"It's Not Over" is the debut single of American
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band
Daughtry, taken from their
self-titled debut studio album. It rose to number four on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and was certified platinum in May 2007 by the RIAA. It was listed in the top 10 digital selling songs of 2007, and it was certified 2× platinum for digital sales in 2019.
Background
The song was written by
Chris Daughtry,
Ace Young (who was on ''
American Idol
''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...
'' with Daughtry),
Gregg Wattenberg,
Mark Wilkerson and produced by
Howard Benson.
Music video
Production
After much speculation on when and even if a video would be released, the video was finally released on
AOL on January 10, 2007. The video was co-directed by Dean Karr and Jay Martin (Karr directed the performance scenes while Martin did the narrative scenes).
Plot
It begins with a man, played by Dennis Connolly, lying in bed while he has a flashback of himself gathering his personal effects upon release from prison. His girlfriend, played by Nina Sanchez, picks him up after his release; they hug and hold hands along the way. After a time they stop at a store. While he is inside, she has a flashback to when she first heard the news of his arrest, and we see that she was pregnant at the time. Dennis gets back in the car with a stuffed rabbit. They then arrive at her home, and there is a young girl inside, presumably the couple's daughter. Nina explains something to the girl while he waits outside. Dennis enters and gives the toy to his daughter, whom he has never met before. After a reluctant moment, the two hug.
The video cuts back to the couple lying in bed, and they seem to be distant; when he attempts to touch her, she pulls away. Intercut with this scene is Dennis looking for a job, which proves to be unsuccessful. He walks by and enters several stores, none of which are hiring. He passes a jewelry store, and all the recent positive events flash before him: his release, his daughter, and a rosary. He then notices a "Help Wanted" sign and inquires inside the garage; he gets the job as a car mechanic. He again passes the jewelry store, and sees brief flashes of the couple making love, his booking photos and a cross; he hides his face so the owner does not recognize him, implying that he was arrested for trying to rob the jewelry store. He is then working in the shop, apparently now employed. One night, as his girlfriend waits for him — visibly upset — Dennis is shown entering the jewelry store, looking at first as if he is going to rob it again. When he finally arrives home, Nina opens the door wondering where he's been, Dennis drops to one knee and proposes to her with a wedding ring; Nina is overjoyed, and the video ends with the two embracing.
Intercut throughout the video are scenes with scenes of the band playing the song in an immaculate looking grand room, it is of the main atrium of the
Surrogate's Courthouse
The Surrogate's Courthouse (also the Hall of Records and 31 Chambers Street) is a historic building at the northwest corner of Chambers Street (Manhattan), Chambers and Centre Street (Manhattan), Centre Streets in the Civic Center, Manhat ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
.
Reception
Critical
Most critics found "It's Not Over" to be catchy and a solid first single. ''
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 advertis ...
'' magazine called "It's Not Over" a "tight, focused and ready to rock your face off" single that "overflows with harmonies and axe leads that suck you in out of the box." ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'' found the song "ridiculously catchy". Daniel Wolfe of
About.com
Dotdash Meredith (formerly The Mining Company, About.com and Dotdash) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, hom ...
said the band does "a great job of telling the story of a relationship gone wrong," ultimately giving the song three and a half out of five stars.
On December 6, 2007, the song was nominated for
Best Rock Song and
Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for the
50th Annual Grammy Awards.
Commercial
The single debuted fairly high on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 65 in late November 2006, partly due to the song already reaching the top 40 on iTunes. It went on to become a top five single for the band, peaking at number four on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It has also become a number one single for the band on 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 Syste ...
chart and on the
American Top 40
''American Top 40'' (abbreviated to ''AT40'') is an internationally radio syndication, syndicated, independent song countdown radio programming, radio program created by Casey Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds, and Ron Jacobs (broadcaster), Ron Jaco ...
countdown. The main version of the song has sold 2,103,000 copies in the United States as of April 2010,
and the combined sales of different versions of the song exceeded three million.
On the international scene, the song, along with the album, appeared in the
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
RIANZ
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 ...
Singles Chart, the song debuting at number 38 on the Singles Chart, and the album debuting at number 17 on the Albums Chart. The single made the top 10 in New Zealand. The single was to be released in the UK on August 6, 2007, but was deleted at the last minute.
In the Philippines, the single placed number two in the 2007 Magic 89.9 Yearender Countdown after spending more than a month at the top spot in the weekly countdown, behind Elliot Yamin's "Wait for You".
In the August 2007 issue of ''Guitar World'' magazine, a full transcription as well as pedal settings was featured for this song. The pedal settings, for the BOSS CE-5 Chorus Ensemble, ML-2 Metal Core and CS-3 Compression/Sustainer, allow readers to get the actual sound of the song as it appears on the Daughtry record.
Track listing
#"It's Not Over"
#"It's Not Over"
Release history
Appearances in the media
"It’s Not Over" was featured in the 2013 American supernatural horror film ''
Insidious: Chapter 2''
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:It's Not Over (Daughtry Song)
2006 songs
2006 debut singles
Daughtry (band) songs
Song recordings produced by Howard Benson
Songs written by Chris Daughtry
Songs written by Gregg Wattenberg
RCA Records singles