"Forgive Me" is a song by British singer

Leona Lewis Leona Louise Lewis (born 3 April 1985) is a British singer, songwriter, actress and activist. Born and raised in the London Borough of Islington, she attended the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon. Lewis achieved nationa ...

featured on the North American version and on the international deluxe edition of her debut album ''

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'' (2008). Musically, "Forgive Me" is a pop track with dance influences, written in A minor. The lyrics tell the story of a girl who has found a new love and asks her old one for forgiveness. The song was written by Aliaune "Akon" Thiam,

Claude Kelly Claude Kelly (born December 27, 1980)Shirley Halperin and Bob Love"THR Names Music's 35 Top Hitmakers,"''The Hollywood Reporter'', February 6, 2013. is an American singer, songwriter and music producer. He is a four-time Grammy Award nominee, a ...

and

Giorgio Tuinfort Giorgio Hesdey Tuinfort is a Dutch record producer and songwriter. Biography Born in Suriname, Tuinfort moved to the Netherlands at 9 months old. His musical career started at age 4, after he attended a special music class for toddlers. After b ...

, and produced by the former. "Forgive Me" was released as the fourth single of the album in the United Kingdom on 3 November 2008. The single includes the "Myself", written by and featuring vocals of American musician Novel. In "Forgive Me",

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compared Lewis's vocals with that of

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed " The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston i ...

and Mariah Carey. The music video was directed by

Wayne Isham Wayne Isham (born December 2, 1958) is an American film director and music video director who has directed films and music videos of many popular artists. Early life and education Isham was born in December 2, 1958. He attended the Univers ...

, and it was inspired by multiple Broadway musicals, including '' Carousel'' and ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid ...

''. "Forgive Me" reached number five on the

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and

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charts, thus becoming Lewis's fourth single to peak within the top ten in the UK. Additionally, it peaked atop the

Slovakian Singles Chart Slovak may refer to: * Something from, related to, or belonging to Slovakia (''Slovenská republika'') * Slovaks, a Western Slavic ethnic group * Slovak language, an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages * Slovak, Arka ...

and reached the top ten in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and Sweden. Lewis promoted "Forgive Me" on some television shows, such as '' GMTV'' and ''

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'', in the United Kingdom, as well as on the Italian television show ''Carràmba! Che sorpresa'' and on the Swedish talent show ''

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''. Also, the song was added to the setlists of her tours The Labyrinth (2010) and

Glassheart ''Glassheart'' is the third studio album by English singer Leona Lewis, released on 12 October 2012 by Syco Music and RCA Records. The album is Lewis' first under RCA Records after parent company Sony Music Entertainment closed J Records and re ...

(2013).

Background and composition

"Forgive Me" was written by

and Aliaune "Akon" Thiam, and produced by the latter. The single was published with one B-side, "Myself", written by Justin E. Boykin, Graham N. Marsh, Lewis and Alonzo "Novel" Stevenson. "Forgive Me" is described as a "funky pop song", written in A minor.Sheet music for "Forgive Me". Sony BMG Music Entertainment Publishing (2008). According to the sheet music published by Sony BMG, it moves at 120

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and is set in common time. On it, Lewis performs her highest pitch ( G₅) in falsetto during the final chorus, and her lowest pitch ( A₃) during each verse. "Forgive Me" describes a female protagonist in a relationship who leaves her boyfriend and eventually finds someone to reciprocate her love. Though she has found love from someone else, she defends herself and asks her for forgiveness. In an interview with Digital Spy, Lewis explained why she decided to change her musical genre from her previous singles to a more upbeat one. She said: "I wanted to do something a bit different and the chance to work with Akon came about. I'm really pleased with how it's turned out and it's great that it's different, rather than what I always do." There are two versions of the song, the "album version" (3:40) and the "single mix" (3:24).

Release and promotion

On 26 July 2008, the single mix was released to the Mexican

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as a digital single. For the UK release, the single cover was revealed on 17 September 2008, whilst the song was released in the UK on 3 November 2008 as the fourth single. Originally, the song was featured only in the North American version of the album ''

'', launched in April 2008. Later, "Forgive Me" was added in the

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of the album, which was released internationally in November 2008. Lewis performed the song on the television programmes ''

'' on 29 October 2008, and '' GMTV'' on 31 October 2008. Outside of the UK, she also performed the song on the Italian television show ''Carràmba! Che sorpresa'' and on the Swedish talent show ''

''. In May 2010, the song was added to the setlist of her tour The Labyrinth, performed as the eighth song of the show. A live performance from

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was included on the live album's DVD ''

The Labyrinth Tour Live from The O2 ''The Labyrinth Tour: Live from the O2'' is a live and first video album by English singer Leona Lewis and was recorded on 18 June 2010 in London, while Lewis performed at her tour The Labyrinth. It was released on 29 November 2010 with a 10 ...

''. In 2013, Lewis added "Forgive Me" to the setlist of her Glassheart Tour.

