"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" is a song co-written by Diane Warren and Albert Hammond and recorded by American rock band Starship for their second studio album, No Protection (1987). It is a power ballad duet featuring vocalists Grace Slick and Mickey Thomas and is the theme to the romantic-comedy film Mannequin. The song reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, Warren's first single to do so. Elsewhere, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" topped the charts in Canada, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, where it became the second-best-selling song of 1987. "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" received a nomination for Best Original Song at the 60th Academy Awards.

Background

In a radio interview, Hammond said that the idea for the song came from his impending marriage to his live-in girlfriend of seven years after his divorce from his previous wife was finalized. He had said to Warren, "It's almost like they've stopped me from marrying this woman for seven years, and they haven't succeeded. They're not gonna stop me doing it." The song has been considered "feel good" propelled by a strong synthesizer beat.

Reception

Cash Box called the song "an emotional duet by Mickie [sic] Thomas and Grace Slick" and "a blustery, expansive production."

Commercial performance

The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 on April 4, 1987. In the United Kingdom, the song peaked at the top of the UK Singles Chart for four weeks and became the UK's second-best-selling song of 1987 behind "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley. The song also reached the top 10 in six other European countries. It became the first chart-topping song to be written by Warren. Grace Slick, at age 47, became the oldest woman to attain a number-one single in the United States, surpassed only by Cher, who was 52 when her song "Believe" reached number one in early 1999.

Music video

The music video for "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" was released in 1987. It features clips from the film Mannequin, starring Andrew McCarthy and Kim Cattrall, intercut with a parallel narrative of Mickey Thomas falling in love with a mannequin who comes to life, played by Grace Slick. Meshach Taylor makes a cameo reprising his film role of window dresser Hollywood Montrose, as does Narada Michael Walden, the producer of the song, who appears with the band. Towards the end of the video, viewers are shown that the band's members are also mannequins. In October 2024, the music video surpassed 500 million views on YouTube, becoming the first Starship song to reach this milestone.

In media

The song is featured in Season 1 Episode 8 of the American sitcom The Goldbergs. In The Skeleton Twins, the stars lip-sync to the song. The song is played in the episode called "Oh Mylanta!" of the fourth season of the ABC revival of the American game show Press Your Luck.

Track listings

Personnel

Additional personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications