Evergreen (Westlife song)

"Evergreen" is a song co-written by Jörgen Elofsson, Per Magnusson and David Kreuger, and originally recorded by Irish boy band Westlife. The song appears on their album World of Our Own (2001). It was composed in the traditional verse–chorus form in C major, with band members Shane Filan and Brian McFadden's vocal ranging from the chords of F#₃ to B₄.^[1]

"Evergreen"
Song by Westlife
from the album World of Our Own
Released	2001
Recorded	Olympic Studios, London, and A Side Productions' Studios, Stockholm
Length	4:07
Label	BMG
Songwriter(s)	Jorgen Elofsson Per Magnusson David Kreuger
Producer(s)	Per Magnusson David Kreuger

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

"Evergreen"
Single by Will Young
from the album From Now On
Released	25 February 2002 (2002-02-25)[2]
Recorded	2002
Length	4:07
Label	19 S RCA BMG
Songwriter(s)	Jörgen Elofsson Per Magnusson David Kreuger
Producer(s)	Per Magnusson David Kreuger
Will Young singles chronology
"Anything Is Possible" / "Evergreen" (2002) "Light My Fire" (2002)

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.^[3] 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).^[4] 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."^[4]

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,^[5] selling 403,027 copies on its day of release^[6] and over 1.1 million copies by the end of the week.^[7][8] 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.^[9] It was the biggest selling single of the 21st century in the UK until 2015,^[10] when it was overtaken by "Happy" by Pharrell Williams.^[11]

Music video

A music video for "Evergreen" was filmed in February 2002.^[12] 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."^[13]

Track listing

CD single^[14]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Anything Is Possible"	Cathy Dennis Chris Braide	Dennis Oskar Paul	3:41
2.	"Evergreen"	Jörgen Elofsson Per Magnusson David Kreuger	Magnusson Kreuger Elofsson[a]	4:13

Notes

• ^{^[a]} signifies a co-producer

Credits and personnel

Credits are lifted from the From Now On album booklet.^[3]

• 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 Weekly chart performance for "Evergreen" Chart (2002) Peak position Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[15] 13 Ireland (IRMA)[16] 2 Scotland (OCC)[17] 1 UK Singles (OCC)[18] 1

Year-end charts Year-end chart performance for "Evergreen" Chart (2002) Position Ireland (IRMA)[19] 9 UK Singles (OCC)[20] 1 Decade-end charts Decade-end chart performance for "Evergreen" Chart (2000–2009) Position UK Singles (OCC)[14] 1

Certifications

Certifications for "Evergreen"

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[21]	3× Platinum	1,790,000[22]

Release history

"Evergreen" release history

Region	Date	Label	Format(s)	Ref(s)
United Kingdom	25 February 2002	19 S RCA BMG	CD single	[23]