When You Believe

"When You Believe"
Song

"When You Believe" is an Academy Award-winning song composed by Stephen Schwartz for the DreamWorks animated feature The Prince of Egypt. A pop version of "When You Believe" was produced as a single with additional music by writer-producer Babyface for the film's soundtrack album. It was the main theme of the film and was released as a single by American singers Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey as the soundtrack's first single in 1998 (see 1998 in music); it was also the first single from Houston's album My Love Is Your Love and the second from Carey's compilation album #1's. A 're-worked' version of "When You Believe" was the coronation song and debut single by the winner of the fourth series of The X Factor, Leon Jackson, and the British Christmas Number One of 2007. The first 18 notes of the song are the same as those of the Chinese composition "Dance of the Yao People".

Production and recording

File:WhenYouBelieve-mvc.JPG

A scene from the music video.

In the film, this song of inspiration is performed by the characters Tzipporah (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Miriam (sung by Sally Dworsky). The protagonists of this ballad recall tough times that have them questioning their faith: they have prayed for many nights to God but those prayers seem to remain unanswered, and they wonder if they are wasting their time. Nevertheless, they realize that although times may be difficult, "there can be miracles when you believe" in God.

For the commercial pop single, Babyface was enlisted as the song's producer to make it more friendly to pop markets. The major change was that the section of the song featuring a children's Hebrew choir was removed and replaced with a new bridge.

"When You Believe" won the 1999 Academy Award for "Best Original Song" and was nominated for a Golden Globes for "Best Original Song". It also received a Golden Satellite Award nomination for "Best Original Song in a Motion Picture". It was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals", losing to "I Still Have That Other Girl" by Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello. As Carey is part Latin, she and Houston were also nominated for "Outstanding Performance of a Song for a Feature Film" at the ALMA Awards.

The single's video was filmed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and shows Houston and Carey in a dark studio accented by Egyptian settings, backdrops, and scenes inspired by The Prince of Egypt. An audience is on hand to emulate a concert like setting. Occasionally, home video clips of Mariah and Whitney appear throughout the video. The video ends as the room is illuminated, and the two singers are joined by a large choir. A few variations of the song exist, including an extended version with a longer intro and bridge which can be found on The Prince of Egypt soundtrack, a television track, and an instrumental version.

Controversy

Conflict arose between Stephen Schwartz and Babyface after Schwartz left Babyface's name off the submission sheet for the Academy Awards when the song had been nominated for "Best Original Song". Schwartz had argued that Babyface should not receive Oscar credit as his version of the song (with Houston and Carey) contained additional musical elements (such as the new bridge) which had not been part of the original as heard in the film. Houston and Carey performed Babyface's version of the song live at the Academy Awards ceremony in 1999; however, only Schwartz was awarded the Oscar.

Chart performance

Years of media speculation of a feud between Houston and Carey led to expectations that a duet would be a great hit and break many chart records, especially as they were successive record-holders for a single with the most weeks at number one. Although a hit, "When You Believe" didn't make the Top 10 as expected, peaking at #15 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. It fitted a trend of Carey singles during this period of high sales and low airplay, and most of Houston's singles before and after the release of "When You Believe" were far more successful. It remained on the Hot 100 for nineteen weeks and reached the top five on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart, and it was both Houston and Carey's first single to appear on the new Top 40 Tracks chart. It was certified gold by the RIAA, and did make the Hot 100 1999 year-end charts, coming in at number ninety-nine.

The single was even more successful outside the U.S., as it reached #1 in Spain, the top five in the United Kingdom and most of continental Europe, and like America, was a top twenty success in Australia.

Charts

Chart (1998)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	15
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks	14
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary	3
U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40	8
Israeli Singles Chart	1
Spain Top 20 Singles	1
Sweden Top 60 Singles	1
Switzerland Top 100 Singles	1
United World Chart	2
Italy Singles Chart	3
UK Singles Chart	4
France Top 100 Singles	5
Netherlands Top 100 Singles	5
Germany Singles Chart	8
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	13
Canada Singles Chart	26

Covers

Leon Jackson version

"When You Believe"
Song
B-side	"Home", "Fly Me to the Moon"

In December 2007, a version of this song, re-written by Stephen Schwartz, was recorded by the winner of the fourth series of The X Factor, Leon Jackson. The single was available to download from midnight after the result of the show on 15 December 2007, and a CD was rush-released mid-week, on 19 December 2007. This is unusual as most new singles are released on a Monday to gain maximum sales for the UK Singles Chart the following Sunday, although the previous two X Factor winners have had their singles released in this fashion, in order for them to compete to be the Christmas number-one single, which they all duly became. A video for the single was made by the final four of the series; Jackson, Rhydian Roberts, Same Difference and Niki Evans. However, only the winner's version of the song and video was released.

The song ended 2007 as the year's 4^th biggest-selling single in the UK and remained number one into 2008.. However, this version of the song only managed to stay in the top 40 for 7 weeks, despite being the fastest selling of 2007. It also soon disappeared from the top 100, and was gone by late February at the earliest.

Track listing

CD 1

1. "When You Believe"
2. "Home"
3. "Fly Me to the Moon"

Digital download

1. "When You Believe"

Music video

The music video, like previous X Factor winners singles, is very simple, with Jackson singing the song in front of a large projection, with swooping shots of various landscapes behind him. It also features several clips from his time in The X Factor, from his first audition to the moment he was announced the winner and performed his single to close the series. Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne, Dannii Minogue, Louis Walsh, Dermot O'Leary and runner-up Rhydian Roberts all feature within the clips.

Release history

Region	Date	Label	Format	Catalog
United Kingdom	December 16, 2007	Syco Music	Digital download	–
	December 19, 2007	Syco	CD single	-

Chart performance

The single got the iTunes UK number-one spot on the day of release, although a system error prevented most people from downloading the song in its first few days of release. On December 23, 2007 it debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, making it the coveted Christmas number one with sales of over 275,000 copies, and stayed at number one for three weeks until it fell down to number 5 on its 4th week and then fell another 10 places to #15 on week 5. It then dropped to 29 on week 6. It also spent three weeks at the top of the Irish Singles Chart (which, at the time, had been topped by the two previous X Factor winners in correct succession - Shayne Ward and Leona Lewis).

In Muzic Hitlist Hot 40 Singles, the song debuted at #1 in January 6, 2008's issue of the countdown. It is the fourth song to debut at number-one spot after "Obvious" by Westlife, "Day You Said Goodnight" by Hale and "This Is My Now" version of Blake Lewis debuted on top. "When You Believe" maintained its position in five straight weeks at #1.

Chart (2007)	Peak position
UK Singles Charts	1
Irish Singles Charts	1
United World Chart	13
UK Singles Year End Chart 2007	4

American Idol Season 7

On American Idol's Season 7, David Archuleta performed his version on the show on 15 April 2008. A studio-recorded version is available.

I'd Do Anything

In Week 9 of I'd Do Anything, the song was performed by Manx entrant Samantha Barks.

Chloë Agnew version

Celtic Woman member, Chloë Agnew covered it for her self-titled album as she asked David Downes if she could record it.

References

External links

• YouTube - Whitney & Mariah version
• YouTube - Leon Jackson version