"Upside Down" is a song written and produced by

Chic Chic (; ), meaning "stylish" or "smart", is an element of fashion. It was originally a French word. Pronounced Chick. Etymology '' Chic'' is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s. Early references in English diction ...

members

Nile Rodgers Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, record producer and composer. The co-founder of Chic, Rodgers has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 500 million albums and 75 million ...

and

Bernard Edwards Bernard Edwards (October 31, 1952 – April 18, 1996) was an American bass player and record producer, known primarily for his work in disco music with guitarist Nile Rodgers, with whom he co-founded Chic. In 2017, Edwards was selected as the ...

. It was recorded by American singer

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...

and issued from

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

as the lead single from her eleventh studio album, '' Diana'' (1980). The song hit number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart on September 6, 1980 and stayed there for four weeks. It also hit number one on the ''Billboard''

Disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

and

Soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

charts. The single was released a full four weeks after the album was released. "Upside Down" was also a big hit internationally, topping the singles charts in Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, Sweden, South Africa, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, while peaking at No. 5 in Canada. It also rose to No. 2 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 ...

, marking the highest peak performance from Ross as a solo artist since " I'm Still Waiting" in 1971. It also earned her a

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with th ...

silver disc award for sales in excess of 250,000 copies. The single earned Ross her ninth career

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

nomination for

Best Female R&B Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (previously called Best Rhythm and Blues Solo Vocal Performance, Female) was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards ...

, losing to " Never Knew Love Like This Before" by

Stephanie Mills Stephanie Dorthea Mills (born March 22, 1957) is an American singer and songwriter. She rose to stardom as "Dorothy" in the original seven-time Tony Award winning Broadway run of the musical ''The Wiz'' from 1974 to 1979. The song " Home" from t ...

at the 1981 Grammy Awards. "Upside Down" is listed at No. 80 on ''Billboard'' "Hot 100 60th Anniversary" (1958–2018).

Background and recording

The song was written by

and

(of the band

). In a 2011 interview, Nile Rodgers said "Diana Ross was the first big star we ever worked with and we took it very seriously." Rodgers and Edwards interviewed her for several days. "This was the first time in her life somebody cared about who she was; what she was — everyone previously had treated her the way we had treated Sister Sledge — they got her in and said 'Sing this'. We (took a more personal approach)." As would be widely reported later, their studio liaison with Ross was not a success. She disliked the results of their sessions and gave them specific remixing instructions; they made slight changes and suggested that if she still did not like them, she could get them remixed herself. Ross did so, reworking the whole album with Motown producer Russ Terrana to downplay the funk element and make her voice more prominent. Rodgers and Edwards were initially furious, and considered having their production credit removed. They eventually decided to leave the track unedited, as the sound they used for Chic remained heavily influential on the album. The LP became a platinum-selling No. 1 that spent a year on the American chart. Ross left Motown soon afterwards for RCA.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications and sales

Live performances

Ross performed the song live in 1981 during her television special ''Diana'', with

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

joining her onstage towards the end of the song. In 1997, Ross performed the song live with English

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

and acid jazz band

Jamiroquai Jamiroquai () are an English funk and acid jazz band from London. Formed in 1992, they are fronted by vocalist Jay Kay, and were prominent in the London-based funk and acid jazz movement of the 1990s. They built on their acid jazz sound in th ...

at the

Brit Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

ceremony.

In film, television and videos

In 2013, the song was used in a

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

commercial featuring chickens being moved around while their heads remain stationary as an example of the car brand's "magic body control." It was also used by

Jaguar Cars Jaguar (, ) is the luxury vehicle brand of Jaguar Land Rover, a British multinational car manufacturer with its headquarters in Whitley, Coventry, England. Jaguar Cars was the company that was responsible for the production of Jaguar cars ...

in a parody of the Mercedes-Benz commercial.

Influence and legacy

Contemporary jazz/fusion group

Pieces of a Dream Piece or Pieces (not to be confused with peace) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * Piece (chess), pieces deployed on a chessboard for playing the game of chess * Pieces (video game), ''Pieces'' (video game), a 1994 puzzle game f ...

covered the song on their 2001 album ''Acquainted with the Night''.

MC Lyte Lana Michele Moorer (born October 11, 1970), better known by her stage name MC Lyte, is an American rapper, DJ, actress and entrepreneur. Considered one of the pioneers of female rap, Lyte first gained fame in the late 1980s, becoming the first ...

sampled "Upside Down" on her 1996 hit "

Cold Rock a Party "Cold Rock a Party" is the lead single released from American rapper MC Lyte's fifth studio album, '' Bad As I Wanna B'' (1996). While the original version of the song that appears on the album was produced by Rashad Smith and samples Audio Two' ...

(Remix)", featuring Missy Elliott and Puff Daddy. In 2003, Swedish band Alcazar

interpolated In the mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a type of estimation, a method of constructing (finding) new data points based on the range of a discrete set of known data points. In engineering and science, one often has a n ...

the melody for their song "

This Is the World We Live In "This Is the World We Live In" is a song by Swedish band Alcazar. The song is the fifth single from their second album, '' Alcazarized'' (2003). It was released in 2004 and became a hit, peaking at number three in Sweden, number one in Hungary, ...

", released in 2004.

Risquée version

In 1999, the music group Risquée covered the song. Their version peaked at No. 25 in France and at No. 76 in Germany.

Track listings

CD maxi #Upside Down (Single Cut) – 3:30 #Upside Down (Club Version) – 4:32 #Enjoy Your Life – 3:12 #Enjoy Your Life (Long Version) – 4:56

Charts

References

External links

Background and recording

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications and sales

Live performances

In film, television and videos

Influence and legacy

Risquée version

Track listings

Charts

See also

References

External links