"Invisible" is a song by Irish boy band

D-Side D-Side were an Irish boy band established in 2001 by twins Rory and Eoghan MacSweeney, and signed to Edel Records. Edel brought in Kim Glover to manage the band after her success with New Kids on the Block, Ant & Dec (as PJ & Duncan), B*Witche ...

, released as the third single (second in the United Kingdom) from their first studio album, ''Stronger Together'' (2003). The song was written and produced by

Desmond Child John Charles Barrett (born October 28, 1953), known professionally as Desmond Child, is an American songwriter and producer. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008. His hits as a songwriter include Kiss's "I Was Made for Lovi ...

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 ...

, and

Chris Braide Christopher Braide (born 1973) is an English songwriter, record producer and singer, formerly based in Malibu, Los Angeles, California, United States. Braide is known for being a pianist. First signed as a solo artist by David A. Stewart in t ...

. Released on 14 July 2003, the song became a top-10 hit in Ireland and the United Kingdom, peaking at number five in the former country and number seven in the latter. The same year, ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' second two runner-up

Clay Aiken Clayton Holmes Aiken (''né'' Grissom; born November 30, 1978) is an American singer, television personality, actor, politician, and activist. Aiken finished second place on the second season of ''American Idol'' in 2003, and his debut album, ' ...

covered the song and reached number 37 on the US ''

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Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

with his rendition. The song has been frequently targeted by

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for its unsettling lyrical content, with several calling the track a "stalkers' anthem".

Release and reception

's version of "Invisible" was released on 14 July 2003. Can't Stop the Pop called it a "meticulously crafted" track, praising its composition, the band's vocals, and its airplay appeal, but criticised the lyrical content for being too "creepy", noting that the chorus has aged poorly. Commercially, "Invisible" became the group's third consecutive top-10 hit in their home country, debuting and peaking at number five 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 ...

on 17 July 2003. At the end of 2003, the song was placed at number 73 on Ireland's year-end chart. On 20 July, the single appeared at number seven 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 ...

, becoming D-Side's highest-charting single in the UK and staying in the top 100 for six weeks.

Track listings

UK and European CD1 # "Invisible" (radio edit) # "Fallen for You" # "Bring You Out" # "Invisible" (radio edit video) UK CD2 # "Invisible" (radio edit) # "Invisible" (Lifestylerz radio edit) # "Invisible" (Lifestylerz dub) # "Invisible" (Lifestylerz radio edit video) UK cassette single and European CD2 # "Invisible" (radio edit) # "Fallen for You" Japanese CD single # "Invisible" (radio edit) # "Fallen for You" # "Bring You Out" # "Invisible" (Lifestylerz radio edit)

Personnel

Personnel are lifted from the UK CD1 liner notes. *

– writing, production *

– writing, production * D-Side – vocals * Carlos Alvarez – mixing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Clay Aiken version

After finishing as runner-up to the second season of ''

'',

covered the song for his debut studio album, '' Measure of a Man'', and released it as the album's lead single. This version was produced by Child only and contains an extended

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

. Released two months after D-Side's version, Aiken's cover charted within the top 40 of the US ''

, peaking at number 37 in January 2004. It also charted in New Zealand, reaching number 47 in December 2003.

Background and release

Aiken recorded his vocals before D-Side had released their version in the UK. He first went to Child's studio in Miami, when ''American Idol'' season two winner

Ruben Studdard Ruben Studdard (born September 12, 1978) is an American singer and actor. He rose to fame as winner of the second season of ''American Idol'' and received a Grammy Award nomination in 2003 for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for his recording of ...

chided Aiken for wanting to record in a dark studio and not explore the city. After recording the rest of the

demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

in Minneapolis, Aiken and his coworkers discovered that D-Side had released their version, so they discussed whether to issue the song in the UK. The team decided that the song was too good to defer, and they eventually released the song in the United States on 29 September 2003. In an interview with ''Billboard'', Aiken stated that he wanted to amend the track's lyrics, but he believed that the content could have been much worse and decided to tone down the disturbing message with the video, calling the lyrical content "nasty" and encouraging people not to partake in stalking.

