"Here" is a song written by

Jeffrey Steele Jeffrey LeVasseur (born August 27, 1961), known as Jeffrey Steele, is an American country music singer and songwriter. Along with recording his own material, Steele has become a prolific Nashville songwriter, having co-written more than 60 hit ...

and

Steve Robson Steve Robson is an English songwriter and record producer who has sold in excess of 138 million records around the world. He has written and produced 12 no 1 UK/US singles, 38 no 1 UK/US albums and a further 41 top 5 UK/US albums and singles. H ...

and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

group

Rascal Flatts Rascal Flatts is an American country music band founded in 1999. The band members were Gary LeVox (lead vocals), Jay DeMarcus (bass guitar, background vocals), and Joe Don Rooney (lead guitar, background vocals). DeMarcus is LeVox's second cousi ...

. It was released in September 2008 as the fifth and final single from their fifth studio album '' Still Feels Good''.

Content

"Here" is a mid-tempo country pop ballad that describes the narrator's attempts to find "a place

e's is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and drawn by Satoru Yuiga. It was originally serialized in ''Monthly GFantasy'' from 1997 through 2005, and later published in 16 ''tankōbon'' volumes by Square Enix from March 18, 2003 to Februa ...

been looking for", which ultimately turns out to be his lover ("The place that I was trying to reach / Was you right here in front of me"). In the chorus, the narrator says that he "wouldn't change a thing" about the events that led him to her.

Critical reception

Brady Vercher of Engine 145 gave the song a "thumbs down" rating. He considered it a "rehash" of the group's late 2004-early 2005 single "

Bless the Broken Road "Bless the Broken Road" is a song that has been recorded by several American country music artists. Co-written by Marcus Hummon, Bobby Boyd, and Jeff Hanna in 1994, it tells how the journey through relationship heartbreak and disappointment was ...

" (which also describes the narrator's attempt to find his love). Vercher also stated "the lyrics are really fairly bland nd��are purposefully generic so that listeners can attach meaning to the song and make it applicable to their own situation."

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

, in his review of ''Still Feels Good'' for

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 that it "has a surging chorus ideal for both arenas and offices", and that like most of the other tracks on the album, it "settle into a soft mosaic of smooth pop that is as soothing as a warm bath."

Chart performance

"Here" debuted on the

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 at number 49 for the week of September 20, 2008. In its fifth week on the charts, it reached the Top 20 and made its debut on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 94. "Here" became Rascal Flatts' ninth number 1 single for the weeks of January 3, 2009 – January 10, 2009.

Year-end charts

References

External links

Lyrics
at CMT.com {{authority control 2008 singles 2007 songs Rascal Flatts songs Songs written by Jeffrey Steele Song recordings produced by Dann Huff Songs written by Steve Robson Lyric Street Records singles