Unwritten (song)

"Unwritten"
Single by Natasha Bedingfield
from the album Unwritten
Released	November 29, 2004 (2004-11-29) (see Release history)
Format	CD single, digital download
Genre	Pop, blue-eyed soul
Length	4:18 (Album version) 3:52 (Radio edit)
Label	Phonogenic, Epic (US)
Writer(s)	Natasha Bedingfield, Danielle Brisebois, Wayne Rodriguez
Producer	Danielle Brisebois
Certification	2x Platinum (RIAA)
Natasha Bedingfield European singles chronology "These Words" (2004) "Unwritten" (2004) "I Bruise Easily" (2005) Natasha Bedingfield U.S. singles chronology "These Words" (2005) "Unwritten" (2006) "Single" (2006)

"Unwritten" is a song by English singer Natasha Bedingfield. Bedingfield, Danielle Brisebois, and Wayne Rodriguez wrote it for her debut album, Unwritten. The single was released as the album's third UK single (November 2004) and second US single (2006). It reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her first top-ten hit in the United States.

Song history

"Unwritten" was the most played song on U.S. radio during 2006 as confirmed before her performance at the Diana concert,^{[citation needed]} and as of March 2006, was certified platinum in the U.S.

"Unwritten" is Bedingfield's most successful single in the US, along with "Pocketful of Sunshine"; both songs peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100.

The song earned Bedingfield a Grammy nomination in Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 49th Grammy Awards but she lost to Christina Aguilera's "Ain't No Other Man".

Music video

Two different music videos were made for the promotion of the song: one was shot in 2004 in the UK to promote it internationally; the other one was shot in New York in 2006 to promote the single in North America. Both versions received airplay in Latin America.

International version: directed by Michael Gracey, shows Bedingfield as the cover of a small animated book in a large library as it climbs an amazingly large bookshelf. As it gets higher the shelf becomes more like a cliff, even snowing at the top. At the top the book sees a dove and falls off. As the small book is torn apart in the fall, people pick up the pages and look up into the sky. The video may be seen to elaborate the lyric as an oblique spiritual narrative of striving to ascend (and reach a heavenly dove), while the lyric also reflects Bedingfield's concerns at this time with the process of writing, concerns perhaps more clearly expressed in "These Words", another song featured on the "Unwritten" album.

North American and Spanish version: directed by Chris Applebaum, shows Bedingfield on a lift, and as the lift stops, she experiences new things in her life on some floors of the building (singing with a church choir, seeing a couple kiss madly, watching a janitor throw away his money and watches, comforting a goth who later grows happy and shares her joy with a man who comes in the elevator) and even finds a love interest (that stops with her in the first floor, with their end being "unwritten"). According to an TRL interview, Bedingfield chose to make a scene where she gets wet because while filming the North American version of her "These Words" video it was a very hot and sunny day in Rio de Janeiro. This scene occurs the second time Bedingfield sings "Feel the rain on your skin." She and several children jump and dance as they are sprayed by water.

Chart performance

Peaking at number five for two weeks in the United States, "Unwritten" charted at number six on the 2006's Hot 100 year-end chart. "Unwritten" stayed in the Hot 100 for 38 weeks, thirteen of those inside the top ten, estimated sales in the United States for "Unwritten" are 2,731,000 as of June, 2011. This was the third highest ranking for a female artist for 2006 behind "Hips Don't Lie" by Shakira and Wyclef Jean, and "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado and Timbaland.

The song also proved to be very popular in other radio formats in the United States. The Johnny Vicious and Hani Club Mixes peaked at number one on the Dance Club Play and number two on the Dance Radio Airplay chart, while the original version went to number two on the Adult Top 40 and spent ten weeks at number one on the Adult Contemporary chart. It spent 13 weeks in the top ten of the Hot 100. "Unwritten" was not as successful in the United Kingdom as her previous chart-topping hit "These Words", but made an impressive showing on the charts, peaking at number six. It is one of her few singles to peak higher in the U.S. than in the UK.

Uses in media

• Bedingfield performed this song at the Concert For Diana.^{[citation needed]}
• Natasha performed this, along with "Pocketful of Sunshine" in the season 7 finale of Degrassi: The Next Generation.
• It is the theme song to the globally popular MTV series, The Hills. Bedingfield later re-recorded another, slower version of "Unwritten" with production team Carney for use in the final episode of The Hills.
• "Unwritten" has been featured in the following motion pictures: Ice Princess, The Da Vinci Code, Because I Said So, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
• 2006 World Champion figure skater Kimmie Meissner has done multiple exhibition programs to the song as well.^{[citation needed]}
• The song appears in the video games Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol and Thrillville: Off the Rails.
• The song was used for the 2006-2007 Pantene shampoo television and radio advertisements in English-speaking and other markets.
• The song is the theme for Ayla Besemer's video weblog, From the PilotHouse (about life on the ship Three@Sea).
• The song appears in the Rumspringa episode of Cold Case
• This song was the longest theme song in a commercial in the Philippines for the Shampoo, Pantene. This commercial was from 2000 - 2010.

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Unwritten".

UK 2-track CD

(Released November 29, 2004)

1. "Unwritten" (album version)
2. "Wild Horses" (live in Sydney)

UK maxi CD

(Released November 29, 2004)

1. "Unwritten" (album version)
2. "The Scientist" (live at BBC Radio One Live Lounge)
3. "If You're Gonna" (Paul Oakenfold Remix 7" Remix)
4. "Unwritten" (video)

International CD maxi

(Released February 7, 2005)

1. "Unwritten" (radio edit)
2. "The Scientist" (live at BBC Radio One Live Lounge)
3. "If You're Gonna" (Paul Oakenfold Remix 7" Remix)
4. "Unwritten" (album version)
5. "Unwritten" (video)

US ringle CD

(Released October 23, 2007)

1. "Unwritten" (album version)
2. "Unwritten" (Johnny Vicious Club Mix)
3. "Wild Horses" (live at the Nokia Theatre, New York)
4. "Unwritten" (ringtone)

Remixes/Official versions

1. "Unwritten" (Johnny Vicious Club)
2. "Unwritten" (Johnny Vicious Radio)
3. "Unwritten" (Johnny Vicious Warehouse)
4. "Unwritten" (Johnny Vicious Mixshow Edit)
5. "Unwritten" (Hani Num Club)
6. "Unwritten" (Hani Num Radio)
7. "Unwritten" (Hani Num Dub)
8. "Unwritten" (Special live acoustic performance for The N)
9. "Unwritten" (Ultimix Pt.1)
10. "Unwritten" (Ultimix Pt.2)

Release history

Region	Date
United Kingdom	November 29, 2004 (2004-11-29)
Worldwide	February 7, 2005 (2005-02-07)
United States	August 2, 2005 (2005-08-02)

Charts

Chart (2004/2005/2006)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart	6
Dutch Singles Chart	5
Irish Singles Chart	9
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	15
Russia Singles Chart	18
German Singles Chart	22
Australia ARIA Singles Chart	26
Spain Singles Chart	18
Swiss Singles Chart	26
Swedish Singles Chart	32
Canadian Singles Chart	4
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	5
U.S. Billboard Pop 100	1
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play	1
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks	1
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream	2
Hot 100 of 2006 Year-end charts	6

See also

• List of number-one dance singles of 2006 (U.S.)
• List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 2006 (U.S.)
• List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 2007 (U.S.)