"Shine a Light" is the second single from English band

McFly McFly are an English pop rock band formed in London in 2003. The band took their name from the '' Back to the Future'' character Marty McFly. The band consists of Tom Fletcher (lead vocals, guitar, and piano), Danny Jones (lead vocals, har ...

's fifth studio album, ''

Above the Noise ''Above the Noise'' is the fifth studio album from English pop rock band McFly. The album was released on 15 November 2010. The album spawned three singles: "Party Girl (McFly song), Party Girl", which was released on 6 September; "Shine a Li ...

''. The single features vocals from singer

Taio Cruz Jacob Taio Cruz (; born Adetayo Ayowale Onile-Ere, 23 April 1980), better known professionally as Taio Cruz (stylized TΛIO CRUZ), is an English singer, songwriter and record producer from London, England, currently based in Los Angeles. In 200 ...

. The single was released on 7 November 2010 via digital download, with a physical release following the next day. A free download was available for members of the band's new website, SuperCity. The song received mostly positive reviews from pop music critics. On 3 November 2010, the song was added to

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. The song peaked the number 9 in UK Airplay Chart. McFly secured their fifteenth Top 5 hit with "Shine a Light" 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 ...

Writing process

The single was first confirmed by band frontman

Tom Fletcher Thomas Michael Fletcher (born 17 July 1985) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, composer, author and vlogger. He is one of the lead vocalists and rhythm guitarist of English pop rock band McFly, in addition to being the group's founder ...

, before being made available to pre-order on the HMV website. Fletcher described the writing process as "working backwards" in comparison to how the band usually writes their songs. They started out with the beat and then built the song around it.

Critical reception

Robert Copsey from

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awarded it 4 stars and said: "'Shine a Light' might be a sentimental number about missing an ex, but with Cruz's squelchy synths, McFly's trademark pop/rock choonage and some deceptively catchy "Eh Eh"s, the urge to bound around the nearest open space for three minutes and 45 seconds is near-irresistible." Iain Moffatt from

BBC Music BBC Music is responsible for the music played across the BBC. The current director of music is Bob Shennan, who is also the controller of BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, and the BBC Asian Network. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio o ...

said that: "even the perfectly serviceable of-the-moment pop of Shine a Light are little preparation for the delights in store here". The Entertainment Focus review said that: "Across the record the band takes anthemic pop on the corking Shine a Light". Johnny Dee from

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said: "Better is the Auto-Tune soul of "Shine a Light" which sees the band teaming up with Taio Cruz to good effect." Jack Foley from ''Indie London'' said that: "Shine a Light showing what can be achieved when they fuse pop rock with dance-pop and combine vocals with Taio Cruz (arguably the best offering either of these two acts have had in the charts for some time!)".

Music video

The song premiered on 21 September 2010, following a video treasure hunt competition involving the band. The treasure hunt allowed fans to appear in the music video for the track by hunting for clues to get to the place of filming. It premiered on the group's website on 9 October, appearing on their YouTube page just hours later. The video was directed by Phil Griffin. It features McFly and Cruz performing together in a cage, whilst hordes of fans watch them from outside.

Live performances

McFly performed "Shine a Light" live for the first time on ''

Paul O'Grady Live ''Paul O'Grady Live'' is a British comedy chat show hosted by Paul O'Grady, that began airing on 10 September 2010 on ITV. The show is a Friday night chat show that features a mixture of celebrity guests, airing at 21:00. The show culminates wi ...

'', without an appearance from Cruz. On 4 December, McFly and Cruz performed the song together live on

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; the first and unique time they had done so. McFly performed the song on ''

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'', ''

The Alan Titchmarsh Show ''The Alan Titchmarsh Show'' is a British daytime chat show presented by Alan Titchmarsh. It was first broadcast on ITV on 3 September 2007 until 14 November 2014 and aired on weekday afternoons. The show's main focus is the "Best of British" the ...

'', ''

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'' and the charity events

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and '' Children in Need''. McFly also performed an acoustic version of the song in Spain on ''

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''. Facetime performance May 2020 during Covid-19 lockdown - Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones with

James Arthur James Arthur (born 2 March 1988) is an English singer and songwriter. He rose to fame after winning the ninth series of ''The X Factor'' in 2012. His debut single, a cover of Shontelle's "Impossible", was released by Syco Music after the fin ...

Olly Murs Oliver Stanley Murs (born 14 May 1984) is an English singer, songwriter, and television presenter. He was runner-up on the sixth series of ''The X Factor'' in 2009 and was subsequently signed to RCA Records and Sony Music in the United Kingdom, ...

and Niall Horan perform together a fantastic rendition.

Track listing

; UK CD1 # "Shine a Light" (featuring Taio Cruz) - 3:39 # "Shine a Light" (featuring Taio Cruz) (WestFunk & Steve Smart Remix) - 3:28 ; UK CD2 # "Shine a Light" (McFly Solo Version) - 3:55 # "Dynamite" (Radio 1 Live Lounge Session) - 3:56 # "I'll Be Your Man" (Acoustic Version) - 4:59 # "End of the World" (Acoustic Version) - 3:38 ; UK 7" Picture Disc # "Shine a Light" (featuring Taio Cruz) - 3:39

Chart performance

On 14 November, the single debuted on the

at number 4, with sales of more than 51,000 copies, the song spent seven weeks in the Top 20, In its 7th week, "Shine a Light" became the top selling singles of McFly after " All About You" and spent eighteen weeks in UK top 100. The song peaked the number 9 in UK Airplay Chart. As of 2012, it has sold 341,000 copies in the UK. In Scotland the song spent three weeks on Top 10 and eight weeks in the Top 20. In Portugal the song spent seven weeks on Top 20. Nine weeks after the original release, "Shine a Light" featured 16 in 4Music's top 20 for the week.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Personnel

Danny Jones Daniel Alan David Jones''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1984–2005'' (born 12 March 1986) is an English singer-songwriter and musician who is one of the lead vocalists and the lead guitarist for pop-rock band McFly. Jone ...

- songwriter, guitar, lead vocals, backing vocals *

Harry Judd Harry Mark Christopher Judd (born 23 December 1985) is an English musician, dancer and author. He is the drummer for the band McFly. Judd won the 2011 series of ''Strictly Come Dancing''. Judd published his first book, ''Get Fit Get Happy'', in ...

- drums, percussion *

Dougie Poynter Dougie Lee Poynter (born 30 November 1987) is an English musician, songwriter, fashion model, aspiring clothing designer, children's author and actor. He is the bassist of the pop rock band McFly. Biography Early life Poynter was born in Orset ...

- bass *

- songwriter, lead vocals, synths, keyboard, producer *Alan Nglish - producer *Serban Ghenea - mixer

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2010 singles McFly songs Songs written by Danny Jones Songs written by Tom Fletcher Songs written by Taio Cruz 2010 songs Island Records singles