"Gotta Be Somebody" is the first official single released from Canadian rock band

Nickelback Nickelback is a Canadian Rock music, rock band formed in 1995 in Hanna, Alberta. It is composed of guitarist and lead vocalist Chad Kroeger, guitarist, keyboardist and backing vocalist Ryan Peake, bassist Mike Kroeger, and drummer Daniel Adai ...

's sixth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, ''

Dark Horse A dark horse is a previously lesser-known person or thing that emerges to prominence in a situation, especially in a competition involving multiple rivals, or a contestant that on paper should be unlikely to succeed but yet still might. Origin Th ...

''. It reached number 10 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming their sixth and final top-10 hit.

Background

Originally, the lead single from the album was set to be "

If Today Was Your Last Day "If Today Was Your Last Day" is the third single from Nickelback's sixth studio album ''Dark Horse''. It was originally planned as the first single, to hit all U.S. radio formats September 30, 2008, but was scrapped as the first single in favou ...

" but was changed instead to "Gotta Be Somebody". The song was digitally delivered to all formats on September 29, 2008. "Gotta Be Somebody" has been covered by American country music singer

Bucky Covington William Joel "Bucky" Covington III (born November 8, 1977) is an American country music singer. He placed eighth on the 5th season of the Fox Network's talent competition series ''American Idol''. In December 2006, he signed a recording contrac ...

in 2009, and English pop singer

Shayne Ward Shayne Thomas Ward (born 16 October 1984) is an English actor and singer. He rose to fame as the winner of The X Factor (British series 2), the second series of ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor''. His debut single, "That's M ...

in 2010. It was used in a video package for the 2008 ''Tribute to the Troops'' show.

Music video

In October 2008, it was reported that an official video from the commercial shoot had been shot with director

Jessy Terrero Jessy Terrero (born October 7, 1972) is a List of people from the Dominican Republic, Dominican Film director, film and music video director. Career Terrero appeared as an extra on the 1992 film ''Juice (1992 film), Juice'' starring Tupac Shakur ...

. However, after claims that the band was dissatisfied with the video, it was scrapped. A new video was shot in Vancouver with long-time collaborator

Nigel Dick Nigel Dick (born 21 March 1953) is a British music video and film director, writer and musician from Catterick, England, now based in Los Angeles, California. He directed the Britney Spears videos " ...Baby One More Time" and " Oops!... I Did I ...

, three months after the release of the single. The video debuted at AOL on Monday, December 15, 2008. The video for "Gotta Be Somebody" starts out in

Outer Space Outer space, commonly shortened to space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth and its atmosphere and between celestial bodies. Outer space is not completely empty—it is a near-perfect vacuum containing a low density of particles, pred ...

, showing various planets before zooming in on Earth. Nickelback is shown playing at the

Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; it, Colosseo ) is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world to ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, which is empty. During the chorus, an earthquake occurs and cracks the ground the band is standing on. During the second verse, the band is then shown playing on the

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/ suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Another earthquake begins during the chorus and finally the band is shown playing an outdoor concert to fans in a

Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...

desert inside an

Aircraft boneyard An aircraft boneyard or aircraft graveyard is a storage area for aircraft that are retired from service. Most aircraft at boneyards are either kept for storage with some maintenance or have their parts removed for reuse or resale and are then sc ...

for the third verse, bridge and final chorus. One last earthquake is shown during the final chorus as well. After the band finishes the song, the video zooms out of the boneyard concert and back into outer space, focusing on Earth before fading out. The video swept the 2009

MuchMusic Video Awards The iHeartRadio MMVAs were an annual awards show broadcast on Much to honour the year's best music videos that was last held in 2018. Originally debuting in 1990 as the Canadian Music Video Awards, the awards were renamed in 1995 to the MuchMu ...

, winning awards for best video, best rock video and best post production.

Track listings

International CD Single # "Gotta Be Somebody" # "

Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" (sometimes written "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)") is a song originally recorded by English musician Elton John. John composed it with his long-time songwriting partner Bernie Taupin. It was r ...

" Japanese Promo "Best of" EP # "Gotta Be Somebody" (edit) # "

Photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now create ...

" # " Far Away" # "

If Everyone Cared "If Everyone Cared" is a song recorded by Canadian rock group Nickelback. It was released in November 2006 as the sixth single from the album ''All the Right Reasons''. It was released in Australia on November 13, 2006, and in the US on January 7 ...

