I Never Told You

"I Never Told You" is a song by the American pop singer-songwriter Colbie Caillat from her second album Breakthrough (2009). The song was released on February 16, 2010 in the United States as the second single. The song is a power ballad in E-flat major and was written by Caillat, Jason Reeves and Kara DioGuardi and produced by DioGuardi. The song talks about the love the singer still has for her lover they felt strongly about at one point in their life. The song received positive reviews from music critics. In the charts, the song has performed moderately well, it has peaked at #48^[1] on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the Adult Pop Songs.^[2]

"I Never Told You"
Single by Colbie Caillat
from the album Breakthrough
Released	February 16, 2010
Recorded	Summer 2007
Genre	Pop rock
Length	3:53 (album version) 3:48 (single mix)
Label	Universal Republic
Songwriter(s)	Colbie Caillat Kara DioGuardi Jason Reeves
Producer(s)	Kara DioGuardi
Colbie Caillat singles chronology
"Fallin' for You" (2009) "I Never Told You" (2010) "I Do" (2011)
Music video
"I Never Told You" on YouTube

Background

In 'I Never Told You,' Colbie Caillat reveals she still has feelings for a previous love and misses him.^[3] Caillat originally penned this song while touring Europe in her hotel bathroom. She told Starpulse.com: "I wrote it about someone I had broken up with that I was missing at the time." Later, the song was completed during a three-week "writing camp" in Hawaii that Caillat organized with fellow singer/songwriter Jason Reeves and American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi.^[4]

Critical reception

In the review of the album, Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine said that "Kara DioGuardi deserves some credit for helping Caillat deliver one of her most emotive performances to date on the melancholy "I Never Told You"; on any other record, the song would be easily tagged as mediocre filler, but here it's an album highlight".^[5]

Promotion

Colbie began promoting the song on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show on January 8, 2010.^[6] Later, she appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on March 11, 2010.^[7]

Music video

The official music video was directed by Roman White, and released on Vevo.com on April 2, 2010.^[8]

It involves scenes of Colbie singing while painting, couples breaking apart but eventually were brought back again including herself and her love interest. The music video uses a different mix of the song (the "Single Mix") which is shorter than the Album Version and repeats the line "Oh no, I never told you" towards the end of the song. This version of the song was released by Promo Only in July 2010. The music video has also landed in the number #1 spot on the VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown. She has gone to #1 twice on different occurrences during the show.

Chart performance

The song debuted at number 99 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on the week ending of April 10, 2010^[9] and peaked at number 48.

The song reached number three on Adult Pop Songs and number eleven on Adult Contemporary. It charted on Billboard Radio Songs and peaked at number 54, while peaking at number 43 on Hot Digital Songs chart.

"I Never Told You" was ranked at number 15 on the year-end tally for Adult Pop Songs. The song was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).^[10]

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2009–10) Peak position Canada AC (Billboard)[11] 42 Canada Hot AC (Billboard)[12] 36 US Billboard Hot 100[13] 48 US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[14] 11 US Adult Pop Airplay (Billboard)[15] 3

Year-end charts Chart (2010) Position US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[16] 18 US Adult Top 40 (Billboard)[17] 15

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil)[18]	Gold	30,000‡
United States (RIAA)[19]	2× Platinum	2,000,000‡
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Country	Date	Label	Format
United States	November 6, 2009	Universal Republic	Digital download (Imeem)
	February 16, 2010[20]	Universal Republic	Radio Adds
	June 29, 2010[21][22]	Universal Republic	Top 40 Mainstream Radio (radio version)

References

1. Billboard Charts Billboard.com Accessed in June 2010
2. I Never Told You Charts - by Billboard Billboard.com Accessed in June 2010
3. I Never Told You background Archived 2014-12-17 at the Wayback Machine AOL Radio Blog Retrieved January 4, 2010.
4. I Never Told You - songfacts Songfacts.com Accessed in May 2010
5. Cinquemani, Sal Slant Magazine "Breakthrough review" Slant Magazine - Retrieved 2010-07-12
6. Colbie Caillat "I Never Told You" Live Performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live Archived 2011-10-06 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 9, 2010.
7. Colbie - I Never Told You - on (The Tonight Show with Jay Leno)^{[permanent dead link‍]} The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Accessed in March
8. I Never Told You music video on YouTube Accessed in April 2010
9. "Billboard Hot 100". Billboard. April 10, 2010. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
10. RIAA Searchable Database Archived 2013-02-25 at the Wayback Machine. Recording Industry Association of America with a total shipment of 625,000 copies. Retrieved 2011-04-30
11. "Colbie Caillat Chart History (Canada AC)". Billboard. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
12. "Colbie Caillat Chart History (Canada Hot AC)". Billboard. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
13. "Colbie Caillat Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
14. "Colbie Caillat Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
15. "Colbie Caillat Chart History (Adult Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
16. "Adult Contemporary Pop Songs – Year-End 2010". Billboard. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
17. "Adult Pop Songs – Year-End 2010". Billboard. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
18. "Brazilian single certifications – Colbie Caillat – I Never Told You" (in Portuguese). Pro-Música Brasil. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
19. "American single certifications – Colbie Caillat – I Never Told You". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
20. Hot Modern AC list- I Never Told You add All Access Retrieved February 16, 2010.
21. Colbie Caillat I Never Told You New Radio Version - Billboard Billboard Retrieved 2010-07-12.
22. Top 40 Mainstream - Future Releases - I Never Told You by Colbie Caillat All Access.com Accessed in June 2010