Evergreen (Westlife song)

Credits and personnel

• Written by Jörgen Elofsson, Per Magnusson and David Kreuger
• Published by BMG Music Publishing / Good Ear Music / Peer Music / Warner-Chappell Music
• Produced and arranged by Per Magnusson and David Kreuger for A Side Productions
• Co-produced by Jörgen Elofsson
• Stockholm Session Orchestra arranged and conducted by Ulf and Henrik Janson
• Recorded at Olympic Studios, London, and A Side Productions' Studios, Stockholm
• Engineered by Peter Lewis
• Assistant engineering by Tim Roe
• Orchestra recorded at R.O.A.M. Studios, Stockholm
• Orchestra engineered by Fredrik Andersson
• Mixed by Bernard Löhr at Olympic Studios, London, and Mono Studios, Stockholm
• Keyboards by Per Magnusson
• Programming by David Kreuger
• Guitars by Esbjörn Öhrwall
• Bass by Tomas Lindberg
• Backing vocals by Anders von Hofsten, Jeanette Olsson and United Colours of Sound
• Mastered by Richard Dowling at Transfermation

Will Young version

• 19
• S
• RCA
• BMG
• Jörgen Elofsson
• Per Magnusson
• David Kreuger
• Per Magnusson
• David Kreuger In 2002, the song was chosen to be the winner's single for the first series of Pop Idol and was recorded by the show's three finalists: Will Young, Gareth Gates and Darius Danesh. During the final, the song was performed by both Young and Gates. Young went on to win the show, and released "Evergreen" as a double A-side single, along with "Anything Is Possible", which was also recorded by the final three and performed by the final two. The song was later included on Young's debut album, From Now On (2002). Gates' version of the song was also released as a B-side to his single, "Unchained Melody".

Background

"Evergreen" was written by Swedish musicians Jörgen Elofsson, Per Magnusson, and David Kreuger. Westlife was less impressed with Young's version, dismissing the song chosen for the Pop Idol winner as one of the "weakest" on their third studio album World of Our Own (2001). Band member Kian Egan told BBC News: "When we heard the song at first we always knew it was going to be a great song. But when we recorded, it just wasn't a contender for our singles."

Chart performance

"Evergreen" went straight to the number one spot in the UK Singles Chart and stayed there for three consecutive weeks, before being knocked off the top spot by Gates' debut single, "Unchained Melody". It was the best-selling song of 2002 and was also the fastest-selling debut in UK chart history, selling 403,027 copies on its day of release and over 1.1 million copies by the end of the week. The song went on to sell over 1.79 million copies and in 2012 it appeared 14th in the official list of the all-time best-selling singles in the UK. It was the biggest selling single of the 21st century in the UK until 2015, when it was overtaken by "Happy" by Pharrell Williams.

Music video

A music video for "Evergreen" was filmed in February 2002. In 2011, Young express his dislike of the video in an interview with Elle magazine, saying: "I can't bear 'Evergreen' or 'Anything Is Possible', they're absolutely shocking. And you wouldn't believe the amount of money that was spent on those videos [...] Dreadful videos. At one moment it looks like I'm in love with a tree! Dreadful. Really odd. Dreadful. No, no, no. No."

Track listing

Notes

• signifies a co-producer

Credits and personnel

Credits are lifted from the From Now On album booklet.

• Fredrik Andersson – engineering
• Jörgen Elofsson – co-production, writing
• Henrik Janson – arrangement
• Ulf Janson – arrangement
• David Kreuger – production, programming, writing
• Peter Lewis – engineering
• Tomas Lindberg – bass
• Bernard Löhr – mixing
• Per Magnusson – production, writing
• Esbjörn Öhrwall – guitar
• Jeanette Olsson – backing vocals
• Stockholm Session Orchestra – orchestra
• Tim Roe – engineering assistance
• United Colours of Sound – backing vocals
• Anders von Hofsten – backing vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

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Release history

References

References

1. "Evergreen BY WESTLIFE - DIGITAL SHEET MUSIC".
2. (23 February 2002). "New Releases – For Week Starting 25 February 2002: Singles".
3. (13 February 2002). "Westlife dismiss Pop Idol song".
4. "Singer Will Young reveals why he is enjoying his role in Cabaret so much and his delight at landing a new record deal". Daily Record.
5. (9 January 2006). "FOR THE RECORD". [[Trinity Mirror]].
6. Wells, Matt. (4 March 2002). "Pop Idol Will faces Top of the Pops ban". [[The Guardian]].
7. White, Jack. (15 June 2019). "The Top 20 best-selling debut singles on the Official Singles Chart". Official Charts Company.
8. (4 November 2012). "UK's million-selling singles: the full list". [[The Guardian]].
9. "The Official Top 150 Biggest Selling Singles of the 21st Century revealed!". [[Official Charts Company]].
10. Copsey, Rob. (11 June 2015). "The Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Singles of the Millennium so far revealed". Official Charts Company.
11. (11 February 2002). "Will and Gareth jet off to film pop videos".
12. (24 December 2011). "Will Young slams first single".
13. (2002). "From Now On". [[19 Recordings]], [[Syco Music.
14. (23 March 2002). "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles".
15. (2002). "Top 100 Songs of 2002". [[Raidió Teilifís Éireann]].
16. "The Officia UK Singles Chart 2002". [[UKChartsPlus]].
17. (1 January 2009). "Will Young has biggest selling single of the decade". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
18. Copsey, Rob. (26 May 2015). "Will Young's Official biggest selling singles revealed: "I'm shocked by that!"". [[Official Charts Company]].
19. (23 February 2002). "New Releases – For Week Starting 25 February 2002: Singles".