"Up" is a song recorded by Romanian singer
Inna
Elena Alexandra Apostoleanu (born 16 October 1986), known professionally as Inna (stylized in all caps), is a Romanian singer. Born in Mangalia and raised in Neptun, she studied political science at Ovidius University before meeting the Ro ...
.
Warner Music Poland
Warner Music Poland Sp. z o.o., is a Polish subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it was founded in 1994 in Warsaw. The label's CEO is Piotr Kabaj.
The label started with a catalog of Polish national record label Polton which was bought from Starst ...
and
Global Records
Global Records is a Romanian independent record label founded in 2008 by Ștefan Lucian.
History
Global Records's first signed artist was Inna in 2008, whose career has been spanning over 10 years. She has released a series of international ...
released it for
digital download and
streaming
Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...
on 22 October 2021 as a
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 ...
. Another version of the track with Jamaican rapper
Sean Paul
Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques OD (born 9 January 1973) is a Jamaican rapper and singer who is regarded as one of dancehall's most prolific artists.
Paul's singles "Get Busy" and "Temperature" topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in the ...
was issued on 17 December 2021. "Up" was written by Inna,
Sebastian Barac,
Marcel Botezan,
Alex Cotoi and
Minelli, while the production was handled by Barac, Botezan and Cotoi; Paul received additional writing and production credits on his version. "Up" is a
dancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...
-influenced
pop song, with its lyrics describing a healing love.
Commercially, "Up" achieved success in Romania, where it became Inna's fifth number-one hit. It further topped the charts in Bulgaria, Russia, Poland, the
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of and has an estimated population of 239,796,010. ...
(CIS) and Ukraine. The
Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry
The Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry ( pl, Związek Producentów Audio-Video, ZPAV) is the trade organization that represents the interests of the music industry in Poland, and the Polish chapter of the International Federation of the ...
(ZPAV) awarded the song a
Platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Platinu ...
certification in Poland. An accompanying
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
for the Sean Paul version of the track was uploaded to Inna's
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
channel on 17 December 2021. Directed by Bogdan Păun, it portrays Inna residing at a party with interspersed shots of Paul also being shown. For further promotion, "Up" was performed live on ''
SuperStar România
''SuperStar România'' is the Romanian adaptation of the ''Idols'' franchise and premieres on September 10, 2021. Originally announced at the beginning of 2021, the show is scheduled to start airing this Fall on Pro TV. Thus, replacing ''Vocea R ...
''.
Background and release
Sebastian Barac,
Marcel Botezan and
Alex Cotoi produced "Up", and wrote it with Elena Alexandra Apostoleanu (
Inna
Elena Alexandra Apostoleanu (born 16 October 1986), known professionally as Inna (stylized in all caps), is a Romanian singer. Born in Mangalia and raised in Neptun, she studied political science at Ovidius University before meeting the Ro ...
) and
Minelli. It was released for
digital download and
streaming
Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...
on 22 October 2021 as a
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 ...
in various territories by
Warner Music Poland
Warner Music Poland Sp. z o.o., is a Polish subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it was founded in 1994 in Warsaw. The label's CEO is Piotr Kabaj.
The label started with a catalog of Polish national record label Polton which was bought from Starst ...
and in Romania by
Global Records
Global Records is a Romanian independent record label founded in 2008 by Ștefan Lucian.
History
Global Records's first signed artist was Inna in 2008, whose career has been spanning over 10 years. She has released a series of international ...
.
Another version of the song featuring verses from
Sean Paul
Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques OD (born 9 January 1973) is a Jamaican rapper and singer who is regarded as one of dancehall's most prolific artists.
Paul's singles "Get Busy" and "Temperature" topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in the ...
was similarly issued by the two aforementioned labels on 17 December 2021;
Paul is credited as a co-lead artist alongside Inna and also received additional writing and production credits. Several remixes of the song's solo version were released, with one done by Romanian House Mafia featuring prominent
house
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...
beats; Inna had previously collaborated with them on "Paris to London" (2021).
Composition and lyrics
Musically, "Up" is a
dancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...
-influenced
pop song,
featuring Inna singing about what Anna-Kaye Kerr of Urban Islandz described as "overcoming past hurt and disappointment
ndopening her heart up again", as well as about "a love that lifts
erup when everything in life seems to be going in the opposite direction", as noted by ''
Adevărul
''Adevărul'' (; meaning "The Truth", formerly spelled ''Adevĕrul'') is a Romanian daily newspaper, based in Bucharest. Founded in Iași, in 1871, and reestablished in 1888, in Bucharest, it was the main left-wing press venue to be published dur ...
'' Maria-Alexandru Mortu.
According to ''
Rolling Stone India
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its cove ...
'' writers Anurag Tagat and David Britto, "the rhythms are a nod to both Romanian as well as Caribbean traditional music."
Lyrics include: "Once upon a time, there was a girl who made a wish / To find herself a love and finally make a switch / Then you came around, you healed another stitch / And I'm glad about that, I can finally make the switch". The song's refrain—"When I'm down you can bring me up, up-p-p up-p-p up-p-p up-p-p / And when I'm hurt you know I don't need much / You can use that magic touch"—prompted a
viral use of "Up" on the social networking service
TikTok
TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes.
TikTok is an international version ...
due to the title word's alteration.
