"Once" is a song by English singer and songwriter

Diana Vickers Diana Vickers (born 30 July 1991) is an English singer, songwriter, actress and fashion designer, who initially came to public attention as a semi-finalist on ''The X Factor'' in 2008. Vickers signed a record deal with RCA Records and, after to ...

, written by

Cathy Dennis Catherine Roseanne Dennis (born 25 March 1969)Gregory, Andy (2002) ''International Who's Who in Popular Music 2002'', Europa; , p. 133 is a British singer, songwriter, record producer and actress. She was the vocalist for D Mob, which had the su ...

and

Eg White Francis Anthony "Eg" White (born 22 November 1966) is a British musician, songwriter and producer. He started his career in the cowpunk band Yip Yip Coyote in the 1980s and then formed Brother Beyond with his brother, David White, in the late ...

for Vickers' debut studio album, '' Songs from the Tainted Cherry Tree'' (2010). "Once" was produced and mixed by

Mike Spencer Michael Spencer is an English record producer and recording engineer, who has worked with pop acts ranging from Newton Faulkner to Emeli Sandé. Many of his productions have achieved platinum certification, and have won MOBO and Brit Awards, a ...

and released as the album's lead single and Vickers' debut single on 16 April 2010. It reached number one 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 ...

, making it Vickers' most successful single release to date.

Release

"Once" was given its first play on the Big Top 40 as part of the New Year's Eve special in 2009. It later premiered on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

's Switch show on 31 January 2010. The song was A-listed on MTV and Radio 1's playlist. The song "Sunlight", which Vickers performed during her stint in the West End as Little Voice featured on the single as a B-side.

Critical reception

Nick Levine of ''

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...

'' gave the song a positive review stating: If her pop career doesn't take off, Diana Vickers can always write a book called ''How Not To Do Things The Simon Cowell Way''. Instead of taking the

Syco Syco Entertainment is a British media entertainment company, headquartered in London, founded and owned by British entrepreneur and record executive Simon Cowell. The company focuses on TV production. The company was formed in 2005 through So ...

lucre after finishing fourth on The X Factor back in '08, she signed to RCA - yes, we know it's part of the same label group - lined up a genuinely intriguing cast of collaborators for her debut album (Ellie Goulding, Lightspeed Champion, Guy Sigsworth), and even took time out to star in the West End revival of Little Voice.

Leon Jackson Leon Jackson (born 30 December 1988) is a Scottish singer. He won the fourth series of British talent show ''The X Factor'' in 2007. Following his win, Jackson was the main star of his on-web series entitled ''Leon's Life'', which ran from 20 ...

, watch and weep. Said album promises all manner of offbeat pop treats, but this debut single is a straight up brain-invader - well, what else would you expect from an Eg White/Cathy Dennis co-write? To be a little more precise, 'Once' is an electro-pop-rock monster whose key lyrical idea - "I'm only gonna let you kill me once" - could probably send

Eoghan Quigg Eoghan Karl Christopher Quigg (; born 12 July 1992) is a footballer and pop singer from Dungiven, Northern Ireland, who finished third in the fifth series of the British television music talent contest ''The X Factor'' in 2008. As a result of ...

cross-eyed. Vickers's hiccupy yelp still won't be to all tastes, but there's no denying that the huge, guitar-powered chorus is as hard to ignore as... well... her trademark hand gesture. .

Popjustice Popjustice is a music website founded in 2000 by UK freelance music journalist Peter Robinson, who has worked for ''NME'', ''The Guardian'', ''Attitude'' and many others. It is composed of the work of editor Robinson, features editor Michael Cra ...

additionally gave "Once" a positive review for Vickers' debut single commenting: We were fans of Diana throughout the 2008

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 ...

run so it was something of a relief when, after all that, 'Once' turned out to be the sort of song you can point at and go "THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is not only a very good pop song but a very good song regardless of genre", which is in itself just as well because while it's obviously a big pop song 'Once' is more than just pop - a debut single that sounds odd and instantly familiar, fragile and bold at the same time.

