If Everyone Cared

"If Everyone Cared" is a Grammy nominated song, the sixth single released from Nickelback's All the Right Reasons, and the single released in Australia and the U.S. respectively ("Animals" was only released in Australia and the U.S., and "Rockstar" only in the UK and U.S.). It was released first in the UK, in 27 November 2006 then in the U.S. in 28 November 2006. The song entered inside the Top 40 on the ARIA Singles Chart on January 7, 2007. The song was then released in most other parts of the world in the beginning of 2007. It debuted at #50 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late January 2007, and climbed to #17. This makes All the Right Reasons the first Nickelback album to feature more than three top 20 singles in the United States. The song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks Chart.

It was announced that 100% of all digital sales for the song will be donated to the charities of Amnesty International, and the International Children's Awareness Canada. This ties into the theme of the song and video of caring about something to work towards the improvement of human civilization.

"If Everyone Cared" has sold 1,110,819 downloads in the U.S. as of January 12, 2008.

The song was number 9 on VH1's Top 40 Videos of 2007.

Song meaning
The song is bookended by references to a couple's romantic evening. The first of these transitions quickly into the chorus which lays out the message fairly directly. "If everyone cared and nobody cried/If everyone loved and nobody lied.../then we'd see the day when nobody died."

This message is left standing by itself until the final verse which gives it context additional meaning when it concludes with the lines "If they could love like you and me/Imagine what the world could be."

The last two lines leave open the possibility that the entire song is a testimony to the strength of the persona's love for the unnamed second person (or persons) referred to periodically throughout. There are two types of love expressed in this song: romantic love (intimate love to another person) and compassionate love (love for all people).

Music video
The music video was Directed by Dori Oskowitz, and Produced by Justin Cronkite. Shot in Vancouver Canada, then returning to Los Angeles for the post production process. It begins with Nickelback in the studio playing the song. Scenes of this are intercut with images and videos of past social justice and human rights events, essentially when an individual "cared" and ended up changing the world. The people shown are Betty Williams, who led a march of 35,000 women to the gravesites of three Northern Irish children after witnessing their deaths, Bob Geldof starting up Live Aid, Peter Benenson igniting what would become known as Amnesty International, and Nelson Mandela leading South Africa to its first democratic election, (which would end the racist apartheid régime that had divided the country for 46 years). The video ends with a quote from Margaret Mead that reads "Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Facts about the Song

 * When the song was in the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart it was incorrectly labeled as "Someone That You're With" by Billboard.com, which happens to be the next track on the album.


 * The song was used in several of the promos of NBC's hit drama Heroes during its hiatus in early 2007.


 * A remix was created on April 17, 2007 using news sound bites and interviews from the Virginia Tech Massacre the day before. The remix was available for download and streaming at the Myspace website of a local Blacksburg, Virginia radio station WBRW-FM 105.3 The Bear, but is no longer present..


 * A Happy Hardcore remix of the song, entitled "I'm Alive", was made for the freeware dance game Mungyodance 2, by Renard. It is credited under one of his aliases versus the band (Emoticon vs Nickelback).