"Beautiful Things" is the second release by

Andain Andain was a San Francisco-based electronic music duo, originally formed in 2000. They broke through in 2002 after being discovered by DJ Tiësto, reaching clubbers worldwide with their singles "Summer Calling" in 2002 and "Beautiful Things" in 20 ...

. It first appeared on

Tiësto Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( ), is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted "the Greatest DJ of All Time" by '' Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, he was ...

's compilation album '' Nyana'', released May 6, 2003, and was later published as a single via

Black Hole A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravitation, gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other Electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts t ...

, on October 27, 2003.

Overview

While "Beautiful Things" was promoted and released as a remix by

Gabriel & Dresden Gabriel & Dresden is an American electronic music duo comprising Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden, formed in San Francisco, California. They collaborated from 2001 to 2008, then again from 2011 to the present. During that time, they have created num ...

, the song originally started out as an unreleased guitar track titled "Annie". In response to a request from

for a follow-up to the single "Summer Calling", "Annie" was rewritten to become a club track, also changing the lyrics from a narrative third person view to first person. According to Mavie, "Beautiful Things" is, "in a general sense, about feeling stuck; in a place, time, you just can’t get yourself out of". The Gabriel & Dresden remix per se is characterized by a sharp beat and thick

bassline Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched Part ( ...

. It's also notable for fusing acoustic and electronic elements, including

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

s and

percussion instruments A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Excl ...

in conjunction with

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s and

electronic drums Electronic drums is a modern electronic musical instrument, primarily designed to serve as an alternative to an acoustic drum kit. Electronic drums consist of an electronic sound module which produces the synthesized or sampled percussion sound ...

. Vocal clouds and echoing elements in the background also exemplify the band's influence of

dub music Dub is an electronic musical style that grew out of reggae in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is commonly considered a subgenre of reggae, though it has developed to extend beyond that style.Dub: soundscapes and shattered songs in Jamaican re ...

. In 2004, "Beautiful Things" earned a nomination for Best Progressive / Trance at the

International Dance Music Awards The International Dance Music Awards or IDMAs is an annual awards ceremony held in Miami Beach, Florida, United States as a major part of the Winter Music Conference. The awards have been held every year since the conference's creation in 1985 ...

. In tribute to the song, Andain has also received the Sunset Music Awards, given at the Polish Sunrise Festival 2010.

Piano version

On October 26, 2010, Andain published an acoustic live performance of the song on YouTube. The video features Mavie singing and playing an original piano arrangement of the song.

Official versions

The following remixes have been published by Black Hole, either appearing as standalone singles, remix EPs or as part of a track compilation. ;2003 *"Beautiful Things - Gabriel & Dresden's Unplugged Mix" – 10:48 *"Beautiful Things - Radio Edit" – 04:11 *"Beautiful Things - Radio Edit 2" – 03:17 *"Beautiful Things - Josh Gabriel Remix" – 08:11 *"Beautiful Things - Photon Project Remix" – 09:31 *"Beautiful Things - Photon Project Dub" – 07:14 *"Beautiful Things - Cor Fijneman Remix" – 08:22 *"Beautiful Things - Markus Schulz' Shadows of Coldharbour Remix" – 11:29 ;2007 *"Beautiful Things - Have a Break, Have a K&D Remix" – 09:09 ;2008 *"Beautiful Things - Gustav Remix" – 07:46 *"Beautiful Things - Dave Robertson Remix" – 07:22 ;2010 *"Beautiful Things - Jorn van Deynhoven's Sundale Mix" – 08:26 *"Beautiful Things - Pedro del Mar & Ole van Bohm Remix" – 09:04 *"Beautiful Things - Roger Shah's Magic Island Remix" – 09:21 *"Beautiful Things - Spaio & Sleazy Tek Remix" – 07:40 ;2013 *"Beautiful Things - Kastis Torrau & Donatello Remix" ;2014 *"Beautiful Things - Fady & Mina Remix" *"Beautiful Things - Daniel Skyver Remix" ;2015 *"Beautiful Things - Dapa Deep Remix" *"Beautiful Things - Kastis Torrau & Donatello Remix" ;2016 *"Beautiful Things - Heikki L & Darude Remix"

Credits and personnel

Written and composed by

Josh Gabriel Josh Gabriel is an American electronic dance music DJ and producer, most known for his collaborative partnership Gabriel & Dresden with Dave Dresden. History Early years (1988–2000) In 1988-89, a 20-year-old exchange student from Californi ...

Mavie Marcos Mavie Marcos (born April 29, 1978) is an American singer and songwriter.

and

David Penner David Paul Penner (August 9, 1958 – January 7, 2020), MAA, FRAIC was a Canadian architect, born and raised in the Osborne Village neighbourhood of Winnipeg, Manitoba. He attended the University of Manitoba where he received his Bachelor of Envi ...

. Remix and additional production by Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden.

Trivia

Hungarian producer Mÿon used a reversed sample of the song's vocals in his 2007 single "Albion".

Charts

References

External links

Listing for "Beautiful Things" at DiscogsOfficial profile for Andain on Black Hole's website
{{Authority control 2003 singles Black Hole Recordings singles Songs written by Josh Gabriel Songs written by David Penner Songs written by Mavie Marcos Electronic songs Trance songs