In February 2009, Venus & Mars Music released promotional singles of "When It's Alright" in the United Kingdom.[2] While it was a pop-soul track in its original form, "When It's Alright" had received remix treatment by Kinky Roland, Per Qx and Kid Massive, and was serviced to club DJs.[2] The remixes transformed the song into a deep house club track.[2] While "When It's Alright" hadn't quite broken into the mainstream, it was gaining positive reviews.[2] Eventually, a German dance label Kosmo Records approached Venus & Mars Music and signed a worldwide license deal for the track.[2] "When It's Alright" was re-promoted in April 2009 with new remixes by German producer, Tom Novy.[2]
Once Sam Smith became a successful artist, "When It's Alright" was completely transformed and credited to German producers Juun featuring Sam Smith.[2] At first, a music video for Tomcraft Radio Edit was filmed in Ibiza and released on 24 July 2013.[4] On 9 August 2013, Kosmo Records released Tomcraft remixes of "When It's Alright" digitally.[5] On 24 April 2014, a music video was released for the Juun featuring Sam Smith Radio Edit, using the same Ibiza footage.[6] On 8 May 2014, a new music video premiered and the single was re-released on 16 May 2014.[7][8] It became a club hit in Germany and reached number 74 on the main Top 100 Singles chart.[9] This version of "When It's Alright" was later included on Smith's 2015 album, The Lost Tapes – Remixed, which features their early recordings.[10]