"No One" is a song by American R&B and soul
singer–songwriter Alicia Keys from her third studio album,
As I Am(2007). Written and produced by Keys, Kerry
Brothers, Jr., and George D. Harry, and released as the album's
lead single in September 2007, this is overall Keys' biggest
hit to date, having topped several singles charts, including
the Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks and the Hot
R&B/Hip-Hop Songs for ten consecutive weeks. "No One" was
ranked at number forty-two on The
BillboardHot 100 All-Time Top Songs and number fourteen
on the Top
BillboardHot 100 R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. It is her second
solo number-one single in the United States after 2001's
"Fallin'". In 2009 the song was named number six on the
BillboardHot 100 Songs of the Decade.
The song won Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best
R&B Song at the 2008 Grammy Awards on February 10, 2008.
During the ceremony, Keys performed it in a duet with John
Mayer. "No One" was also the most listened song on U.S. radio
of 2008 with 3.08 billion listeners.
Keys told MTV News Canada that the song "is really talking
about the way that in relationships, the way that so many
things are around you all the time to try to distract you. And
even though people may talk and say whatever they may want to
say, but then no one can get in the way of this."
The song was first heard in August 2007 after Keys included
a clip of the song in a newsletter on her official website and
fan club. It was released officially on September 10, 2007, and
its radio premiere was on Atlanta's WVEE on August 29.
Keys performed a medley of "No One" with George Michael's
"Freedom! '90" at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards on September
9. Remixes of the song featuring Lil' Kim, Damian Marley,
Junior Reid, Beenie Man, Barbee, and Kanye West exist. The
official remix has a different but similar beat from the
original version and features rapper Cassidy, it was produced
by Swizz Beatz.
It was ranked at number three on the recap of The 10 Best
Songs of 2007 by
Entertainment Weekly, while it was voted number
twenty-three in
The Village Voice
's 2007 Pazz & Jop
critics' poll (tied with Modest Mouse's "Dashboard", R. Kelly's
"I'm a Flirt" (Remix) featuring T.I. and T-Pain, and Avril
Lavigne's "Girlfriend").
With only one full day of airplay, "No One" debuted at
number sixty-five on the U.S.
BillboardHot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart the week of
September 8, 2007. Seven weeks later, it reached the top
position for ten weeks—becoming Keys' fifth number-one single
on the chart—before being knocked out by her own song "Like
You'll Never See Me Again" the first charting week of 2008. The
song initially debuted at number fifteen on the Bubbling Under
Hot 100 Singles the week of September 15, 2007, and managed to
jump to the Hot 100 at number seventy-one the following week
without the benefit of download sales. The following week, it
rose to number fifteen because of digital downloads, and
reached the top spot the charting week of December 1, 2007,
staying atop for five weeks, preventing Timbaland and
OneRepublic's hit "Apologize" from reaching the summit. It is
Keys' first solo single to reach number one on the Hot 100
since her debut single 2001's "Fallin'" and her third single,
to date, to top the chart. The song's success marked Keys'
return to the top twenty of the
BillboardHot 100 in three years; her last appearance
occurred with the number-twenty entry "Karma". Furthermore, "No
One" went on to top eleven other charts: the Hot 100 Airplay
(for fourteen weeks in a row, the longest run atop the chart
since Mariah Carey's 2005 hit "We Belong Together" spent
sixteen weeks at number one), the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay,
the Hot Adult R&B Airplay, the Pop 100, the Pop 100
Airplay, the Top 40 Mainstream, the Rhythmic Top 40, the Hot
Digital Songs, the Hot Digital Tracks, the Hot RingMasters, and
the Hot Videoclip Tracks. The song was ranked number three on
the Top Hot 100 Hits of 2008.
"No One" was a massive success in Europe, reaching number
two on the composite European Hot 100 Singles as well as
topping the singles chart in Switzerland and Hungary, while
charting inside the top five in France, Germany, Italy,
Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, Slovakia,
and Turkey, and the top ten in the United Kingdom (where the
single became Keys' first solo top ten hit since "Fallin'",
peaking at number six, and sold in excess of 200,000 copies),
Ireland, Spain, Denmark, and Norway. "No One" has re-entered
the UK Singles Chart twice since its official release, both
times due television exposure (firstly after being performed by
an auditionee on
Britain's Got Talentand secondly after Keys herself
performed it within a medley on
The X Factor). In May 2009 it re-entered at number
fifty-four and in December 2009 it re-entered at number
fifty-one. In total "No One" has spent twenty-nine weeks inside
the UK top one hundred singles, making it by far her
longest-charting single in the UK. It also charted highly in
Oceania, spending three consecutive weeks at number three in
Australia and six non-consecutive weeks at number two in New
Zealand.
In the week between October 22–25, "No One" gained 14.3% in
radio airplay and audience impressions which marks the single
at number one.
As I Amwas also at number one that week.
The song's music video, directed by Justin Francis,
premiered on BET on September 24, 2007; it debuted on
106 and Parkat number ten the following day, and has
since peaked at number one. It premiered on Yahoo! Music on
September 25 at number five and peaked at number one, and it
premiered on
Total Request Liveon October 4 and peaked at number one.
It debuted on VH1's
VSpot Top 20 Countdownat number three, peaking at number
one. The video was ranked at number twenty-two on VH1's Top 40
Videos of 2007 and at number two on BET's "Notarized: Top 100
videos of 2007".
The video for "No One" consists of four settings: the first
one shows Keys lying on a chair in an empty room; the second
one is a musical instrument-decorated room in which Keys sings
accompanied by a keyboard; in the third one Keys is initially
alone, playing the piano on a rainy street, and she later finds
herself surrounded with dozens of people; in the fourth and
final one Keys is in a blue-lit nightclub. The video ends with
a gear divided into four fractions, each one featuring a
previously shown setting, and with Keys lying on the chair in
the same room shown at the very beginning of the video.
As of October 2009, the official video alone has had over
eighty-four million views on YouTube, and peaks at number five
on the website's rank of all-time most viewed videos as well as
number four on the rank of all-time most viewed videos in the
music category.
"No One" was used in the theatrical trailer for the 2008
romantic comedy film
27 Dresses, as well as in the
Ugly Bettyepisode "Burning Questions", originally aired
on May 1, 2008. Felicia Barton sang the song in the top 36
night on the March 3 show of
American Idol. Ten-year-old Natalie Okri performed the
song on
Britain's Got Talentin auditions 6 of the show, which
aired on May 16, 2009, receiving rave reviews from the judges
and a standing ovation from the audience. In the 2009 film
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, The Chipettes
sing the song with Filipina singer Charice Pempengco. This
version was released on the film's soundtrack on December 1,
2009.