"Born to Try" is a song by Australian singer-songwriter

Delta Goodrem Delta Lea Goodrem AM (born November 9, 1984) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. Goodrem signed to Sony Music at the age of 15. Her debut album, '' Innocent Eyes'' (2003), topped the ARIA Albums Chart for 29 non-consecutive week ...

, written by Goodrem and

Audius Mtawarira Audius Tonderai Mtawarira (born in Chimbumu, Guruve District, Guruve, Zimbabwe, 1977) is a Zimbabwean singer-songwriter and record producer, who often works Mononymous person, mononymously as Audius. From 1996 to 2012 he lived in Australia. At t ...

and produced by

Ric Wake Ric Wake is an American record producer who has won four Grammy Awards and two Oscar Awards. During his tenure as staff producer with Sony Music Entertainment he has worked with vocalists such as Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Lucero, Taylor D ...

for Goodrem's debut studio album, '' Innocent Eyes'' (2003). The song was released as the first single off the studio album on 11 November 2002 by

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

. It was later featured on her first Japanese compilation album '' Innocent Eyes'' (2006). The song was co-written by her while she was staying at her home in Sydney, Australia, for the production of the studio album, as well as written and producing four other songs together. As the song features instrumentation with a

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

s (acoustic and electric) and

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, the song is a low tempo pop song, with influences of piano pop and

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...

. Lyrically, it talks about taking chances and leading your independence. The song was universally praised from music critics, praising Goodrem's vocal abilities and lyrical content. The song is considered as Goodrem's

signature song A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...

, as the song managed to enter charts around the world, including two number ones in her native Australia and New Zealand. The song also peaked at number three in the United Kingdom, her first single to chart outside the Oceania. It also charted in many European countries including Ireland, Switzerland and Germany. An accompanying music video was shot for the single, which featured Goodrem near a

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

, then sees her in a more country-side place and also featured in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

where its effects was presented with

timelapse Time-lapse photography is a technique in which the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than the frequency used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and th ...

effects. The music video was featured on her video compilation ''

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also re ...

'' and was performed at both her commercially successful tours; Visualise Australian Tour and Believe Again Australian Tour.

Background and composition

Before this song or the album '' Innocent Eyes'' had even commenced, when

was 15, she got signed a

record deal A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

with

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

and began work on an album of pop-dance songs including the unsuccessful debut single " I Don't Care". The album and proposed second single "A Year Ago Today" were pushed aside as a result, allowing Goodrem and Sony to re-evaluate her future musical direction. The song was included on the track list on her third studio album ''

'' (2007) as a bonus track. In 2002, Goodrem starred on Australian TV series ''

Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera, which has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons an ...

'' as a shy school girl and aspiring singer

Nina Tucker Nina Tucker is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours'', played by Delta Goodrem. She made her first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 11 June 2002. Goodrem was approached by producers after they saw he ...

. The song was eventually performed on an episode on ''Neighbours''. The song was co-written by Goodrem along with songwriter

at her home in Sydney. The two originally met in 2001 and Goodrem states "Audius and I got on really well and someone at the record company suggested we write together. He came out to our house, mum made some lunch and we wrote four songs. 'Born To Try' was the last one. We just naturally clicked and there was no pressure so it was just music for music's sake"."Delta's Single Out Monday"
. ''Deltagoodrem.com.au''. Retrieved 10 July 2007. Musically, "Born to Try" is a lowtempo pop song, with influences of piano pop and

. The song fuses instrumentations including

guitars The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

(acoustic and electric) and

. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by

Sony/ATV Music Publishing Sony Music Publishing (formerly Sony/ATV Music Publishing) is the largest music publisher in the world, with over five million songs owned or administered as of end March 2021. US-based, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is itself owned ...

, the song is written in the key of Ab major.Delta Goodrem - Born to Try
www.musicnotes.com. The song's beat is set in

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

, and moves at a tempo of 66 beats per minute. Goodrem's vocals span from the note of F3 to the note of Ab5.