" # "

Rockstar Rock Star or Rockstar may refer to: Films * ''Rock Star'' (2001 film), an American film starring Mark Wahlberg * ''Rockstar'' (2011 film), an Indian Hindi-language film by Imtiaz Ali * ''Rockstar'' (2015 film), an Indian Malayalam-language fi ...

" # " Someday" # "

Feelin' Way Too Damn Good "Feelin' Way Too Damn Good" is a song by Canadian rock band Nickelback. Lead vocalist Chad Kroeger wrote the lyrics while the entire band composed the music. It was released on March 15, 2004, as the third single from their fourth studio album, '' ...

" # "

How You Remind Me "How You Remind Me" is a song by Canadian rock band Nickelback. Written by lead singer Chad Kroeger and composed by the band, the track was released on July 17, 2001, as the lead single from their third studio album, ''Silver Side Up'' (2001). ...

" # "

Too Bad "Too Bad" is a song by Canadian rock band Nickelback, released on November 27, 2001, as the second single from their third studio album, ''Silver Side Up'' (2001). The song reached number 42 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 Chart, number one on ...

" # " Breathe" # " Leader Of Men" # "Gotta Be Somebody" (album version)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Bucky Covington version

Country artist

released a version of the song as his fifth single on October 19, 2009. The song is the second single released from his second studio album, '' Good Guys''. The song debuted at number 58 on the U.S. ''Billboard''

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart for the week of November 14, 2009 and ultimately peaked at number 51 a few weeks later. The music video, which was directed by Devin Pense, premiered on CMT on October 26, 2009.

Charts

Shayne Ward version

The song was covered by British pop singer

for his third studio album, '' Obsession''. It was the album's lead single, released on November 7, 2010. Ward performed the single for the first time on ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

'' results show on November 7, 2010.

Background

"Gotta Be Somebody" was produced by

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 ...

, Nigel Butler,

Cutfather Mich Hedin Hansen (born 9 April 1968), known professionally as Cutfather, is a Danish music producer, songwriter, remixer and DJ based in Copenhagen. Cutfather has a studio on Njalsgade, Copenhagen. Career Cutfather is perhaps best known for his ...

and David Kopatz. In an interview with

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...

Shayne Ward spoke about the decision to release a cover song as the album's lead single: "The whole transition from being rock to pop/R&B was really exciting for me and it's definitely made it into my own track. It's the perfect first single to kick-start my ''Obsession'' album. I don't look it as a cover. It's just a great song. I hadn't heard the song for a while before I recorded it, but I got into it again straight away because it's got such a catchy chorus." According to Ward, the song is about hope, "It's got a great message too – it's about hope, that there's someone out there for all of us. The music video for the single was shot in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

on 27 September 2010, and was directed by

Bille Woodruff Bille Woodruff is a director of film, television and music videos, noted for directing many videos for a number of R&B and hip-hop artists since the mid-1990s. These artists include Joe (singer), Joe, for whom Woodruff has directed 9 music video ...

. The video for "Gotta Be Somebody" premiered on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

on October 29, 2010. The single's B-side, "Future Love", written by Ryan Tedder and Evan Bogart, is a cover of

Kristinia DeBarge Kristinia Jamie DeBarge (; born March 8, 1990) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer and actress. DeBarge first appeared on national television in 2003 as a contestant on the ''American Idol'' spin-off, '' American Juniors''. In 2009, DeBarg ...

's version of the Varsity Fanclub original.

Track listing

; CD single # "Gotta Be Somebody" – 3:42 # "Future Love" – 3:08 ; Digital download # "Gotta Be Somebody" – 3:42 # "Gotta Be Somebody" ( Moto Blanco remix) – 5:38 # "Gotta Be Somebody" (Almighty mix) – 7:02

Chart performance

"Gotta Be Somebody" debuted first on November 12, 2010 on the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are bas ...

at number 10, giving Ward his sixth top 10 hit in the country. On November 14, 2010, the single debuted on 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 ...

at number 12; having been predicted to chart within the top 10 earlier that week. This marks Ward's seventh top 20 hit and second single that failed to crack the top 10.

Release history

References

{{authority control 2008 singles Nickelback songs Song recordings produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange Music videos directed by Nigel Dick Bucky Covington songs 2009 singles Songs written by Chad Kroeger Shayne Ward songs 2010 singles Songs written by Daniel Adair Lyric Street Records singles Song recordings produced by Ray Hedges 2008 songs Roadrunner Records singles Songs written by Ryan Peake Songs written by Mike Kroeger Song recordings produced by Cutfather Music videos directed by Bille Woodruff