"Hero" is a song by Spanish singer-songwriter

Enrique Iglesias Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (; (born 8 May 1975) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He started his recording career in the mid-1990s on the Mexican indie label Fonovisa and became the bestselling Spanish-language act of the decade. By the ...

from his second English-language studio album ''

Escape Escape or Escaping may refer to: Computing * Escape character, in computing and telecommunication, a character which signifies that what follows takes an alternative interpretation ** Escape sequence, a series of characters used to trigger some so ...

'' (2001). It was written by Iglesias,

Paul Barry Paul James Barry (born 24 February 1952) is an English-born, Australian-based journalist, newsreader and television presenter, who has won many awards for his investigative reporting. He previously worked for the BBC on numerous programs, bef ...

and Mark Taylor.

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

released the song on 3 September 2001 to a positive critical and commercial reception. To the date the single has sold over 8 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best selling singles of all time. After the 11 September attacks on the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

, which took place eight days after the single was released, "Hero" was one of the few songs chosen by radio DJs in

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 ...

to be remixed with audio from police, firefighters, civilians at Ground Zero, and politicians commenting on the attacks. Iglesias was asked to sing the song live at '' America: A Tribute to Heroes''. He had performed the song earlier at that year's

Miss Venezuela Miss Venezuela (Spanish: ''Organización Miss Venezuela'') is the national beauty pageant of Venezuela, traditionally held in September. It is preceded by two or three months of preliminary events, with the awarding of corporate prizes. The fi ...

, but due to the terrorist attacks the show was not aired on television. The American television series ''

Glee Glee means delight, a form of happiness. Glee may also refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 30 ...

'' featured a version of the song as a mashup mixed with the

Gipsy Kings Gipsy Kings are a group of flamenco, salsa, and pop musicians from Arles and Montpellier in southern France, who perform mostly in Catalan but also mix in Spanish with southern French dialects. Although the group members were born in France, th ...

' "

Bamboléo "Bamboléo" is a 1987 Spanish language song by Romani people in Spain, Gitano-French band Gipsy Kings, from their Gipsy Kings (album), eponymous album. The song was written by band members Tonino Baliardo, Chico Bouchikhi (J. Bouchikhi) and Nicol ...

". The release from the twelfth episode (called " The Spanish Teacher") in

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of the show is named "Bambolero/Hero". The main vocals were done by

Chord Overstreet Chord Paul Overstreet (born February 17, 1989) is an American actor and musician. He is best known for his role as Sam Evans on the Fox television series ''Glee'' (2009–2015). He has starred in the Apple TV+ comedy series ''Acapulco'' since 20 ...

(playing the character

Sam Evans Sam Evans is a fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series '' Glee''. The character is portrayed by actor Chord Overstreet, and appeared on ''Glee'' starting with the second season premiere episode entitled "Audition", first b ...

). An Italian version of this song was covered by

Micheal Castaldo Micheal is a masculine given name. It is sometimes an anglicized form of the Irish names Micheál, Mícheál and Michéal; or the Scottish Gaelic name Mìcheal. It is also a spelling variant of the common masculine given name '' Michael'', and is ...

, in his studio album ''Bergamot''.

Background

"Hero" has a meaning of love and assurance with a desire to be a hero for the love of a woman. Iglesias stated that his high school days were the inspiration for the song. During a 2013 radio interview with Ryan Seacrest, he stated, "I went back to when I was 17 in high school, and this might be cheesy, but I thought about what would be the song I want to slow dance to with my prom date. When I wrote it, it felt good and ... I thought I know there is something special in this song." "Hero" was first released on 3 September 2001, just eight days prior to the 11 September attacks on the

. Due to the song's subject matter, it was one of the few songs chosen by radio DJs in

to be remixed with audio from police, firefighters, civilians at Ground Zero, and politicians commenting on the attacks. Iglesias was also asked to sing the song live at the '' America: A Tribute to Heroes'' benefit concert, which took place on 21 September. His performance was broadcast from a warehouse in New York alongside

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald (American musician), Hugh McD ...

, and

Sheryl Crow Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, pop, country, folk, and blues. She has released eleven studio albums, five compilations and three li ...

