Stars (Switchfoot song)

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“Stars”
“Stars” cover
Single by Switchfoot
from the album Nothing Is Sound
Released 2005
Format CD
Genre Alternative rock
Length 3:59 (Radio Edit)
4:20 (Album Version)
Label Sony BMG
Writer(s) Jon Foreman
Producer John Fields
Certification Gold
Switchfoot singles chronology
This is Your Life
(2004)
Stars
(2005)
We Are One Tonight
(2006)

Stars was the first single released from Switchfoot's fifth album Nothing Is Sound. It was the #1 most added song on Modern Rock Radio in its first week and peaked at number sixteen on the US Modern Rock chart. The song was certified gold as a digital single on December 12, 2005. However, because it did not perform as well as the band's previous hits Meant to Live and Dare You to Move, it is considered by many as a commercial flop. It is believed that because of this, several follow-up singles, like Lonely Nation, were later pulled by Columbia/SonyBMG.

On Nothing Is Sound this song is the second track.

According to the song-writer Jon Foreman, "Stars" is about perspective, a song about stepping back in the midst of chaos and looking at the stars; the idea of anti-entropy, implying there must be something keeping the world together. "The first verse looks at things from Descartes perspective, pinning the center of the universe on the individual. 'Maybe I've been the problem,' maybe I'm overcast, falling apart, etc... The second verse talks about our world from the perspective of the stars looking down on earth from the eternal dance of gravity and motion."[1] Despite these deep lyrics, Jon says he likes the song best for its guitar riffs.

Contents

[edit] Music videos

The music video for this song was filmed at Universal Studios mostly underwater.[2] A second, less formal video was also released, which consists mostly of a live performance at the Santa Monica Pier in California.

The video features the band playing in an outdoor setting, but as the video progresses, they can be seen "floating" in a watery environment. At the apex of the song right before the bridge of the song, this environment bursts and and band plays in the rain until the end of the video.

[edit] Track listings

[edit] UK CD single

  1. Stars (Album Version)
  2. Stars (Acoustic Version)
  3. Dare You To Move (Acoustic Version)
  4. Stars (Video)

[edit] Chart positions

Chart Position
US Billboard Hot 100 #68
US Modern Rock Tracks #16
US Top 40 #33 [1]
US Mainstream Rock Tracks #39
Adult Top 40 #15
Top 40 Adult Recurrents #17
Pop 100 #41
Hot Digital Songs #33

[edit] In popular culture

  • The song has been used in sports telecasts, including FOX's coverage of the 2008 Pro Bowl.
  • The song has been used in HBO commercials for upcoming movies on the channel.

[edit] References

  1. ^ 12 Days of Switchfoot - published September 2, 2005 (retrieved January 12, 2007)
  2. ^ Switchfoot Look Like California Raisins After Video Shoot - MTV published August 4, 2005 (retrieved January 12, 2007)

[edit] External links