Critical reception

"Forgive Me" received generally positive reviews from music critics.

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's '' Newsround'' described "Forgive Me" as a danceable song. Gavin Martin of '' The Mirror'' gave the song three-out-of-five points and said, " he songshowcases her voice of fire and honey. No apologies necessary". Nick Levine, Digital Spy music critic, gave the song a similar score, and compared it with

's song "

I'm Your Baby Tonight ''I'm Your Baby Tonight'' is the third studio album by American singer Whitney Houston released on November 6, 1990, by Arista Records. The album has been certified quadruple platinum in the US by the RIAA. Background By 1989, Whitney Housto ...

". Levine added that after her previous three ballad singles, "it's a nice change". However, he also said the lyrics were implausible as "the adultery-theme s apoor match for the sweet, unassuming Hackney girl". Chad Grischow noted that with the song Lewis "will not go down as a glorified one-hit wonder". Stephen Thomas Erlewine described "Forgive Me" and another song from the album ("Misses Glass") as "just slightly glitzier than the rest of ''Spirit''." Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine called the song "bouncy and youthful". Nate Chinen from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' ironised with a "so what if she sound like a Mariah".

Chart performance

"Forgive Me" debuted and peaked at number five in the United Kingdom on 15 November 2008, becoming Lewis's third single in debut within the top ten, after " A Moment Like This" and "

Bleeding Love "Bleeding Love" is a song recorded by English singer Leona Lewis for her debut studio album ''Spirit'' (2007). It was written and originally recorded by Jesse McCartney, and was co-written and produced by Ryan Tedder. The song was released as t ...

". In Ireland, before its official release as a single, it was the second highest debut of the week of the Irish Singles Chart, at number five. In the Slovak Airplay Chart, it debuted at number and in its tenth week the song peaked at number one. In the Euro Digital Tracks the song reached the number 4. In

, "Forgive Me" debuted at number nine, but fell off the chart next week. Elsewhere in Europe, the song reached number seven in Sweden, twelve in Switzerland, and fifteen in both Austria and Germany. The song entered the Australian charts at number fifty on 19 October 2008, and next week peaked at . Later, "Forgive Me" dropped out of the chart, but on 10 November 2009, it re-entered at number fifty. In the 2008 UK year-end chart, compiling the best-selling singles of the year, "Forgive Me" was .

Music video

The music video for "Forgive Me" was directed by

, and edited by Nabil Mechi and Valentina Ganeva. It starts out with Lewis receiving a text message from her boyfriend saying he is just a minute away from meeting up with her. The video then turns into a dream-like sequence with Lewis dancing in four inspired by the Hollywood musicals ''

'', ''

The Rocky Horror Show ''The Rocky Horror Show'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music, lyrics and book by Richard O'Brien. A humorous tribute to the Science fiction film, science fiction and Horror film, horror B movies of the 1930s through to the early 1960s, the ...

'', '' Singin' in the Rain'' and '' Carousel''. The video ends with Lewis coming back to reality after a drop of rain lands on her hand as her boyfriend sends a message saying "Hurry! Looks like there could be rain". Mark Savage from

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commented that Lewis does not dance in the video. Lewis replied, "I love dancing ..but I am a singer and that is what I do".

Tracklisting and formats

;German CD single / Switzerland CD maxi # "Forgive Me" (single mix) – 3:24 # "Myself" feat. Novel – 3:50 # "Forgive Me" (video) ;UK CD single # "Forgive Me" (single mix) – 3:24 # "Myself" feat. Novel – 3:50

Credits and personnel

;"Forgive Me" *Serban Ghenea: mixer *Mark Goodchild: recorder *John Hanes:

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture ( sound design, audio post-produ ...

engineer *Larry Jackson: vocal producers *

: vocal producers, writer *

: vocals, background vocals *Trent Privat: recorder assistant *Tim Roberts: Pro Tools engineer assistant * Aliaune "Akon" Thiam: background vocals, producer, writer *

: , writer ;"Myself" *Justin E. Boykin: acoustic guitar, writer *James Burch: cello *Matt Colette: drums, percussion *Everett James Harrell: piano, bells *Leona Lewis: vocals, background vocals, writer *Carlton Lynn: mixer, recorder *

Graham Marsh Graham Vivian Marsh MBE (born 14 January 1944) is a retired professional golfer who was one of the leading Australian players of his generation. During his career he won more than 70 tournaments around the world, including 10 on the European T ...

: recorder, writer *Kimberly L. Smith: project coordinator * Alonzo "Novel" Stevenson: additional vocals, producer, writer

Charts

Weekly charts

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Year-end charts

Release history

References

Bibliography

* {{Use British English, date=April 2011 2008 singles 2008 songs Leona Lewis songs Music videos directed by Wayne Isham Song recordings produced by Akon Songs written by Akon Songs written by Claude Kelly Songs written by Giorgio Tuinfort Syco Music singles