Critical reception

Matt Keohan of online lifestyle publication BroBible called Aiken's version of "Invisible" the "creepiest song ever made", referring to it as "The Stalkers' Anthem". ''

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'' also called the track a "stalker anthem". In 2020, Return of Rock ranked the song as Aiken's best, calling his voice "beautiful".

Chart performance

In the United States, "Invisible" debuted at number 57 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in late November 2003. The song remained on the Hot 100 for 20 issues, reaching its peak of number 37 during its ninth week on the chart. The song entered the top 10 on the

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

ranking, peaking at number eight, and charted with the top 30 of the

Adult Top 40 The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems ...

and

Mainstream Top 40 Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...

listings. "Invisible" was also released in New Zealand, where " Bridge over Troubled Water" / "

This Is the Night This Is the Night may refer to: Film * ''This Is the Night'' (1932 film), an American pre-Code comedy film, Cary Grant's feature film debut * ''This Is the Night'' (2021 film), an American drama film Music * "This Is the Night", fourth track on ...

" had topped the chart. It appeared on the country's

RIANZ Singles Chart Recorded Music NZ (formerly the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ)) is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell recorded music in New Zealand. Membership of Recorded Mus ...

for two nonconsecutive weeks in December 2003, peaking at number 47 on both occasions.

Credits and personnel

Credits are lifted from the ''Measure of a Man'' album booklet. Studios * Recorded at The Gentlemen's Club, The Gallery (Miami, Florida), Storm Studios (Stockholm, Sweden), Red Door Recording Studios (

St. Davids, Pennsylvania St. Davids is a primarily residential neighborhood located in the eastern part of Wayne, Pennsylvania. It is served by its own train station. St. Davids is home to the main campus of Eastern University, a four-year, liberal arts university affili ...

), and Master Mix Studios (Minneapolis, Minnesota) * Mixed at Mix This! (

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) * Mastered at

The Hit Factory The Hit Factory is a recording studio in New York City owned and operated by Troy Germano. History On March 6, 1975, Edward Germano, a singer, record producer, and one of the principal owners of the Record Plant Studios New York, purchased the ...

(New York City) Personnel * Desmond Child – writing, production * Andreas Carlsson – writing, background vocals, guitar * Chris Braide – writing, background vocals * Clay Aiken – vocals, backing vocals *

Chris Willis Christopher Kevin Willis (born February 26, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Although initially a gospel singer, he later received international attention for his collaborations with house music artist David Guetta ...

– background vocals *

Dan Warner Dan Warner is the former Director for The Michael and Sara Moskau Institute of Archaeology and the Center for Archaeological Research, and former professor of Old Testament and Archaeology at the biblically inerrantist New Orleans Baptist Theolog ...

– guitar *

Eric Bazilian Eric M. Bazilian (born July 21, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer. Bazilian is a founding member of the rock band The Hooters. He wrote " One of Us", a song first recorded by Joan Osborne in 19 ...

– guitar, recording * Marcus Englöf – acoustic guitar, keyboards, programming, recording * Esbjörn Öhrwall – acoustic guitar * Thomas Blindberg – bass * Doug Emery – piano *

Samuel Waermö Samuel Waermö (born 1968) is a successful international Swedish songwriter and music producer with a big number of accomplishments and hits and a number of chart-topping #1 hits (33 #1 at the charts) mostly in Europe and East Asia. Since 2008 he ru ...

– keyboards, programming, percussion, recording * Lee Levin – drums * Brian Coleman – production management * Jules Gondar – recording * Carlos Alvarez – recording * Craig Lozowick – recording *

Bob Clearmountain Bob Clearmountain (born January 15, 1953) is an American recording engineer, mixer and record producer. He has worked with many major acts, including Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, Toto, Bon Jovi and Bryan Adams, with whom he has a very ...

– mixing * Kevin Harp – assistant mix engineer * Joe Yannece – mastering

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2003 singles 2003 songs Clay Aiken songs Irish pop songs RCA Records singles Song recordings produced by Chris Braide Song recordings produced by Desmond Child Songs written by Andreas Carlsson Songs written by Chris Braide Songs written by Desmond Child Warner Music Group singles