On the version of the track including his rap verses, Paul is "optimistic about his chance for romance", according to Kerr.
Reception
Mortu praised "Up" as one of Inna's catchiest releases in her catalogue, further stating that it is "a hymn of fun and good mood
instantly giv
nga state of energy and optimism due to
tsfresh sound".
Kerr commended Sean Paul's appearance as "smooth".
Tagat and Britto deemed Paul's version a "buoyant reimagination" of the single.
"Up" became popular on
Shazam in multiple countries upon release,
and originally reached a peak of number 51 on the last issue of Romania's
Airplay 100 chart on the week ending 28 November 2021.
The song eventually reached the top position on the airplay chart published by
Uniunea Producătorilor de Fonograme din România
Uniunea Producătorilor de Fonograme din România ( Ro for ''Romanian Phonographic Industry'' is the Romanian record industry's trade association
A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector associat ...
(UPFR) on 28 December 2021, becoming Inna's fifth single to peak at number one in Romania after "
Hot
Hot or the acronym HOT may refer to:
Food and drink
*Pungency, in food, a spicy or hot quality
*Hot, a wine tasting descriptor
Places
* Hot district, a district of Chiang Mai province, Thailand
**Hot subdistrict, a sub-district of Hot Distric ...
" (2008), "
Amazing" (2009), "
Diggy Down
"Diggy Down" is a song recorded by Romanian recording artist Inna for her eponymous and fourth studio album (2015) and its Japanese counterpart '' Body and the Sun'' (2015). Released for digital download on 15 December 2014 through Empire Music ...
" (2015) and "
Bebe
Bebe, Bèbè, Bebé, Bébé or BeBe may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Bebe (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname
* Bebé, footballer Tiago Manuel Dias Correia (born 1990)
* Bebé (f ...
" (2020).
"Up" further reached number one in Bulgaria,
Russia,
Poland,
the
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of and has an estimated population of 239,796,010. ...
(CIS),
and Ukraine.
In Poland, the single received a
Platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Platinu ...
certification from the
Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry
The Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry ( pl, Związek Producentów Audio-Video, ZPAV) is the trade organization that represents the interests of the music industry in Poland, and the Polish chapter of the International Federation of the ...
(ZPAV).
On 19 February 2022, ''
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 advertise ...
'' inaugurated Romania Songs, a streaming and digital download-based chart for Romania, and the Sean Paul version of "Up" was listed at number 15.
At the 2022
Romanian Music Awards
The Romanian Music Awards, or simply RMA, are a Romanian annual event awarding the best artists in Romania's music scene. It is organized by Music Channel Romania and has taken place in various locations in the country. It was held from 2002 until ...
, the single's Sean Paul version was nominated for Best Dance.
Music videos and promotion
An accompanying
lyric video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
for "Up" was uploaded to Inna's
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
channel on 29 October 2021,
and was directed by Bogdan Păun of NGM Creative. Alexandru Mureşan was further hired as the
director of photography
The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...
, while the make-up was done by Anca Buldur, the hair by Adonis Enache and the outfits selected by RDStyling.
Mortu applauded Inna's styling in the visual, with her mainly being shown in the same setting as the single's cover art.
The same aforementioned team was involved in the making of a
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
for the Sean Paul version of "Up", released on Inna's YouTube account on 17 December 2021.
It received over 1.2 million views in less than a day.
The music video opens with Inna walking into a room filled by partying people, wearing a black bodysuit with a transparent top. She resides there and, according to Kerr, "gyrat
s which kick
into overdrive as everyone g
tsup and start
partying, even dancing on top of the bar", showcasing eccentric dance moves. Paul is shown during his parts in front of a neon setting, sporting an all-black look. Further interspersed shots show Inna wearing a red outfit with oversized shoulder pads and red glasses as the sentences "
Que nadie te limite me decía" ("Let no one limit you, he told me") and "
Más de este amor ya no puede, puede ser" ("More of this love can no longer be, it can't be") are displayed on the screen, as well as show her sitting on a chair staring into the distance with other women behind her.
An alternate video for the solo version of "Up" was released on 25 February 2022.
To further promote the song, Inna performed the track live along with "De dragul tău" (2021) during the final of the first season of the singing competition ''
SuperStar România
''SuperStar România'' is the Romanian adaptation of the ''Idols'' franchise and premieres on September 10, 2021. Originally announced at the beginning of 2021, the show is scheduled to start airing this Fall on Pro TV. Thus, replacing ''Vocea R ...
'' on 17 December 2021.
Track listing
*Official versions
#"Up" — 2:30
#"Up" (with Sean Paul) — 2:28
#"Up (Casian Remix)" — 2:07
#"Up" — 2:00
#"Up (Mert Hakan & Onur Betin Remix)" — 2:34
#"Up (Robert Cristian Remix)" — 2:12
#"Up (Arem Ozguc & Arman Aydin Remix)" — 2:16
Charts
Weekly charts
Monthly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Release history
See also
*
Notes
References
{{Inna
Inna songs
Sean Paul songs
English-language Romanian songs
Number-one singles in Poland
Number-one singles in Romania
Number-one singles in Russia
Songs written by Inna
Songs written by Sean Paul
2021 songs
2021 singles
Songs written by Alexandru Cotoi