Released 19 November 2002 Length 3:43 | Genre Rock Label Arista | |
Format CD single, digital download, DVD single Writer(s) Avril Lavigne, Lauren Christy, Scott Spock, Graham Edwards | ||
"I'm with You" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne for her debut album, Let Go. It was released on November 19, 2002 by Arista Records as the album's third single. The song was Lavigne's first ballad released as a single. It was the second Lavigne song to be nominated for a Grammy in the categories Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 2004 Grammy Awards.
Contents
The song reached number four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 (Lavigne's third single to reach the top ten), number five in New Zealand, number seven in the United Kingdom and number 18 in Canada. "I'm with You" received radio and television airplay in Australia, but it was not officially released there.
Chart performance
"I'm with You" became Lavigne's third top 10 song when it peaked at #4 on Billboard Hot 100 in 2003 during its ninth week on the chart. The song spent ten consecutive weeks on the top 10 and twenty-seven weeks on the Hot 100 making it Lavigne's second-longest staying song on this chart, surpassed by her debut single "Complicated" which stayed on the chart for 31 weeks. "I'm with You" ranked at #18 on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2003 and #13 on the Canadian Singles Chart. The song was certified gold by Recording Industry Association of America in 2006 for sales of over 500,000 copies in the United States. As of July 2013, I'm with You had sold 556,000 digital copies in the US. As a double-A-side DVD single, the "I'm with You"/"Sk8er Boi" video single was certified gold and platinum in 2003.
In United Kingdom, "I'm with You" was released on March 31, 2003. The song debuted and peaked at #7 on the UK Singles Chart in 2003, becoming her third top ten single on the chart; the song re-entered in UK Singles Chart in the week of 17 December 2011 in #58. It debuted at #6 and peaked at #5 in Ireland, staying in the top ten for six weeks. "I'm with You" reached top five in New Zealand; top ten in Belgium and the Netherlands; top twenty in Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Norway, and Denmark as well as reaching the top forty in France. The song re-entered the UK Singles Chart on December 10, 2011 at #58, almost 10 years after the song first charted.
Music video
The single's music video, directed by renowned photographer David LaChapelle, involves Lavigne, who is seen alone, trying to find someone, whilst her band members play the song alone in the streets. Showing her originally at a party, the video also sees Lavigne pushing a guy when he tries to get with her. Most of the video is shown in slow motion but Lavigne's mouth movements are in sync with the song's vocals. This was achieved by recording the footage while the song was played twice as fast. The video also sees Lavigne walking on the streets and wearing a black jacket. Through the video, she is seen standing behind a snowy bank. At the end of the video, Lavigne walks out of the club with her coat on, kicks out the door and walks away. Much Music named the video one of the "Top 100 Best Videos of All Time". The music video was originally meant to end with Lavigne walking out of the club to her band mates, who then greet her and walk off together into the distance.
It was at least partly filmed in Los Angeles. The street shots were filmed on Broadway, and the Orpheum Theatre is seen.
Reception
The song received acclaim from music critics. The arrangement of singles from Let Go, with "I'm with You" as the third, was regarded as "controversial choices", given that "I'm with You" was "thought by some to be the biggest potential smash on the album", and could have established Lavigne as a more mature artist if it was released first. According to Reid, "Some people just really didn't get that. And with the first video, there was some concern that maybe because it's so young and so playful, it might alienate more serious music lovers." KidsWorld called it "the perfect song to drown your sorrows to when that guy from your class breaks your heart."
In media, covers and samples
"I'm with You" was later featured in the season 3 Scrubs episode "My Tormented Mentor", in the Smallville episode "Accelerate" and in the movie Bruce Almighty. The song was also used in the 2003 Brazilian soap opera Mulheres Apaixonadas. Furthermore, it was featured in the video game Karaoke Revolution Volume 2 and in Singstar Rock Ballads.
Rihanna sampled the song on her track "Cheers (Drink to That)", which was released as a single. Lavigne made an appearance in the music video.
Awards
"I'm with You" was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Song of the Year, and for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance but lost to Luther Vandross's "Dance with My Father" and Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" respectively.
Certifications
(*) Note: The Platinum-award in the US are for the songs "I'm With You" and "Sk8er Boi" combined in a video single format.