You're Not Alone (Olive song)

Barry Walters for The Advocate remarked that the song "in its original rendition resembles recent Everything But the Girl and now comes across as every other perfect pop-turned-disco masterpiece."^[2] Larry Flick from Billboard described "You're Not Alone" 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 complimented singer Ruth-Ann Boyle who "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."^[3] Scottish Daily Record called it a "hypnotic dance chart-topper", noting that features former Simply Red "keyboard wiz" Kellett.^[4] Caroline Sullivan from The Guardian felt "the single's summery lilt was balanced by a majestic keyboard riff".^[5] Jennifer Nine from Melody Maker wrote, "A Nightmares On Wax guy, a Simply Red sideman and a girl with no last name (of course) have accomplished, quite handily, what they evidently set out to do. A shuffly and vulnerable downbeat, vaguely melancholy—if somewhat fatally unmysterious—Top Shop version of the Massive-Nicolette-Everything But the Girl-you know who end of things."^[6]

A reviewer from Music Week gave the 1996 version four out of five, saying, "Weirded-out production and a good tune, this provides the perfect preview of an excellent album."^[7] In 1997, they rated the remix three out of five, describing it as a "sparkling pop groove [that] ought to do the chart business and already has strong club support thanks to remixes from the likes of Oakenfold and Roni Size."^[8] Jeremy Helligar from People magazine wrote, "Its soothing lyrics are punctuated by rumblings of tense, stuttering drum and bass, hinting at some darker obsession."^[9] Ian Hyland from Sunday Mirror gave it eight out of ten, commenting, "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."^[10] David Sinclair from The Times noted that "strangely out-of-phase dance production gives this haunting tune a distinctive edge."^[11]

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.^[12] The second video was for the new remixed Radio Edit of the track which became the most commercially successful. Featuring all three band members, it was filmed in France including scenes in a public toilet, and by a road with glowing headlights of cars.^[13] A third video by director Timothy White was filmed for the US, featuring band members Boyle and Kellett in moody urban settings.^[14]

In 2017, Billboard ranked "You're Not Alone" number 64 in their list of "The 100 Greatest Pop Songs of 1997", praising it as "one of the year's most striking pop singles, with club energy and trip-hop atmospherics, based around Olive's soulful siren call and synths that streak across the production like an electrical storm."^[15] Same year, BuzzFeed ranked it among "The 101 Greatest Dance Songs of the '90s".^[16] In 2018, Mixmag ranked it among "The 15 Best Mid-90s Trance Tracks", naming it "a track of life-affirming proportions" and "a defining slice of trance." Mixmag editor James Ball added, "Olive's vocals offer a comfort blanket to weary ravers in between sharp synth stabs and floaty breaks."^[17] In 2020, RedBull.com ranked it number one in their list of "10 Underrated Dance Songs from the 1990s That Still Sound Amazing".^[18] In 2022, Classic Pop ranked it number 20 in their list of the top 40 dance tracks of the 90's, praising it as "a monumental dream-house smash hit and one of the most gorgeous melodies to sweeten the UK charts during the era."^[19]

Quick facts Single by ATB, from the album Dedicated ...

"You're Not Alone"
Single by ATB
from the album Dedicated
Released	15 April 2002 (2002-04-15)
Genre	Trance
Length	3:27
Label	Kontor
Songwriters	Tim Kellett Robin Taylor-Firth
Producer	André Tanneberger
ATB singles chronology
"Hold You" (2001) "You're Not Alone" (2002) "I Don't Wanna Stop" (2003)

Close

German trance producer and disc jockey ATB covered the song and released it as a single on 15 April 2002 in Germany. 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.

Quick facts Single by Mads Langer, Released ...

"You're Not Alone"
Single by Mads Langer
Released	14 December 2009 (2009-12-14)
Studio	Medley (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Genre	Pop rock
Length	3:06
Label	Copenhagen
Songwriters	Tim Kellett Robin Taylor-Firth
Producers	Søren Mikkelsen Mads Langer
Alternative cover
German CD single

Close

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.

• 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.^[86]
• A singer under the name Astræa (Jennifer Ann) released a version for the 2018 Lloyds TV advert.^[87]
• In 2020, progressive rock band Esoterica released a cover of the song on their fourth studio album, In Dreams.

• List of number-one dance singles of 2017 (U.S.)