Shine (Years & Years song)

"Shine" is a song by British synthpop trio Years & Years for their debut studio album, Communion (2015). It was released on 5 July 2015 by Polydor Records as the album's fifth single and is the third track on the album. "Shine" peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart.

"Shine"
Single by Years & Years
from the album Communion
Released3 July 2015
Recorded2014–2015
Length
  • 3:28 (radio edit)
  • 4:14 (album version)
  • 3:11 (NOW 91/interactive video version)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Years & Years
  • Ralph
Years & Years singles chronology
"King"
(2015)		 "Shine"
(2015)		 "Eyes Shut"
(2015)

Background

The song premiered on 11 May 2015 as Annie Mac's Hottest Record in the World, and is their follow-up to "King" from the album Communion.[1] Vocalist Olly Alexander explained that the song uses light as a metaphor to pertain to the "overwhelming and unstable feeling of falling in love". The track was written for his new boyfriend and marked a change in style. "I know he would’ve said he liked it, but it really mattered to me whether he truly liked it or not. But he did, and I was so relieved".[2]

Music video

A music video was created for the song.[3] It features the band traversing a house in which assorted supernatural occurrences occur.[4] The band took inspiration from the films E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Poltergeist, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.[5][6] An interactive music video was later released for the record, billed by Spin magazine as "a choose your own adventure", in which the viewer may pick from either "Choose Light", "Choose Dark" or "Choose Shadow".[7] The live interactive event using the three video sequences was premièred on the UK's Channel 4, Friday 10 July 2015 in a three and a half minute advert break controlled by viewers tweets as a promotion for the single Shine and the Communion album using the hashtags for the three colour styles, refreshed every 30 seconds on viewers votes. The creative agency The Outfit produced the advert for Polydor Records. Channel 4 and Years & Years embraced the take over. "Viewers’ tweets will be counted live during the ad break and tallied every 30 seconds, while the two alternative music video choices to the performance playing in full screen will be displayed as insets".[8] Jack Melhuish, the marketing director at Polydor Records said "Giving fans and viewers the chance to control and direct a TV advert as it happens has never been done before and plays perfectly into the band’s ethos of rewarding their fans and always being on the cutting edge".[9] Promonews reported that nearly 14,000 tweets were made during the event and more people were pulled into watch the event rather than the programme which contained the ad break.[10] The performance was also simulcast to a global audience via the band's website, Twitter and Facebook feeds and subsequently was made available as an interactive video.[11]

Critical reception

"Shine" received very positive reviews from music critics. PopJustice.com gave it a positive review, noting similarities between it and Girls Aloud's "Call the Shots" and the fact that "the similarity would have inspired eight bootlegs, two compilation albums and a club night by now" in 2002, they scored it 9/10 and stated that it would have scored 10/10 had "it picked up the tempo a bit".[12] Sugarscape was also positive, commending it for not departing from the sound of the band's previous singles of "glittery, 80s-tinged synthpop" and instead opting for a "melancholic and even more emotionally-charged" sound whilst still retaining a "huge chorus and quirky elements in the production that separate them from the rest of the pop pack".[13]

"Shine" was performed by Years & Years on Sunday Brunch[14] and on the 20th Anniversary edition of TFI Friday.[15] Irish Broadcaster RTÉ One also used the track, in their coverage of the results of the 2016 Irish general election.

The song is also featured in the 2016 racing video game Forza Horizon 3, which plays in the in-game radio station Horizon Pulse.[16] The song also was used in the 2018 ITV Drama Butterfly

UK country pop duo Ward Thomas covered the song on their 2017 EP A Shorter Story.

Track listing
Digital download – single[17]
No.TitleLength
1."Shine"4:14
Digital download – remixes[18]
No.TitleLength
1."Shine" (Sanna & Pitron Remix)7:05
2."Shine" (Joe Goddard Remix)5:21
3."Shine" (Toyboy & Robin Remix)5:02
4."Shine" (Danny L Harle Remix)3:30

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[39] Gold 35,000‡
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[40] Gold 30,000^
Germany (BVMI)[41] Gold 200,000‡
Poland (ZPAV)[42] Platinum 20,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[43] 2× Platinum 1,200,000‡

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. "Years & Years premiere shimmering new single 'Shine'". Digital Spy. 11 May 2015.
  2. Peeples, Jase (3 August 2015). "Straight Talk With Years & Years' Olly Alexander, the U.K.'s New Gay Pop Star". The Advocate. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  3. This Week's Fresh Music Top 20. 21 June 2015. 4Music.
  4. "Years & Years unveil weird and wonderful music video for 'Shine'". Digital Spy. 8 June 2015.
  5. "Watch Years & Years' new video for 'Shine'". Complex.com.
  6. "Years & Years share new single 'Shine'". New Musical Express.
  7. "Years & Years Let Viewers Take the Wheel in Interactive 'Shine' Video". Spin. 13 July 2015.
  8. Williamson, Coral (9 July 2015). "Polydor to takeover Channel 4 ad break for Years & Years". Music Week. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  9. Degun, Gurjit (9 July 2015). "Years & Years to take over Channel 4 ad break with 'unique interactive event'". Campaign. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  10. Velez, Cat (20 July 2015). "Years & Years 'Shine' (interactive ad/video) by Fred Rowson". Promonews. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  11. Channel 4 Press Office (9 July 2015). "Years & Years fans to direct exclusive C4 ad in live Twitter battle". Channel 4. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  12. "Listen: Years & Years: Shine". PopJustice.com. 11 May 2015.
  13. "Single review: Years & Years - 'Shine'". Sugarscape.com.
  14. "Sunday Brunch". 4. Episode 35. 12 July 2015. Channel 4.
  15. "TFI Friday". Special. 12 June 2015. Channel 4.
  16. Ekberg, Brian (9 September 2016). "Drive to the Music You Love with Groove". Community Manager at Turn 10 Studios. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  17. "Shine - Single by Years & Years". iTunes Store (GB). Apple Inc. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  18. "Shine (Remixes) - EP by Years & Years". iTunes Store (GB). Apple Inc. 5 July 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  19. "Years & Years – Shine". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  20. "Years & Years – Shine" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  21. "Years & Years – Shine" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  22. "Years & Years – Shine" (in French). Ultratip. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  23. "Years & Years Chart History (Euro Digital Song Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  24. "Years & Years – Shine" (in French). Les classement single.
  25. "Years & Years – Shine" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  26. "Irish-charts.com – Discography Years & Years". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  27. "Years & Years – Shine" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  28. "Listy bestsellerów, wyróżnienia :: Związek Producentów Audio-Video". Polish Airplay Top 100. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  29. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  30. "ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: insert 201528 into search.
  31. "SloTop50 – Slovenian official singles chart". slotop50.si. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  32. "Years & Years – Shine" Canciones Top 50.
  33. "Years & Years – Shine". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  34. "Years & Years – Shine". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  35. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  36. "Years & Years Chart History (Hot Dance/Electronic Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  37. "Jaaroverzichten 2015 - ultratop.be". Ultratop.
  38. "The Official Top 40 Biggest Songs of 2015 revealed". OfficialCharts.com. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  39. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2015 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association.
  40. "Danish single certifications – Years & Years – Shine". IFPI Danmark.
  41. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Years & Years; 'Shine')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  42. "Wyróżnienia – Platynowe płyty CD - Archiwum - Przyznane w 2016 roku" (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  43. "British single certifications – Years & Years – Shine". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
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