"Impossible" is a song by German musician

Captain Hollywood Project Captain Hollywood Project is a German eurodance music project best known for the hits “ More and More," " Only with You" and " Flying High." At the peak of its success in the 1990s, the project achieved ten top-20 hits on European music charts. ...

. It was released in October 1993 as the fourth single from his debut album, ''

Love Is Not Sex ''Love Is Not Sex'' is the debut album of American-born musician Tony Dawson-Harrison, AKA "Captain Hollywood". Dawson-Harrison was exposed to eurodance music during his military service in 80's West Germany. It was released on March 8, 1993. The ...

'' (1993), and features vocals by singer

Kim Sanders Kim Sanders (born October 24, 1968 in East Chicago, Indiana) is an American singer and songwriter based in Germany. Sanders began to release singles as a solo artist in 1994 and wrote songs for other musicians. In 1993 and 1994, she released t ...

. It was a sizeable hit in several countries, but like " All I Want", it achieved moderate success in comparison with the two previous Captain Hollywood Project's singles, " More and More" and " Only with You". A music video was also produced, but it did not feature Sanders.

Critical reception

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...

from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' commented in his review of the ''

'' album, that "Impossible" "is another study in contrasts, as aptainHollywood ponders the darkness of greed and power, amid a flurry of active,

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

-flavored synth-beats. It is during this particular track that he best exhibits the poise and command of rhyme needed to resurrect the dormant hip-house movement."

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a music writer and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worked on air ...

described it as "

Euro-disco Eurodisco (also spelled as Euro disco) is the variety of European forms of electronic dance music that evolved from disco in the late 1970s, incorporating elements of pop and rock into a disco-like continuous dance atmosphere. Many Eurodisco ...

in the Culture Beat mould" in his weekly UK chart commentary.

James Hamilton James Hamilton may refer to: Dukes *James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton (1606–1649), heir to the throne of Scotland * James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton (1658–1712), Scottish nobleman * James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Hamilton (1703–1743), S ...

from '' Music Weeks ''RM'' Dance Update viewed it as a "girl wailed gruffy rapped cheesy typical German techno-pop bounder". Tony Cross from ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand fo ...

'' praised the track, giving it four out of five. He wrote, "Front man Tony Dawson-Harrison ..has come up with a monster dance hit that's impossible not to shake down to. It has the Euro flavour of hits like Culture Beat's "

Mr Vain "Mr. Vain" is a song by German group Culture Beat, released in April 1993 as the lead single from their second studio album, ''Serenity'' (1993). It was written by Steven Levis, Nosie Katzmann and Jay Supreme, and produced by Torsten Fenslau. T ...

" (which Tony had a hand in) with a powered-up rap beginning. Then it grows to its hypnotic vocal chant — "I find you're a little impossible" - which is packed ''full'' of attitude. Expect it to chart ''very'' high."

Chart performance

"Impossible" was a notable hit on the charts in Europe, becoming one of the project's more successful hits. It made it to the top 10 in Denmark, Finland (number six), Portugal (number three), Spain and Sweden (number four), as well as on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's European Top 20. Additionally, the single peaked within the top 20 in Austria, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Switzerland. On the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by '' Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately ...

, "Impossible" also was a top 20 hit, peaking at number 20 in December 1993, but on the European Dance Radio Chart, it hit number three. In the United Kingdom, it peaked at number 29 in its first week at the UK Singles Chart, on 6 February, but fared better on the UK Dance Singles Chart, reaching number 14. Outside Europe, the single was a top 10 hit in Israel, peaking at number nine.

Music video

A music video was produced to promote the song, directed by Apollon. The video did for unknown reasons not feature Kim Sanders and was later published on YouTube in March 2017. It had generated more than six million views as of December 2022.

Track listings

* 12-inch single (1993) # "Impossible" (New Extended Version) – 6:10 # "Impossible" (Bumpy Version) – 7:56 * CD single (1993) # "Impossible" (Radio Edit) – 4:14 # "Impossible" (New Extended Version) – 6:10 * CD maxi 1 (September 1993) # "Impossible" (Radio Edit) – 4:14 # "Impossible" (New Extended Version) – 6:10 # "Impossible" (Bumpy Version) – 7:56 * CD maxi 2 (January 1994) # "Impossible" (Red Jerry Mix) – 6:49 # "Impossible" (Red Jerry Dub) – 6:09 # "Impossible" (Kamo Flage Mix) – 6:22 # " All I Want" ('94 Club Mix) – 5:56

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 1993 singles 1993 songs Blow Up singles Captain Hollywood Project songs English-language German songs Kim Sanders songs Songs written by Nosie Katzmann Songs written by Tony Dawson-Harrison