Take On Me

When you dive into Take On Me, you encounter a piece that fuses the energy of synthpop with instrumentation that goes beyond keyboards. The song, born from the creativity of a-ha's members, was originally recorded in 1984. It was a process that required several attempts to get noticed in the United Kingdom, finally reaching second place on the UK Singles Chart during November of 1985.

The production was handled by Alan Tarney, who worked with John Ratcliff on the mix, giving the song its distinctive sound. The track was included in the group's first studio album, Hunting High and Low, released in 1985. In the United States, Take On Me reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in October of that same year. Much of its exposure was due to its innovative music video, directed by Steve Barron, which combined pencil sketch-style animation with live-action, a technique known as rotoscoping. This video was recognized with six awards and two nominations at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards. The total duration of the song is 3:47.