"You're Not Alone" is a song written by Tim Kellett and Robin Taylor-Firth and performed by Olive on the 1996 album Extra Virgin. First released as a single in August 1996, it found greater success in 1997 in a remixed version, reaching number one on the UK Singles Chart that May. The song has been covered by a number of artists, most notably by German trance DJ and producer ATB in 2002, Danish singer-songwriter Mads Langer in 2009, in 2017 by Scotty Boy and Lizzie Curious, and reworked by SaberZ and Zanny Duko in 2020 under the name, "Open Your Mind".
Larry Flick from Billboard described the song as a "lush, ambient tune that has the dark and torchy texture of Everything But The Girl, but with a far more mainstream-friendly, classic-soul flavor." He added that singer Ruth-Ann Boyle "brings a rich, smoky quality to the song, while musicians Robin Taylor-Firth and Tim Kellett underline her performance with sweet, swirling strings and jittery breakbeatstyled percussion."[2]Daily Record called it a "hypnotic dance chart-topper", noting that features former Simply Red "keyboard wiz" Kellett.[3] Ian Hyland from Sunday Mirror gave the song 8 out of 10. He commented, "No, not the greasy woman out of 'On The Buses' but a top dance groove techno type group who sound a bit European but have turned up this pearler of a club monster all the same. Remixes galore make it hard to ignore but if you are a Friday nighter, you'will have heard it already."[4]
Music video
Three entirely different music videos were filmed for "You're Not Alone". The first video features all three band members Ruth-Ann Boyle, Tim Kellett and Robin Taylor-Firth appearing in spectral forms in a hotel room. The second video is the version which is seen the most and is set in a dark night-time setting in France. It features all three band members and includes scenes in a public toilet, and by a road with glowing headlights of cars. A third video (which also includes elements from the second) is a montage of the band members in dark, moody urban settings. This video only features the remaining two band members, Boyle and Kellett.
German trance producer and disc jockey ATBcovered the song and released it as a single on 15 April 2002 in Germany.
Part of the radio edit of the song was used for seven seconds in episode four, "Are We Alone?", of the 2001 BBC series Space. The clip included a computer generated earth and the 'camera' rushing past it into deep space.
The US CD release by Radikal Records had a cover misprint indicating the identical 4 track list as the 12-inch record release, however the CD contained 5 tracks.
Danish singer-songwriter Mads Langer released a cover version of the song on 14 December 2009. The song charted in Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and the Netherlands. The cover version was later included on Langer's first international studio album, Behold which was released on 9 May 2011.
Hungarian DJ-producer duo SaberZ and American DJ-producer Zanny Duko released a remix of the song on 6 April 2020 titled, "Open Your Mind".[62]
Background
In early 2019, Zanny Duko originally worked on the song alone and labeled it a remix in his sets online. Later in June, he sent the remix to SaberZ as a demo. Then, in July, the song was first premiered at the Tomorrowland mainstage by W&W, where it received positive feedback. In October, Zanny Duko invited a small group of people to listen to the full track for the first time as a private test release. That same month, during a set by SaberZ and Jaxx & Vega at ADE 2019, the song was played live once again. On 6 April 2020, it was released on W&W's label, Rave Culture with the title, "Open Your Mind".
In 2009 the song was sampled by British rapper Tinchy Stryder on the song "You're Not Alone". It was released as a single from his second studio album, Catch 22 on 26 October 2009.
In 2017, a version by Scotty Boy and Lizzie Curious went to number one on the US Dance Club Songs chart.[64]
A singer under the name Astræa (Jennifer Ann) released a version for the 2018 Lloyds TV advert.[65]
^You're Not Alone (UK CD1 liner notes). Olive. RCA Records, Bertelsmann Music Group. 1997. 74321473232.CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^You're Not Alone (UK CD2 liner notes). Olive. RCA Records, Bertelsmann Music Group. 1997. 74321473252.CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^You're Not Alone (US maxi-CD single liner notes). Olive. RCA Records, Bertelsmann Music Group. 1997. 07863 64905-2.CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^"Hits of the World: Denmark (IFPI/Nielsen Marketing Research) 06/19/97". Billboard. Vol. 109 no. 27. Nielsen Business Media. 5 July 1997. p. 41. ISSN0006-2510.