of the same name (1996). The song was written by

Ronan Keating Ronan Patrick John Keating (born 3 March 1977) is an Irish singer. He debuted in 1993 alongside Keith Duffy, Michael Graham, Shane Lynch, and Stephen Gately, as the co-lead singer (with Gately) of Irish pop group Boyzone. His solo career start ...

Stephen Gately Stephen Patrick David Gately (17 March 197610 October 2009) was an Irish singer, who, with Ronan Keating, was co-lead singer of the pop group Boyzone; all of Boyzone's studio albums during Gately's lifetime hit number one in the United Kingdo ...

Shane Lynch Shane Eamon Mark Stephen Lynch (born 3 July 1976) is an Irish singer, but best known as a member of Boyzone. In recent years, he has taken up auto racing, participated in reality shows such as '' Celebrity Big Brother'' in 2018 and appeared as ...

Keith Duffy Keith Peter Thomas Francis Julian John Duffy (born 1 October 1974) is an Irish singer, actor, radio and television presenter and drummer who began his professional music career as part of Irish boy band Boyzone alongside Ronan Keating, Mik ...

, Martin Brannigan, and

Ray Hedges Ray "Madman" Hedges is an English songwriter and record producer from Surrey, England who has had over 60 top 20 singles and albums including seven UK number-ones as producer and or writer with many on his own record labels. Career Hedges has b ...

, and it was produced by Hedges with additional production by

Trevor Horn Trevor Charles Horn (born 15 July 1949) is an English music producer, label and recording studio owner, musician and composer. He is best known for his production work in the 1980s, and for being one half of the new wave band The Buggles (wit ...

on the radio edit. It was released as the album's second single on 2 December 1996 by

Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

, becoming their only UK number-one hit to be co-written by members of the group.

Critical reception

A reviewer from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' rated the song four out of five, describing it as a "dramatic epic, enriched by African chants". Gerald Martinez from ''

New Sunday Times The ''New Straits Times'' is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print (though not the first), having been founded as ''The Straits Times'' on 15 July 1845. It was relaunched as the ' ...

'' viewed it as "anthemic".

Track listings

* UK CD1 and Australian CD single # "A Different Beat" (radio edit) – 3:34 # "Angel" – 3:45 # "A Different Beat" (remix) – 6:10 * UK CD2 # "A Different Beat" (radio edit) – 3:34 # "Angel" – 3:45 # "

Key to My Life "Key to My Life" is the third single from Irish boy band Boyzone, taken from their debut album, '' Said and Done'' (1995). After two covers, it became their first single to be an original song, co-written by members of the group. The song becam ...

" (live at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

) – 4:12 # "A Different Beat" (remix) – 6:10 * UK cassette and European CD single # "A Different Beat" (radio edit) – 3:52 (3:24 on European CD) # "Angel" – 3:45

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Different Beat 1996 singles 1996 songs Boyzone songs Number-one singles in Scotland Polydor Records singles Song recordings produced by Ray Hedges Song recordings produced by Trevor Horn Songs written by Keith Duffy Songs written by Martin Brannigan Songs written by Ray Hedges Songs written by Ronan Keating Songs written by Shane Lynch Songs written by Stephen Gately