"Unwritten" is a song by English singer Natasha Bedingfield for her debut studio albumof the same name. It was released on 29 November 2004 as the third single from the album. The song was written by Bedingfield, Danielle Brisebois, and Wayne Rodrigues and produced by Rodrigues and Brisebois. The single was released as the album's third UK single and second US single. In 2006, "Unwritten" became the theme song for the MTVreality television series The Hills. It reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her first top-10 hit in the United States.
The song is Bedingfield's most successful single in the US, along with "Pocketful of Sunshine"; both songs peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. On US radio, "Unwritten" was one of the most played songs during 2006, and its single was certified platinum in the U.S. Additionally, "Unwritten" was met with critical acclaim and industry recognition, with critics praising the composition and positive lyrics. At the 49th Grammy Awards, "Unwritten" was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Two different music videos were made to promote the song: one was shot in 2004 in the UK for international release; the other one was shot in New York in 2005 for release in North America. Both versions received airplay in Latin America.
Original version
The original version of the video, directed by Michael Gracey, shows Bedingfield as the cover of a small animated book in a large library as it climbs an amazingly large bookshelf. As it gets higher the shelf becomes more like a cliff, even snowing at the top. At the top the book sees a dove and falls off. As the small book is torn apart in the fall, people pick up the pages and look up into the sky. The video may be seen to elaborate the lyric as an oblique spiritual narrative of striving to ascend (and reach a heavenly dove), while the lyric also reflects Bedingfield's concerns at this time with the process of writing, concerns perhaps more clearly expressed in "These Words", also featured on the "Unwritten" album.
North American version
The North American version, directed by Chris Applebaum, shows Bedingfield in an elevator. As the elevator stops at each floor, she experiences different things, including running into a park from the elevator where she sings to the camera as the sun shines brightly behind her, comforting a crying woman who kisses the wall of the elevator with red lipstick before she leaves, dancing on a street with a group of children as they are sprayed by water, watching a janitor throw away his money and watches, singing with a church choir, standing next to a couple kissing madly, and finding a potential romance with a man (portrayed by Keith Carhill) who enters the elevator and follows her after she exits.
According to a TRL interview, Bedingfield chose to make the scene where she gets wet because while filming the North American version of her "These Words" video it was a very hot and sunny day in Rio de Janeiro. This scene occurs during the second chorus.
Reception
Critical reception
Reviews of "Unwritten" were generally positive, especially regarding the lyrics and production. For Allmusic, Johnny Loftus called the song a "bubblingly positive title track".[2] For BBC Music, David Hooper commented: "A Trumpton-like acoustic guitar permeates the marvellously uplifting title track 'Unwritten', with more of those fabulous harmonies and a gospel choir added in for good effect."[3]MusicOMH critic David Welsh wrote that the song showed Bedingfield to have "an uncanny knack for the hooky chorus."[4] Adrien Begrand of PopMatters praised the song as "downright joyous, buoyed by a lilting acoustic guitar and a sing-along chorus".[5] Bill Lamb of About.com called the song "a rousing general statement about developing a positive self image".[6]
Virgin Media, in contrast, had a more mixed review, suggesting similarity to Alanis Morissette and concluding: "It may sound like something from the self-help section, but it's a relief to discover that the cliches are kept to a minimum."[7]
In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked "Unwritten" no. 13 out of 20 "graduation songs" since the 1990s for having "an inspiring gospel-choir refrain about the wide-open potential of the future."[8]
Commercial performance
Bedingfield performing "Unwritten".
"Unwritten" peaked at number five for two weeks on the Hot 100 and stayed in the chart for 38 weeks, thirteen of those inside the top ten, eventually appearing at number six on the 2006 Hot 100-year-end chart. Estimated sales in the United States for "Unwritten" are 2,731,000 as of June 2011.[9] This was the third highest ranking for a female artist for 2006 behind "Hips Don't Lie" by Shakira and Wyclef Jean, and "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado and Timbaland.
The song also proved very popular in other radio formats in the United States. The Johnny Vicious and Hani Club Mixes peaked at number one on the Dance Club Play and number two on the Dance Radio Airplay chart, while the original version went to number two on the Adult Top 40 and spent ten weeks at number one on the Adult Contemporary chart. "Unwritten" was not as successful in the United Kingdom as her previous chart-topping hit "These Words", but made an impressive showing on the charts, peaking at number six. It is one of her few singles to peak higher in the US than in the UK.
Legacy
Nielsen Media Research ranked "Unwritten" the second most-played song on US radio stations in 2006.[10]
Bedingfield performed the song at the Concert for Diana. Bedingfield performed this, alongside "Pocketful of Sunshine" in the season 7 finale of the Canadian series Degrassi: The Next Generation.[11] It is the theme song to the popular MTV series, The Hills.[12] Bedingfield later re-recorded another, slower version of "Unwritten" with production team Carney for use in the final episode of The Hills. A 2019 remix version appears as the theme song in The Hills sequel series, The Hills: New Beginnings.[13]
BBC would use the song as the closing montage following England's defeat to Portugal in the UEFA Euro 2004 quarterfinals.[14]
It is featured on the episode "Welcome to the Dollhouse", from the series Pretty Little Liars. In 2006, the Bratz released a cover of the song on a special edition of their soundtrack album, Bratz: Forever Diamondz.
The song saw a resurgence in popularity following its inclusion in the film Anyone but You in late 2023; it was subsequently used to soundtrack a number of TikTok videos.[18]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. † Streaming-only figures based on certification alone.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 9. týden 2024 in the date selector. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 9. týden 2024 in the date selector. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
