"Forever and for Always" is a song co-written and performed by Canadian country music singer

Shania Twain Eilleen Regina "Shania" Twain ( , ; née Edwards; born August 28, 1965) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 100 million records, making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and one of the best-s ...

and it was the third country single from her fourth studio album '' Up!'' (2002). The song was written by her then-husband

Robert John "Mutt" Lange Robert John "Mutt" Lange (born 11 November 1948) is a South African record producer and songwriter, mainly known for his work in rock music as well as his previous marriage to Canadian singer Shania Twain, for whom he wrote and produced several ...

and Twain. The single was released in the United States radio on April 7, 2003. The video debuted on

Country Music Television Country Music Television (CMT) is an American pay TV network owned by Paramount Media Networks, a division of Paramount Global. Launched on March 5, 1983, as Country Music Television, CMT was the first nationally available channel devoted to coun ...

on April 26, 2003. The song was also used for

Febreze Febreze is an American brand of household odor eliminators manufactured by Procter & Gamble. It is sold in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. First introduced in test markets in March 1996, the fabric ...

: Scentstories promotion, in which Twain took part. In 2006, "Forever and for Always" was certified gold for 500,000 digital downloads in the U.S. by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. "Forever and for Always" was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 2004,

Best Country Song The Grammy Award for Best Country Song (sometimes known as the Country Songwriter's Award) has been awarded since 1965. The award is given to the songwriter(s) of the song, not to the artist, except if the artist is also the songwriter. There ha ...

and

Best Female Country Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance was first awarded in 1965, to Dottie West. The award has had several minor name changes: *From 1965 to 1967 the award was known as Best Country & Western Vocal Performance - Female *In 1 ...

; however, it lost in both categories. The song was also named Song of the Year at both the 2004 BMI Country Songwriter Awards and 2004 European BMI Awards (validated only for Shania Twain's shares, Mutt's shares are

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

-controlled).

Background

Twain said there is something inspirational to her about people who start relationships when they are kids, and are still in love when they are older. Twain really enjoyed doing the video for the song, because she was able to realize that visually. She said it is one of her favorite songs. In December 2019, during the Let's Go! residency in Las Vegas, Twain revealed for the first time that the song had been recorded by her friend

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

, but that his version was never released and instead remained part of his private collection. The performance was Twain's first of "Forever And For Always" in over 15 years and was dedicated to the late singer.

Composition

"Forever and for Always" is performed in the key of

G major G major (or the key of G) is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative minor is E minor and its parallel minor is G minor. The G major scale is: Notable compositi ...

in time following a chord progression of G–G2–C–D, and Twain's vocals span from G₃ to E₅. The song moves at a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

of 86 beats per minute.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Forever and for Always" was shot at

Bethells Beach Te Henga, or Bethells Beach, is a coastal community in West Auckland, New Zealand. The Māori name for the area, "Te Henga", is in reference to the long foredunes which run along the beach and look like the or gunwale of an upturned waka hull. ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in March 2003. It was directed by Paul Boyd, who shot her " When You Kiss Me" video around the same time also in New Zealand. It debuted on

(CMT) on April 26, 2003. The video shows two children at the beach together, then it shows them as teens, and eventually seniors, visualizing the theme of the song of staying together forever. Scenes of Twain at the beach are intercut throughout the video. The video was released with both the 'red' and 'green' versions, with each also having an 'all performance' video of only Twain at the beach. The video released a 'blue' version internationally as well. The video won the Female Video of the Year Award at the 2004 CMT Flameworthy Awards, and was nominated for Video of the Year at the 2003

Canadian Country Music Awards The Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) was founded in 1976 as the Academy of Country Music Entertainment to organize, promote and develop a Canadian country music industry. The groundwork for the association began on June 3rd, 1973 when a g ...

, but lost to another song by Twain, "

I'm Gonna Getcha Good! "I'm Gonna Getcha Good!" is a song written and performed by Canadian singer Shania Twain. It was the first single from her fourth studio album, '' Up!'' (2002), and was co-written by Twain and her then-husband, Robert John "Mutt" Lange. Backgro ...

". The video is available on select singles, and the

DVD-Audio DVD-Audio (commonly abbreviated as DVD-A) is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio uses most of the storage on the disc for high-quality audio and is not intended to be a video delivery format. The sta ...

version of '' Up!''.

Critical reception

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 advertise ...

'' magazine contrasted the song against the previous two singles, saying it "relies less on cutesy gimmicks (and exclamation marks) and focuses thematically on steadfast love," while comparing it to Shania's earlier singles " From This Moment On" and "

You're Still the One "You're Still the One" is a song recorded by Canadian singer Shania Twain. It was released as the third single from her third studio album ''Come On Over'' (1997). The song was written by Twain and Robert John "Mutt" Lange and produced by Lange. ...

". About.com ranked the song 95th for the top 100 pop songs of 2003.

Chart performance

"Forever and for Always" debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart the week of April 12, 2003, at number 60. The single spent 26 weeks on the chart and climbed to a peak position of number four on September 6, 2003, where it remained for one week. "Forever and for Always" became Twain's 14th top-10 single and 19th top-20 single. On the

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 present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart, "Forever and for Always" debuted at number 30 the week of May 10, 2003. The single spent 77 weeks on the chart and slowly climbed to a peak position of number one on November 15, 2003, where it remained for six non-consecutive weeks. "Forever and for Always" became Twain's third number one, sixth top-10 single and seventh consecutive top-20 single. "Forever and for Always" debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on May 24, 2003, at number 75. It spent 23 weeks on the chart and peaked at number 20 on September 6, 2003, becoming Twain's fourth-most-successful single on the chart. The single reached number 17 on the airplay chart. "Forever and for Always" became Twain's fourth top-20 single and ninth top-40 single. "Forever and for Always" proved to be successful internationally, becoming Twain's fifth biggest single in the UK. It debuted on June 14, 2003, at its peak at number six. This made it her seventh consecutive, eighth overall, top-10 single. It remained on the entire chart for 10 weeks. In all, "Forever and for Always" hit the top-10 in six countries: Austria, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Romania, and the UK.

Track listings

UK CD single part 1 # "Forever and for Always" (edit) – 4:10 # "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" (live) – 3:58 # "Don't Be Stupid" (live) – 3:58 # Enhanced: "Forever and for Always" (video) UK CD single part 2 # "Forever and for Always" (edit) – 4:10 # "That Don't Impress Me Much" (live) – 3:47 # "Come On Over" (live) – 3:00 # Enhanced: "Forever and for Always" (original red version—music video) Australia maxi-CD # "Forever and for Always" (red) – 4:05 # "Forever and for Always" (green) – 4:44 # "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" (live) – 3:56 # "That Don't Impress Me Much" (live) – 3:45 # "Come On Over" (live) – 3:00 European and Canadian CD single # "Forever and for Always" (red) – 4:08 # "That Don't Impress Me Much" (live) – 3:54 German 3-inch CD single # "Forever and for Always" (red) – 4:08 # "Ka-Ching!" (red album version) – 3:20 European CD single # "Forever and for Always" (red) – 4:09 # "Ka-Ching!" (red) – 3:21 # "That Don't Impress Me Much" (live) – 3:46 # "Come On Over" (live) – 3:01 European CD single # "Forever and for Always" (red) – 4:08 # "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" (live) – 3:56 # "Don't Be Stupid" (live) – 3:58 # Enhanced: "Forever and for Always" (video)

Background

Composition

Music video

Critical reception

Chart performance

Track listings

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Release history

References

See also