"Chasing the Sun" is a song by English-Irish

boy band A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform Love song, love songs marketed towards girls and young ...

the Wanted The Wanted are a British-Irish boy band consisting of group members Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness and Nathan Sykes and, until his death in 2022, Tom Parker (singer), Tom Parker. The group was formed in 2009 and signed a worldw ...

. It was released as their third single in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

on 17 April 2012, from their eponymous debut EP (2012). It is also the lead single from their third studio album, ''

Word of Mouth Word of mouth, or ''viva voce'', is the passing of information from person to person using oral communication, which could be as simple as telling someone the time of day. Storytelling is a common form of word-of-mouth communication where one pe ...

'' (2013). The song was co-written by Alex Smith and English rapper

Example Example may refer to: * '' exempli gratia'' (e.g.), usually read out in English as "for example" * .example, reserved as a domain name that may not be installed as a top-level domain of the Internet ** example.com, example.net, example.org, ex ...

, and is one of the two

theme songs Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at som ...

for the 2012 animated film '' Ice Age: Continental Drift''. "Chasing the Sun" was released in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

on 20 May 2012 and debuted at number two on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, it also reached number 18 on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record chart in Canada; a n ...

as well as number 50 on the U.S.

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

whilst also reaching the top 20 in several other countries.

Background

In a December 2011 interview with

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...

, band member

Jay McGuiness James "Jay" McGuiness (born 24 July 1990) is a British singer, songwriter and actor best known as a vocalist with boy band The Wanted. In 2015, partnered with Aliona Vilani, he won the 13th series of BBC's ''Strictly Come Dancing''. In recent ...

was asked about a track written for the group by singer and rapper

. "Yeah, we've been talking with him for ages," McGuiness said. "He sent a few before that didn't quite make it, but we've got one from him now that we absolutely love. Tom has it on his iPod and it's now become his most played song on there! We're hopefully going to record the track this week. It's actually similar in some ways to '

Glad You Came "Glad You Came", also known as "I'm Glad You Came", is a song by British-Irish boy band the Wanted, released on 10 July 2011 as the second single from their second studio album, '' Battleground''. The song was written by Steve Mac, Wayne Hector ...

'. It won't be out before Christmas because people don't want to be raving when it's p*ssing with snow." On 26 March 2012, the Wanted premiered said track, entitled "Chasing the Sun". Talking to

MTV News MTV News is the news production division of MTV. The service is available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network. In February 2016, MTV Networks confirmed it would refresh the MTV News brand in 2016, to compete with the likes ...

, McGuiness said: "I think this song, it can mean many things. To some people, it is partying all night and chasing the sun the next morning. That's what

he first He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

video's about, the girls, the teeth are there, the vampires. So we're all there partying away. And that's one aspect of the song. Another aspect of the song is chasing your dreams, the unattainable acorn in the distance."

Music video

There are two music videos for "Chasing the Sun". The first and official video was directed by

Director X Julien Christian Lutz (born October 31, 1975), known professionally as Director X, is a Canadian filmmaker, commercial director, music video director, and television director. Having directed more than 100 music videos, he is widely known as a pr ...

. It begins with the Wanted standing on the roof of the Rosslyn Hotel in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in the middle of the night. It then begins to intersect with scenes of them in a club with some mysterious women, all of whom have strange sun-shaped tattoos on their hands, arms, thighs or belly. Each of the band meets one of these women and, upon being touched by them, all suddenly have exactly the same tattoo. The band decide to leave the club with their women and start walking down the secluded streets. They soon enter a different club. At the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

, the boys are back on the roof of the Rosslyn Hotel, but this time at sunrise. The scene then changes back to the second club, where the boys start to get close to their women, but it turns out that the women are actually

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

s, and all five boys get their necks bitten. The video ends with the Wanted walking out of the club into the bright sunlight. The video has over 120 million views on YouTube. The second video was specifically made for the 2012 film '' Ice Age: Continental Drift''. It features the Wanted performing on blocks of ice in the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...

while characters such as

Manny Manny is a common nickname for people with the given name Manuel, Emanuele, Immanuel, Emmanuel, Herman, or Manfred. People * Manny Acosta (born 1981), Panamanian pitcher in the Mexican Baseball League * Manny Acta (born 1969), Dominican Major ...

