We Were Us

"We Were Us" is a song written by Nicolle Galyon, Jimmy Robbins, and Jon Nite and recorded by New Zealand-born Australian country music singer Keith Urban as a duet with American country music singer Miranda Lambert. It was released in September 2013 as the second international single and third overall from Urban's 2013 album Fuse.

"We Were Us"
Single by Keith Urban with Miranda Lambert
from the album Fuse
Released	16 September 2013 (2013-09-16)
Recorded	2013
Genre	Country
Length	3:11
Label	Hit Red Capitol Nashville
Songwriter(s)	Nicolle Galyon Jimmy Robbins Jon Nite
Producer(s)	Keith Urban Nathan Chapman[1]
Keith Urban singles chronology
"Shame" (2013) "We Were Us" (2013) "Cop Car" (2014)
Miranda Lambert singles chronology
"All Kinds of Kinds" (2013) "We Were Us" (2013) "Automatic" (2014)

Content

The song is the narrators' reminiscence of lost love. Lambert sings the first verse, Urban sings the second verse, and both sing the choruses and bridge together. The song is set in the key of D major with a vocal range of A₃–A₅.^[2]

Critical reception

Giving it 4 out of 5 stars, Matt Bjorke of Roughstock compared its theme favorably to "Springsteen" by Eric Church, and praised the blending of Urban's and Lambert's voices, although he criticized the production as "a bit too busy and loud".^[3]

"We Were Us" won Musical Event of the Year at the 2014 CMA Awards.^[4]

Personnel

From liner notes to Fuse:^[5]

• Nathan Chapman — drum programming, bass guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards
• Miranda Lambert — vocals
• Keith Urban — vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, ganjo

Music video

The music video was directed by Reid Long and Becky Fluke and premiered in November 2013.^[6]

Commercial performance

The song debuted at number 49 on Country Airplay for the week ending 21 September 2013. The next week, it climbed to number 29, while debuting at 24 on Hot Country Songs.^[7] Its chart run has overlapped with Lambert's single "All Kinds of Kinds", the fifth from her album Four the Record. The song has sold 566,000 copies in the US as of January 2014.^[8] This would be Keith's last top 30 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 until "Blue Ain't Your Color" in 2016.

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts Chart (2013–2014) Peak position Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[9] 25 Canada Country (Billboard)[10] 2 US Billboard Hot 100[11] 26 US Country Airplay (Billboard)[12] 1 US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[13] 1 Year-end charts Chart (2013) Position US Country Airplay (Billboard)[14] 57 US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[15] 62 Chart (2014) Position US Country Airplay (Billboard)[16] 72 US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[17] 64

Certifications Region Certification Certified units/sales Canada (Music Canada)[18] Gold 40,000* United States (RIAA)[19] Platinum 1,000,000‡ * Sales figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

1. Roland, Tom (5 September 2013). "Keith Urban Lights a Creative Fire With 'Fuse'". Billboard. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
2. "'We Were Us' sheet music". MusicNotes.com. 19 November 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
3. Bjorke, Matt (19 September 2013). "Single Review: Keith Urban & Miranda Lambert - We Were Us". Roughstock. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
4. "Dierks Bentley, Keith Urban + Miranda Lambert Are Early 2014 CMA Awards Winners". Taste of Country. November 5, 2014. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
5. Fuse (Deluxe Edition) (CD booklet). Keith Urban. Capitol Records Nashville/Hit Red Records. 2013. B0019113-02.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
6. "CMT : Videos : Keith Urban : We Were Us". Country Music Television. Archived from the original on November 21, 2013. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
7. Jessen, Wade (19 September 2013). "Keith Urban's 'Fuse' Ignites On Country Charts". Billboard. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
8. Conaway, Alanna (2013-01-24). "Country Chart News - The Top 30 Digital Singles - January 22, 2014: Eric Church, Blake Shelton, Cole Swindell, Cassadee Pope, Scotty McCreery Tops". Roughstock.
9. "Keith Urban Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard.
10. "Keith Urban Chart History (Canada Country)". Billboard.
11. "Keith Urban Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
12. "Keith Urban Chart History (Country Airplay)". Billboard.
13. "Keith Urban Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
14. "Best of 2013: Country Airplay". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
15. "Best of 2013: Hot Country Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
16. "Billboard Country Update for December 15, 2014" (PDF). Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. December 15, 2014. p. 17. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
17. "Best of 2014: Hot Country Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 2014. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
18. "Canadian single certifications – Keith Urban – We Were Us". Music Canada. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
19. "American single certifications – Keith Urban – We Were Us". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved March 21, 2015.