"Upside Down" is a song written and produced by
Chic members
Nile Rodgers and
Bernard Edwards. It was recorded by American singer
Diana Ross and issued on June 18, 1980 from
Motown as the lead single from her eleventh studio album, Diana (1980). The song hit number one on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart on September 6, 1980 and stayed there for four weeks. It also hit number one on the BillboardDisco and
Soul charts. The single was released a full four weeks after the album was released.
In a 2011 interview, Nile Rodgers said "Diana Ross was the first big star we ever worked with and we took it very seriously." Rodgers and Edwards interviewed her for several days. "This was the first time in her life somebody cared about who she was; what she was — everyone previously had treated her the way we had treated
Sister Sledge — they got her in and said 'Sing this'. We (took a more personal approach)."[5]
As would be widely reported later, their studio liaison with Ross was not a success. She disliked the results of their sessions and gave them specific remixing instructions; they made slight changes and suggested that if she still did not like them, she could get them remixed herself. Ross did so, reworking the whole album with Motown chief engineer and mixer, Russ Terrana to downplay the funk element and make her voice more prominent.
Rodgers and Edwards were initially furious, and considered having their production credit removed. They eventually decided to leave the track unedited, as the sound they used for Chic remained heavily influential on the album. The LP became a platinum-selling No. 1 that spent a year on the American chart. Ross left Motown soon afterwards for RCA.[6]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
Live performances
Ross performed the song live in 1981 during her television special Diana, with her labelmate
Michael Jackson joining her onstage towards the end of the song. In 1997, Ross performed the song live with English
funk and
acid jazz band
Jamiroquai at the
Brit Awards ceremony.[citation needed]
In film, television and commercials
In 2013, the song was used in a
Mercedes-Benz commercial featuring chickens being moved around while their heads remain stationary as an example of the car brand's "magic body control."[54] It was also used by
Jaguar Cars in a parody of the Mercedes-Benz commercial.[55] In 2023, the song is heard on a commercial for
Nutella and the announcement video for the 2023–24
Al Nassr home kit.[citation needed]
^
abBreihan, Tom (November 15, 2022). "The Supremes - "Where Did Our Love Go". The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music. New York:
Hachette Book Group. p. 59.
^Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin - levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi.
ISBN978-951-1-21053-5.