Shontelle Expected Fans To 'Connect' To 'Impossible'

In one of the very last episodes of MTV's "The Hills," series regular Audrina Patridge fights back tears as boyfriend Ryan Cabrera strums his signature song onstage at an outdoor concert. The L.A. sun beaming above her, Patridge knows she should be soaking up the moment, but another guy has her heart. As she takes off, overcome, the opening lines of Shontelle's "Impossible" come on, the singer's voice punctuating the scene like an exclamation point.

While the story line packed emotional punch, it was the soaring, gut-wrenching ballad that had viewers perusing the song credits and double-clicking the "buy" button on iTunes. But that kind of reaction doesn't surprise Shontelle. The Barbados-hailing songstress recently told she never doubted the certified-platinum lead single from her new album, No Gravity, would resonate with listeners.

"I knew [with] 'Impossible,' a lot of people would relate. I just knew people would connect with it and that there just was a need for a song like that out there," she said.

Written by Swedish producer Arnthor Birgisson and Norwegian singer/songwriter Ina Wroldsen, "Impossible" is a chest-pounding track about doing everything right and getting your heart broken anyway. Still, the single, which dropped digitally in February, has slowly climbed to #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #9 on the pop songs chart.

"It's crazy right now, because it took a lot of work to actually get it to where it went, you know, being a top-five single [on Billboard's European songs chart] and being platinum and all that. It took a long time to work it as a ballad, 'cause everything else was like four-on-the-floor," she said, referring to the proliferation of electronic dance music hits populating the charts. "But now it just has this staying power."

Even as "Impossible" keeps charting overseas, Shontelle said she's excited about her Darkchild-produced second single, "Perfect Nightmare," as well as a track she cooked up with another singer who reps for Barbados, childhood friend Rihanna. That track will appear on the star's upcoming Loud.