Hero (Enrique Iglesias song)

Background

Iglesias stated that his high school days were the inspiration for the song. During a 2013 radio interview with Ryan Seacrest, he stated, "I went back to when I was 17 in high school, and this might be cheesy, but I thought about what would be the song I want to slow dance to with my prom date. When I wrote it, it felt good and ... I thought I know there is something special in this song."

"Hero" was first released on 3 September 2001, just eight days prior to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Due to the song's subject matter, it was one of the few songs chosen by radio DJs in New York City to be remixed with audio from police, firefighters, civilians at Ground Zero, and politicians commenting on the attacks. Iglesias was also asked to sing the song live at the America: A Tribute to Heroes, which took place on September 21. His performance was broadcast from a warehouse in New York alongside Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, and Sheryl Crow. The location of the warehouse was kept secret in case of further attacks. It was Iglesias's first televised performance of the song. He had performed the song earlier at that year's Miss Venezuela, but due to the terrorist attacks the show was not aired on television.

The song has a meaning of love and assurance with a desire to be a hero for the love of a woman.

Chart performance

"Hero" topped many charts in the US including the Billboard adult contemporary chart for fifteen weeks. On the latter, the song would re-enter the top ten a year later, the first song ever to do so. The song peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, though it is actually his most played song on the chart, outdoing prior singles "Bailamos" and "Be with You", both of which went to number one on the chart. A remixed recording also topped the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in January 2002.

In January 2002, the song was released in the UK, where it debuted at number 86 before jumping 85 places to number one, where it remained for four weeks. Up to this point, Iglesias had already had two hits in the UK ("Bailamos" and "Could I Have This Kiss Forever") but was largely unknown. "Hero" was seen as his breakthrough in the UK and it became the third best-selling single of 2002 there, whilst Escape was also the third best-selling album of the year. With sales of 836,500, "Hero" was the 17th best-selling single of the 2000s in the UK. In April 2015, it was announced that the song had sold 1 million copies in the UK.

In Australia, the song reached number one on the ARIA Chart, becoming his first number-one in that country. The song also topped the charts in Spain, Switzerland, the Philippines, Romania, Ireland and Canada. This is one of Iglesias' best-selling singles and has sold 8 million copies.

Music videos

The music video for "Hero" was directed by Joseph Kahn. It features Iglesias as an honorable criminal hunted by his enemies, whilst Jennifer Love Hewitt plays his love interest and Mickey Rourke plays one of the men hunting him. The video follows Iglesias and Hewitt running from their enemies in the desert. Finally, Iglesias' enemies track him down and confront him outside a church. The confrontation leads to Iglesias being floored by Rourke, before being struck with a baton. The video skips ahead where Iglesias and Hewitt are seen in the rain surrounded by police cars. Iglesias, though heavily injured, walks towards Hewitt and breaks down beside her. The video ends with Iglesias' death.

In addition to this video, a second video was made for the UK with less violence. The final shot of this video shows Iglesias' legs moving, suggesting that he's not dead. While originally made for the UK, this version has since replaced the original video on many music video stations throughout the world. It is also the version shown on Vevo and YouTube.

As of January 2017,the video has been viewed over 234 million times on YouTube.

Track listing

1. "Hero" (Album Version) – 4:24
2. "Hero" (Metro Mix – English Version) – 3:28
3. "Bailamos" (Album Version) – 3:37
4. "Hero" (Video) – 4:24

1. "Hero" (Metro Mix – English Version) – 4:19
2. "Hero" (Ventura & Colombo Remix) – 3:43
3. "Hero" (Metro Mix – Spanish Version) – 4:19
4. "Hero" (Thunderpuss Radio Edit) – 3:18

1. "Hero" (Radio Edit) – 4:11
2. "Be With You" (Thunderpuss Radio Mix) – 3:56
3. "Hero" (Metro Mix – Spanish Version) – 4:19

1. "Hero" (Radio Edit) – 4:11
2. "Be With You" (Thunderpuss 2000 Remix) – 7:46
3. "Hero" (Metro Mix – Spanish Version) – 3:28

1. "Hero" (Album Version) – 4:27
2. "Escape" (Album Version) – 3:30
3. "Hero" (Instrumental Version) – 4:23

Television and film soundtracks

"Hero" has become wildly popular due in part to the fact that it has been featured in many television shows and movies around the world. The earliest appearance of the song on an American television show was on a 2001 episode of The WB show Smallville entitled "Craving". Since then the song has been featured in such American sitcoms and reality television shows as Scrubs, Saturday Night Live: The Best of Jimmy Fallon, Glee, The X Factor, So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing with the Stars and the mini-series I Love the New Millennium The song has also been featured in such international television shows as Hinter Gittern – Der Frauenknast and So You Think You Can Dance Canada. Numerous films also feature the song, including Hot Tub Time Machine, Premios Amigo 2001, Zoom, Lady Godiva, Drillbit Taylor, Don Quixote, and Beverly Hills Chihuahua.

Although the song has appeared in many television shows and movies the first televised performance of the song was scheduled to be Iglesias's performance of the song at Miss Venezuela on 11 September 2001, but this performance was not televised due to the terrorist attacks on that day. The actual first televised performance of the song was when Iglesias performed the song at the America: A Tribute to Heroes concert on 21 September, ten days after the attacks.