"Swear It Again" is a song by Irish boy bandWestlife. It was released on 19 April 1999 in the United Kingdom, and on 25 February2000 in the United States as the first and only single from their self-titled debut album Westlife. This is the best-selling debut single of all-time from an Irish citizen. It peaked at number one in the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in May 1999. It moved to 182,000 units in the first two weeks of its release, and spent 13 weeks on the charts. This made it the first of fourteen UK number-one singles. To date, "Swear It Again" is Westlife's only single to have charted in the US, peaking at number 20 on the BillboardHot 100 and ranking number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100 year-end charts, in 2000. The song was performed live on Miss Teen USA 2000. The single has sold over 600,000 copies to date in the UK and the US and also achieved gold status there. It is the band's ninth most streamed song, fifth best selling single in combined sales category and seventh best selling single in paid-for sales category in the United Kingdom as of January 2019. While it is their fifth most streamed song of all time from their home country, the Republic of Ireland as of 2 April 2019.
Background
"Swear It Again" is notable for being, along with "Flying Without Wings", one of the first two songs that Steve Mac wrote for both Westlife and Simon Cowell. The success of the two tracks led to Mac becoming Cowell's first choice producer and songwriter. It was revealed that Cowell let his late father Eric Cowell listened to all of the songs recorded by the band at that time and decide what will be the debut single and "Swear It Again" was his choice. Significantly, his father died during the premiere week of the release of the single. The song's B-side, "Forever", was a significant choice because it was the song - as originally recorded by Damage - that first alerted Cowell to the talent of Steve Mac and then led to the producer working with Westlife. It was composed in the traditional verse–chorus form in A major, with Filan and Feehily's vocal ranging from the chords of B3 to F#5. It was supposed to be released in 26 March 1999 but was pushed back to 12 April 1999. An exclusive live track version of the single was included in the Arista Records 25th anniversary compilation album in 2000.
Music video
The British music video features the band members in a mini theatre and singing on a stage fitted with lighting panel flooring while they face a screen with black-and-white videos of their studio recording process. This version was directed by Wayne Isham and aired in May 1999. The video was shot at Pinewood Studios in March 1999. The video on YouTube has 49 million views as of June 2019. The American music video features the band members at a car wash and subsequently washing a white car as they're singing the song. This version was directed by Nigel Dick and aired in June 2000. The American version of the video has 1.8 million views on YouTube as of June 2019.
