Belinda Carlisle’s Diane Warren-Written ‘If U Go’ Debuts on Adult Contemporary Chart
Written by djfrosty on September 22, 2023
Belinda Carlisle charts her second new song of 2023, as “If U Go” debuts at No. 30 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary survey (dated Sept. 30).
The single is from Carlisle’s EP Kismet, released in May on BMG. Diane Warren wrote all five tracks on the set, reviving a partnership between the two talents. Carlisle sent the Warren-penned “I Get Weak” to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and to the Adult Contemporary top 10 in 1988. (Warren has written 32 Hot 100 top 10s, including nine No. 1s.)
Earlier in 2023, Carlisle extended her Billboard chart history by entering Digital Song Sales with another Warren composition, “Gonna Be You.” The all-star song, from the comedy 80 for Brady, brought Carlisle together with Dolly Parton, Cyndi Lauper, Gloria Estefan and Debbie Harry.
“I can’t say ‘no’ to her,” Carlisle mused to Billboard about Warren upon the release of Kismet. “The fact that she gave me these amazing songs is like a gift.”
Warren wrote “If U Go” with Carlisle in mind. Making for a partial team-up of The Go-Go’s, it features Charlotte Caffey on backing vocals. The song even sports a “go, go” echo, although Carlisle said that Warren didn’t originally plan for two members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band to sing that line.
Carlisle appears on a Billboard airplay chart for the first time since 1990, when “Summer Rain” reached Adult Contemporary. She boasts four top 10s on the tally: “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” (No. 7, 1987); “I Get Weak” (No. 9, 1988); “Circle in the Sand” (No. 5, 1988); and “Leave a Light On” (No. 8, 1989). (She last appeared on a chart that blends airplay data when “Do You Feel Like I Feel?” hit the Hot 100 in 1991.)
“I always said that if I was going to record pop in the same vein that I did in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, it would have to be on par with those songs,” Carlisle told Billboard. “I’m not going to record a song just to record it.”
Of Kismet’s songs, Carlisle said, “This was five out of five.” Warren “didn’t show me anything else, and I loved them all.”
All charts dated Sept. 30 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, Sept. 26.