"It's My Life" is a song by American rock band Bon Jovi. It was released on May 8, 2000, as the lead single from their seventh studio album, Crush (2000). It was written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and Max Martin, and co-produced by Luke Ebbin. The song peaked at number one in Austria, Flanders, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Switzerland while charting within the top 10 across several other countries and peaking at number 33 on the US Billboard Hot 100. "It's My Life" is Bon Jovi's most successful single of the 2000s and their biggest hit since the 1980s.
Background "It's My Life" has many classic Bon Jovi features, such as Richie Sambora's use of the talk box, and a line in the second verse "For Tommy and Gina, who never backed down" refers to Tommy and Gina, a fictional working class couple that Bon Jovi and Sambora first wrote about in their 1986 single "Livin' on a Prayer".
The song also references fellow New Jersey singer Frank Sinatra: "My heart is like an open highway / Like Frankie said, I did it 'My Way'." Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora apparently had a disagreement over those lines, with Bon Jovi recalling:
In Paul Anka's cover of the song for his 2005 album Rock Swings, he sings the second line as "Frankie said he did it my way", since Anka wrote the English lyrics for "My Way".
Reception "Nobody had anticipated the song 'It's My Life'," noted Jon Bon Jovi in 2007. "Except us. We knew we had a hit." The song became an anthem that appealed to many fans. As Bon Jovi later stated: "I thought I was writing very self-indulgently about my own life and where I was in it. I didn't realize that the phrase 'It's My Life' would be taken as being about everyone – by teenagers, by older guys, mechanics, whatever. 'It's my life, and I'm taking control.' Everyone kind of feels that way from time to time."
Veteran critic Robert Christgau later hailed "It's My Life" as a "schlock-rock masterpiece" and "everyman anthem" with a lyric that is "all well-meaning Democrat-as-everyman Jon Bon Jovi".
Music video The music video was directed by Wayne Isham. Will Estes (as Tommy) and Shiri Appleby (as Gina) are the two main characters. At the beginning, Tommy is watching a video of a Bon Jovi concert on his computer when he is ordered by his mother to take out the trash. Suddenly, Gina calls and tells him to immediately come to the tunnel as the live concert has already started. Tommy starts running out of his apartment and obediently takes out the trash. He then runs through the streets of Los Angeles up to the concert, getting chased by dogs, taking pictures of Elvis impersonators, running a marathon and jackknifing a truck. The video was inspired by the film Run Lola Run.Alex Gernandt: Bon Jovi, 2. edition, Goldmann, München 2001, , p 261 Jon Bon Jovi met Estes on the set of U-571 and chose him to be in the video. The music video features the 2nd Street Tunnel as one of the main settings.
It is the most viewed video by Bon Jovi on YouTube, reaching 1 billion views (the band's first song to do so) by the end of June 2021.
Track listings
US 7-inch single A. "It's My Life" B. "Next 100 Years"
Australian maxi-CD single "It's My Life" "Hush" (demo version) "You Can't Lose at Love" (demo) "I Don't Want to Live Forever" (demo) "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night" (enhanced video clip) Track five was recorded live by Tony Bongiovi at the Sanctuary II, New Jersey Web Concert on February 10, 2000
UK CD1 "It's My Life" "Hush" (demo version) "You Can't Lose at Love" (demo version) Includes poster
UK CD2 "It's My Life" (Dave Bascombe mix) "Temptation" (demo version) "I Don't Want to Live Forever" (demo version) "It's My Life" (enhanced video)
European CD single "It's My Life" "Hush" (demo version)
European and Japanese maxi-CD single "It's My Life" "Hush" (demo version) "You Can't Lose at Love" (demo version) "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night" (live video) Track four was recorded live by Tony Bongiovi at the Sanctuary II, New Jersey Web Concert on February 10, 2000
Acoustic version
A much slower, acoustic ballad version of the song is included on Bon Jovi's 2003 album This Left Feels Right, a collection of their greatest hits that were adapted into new formats. This version was released as a single. A live performance was uploaded to YouTube in May 2020.
Awards Won: Video of the Year at the VH1 My Music Awards Chosen as one of the greatest songs of the year at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards Nominated: Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards, but lost to U2's "Beautiful Day"
Charts
Weekly charts Chart (2000)PeakpositionCroatia International Airplay (Top lista)1Denmark (IFPI)2Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)1Greece (IFPI) See LW column.3Hungary (Mahasz)5Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)2Italy Airplay (Music & Media)1Japan (Oricon)21Poland (Music & Media)9Portugal (AFP)1Romania (Romanian Top 100)1 Chart (2011)Peakposition Chart (2022–2025)PeakpositionBulgaria Airplay (PROPHON)2Moldova Airplay (TopHit)56Poland (Polish Airplay Top 100)54Romania Airplay (TopHit)92Ukraine Airplay (TopHit)78
Year-end charts Chart (2000)PositionAustralia (ARIA)24Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)2Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)8Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)19Denmark (IFPI)23Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)5France (SNEP)60Germany (Media Control)5Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)58Ireland (IRMA)23Italy (Musica e dischi)1Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)17Netherlands (Single Top 100)12Romania (Romanian Top 100)4Spain (AFYVE) Click on Música grabada.9Sweden (Hitlistan)5Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)3Taiwan (Hito Radio)5UK Singles (OCC)52US Adult Top 40 (Billboard)45US Mainstream Top 40 (Billboard)46 Chart (2001)PositionUS Adult Top 40 (Billboard)85
Decade-end charts Chart (2000–2009)PositionGermany (Media Control GfK)53Netherlands (Single Top 100)62
Certifications
Release history RegionDateFormat(s)Label(s)United StatesMay 8, 2000Hot adult contemporary radioIslandMay 9, 2000JapanMay 10, 2000CDMercuryUnited KingdomMay 22, 2000
Pitbull version
At the 25th Annual Latin Grammy Awards on November 14, 2024, rapper Pitbull performed a cover of "It's My Life" under the title "Now or Never", featuring Jon Bon Jovi on chorus. The song was released on streaming platforms on the same day.
The two artists first met at the 2017 Songwriters Hall of Fame. On September 12, 2024, during Pitbull's show at the Jones Beach Theater in Long Island, Jon Bon Jovi made a surprise appearance before the duo performed "It's My Life". After the show, Pitbull posted on his Instagram account: "Always an honor! To all the fans, get ready for our new collab coming soon."
The song hit number 36 on Billboard's Pop Airplay chart in 2025, becoming Bon Jovi's first song to appear on that chart since "Who Says You Can't Go Home" hit number 30 nearly 20 years prior.
Charts Weekly charts + Chart (2024–2025) PeakpositionFrance Airplay (SNEP)15 Japan Hot Overseas (Billboard Japan) 11 Latvia Airplay (TopHit) 4 Lithuania Airplay (TopHit) 7
Monthly charts + Chart (2024) Peakposition Latvia Airplay (TopHit) 15 Lithuania Airplay (TopHit) 11
Year-end charts + Chart (2025) Position Latvia Airplay (TopHit) 147 Lithuania Airplay (TopHit) 124 US Adult Pop Airplay (Billboard) 34
See also List of number-one hits of 2000 (Austria) List of Dutch Top 40 number-one singles of 2000 List of number-one hits of 2000 (Italy) List of number-one singles of 2000 (Spain) List of Romanian Top 100 number ones of the 2000s List of number-one singles of the 2000s (Switzerland)
Notes
References