It's My Life (Bon Jovi song)

Background

"It's My Life" has many classic Bon Jovi features, such as Richie Sambora's use of the talk box, and a line in the second verse "For Tommy and Gina, who never backed down" refers to Tommy and Gina, a fictional working class couple that Bon Jovi and Sambora first wrote about in their 1986 single "Livin' on a Prayer".

"It's My Life" references fellow New Jersey singer Frank Sinatra: "My heart is like an open highway / Like Frankie said / I did it 'My Way'." Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora apparently had a disagreement over those lines, with Bon Jovi recalling:

In Paul Anka's cover of the song for his 2005 album Rock Swings, he sings the second line as "Frankie said he did it my way", since Anka wrote the English lyrics for "My Way".

Reception

"Nobody had anticipated the song 'It's My Life'," noted Jon Bon Jovi in 2007. "Except us. We knew we had a hit." The song became an anthem that appealed to many fans. As Bon Jovi later stated: "I thought I was writing very self-indulgently about my own life and where I was in it. I didn't realize that the phrase 'It's My Life' would be taken as being about everyone – by teenagers, by older guys, mechanics, whatever. 'It's my life, and I'm taking control.' Everyone kind of feels that way from time to time."

Veteran critic Robert Christgau later hailed "It's My Life" as a "schlock-rock masterpiece" and "everyman anthem" with a lyric that is "all well-meaning Democrat-as-everyman Jon Bon Jovi".

Music video

The music video was directed by Wayne Isham. Will Estes (as Tommy) and Shiri Appleby (as Gina) are the two main characters. At the beginning, Tommy is watching a video of a Bon Jovi concert on his computer when he is ordered by his mother to take out the trash. Suddenly, Gina calls and tells him to immediately come to the tunnel as the live concert has already started. Tommy starts running down to his apartment and obediently takes out the trash. He then runs through the streets of Los Angeles up to the concert, getting chased by dogs, taking pictures of Elvis impersonators, running a marathon and jackknifing a truck. The video was inspired by the film Run Lola Run. Jon Bon Jovi met Estes on the set of U-571 and chose him to be in the video. The music video features the 2nd Street Tunnel as one of the main settings.

It is the most viewed video for Bon Jovi on YouTube, reaching 1 billion views (the band's first song to do so) by the end of June 2021.

Track listings

US 7-inch single :A. "It's My Life" :B. "Next 100 Years"

Australian maxi-CD single

1. "It's My Life"
2. "Hush" (demo version)
3. "You Can't Lose at Love" (demo)
4. "I Don't Want to Live Forever" (demo)
5. "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night" (enhanced video clip)

• Track five was recorded live by Tony Bongiovi at the Sanctuary II, New Jersey Web Concert on February 10, 2000

UK CD1

1. "It's My Life"
2. "Hush" (demo version)
3. "You Can't Lose at Love" (demo version)

• Includes poster UK CD2

1. "It's My Life" (Dave Bascombe mix)
2. "Temptation" (demo version)
3. "I Don't Want to Live Forever" (demo version)
4. "It's My Life" (enhanced video)

European CD single

1. "It's My Life"
2. "Hush" (demo version)

European and Japanese maxi-CD single

1. "It's My Life"
2. "Hush" (demo version)
3. "You Can't Lose at Love" (demo version)
4. "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night" (live video)

• Track four was recorded live by Tony Bongiovi at the Sanctuary II, New Jersey Web Concert on February 10, 2000

Acoustic version

A much slower, acoustic ballad version of the song is included on Bon Jovi's 2003 album This Left Feels Right, a collection of their greatest hits that were adapted into new formats. This version was released as a single. A live performance was uploaded to YouTube in May 2020.

Awards

Won:

• Video of the Year at the VH1 My Music Awards
• Chosen as one of the greatest songs of the year at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards Nominated:
• Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards, but lost to U2's "Beautiful Day"

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Pitbull version

| B-side =

• Jon Bon Jovi
• Richie Sambora
• Max Martin
• Armando C. Pérez
• IAmChino
• Jimmy Joker At the 25th Annual Latin Grammy Awards on November 14, 2024, rapper Pitbull performed a cover of "It's My Life" under the title "Now or Never", featuring Jon Bon Jovi on chorus. The song was released on streaming platforms on the same day.

The two artists first met at the 2017 Songwriters Hall of Fame. On September 12, 2024, during Pitbull's show at the Jones Beach Theater in Long Island, Jon Bon Jovi made a surprise appearance before the duo performed "It's My Life". After the show, Pitbull posted on his Instagram account: "Always an honor! To all the fans, get ready for our new collab coming soon."

The song hit number thirty-six on Billboard's Pop Airplay chart in 2025, becoming Bon Jovi's first song to chart on that chart since "Who Says You Can't Go Home" hit number thirty nearly 20 years ago.

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Notes

References

References

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