, Sid, and

Diego Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese equivalent is Diogo. The name also has several patronymic derivations, listed below. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''. Et ...

dance alongside them. It also contains footage from the film.

Critical reception

The song received positive reviews from music critics. Robert Copsey of

gave the song four out of five stars writing, "The result may be their darkest club track yet, but it's easily the brightest they've shined since that worldwide smash."

Track listing

*UK CD single / digital EP # "Chasing the Sun" – 3:14 # "Chasing the Sun" (Tantrum Desire Dubstep Remix) – 5:22 # "

Fix You "Fix You" is a song by British rock band Coldplay. It was written by all four members of the band for their third studio album, '' X&Y'' (2005). It was released on 5 September 2005 as the second single from ''X&Y'' and reached number 4 on the ...

" (Live) – 3:29 # "

" (Live) – 3:22 *German CD single # "Chasing the Sun" (2012 Remaster) – 3:14 # "Fix You" (Live) – 3:29 *Hardwell Remix # "Chasing the Sun" (

Hardwell Robbert van de Corput (; born January 7, 1988), known professionally as Hardwell, is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted the world's number one DJ by ''DJ Mag'' in 2013 and again in 2014. In 2022, he was ranked at number 43 i ...

Extended Mix) – 5:50 *The Remixes # "Chasing the Sun" (Hardwell Edit) - 3:15 # "Chasing the Sun" (Hardwell Extended) - 5:15 # "Chasing the Sun" (Hardwell Instrumental) - 5:15 # "Chasing the Sun" (Danny Verde Edit) - 3:32 # "Chasing the Sun" (Danny Verde Club) - 7:21 # "Chasing the Sun" (Danny Verde Dub) - 7:38 # "Chasing the Sun" (Joe Maz Edit) - 3:43 # "Chasing the Sun" (Joe Maz Extended) - 5:15 # "Chasing the Sun" (HJoe Maz Instrumental) - 5:15 # "Chasing the Sun" (Smash Mode Radio) - 3:33 # "Chasing the Sun" (Smash Mode Extended) - 4:56 # "Chasing the Sun" (Tantrum Desire Hard Mix) - 5:12 # "Chasing the Sun" (Tantrum Desire Light Mix) - 5:21 *Remixes # "Chasing the Sun" (Mario Larrea Remix Edit) - 3:30 # "Chasing the Sun" (Mario Larrea Club Remix) - 5:41 # "Chasing the Sun" (Mario Larrea Dub Remix) - 5:40 # "Chasing the Sun" (Tantrum Desire Remix) - 5:22 # "Chasing the Sun" (Tantrum Desire Hard Mix) - 5:13 # "Chasing the Sun" (Paris Opera House Remix) - 5:39

Credits and personnel

Recording *Recorded at Metrophonic Studios,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

*Mixed at Mixsuite,

Personnel * Alex Smith – songwriter, producer, recording, keyboards, programming *

Elliot Gleave Elliot John Gleave (born 20 June 1982), better known by his stage name Example, is an English musician, singer, songwriter, rapper and record producer. His name arose due to his initials being E.G., which is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase ...

– songwriter *

Mark "Spike" Stent Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed Sheeran ...

– mixer * Matty Green – assistant mixer * Tom Coyne – mastering

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Radio and release history

References

{{Authority control 2012 singles The Wanted songs Dance-pop songs Eurodance songs Island Records singles Mercury Records singles Number-one singles in Scotland Music videos directed by Director X Songs written by Example (musician) 2011 songs 2012 songs Electropop songs