What About Now (Daughtry song)

For the song by country music band Lonestar, see What About Now (Lonestar song).

"What About Now"
Song

"What About Now" is the seventh single from American rock band Daughtry's eponymous debut album. The song is a ballad, that was written by Ben Moody, David Hodges (both former members of Evanescence), and Josh Hartzler, who is married to Amy Lee (the lead singer of Evanescence) It is one of only two songs on the album not at least co-written by Chris Daughtry. The song was announced as the band's next single on their website. It was officially released in the U.S. on July 1, 2008.

Music video

The music video, directed by Kevin Kerslake, premiered Friday July 11 on FNMTV Premieres, where it got a standing ovation at FNMTV Studio. The video can now be viewed on the band's official site.

The video is a social commentary, depicting several people and places affected by poverty, natural disasters, and war, as well as other world issues. Several comments are made about these issues, and the video also asks introspective questions to the viewer. Certain people who are working to help these problems are shown throughout the video, with their names and what they're associated with listed. The video features a light bulb that has not yet burned out, which symbolizes that it's not too late to make a difference. The video concludes with one final question to the viewer, "What About Now?", shown next to the burning light bulb. A few shots of the band playing the song live are also shown in the video.

Song usage

The song was used on the February 21, 2008 episode of the seventh season of American Idol, in a video package showcasing the season's top 24. An acoustic version of the song was performed by the band on a trip to Uganda, Africa in aid of the April 9, 2008 telecast of the fund raising charity event Idol Gives Back. The band performed in a small village surrounded by a group of underprivileged children that were heard singing along at one point, while a video also showed scenes of the band's trip.

The song was used in various episodes of The X-Factor in 2009.

Release history

Region	Date	Format
United States	July 1, 2008	CD, digital download
United Kingdom	October 2009

Chart performance

Raising money for Idol Gives Back, the acoustic performance of "What About Now" was put onto iTunes and debuted at #8 on the Billboard Hot Digital Songs chart, fueling a #18 debut on Billboard's Hot 100, the band's highest debuting song to date, as well as their fourth top twenty Hot 100 hit. It also entered at #17 on the Canadian Hot 100, giving the band their fourth top twenty hit there as well. It achieved these peaks over two months before the song's official release.

Following "What About Now"'s official release, the song has become the band's fifth consecutive top ten hit on the Adult Top 40, so far reaching #3. This is an all time record for the most top ten hits from a debut album on the Adult Top 40 chart. This also ties the album with Kelly Clarkson's Breakaway and Nickelback's All the Right Reasons for the most Adult Top 40 top tens from any album. On the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks, the song peaked at #3. It is their third top ten hit on the chart, making them the only rock band to ever have three top tens from one album on the chart. The song also entered the top twenty on Mainstream Top 40 radio, peaking at #19 in October 2008, their fifth consecutive top twenty hit on the format. As such, the song re-entered the Hot 100 at #94 on the chart week of September 6, 2008, and climbed to #29 upon its re-entry.

The song entered the UK singles charts in May 2009 after being featured during a montage on Britain's Got Talent, and in August 2009 re-entered after being featured during the premiere of the 6th season of X-Factor

On October 4, 2009, Daughtry entered the BBC UK Chart Top 40 at #39 and has climbed to #11.

Chart (2008)	Peak position
Canadian Hot 100	17
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	18
U.S. Billboard Pop 100	21
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks	3
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks	3
Chart (2009)	Peak position
Irish Singles Chart	30
UK Singles Chart	11

Westlife version

"What About Now"
Song

"What About Now" was also recorded by Irish boyband Westlife for their upcoming tenth album, Where We Are. It was released as the lead single from the new album on October 25 2009 for download and October 26 as a physical single. The producer for the track is Steve Robson.

On October 25, the group appeared on The X-Factor to perform and for a brief interview on spin-off show The Xtra Factor. The group also performed the following day on GMTV with an interview and webchat to follow before appearing on October 30 on The One Show for an interview.

Reception

The song has received mixed reviews, so far. Nick Levine from Digital Spy gave to the song and commented that: "Their version for the "Daughtry song" is no great reinvention, adding a lick of extra pop gloss to the manly balladry of the original. The strings swell like Louis Walsh's bank balance, the chorus is as big and stirring as Goliath's sugar spoon, and the boys deliver every line with their usual note-perfect earnestness. Cynical and predictable? Oh yes, but this is ruthlessly effective too."

Tracklisting

1. "What About Now"
2. "You Raise Me Up" (Live at Croke Park)

Release history

Region	Date	Format
Ireland	October 23, 2009	Digital download, CD single
United Kingdom	October 25, 2009	Digital download
	October 26, 2009	CD single