"If I Let You Go" is a song by Irish

boy band A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform Love song, love songs marketed towards girls and young ...

Westlife Westlife is an Irish pop vocal group formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1998. The group currently consists of members Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne. Brian McFadden was a member, until he left in 2004. The group temporarily di ...

. It was released in the United Kingdom on 9 August 1999 as the second single from their self-titled debut album (1999). It became the second number-one hit, spending 11 weeks 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 ...

. The song has received a gold sales certification in the UK for selling over 400,000 in combined sales of purchased and streaming-equivalent sales. It is the band's 10th-best-selling single in paid-for sales and combined sales in the UK as of January 2019.

Composition

"If I Let You Go" composed in the traditional

verse–chorus form Verse–chorus form is a musical form going back to the 1840s, in such songs as "Oh! Susanna", "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze", and many others. It became passé in the early 1900s, with advent of the AABA (with verse) form in the Tin ...

B major B major (or the key of B) is a major scale based on B. The pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A are all part of the B major scale. Its key signature has five sharps. Its relative minor is G-sharp minor, its parallel minor is B minor, and its ...

, with

Brian McFadden Brian Nicholas McFadden (born 12 April 1980) is an Irish pop singer and television presenter who rose to fame in 1998 as a member of the Irish boy band Westlife. Following his departure from the group in 2004, McFadden released his debut solo ...

Shane Filan Shane Steven Filan (born 5 July 1979) is an Irish Pop music, pop singer. He is one of the two lead singers of pop vocal group Westlife, which was formed in 1998, disbanded in 2012, and regrouped in 2018. Westlife have released thirteen albums, ...

, and

Mark Feehily Markus "Mark" Michael Patrick Feehily (born 28 May 1980) is an Irish singer and one of the two lead vocalists of the pop vocal group Westlife. Westlife has released twelve albums, embarked on thirteen world tours and won several awards, becomin ...

's vocals ranging from the chords of D₄ to A₅.

Music video

The music video was directed by Sven Harding and was filmed in

Tenerife, Spain Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Jan ...

. It depicts the band walking along a beach and singing by a hillside surrounded by red and yellow flags. The video 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 ...

has 157 million views as of May 2021.

Track listings

UK CD1 # "If I Let You Go" (radio edit) # "Try Again" # Enhanced CD UK CD2 # "If I Let You Go" (radio edit) # "If I Let You Go" (extended version) # Interview with

Andi Peters Andi Eleazu Peters (born 29 July 1970) is a British television presenter, producer, journalist and voice actor, currently employed by ITV and known for presenting Children's BBC, roles on breakfast TV shows ''Live & Kicking'', ''GMTV'', '' Good ...

UK cassette single and European CD single # "If I Let You Go" (radio edit) # "Try Again" Australian CD single # "If I Let You Go" (radio edit) – 3:38 # "Try Again" – 3:34 # "If I Let You Go" (extended version) – 6:07 # Enhanced CD

Credits and personnel

Credits are lifted from the UK CD1 and ''

'' liner notes. Studios * Recorded at

Cheiron Studios Cheiron Studios () was a recording studio located in the Kungsholmen district of Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 1992 by Denniz PoP and Tom Talomaa, it was famous for being the place where popular music acts of the late 1990s/early 2000s such a ...

(Stockholm, Sweden) * Strings recorded at Soundtrade Studios (Stockholm, Sweden) * Mixed at

Mono Music Mono Music is a Swedish record label, established in 1987 by former ABBA member Benny Andersson. The Mono Music offices as well as the Mono Music studio, which is mainly used for mixing sessions, are located on the island of Skeppsholmen in central ...

Studios (Stockholm, Sweden) Personnel *

Jörgen Elofsson Kjell Åke Jörgen Elofsson (born 14 January 1962) is a Swedish songwriter. He was one of the writers of the songwriter-team at Cheiron Studios in Stockholm (along with Denniz PoP, Max Martin, Kristian Lundin, Andreas Carlsson, Rami Yacoub, Per ...

– writing *

Per Magnusson Per Magnusson (born 30 May 1969) is a Swedish music producer and songwriter. His musical career took off in 1994 as one of the original team members of the now-legendary Cheiron Productions, meeting great international success working with Boyzo ...

– writing, keyboards, production, arrangement, programming *

David Kreuger David Kreuger is a Swedish people, Swedish songwriter and music producer. Career David Kreuger began at Cheiron Studios in the spring of 1993. During the period 1993-1997, he worked with Per Magnusson on several projects. Together, they produce ...

– writing, arrangement, programming *

Andreas Carlsson Andreas Carlsson (; born 3 April 1973) is a Swedish music producer and pop songwriter. Biography Carlsson was part of the Cheiron Studios team until the studio was closed down in 2000. In January 2001, former Cheiron-members Andreas Carlsson, Kri ...

– additional backing vocals * Mats Berntoft – acoustic and electric guitars * Tomas Lindberg – bass * Ulf & Henrik Janson – string arrangement * David Kreuger – production * Bernard Lohr – recording (strings), mixing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

References

External links

"If I Let You Go" Official Music video

Official Westlife Website
{{Authority control 1999 singles 1999 songs Bertelsmann Music Group singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Norway RCA Records singles Songs about loneliness Songs written by David Kreuger Songs written by Jörgen Elofsson Songs written by Per Magnusson UK Singles Chart number-one singles Westlife songs