"I'll Be There for You" is a song by British-American

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring two or more women in music, female singers who generally vocal harmony, harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female p ...

Solid HarmoniE, released in 1997 by

Jive Records Jive Records (later stylized as JIVE Records) was a British-American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary of the Zomba Group of Companies, Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chic ...

as the lead

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from the group's only album, '' Solid HarmoniE'' (1997). Produced by Swedish producers and songwriters

Kristian Lundin Kristian Lundin (born 7 May 1973) is a Swedish composer, music producer and songwriter. Biography Kristian's worked on the song "Quit Playing Games (with My Heart)" which he co-produced with Max Martin for the Backstreet Boys. He co-wrote & pro ...

and

Max Martin Karl Martin Sandberg (born 26 February 1971),Max Martin
AllMusic known professional ...

, who also wrote it, it remains the group's most successful song, peaking within the top 10 in the Netherlands and Sweden. Additionally, it was a top-20 hit in Denmark and the United Kingdom. In the United States, "I'll Be There for You" reached number 23 on the ''

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Bubbling Under Hot 100 Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

chart. Two music videos were also produced, both directed by Gerry Wenner.

Critical reception

Pan-European magazine ''

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'' wrote, "There's a real international aspect to this US pop/dance quartet, A&R'ed out of the Netherlands, with Swedish producers; a female counterpart of the

Backstreet Boys Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB) are an American vocal group consisting of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson (musician), Kevin Richardson. The band formed in 1993 in Orlando, Flori ...

, perhaps? They have in common some really strong vocal harmonies and—if this example is anything to go by—some very convincing material. Frans van Dun, one of the programmers at leading Dutch AC network

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100.7 FM/

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, believes the comparison is an apt one. "They have a lot in common with the Backstreet Boys, who are very popular over here," he suggests. Van Dun continues: "It's the kind of pleasant, inoffensive track that's easy to programme and although it didn't test that well, we've stuck with it since it started to chart 11 weeks ago." Van Dun concludes: "For one reason or another, people do seem to like this thing, because it spent seven weeks in the singles Top 10." ''

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'' gave the song three out of five, adding, "Three Brits make up this funky

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

-based female pop foursome managed by Donna Wright. Not

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, but not bad either." A reviewer from ''

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'' said that "they'll never change the world with

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pop tunes" like "I'll Be There For You", "but they might just make you smilte."''

''. 19 April 1998. p. 43.

Track listings

* 12-inch single, UK (1997) #"I'll Be There for You" (Matthias Remix) – 6:45 #"I'll Be There for You" (Poptastic Full on Mix) – 3:36 #"I'll Be There for You" ( Red 5 Remix) – 6:02 #"I'll Be There for You" (Original Version) – 3:09 * CD single, Europe (1997) #"I'll Be There for You" (Single Edit) – 3:09 #"I'll Be There for You" (Matthias Remix) – 6:45 * CD maxi, Europe (1997) #"I'll Be There for You" (Single Edit) – 3:09 #"I'll Be There for You" (Matthias Remix) – 6:45 #"I'll Be There for You" (Red 5 Remix) – 6:02 #"I'll Be There for You" (Matthias Radio Edit) – 3:56

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 1997 singles 1997 songs Jive Records singles Solid HarmoniE songs Song recordings produced by Max Martin Songs written by Kristian Lundin Songs written by Max Martin