Songfacts®:

• This song, which was co-written and performed by Somali-born rapper K'naan, features Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado. The pair previously hit the studio together when the pair collaborated on Furtado's 2007 track "Going Away." The song was first released as a digital download to iTunes on January 24, 2012.
• The song follows two small-town teens called Adam and Mary, reaching out a hand to each other amidst their struggles. "I can see her crying out, yeah, is there anybody out there? Right now she could really use a shoulder," K'naan raps. "It's a very hopeful and sweet, pure song about emotions that everybody feels every day of their lives. We always want to feel like we're a part of something and that we're not alone," said Furtado and K'naan on the message behind the cut.
• K'naan alludes to Cameron Diaz's character in the movie Something About Mary when he raps, "Something 'bout Mary, never won a pageant. Never felt pretty, never looked like Cameron Diaz was her last name, always been abandoned. Keep your head up baby girl, this your anthem."
• Chris Robinson directed the song's music video, which was filmed in Toronto, Canada during the first week of February 2012. The plot follows the two characters in the song amidst their insecurities and hardships.
• K'NAAN and Nelly Furtado co-wrote the song with Lil Eddie, Melanie Hallim, and the track's producers, Sham and Motesart. Filipino and Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Lil Eddie (real name Edwin Serrano) has achieved his greatest success in Japan, where he's clocked up several #1 albums. He's credited as a songwriter on three Hot 100 hits prior to "Is Anybody Out There."
  
  2002 Soluna's "For All Time" (#72)
  2003 DMX's "Where the Hood At" (#68)
  2008 Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson's "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow" (#62)