. The location of the warehouse was kept secret in case of further attacks. It was Iglesias's first televised performance of the song. He had performed the song earlier at that year's

, but due to the terrorist attacks the show was not aired on television.

Chart performance

"Hero" topped many charts in the US including the '' Billboard''

adult contemporary chart The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by sta ...

for fifteen weeks. Whitburn, Joel (2004). ''The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits'', 8th Edition (Billboard Publications) On the latter, the song would re-enter the top ten a year later, the first song ever to do so. The song peaked at number three on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, though it is actually his most played song on the chart, outdoing prior singles "

Bailamos "Bailamos" ( en, "We Dance") is a single by Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias sung in Spanglish. The song was released in 1999 as part of the soundtrack to the film ''Wild Wild West'' (1999) and later as the lead single from Iglesias's fourth and ...

" and " Be with You", both of which went to number one on the chart. A

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

ed recording also topped the ''Billboard''

Hot Dance Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as th ...

chart in January 2002. In January 2002, the song was released in the UK, where it debuted at number 86 before jumping 85 places to number one, where it remained for four weeks. Up to this point, Iglesias had already had two hits in the UK ("Bailamos" and "Could I Have This Kiss Forever") but was still largely unknown. "Hero" was seen as his breakthrough in the UK and it became the third best-selling single of 2002 there, whilst ''Escape'' was also the third best-selling album of the year. With sales of 836,500, "Hero" was the 17th best-selling single of the 2000s in the UK. In April 2015, it was announced that the song had sold 1 million copies in the UK. In Australia, the song reached number one on the

ARIA 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 ...

, becoming his first number-one in that country. The song also topped the charts in Spain, Switzerland, Romania, Ireland and Canada. This is one of Iglesias' best-selling singles and has sold 8 million copies.

Music videos

The music video for "Hero" was directed by

Joseph Kahn Joseph Kahn may refer to: *Joseph Kahn (director) (born 1972), a film and music video director *Joseph Kahn (journalist) (born 1964), American journalist * Joseph Kahn (shipping executive) (1916–1979), American businessman See also *Joseph Hahn ...

. It features Iglesias as an honorable criminal hunted by his enemies, while Jennifer Love Hewitt plays his love interest and

Mickey Rourke Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke Jr. (; born September 16, 1952) is an American actor and former boxer who has appeared primarily as a leading man in drama, action, and thriller films. During the star of the 1980s, Rourke played supporting roles i ...

plays one of the men hunting him. The video follows Iglesias and Hewitt running from their enemies in the desert. Finally, Iglesias' enemies track him down and confront him outside a church. The confrontation leads to Iglesias being floored by Rourke, before being struck with a baton. The video skips ahead where Iglesias and Hewitt are seen in the rain surrounded by police cars. Iglesias, though heavily injured, walks towards Hewitt and breaks down beside her. The video ends with Iglesias' death. In addition to this video, a second video was made for the UK with less violence. The final shot of this video shows Iglesias' legs moving, suggesting that he's not dead. While originally made for the UK, this version has since replaced the original video on many music video stations throughout the world. It is also the version shown on

Vevo Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, di ...

and

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 ...

. Portions of the video were filmed in the ghost town

Amboy, California Amboy is an unincorporated community in San Bernardino County, in California's Mojave Desert, west of Needles and east of Ludlow on historic Route 66. It is roughly northeast of Twentynine Palms. As of 2020, the town's business district stil ...

in the Mojave Desert and just outside Desert Hot Springs, California near Palm Springs. The historic gas station location that they filmed at, outside of Desert Hot Springs, was one of the first gas stations in the Palm Springs area. As of 31 July 2021, the video has been viewed 415 million times on YouTube.