Chart performance

The single first entered 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 22 April 2010 at its peak of number 3. The following week the single fell 5 places to number 8 before climbing to number 6 on its third week in the chart. On 25 April 2010, "Once" debuted on the

at number 1 selling 58,385 copies in the first week of release. In its second week in the chart, the single fell 3 places to number 4, being replaced at number 1 by

Roll Deep Roll Deep (formerly Roll Deep Entourage) are a British grime crew. They were founded in 2001 by Wiley shortly before the disbandment of UK garage crew Pay As U Go Cartel. The group have had two UK No. 1 singles, " Good Times" and " Green Ligh ...

's "

Good Times ''Good Times'' is an American television sitcom that aired for six seasons on CBS, from February 8, 1974, to August 1, 1979. Created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans and developed by executive producer Norman Lear, it was television's first African ...

". "Once" has sold over 204,000 copies in the UK. The song debuted at number 5 in the

European Hot 100 Singles 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 ...

and in late May 2010, "Once" was added to radio playlists in New Zealand and Australia.

Music video

The video for the song was filmed in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on 7 February 2010. It was directed by Harvey Brown. It shows Vickers in various places and wearing different costumes with male dancers playing instruments around her. The video premiered on 3 March on

Play.com Rakuten.co.uk is a website owned by Rakuten, that operates as an online marketplace. The website does not sell any products directly, but instead allows third party sellers to sell their products. The website replaced Play.com, which was origin ...

's website, encouraging anyone to pre-order Vickers upcoming album.

Promotion

The first live performance of "Once" was at The Cooler in Bristol on 20 March 2010 on the first leg of her

Songs from the Tainted Cherry Tree Tour The ''Songs from the Tainted Cherry Tree'' Tour was a tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland by British singer-songwriter Diana Vickers, promoting her debut album, '' Songs from the Tainted Cherry Tree''. The third leg was as a support act for ...

. Since then, Vickers made a series of television appearances, including Scottish lifestyle show '' The Hour'' on 8 March 2010 and children's magazine programme ''

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Tel ...

'' on 13 April 2010. She performed for

GMTV GMTV (an acronym for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited, was the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 ...

and

BBC Switch BBC Switch was the brand for BBC content aimed at UK teenagers. The brand was launched on Saturday 20 October 2007 on BBC Two and ceased broadcasting on 18 December 2010. It included a block of television programmes on BBC Two, an online porta ...

on 14 and 17 April 2010, respectively. Vickers also appeared on

for an interview with

Scott Mills Scott Robert Mills (born 28 March 1973) is an English radio DJ, television presenter and occasional actor. He is best known for presenting the '' Scott Mills'' show on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 2022 and since then, on BBC Radio 2. Mills has also ...

on 12 April 2010, while he was the standby presenter on ''

The Chris Moyles Show ''The Chris Moyles Show'' is the title given to two differing versions of a radio programme hosted by Chris Moyles, originally broadcast as Radio 1 Breakfast from 5 January 2004 to 14 September 2012 before transferring three years later on 21 ...

''. In addition, she performed "Once" and a cover of " Just Say Yes" by

Snow Patrol Snow Patrol are a Northern Irish–Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in 1994 in Dundee, Scotland. They consist of Gary Lightbody (vocals, guitar), Nathan Connolly (guitar, backing vocals), Paul Wilson (musician), Paul Wilson (bass guitar, ...

in the

Live Lounge The Live Lounge is a segment on the British radio stations BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra. It was originally hosted by Simon Mayo, and later by Jo Whiley on her weekday mid-morning, and later weekend lunchtime radio shows, then by Fearne Cotton ...

on 22 April 2010. She also went on the BBC2 show ''Something for The Weekend'' and ITV1's ''

Loose Women ''Loose Women'' (previously known as ''Live Talk'' from 2000 to 2001) is a British talk show that broadcasts on ITV1 weekdays from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm. The show focuses on a panel of four female presenters who interview celebrities, talk about ...

'' but did not perform on either.

Track listings

CD single iTunes

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2010 debut singles 2010 songs Diana Vickers songs RCA Records singles Songs written by Cathy Dennis Songs written by Eg White UK Singles Chart number-one singles