Reception

"Born to Try" was praised by certain music critics. Matthew Chisling from

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

said, along with "Longer" and "Innocent Eyes"; " ..are pop gems in purest form." The song was highlighted as a standout from the album. Caroline Sullivan from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' said the song along with the album's lyrical content " ..are a bit la-la-floating-on-clouds, but that doesn't dilute their charm." The song received many accolades from many nominations. The song won two awards at the

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

; both for Best Single and Best Breakthrough Artist. The song had won the International Viewers' Choice Award at the

MTV Video Music Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...

in 2003. The Video Hits show won the Video of the Year award. Commercially, the song was successful and has been known as Goodrem's

. The song debuted at number three on the

Australian Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

, and eventually peaked at number one for a sole week. The song spent a total of twenty-two weeks in the charts and was certified triple-platinum by the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing th ...

(ARIA), selling over 220,114 copies in that country. After the releases of her other singles off the album, which subsequently peaked at number one, it gave her a record for becoming the first ever artist to have five number-one singles from a debut album. It spent three months in the top five and ranked within the top 10 of the Australian year-end charts for both 2002 and 2003. The song debuted at number forty-nine on the

New Zealand Singles Chart The Official New Zealand Music Chart ( mi, Te Papa Tātai Waiata Matua o Aotearoa) is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The Music ...

, and rose to number five. After 14 weeks, it managed to peak at number one, making it her first and only number one in that country. It stayed in the charts for twenty-four weeks and was certified gold by

Recording Industry Association of New Zealand Recorded Music NZ (formerly the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ)) is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell recorded music in New Zealand. Membership of Recorded Mus ...

(RIANZ), selling over 7,500 copies. The song had less success in Europe, where it peaked at fifty-eight in Switzerland, where it stayed in the charts for six weeks. It also peaked at eighteen in The Netherlands, staying in the charts for twelve weeks. It was successful in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, where it debuted at number three, a high peak for Goodrem and stayed in the charts for thirteen weeks.

Track listings

Credits and personnel

Credits are lifted from the ''Innocent Eyes'' album booklet. Studios * Recorded at Cove City Sound Studios (

Glen Cove, New York Glen Cove is a Political subdivisions of New York State#City, city in Nassau County, New York, United States, on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island. At the 2020 United States Census, the city population was 28,365 as of th ...

) * Mastered at

Sterling Sound George Marino (April 15, 1947 – June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s. Biography Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He at ...

(New York City) Personnel * Delta Goodrem – writing * Audius Mtawarira – writing *

Russ DeSalvo Russ DeSalvo is an American producer, arranger, songwriter, and guitarist. DeSalvo works with Celine Dion, Lionel Richie (DeSalvo played guitar and synthesizer on the ''Definitive Collection'' CD), Laura Pausini, and Kyle Archer (guitar o ...

– guitars, synths, arrangement * Patrick Carroll – bass, percussion programming * Richard Sanford – piano * Frank Vilardi – drums *

– production, arrangement * Bob Cadway – recording * DUG – recording (guitars) *

Michael H. Brauer Michael Brauer is a New York-based mix engineer. He received a Grammy for "Best Pop Vocal Album" for his work on John Mayer's ''Continuum (John Mayer album), Continuum'', "Best Alternative Album" for Coldplay's ''Parachutes (Coldplay album), Parachu ...

– mixing *

Jim Annunziato Jim Annunziato is a Grammy Award winning American recording engineer. Career Annunziato has worked with many mainstream artists including Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Celine Dion, Brie Larson, Jessica Simpson and Lionel Richie. He has also been ...

– assistant engineering * Mark Russell – production coordination *

Greg Calbi Gregory Calbi (born April 3, 1949) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound, New Jersey. Biography Greg Calbi was born on April 3, 1949, in Yonkers, New York, and raised in Bayside, Queens, New York. He graduated in 1966 from Bisho ...

– mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

References

External links

Song Lyrics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Born To Try 2002 singles 2002 songs ARIA Award-winning songs Delta Goodrem songs Epic Records singles Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in New Zealand Song recordings produced by Ric Wake Songs written by Audius Mtawarira Songs written by Delta Goodrem