Awards and nominations

Track listings

UK CD1 # "Hero" (Album Version) – 4:24 # "Hero" (Metro Mix – English Version) – 3:28 # "

" (Album Version) – 3:37 # "Hero" (Video) – 4:24 UK CD2 – ''The Remixes'' # "Hero" (Metro Mix – English Version) – 4:19 # "Hero" (Ventura & Colombo Remix) – 3:43 # "Hero" (Metro Mix – Spanish Version) – 4:19 # "Hero" (Thunderpuss Radio Edit) – 3:18 DE CD single # "Hero" (Radio Edit) – 4:11 # "Be With You" (Thunderpuss Radio Mix) – 3:56 # "Hero" (Metro Mix – Spanish Version) – 4:19 Japanese CD single # "Hero" (Radio Edit) – 4:11 # "Be With You" (Thunderpuss 2000 Remix) – 7:46 # "Hero" (Metro Mix – Spanish Version) – 3:28 Japanese "Hero/Escape" maxi single # "Hero" (Album Version) – 4:27 # "Escape" (Album Version) – 3:30 # "Hero" (Instrumental Version) – 4:23

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Release history

CNCO version

On 4 December 2020, Latin boyband

CNCO CNCO is a Latin American boy band based in Miami, Miami, Florida. The group consists of Richard Camacho, Erick Brian Colón, Christopher Vélez and Zabdiel De Jesús; former member Joel Pimentel departed the band in May 2021. They won a five-ye ...

released a cover version of the song 20 years after the original. The single is accompanied with a

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 ...

, in its turn being a tribute to the visual direction of the

Backstreet Boys Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB) are an American vocal group consisting of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson. Lou Pearlman formed the group in 1993 in Orlando, Florida. The gr ...

' 1999 music video "

Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" is a song by American boy band Backstreet Boys, taken from their third studio album, ''Millennium'' (1999). It was written by Max Martin and Herbie Crichlow, with production by Martin and Kristian Lundin. ...

". The track "Hero" will appear on the band's cover album '' Déja Vu'' forthcoming early 2021. The group previously worked with Iglesias on a remix of his 2017 song "

Súbeme la Radio "Súbeme la Radio" (; ) is a song by Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias featuring Cuban singer Descemer Bueno and Puerto Rican reggaeton duo Zion & Lennox. The song was released by RCA Records and Sony Music Latin on 24 February 2017. It was written ...

Television and film soundtracks

"Hero" has become wildly popular due in part to the fact that it has been featured in many television shows and movies around the world. The earliest appearance of the song on an American television show was on a 2001 episode of

The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...

show '' Smallville'' entitled " Craving". Since then the song has been featured in such American sitcoms and reality television shows as '' Scrubs'', ''Saturday Night Live: The Best of Jimmy Fallon'', ''

'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

So You Think You Can Dance ''So You Think You Can Dance'' is a franchise of reality television shows in which contestants compete in dance. The first series of the franchise, created by '' Idols'' producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, premiered in July 2005 and ha ...

'', '' Dancing with the Stars'' and the mini-series ''

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''. The song has also been featured in such international television shows as ''

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'' and ''

So You Think You Can Dance Canada ''So You Think You Can Dance Canada'' is a dance competition and reality show that aired on CTV. Based on the original American TV show ''So You Think You Can Dance'', the Canadian series showcased the best in Canadian dancing talent. Each seaso ...

''. Numerous films also feature the song, including ''

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'', ''Premios Amigo 2001'', ''

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'', ''

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'', ''

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'', ''

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'', and '' Beverly Hills Chihuahua''. Although the song has appeared in many television shows and movies the first televised performance of the song was scheduled to be Iglesias's performance of the song at

on 11 September 2001, but this performance was not televised due to the terrorist attacks on that day. The actual first televised performance of the song was when Iglesias performed the song at the '' America: A Tribute to Heroes'' concert on 21 September, ten days after the attacks.Axelrod-Contrada, Joan. "Iglesias, Enrique: 1975—: Singer, Songwriter." Contemporary Hispanic Biography. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. 2 April 2015 .

References

{{Authority control 2000s ballads 2001 songs 2001 singles 2002 singles Canadian Singles Chart number-one singles Enrique Iglesias songs Interscope Records singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Music videos directed by Joseph Kahn Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in Poland Number-one singles in Portugal Number-one singles in Romania Number-one singles in Scotland Number-one singles in Spain Pop ballads Song recordings produced by Mark Taylor (record producer) Songs written by Enrique Iglesias Songs written by Mark Taylor (record producer) Songs written by Paul Barry (songwriter) UK Singles Chart number-one singles