"Shine Your Way" is a song by American

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

project Owl City and Malaysian singer

Yuna Yuna may refer to: Geography *Yuna River, Dominican Republic *Yuna, Western Australia Music * ''Yuna'' (album), a 2012 album by Malaysian singer Yuna * ''Yuna'' (EP), a 2008 album by Malaysian acoustic singer Yuna People Japanese *Yuna Aoi, wr ...

. The song was released on March 4, 2013, from the 2013

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division ...

film, '' The Croods''.

Background

During post-production of '' The Croods'', Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders created a playlist to "evoke the feeling they wanted" for the film, in which several tracks on that playlist were by Owl City. Sanders stated they wanted Owl City, because he provides, "just the right weight and the right lift you need." According to

, Silvestri reached out to Young, who also needed a female vocalist for the track.

Composition

"Shine Your Way" was written and produced by

Alan Silvestri Alan Anthony Silvestri (born March 26, 1950) is an American composer and conductor of film and television scores. He has been associated with director Robert Zemeckis since 1984, composing music for all of his feature films including the ''Back ...

Glen Ballard Basil Glen Ballard Jr. (born May 1, 1953) is an American songwriter, lyricist, and record producer. He is best known for co-writing and producing Alanis Morissette's 1995 album ''Jagged Little Pill'', which won Grammy Awards for Grammy Award fo ...

, Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders. The song has been described as a positive and optimistic track. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com, by Alfred Music Publishing, the track runs at 120 BPM and is in the key of

D flat major D-flat major (or the key of D-flat) is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B and C. Its key signature has five flats. It is enharmonically equivalent to C-sharp major. The D-flat major scale is: : Its ...

. Young and Yuna's range in the song spans from the notes Bb3 to Bb5.

Critical reception

Robbie Daw of ''

Idolator An idolator is a practitioner of idolatry. Idolater or Idolator may also refer to: Books *''Os Idólatras'', 1968 Portuguese novel by Maria Judite de Carvalho Music * Idolator (website), an American music blog * ''Idolator'' (album), third album ...

'' gave a positive review for the song stating, "All the right elements, both natural and musical, are present for this one to become a radio staple this spring – and for Malaysian songstress Yuna to finally break out in a big way." The song was eligible for

Best Original Song This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the Oscars in 2013.

Live performances

Owl City and Yuna performed "Shine Your Way" on ''

The Tonight Show With Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that first aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009. It resumed production on March 1, 2010 and ended on February 6, 2014. The fourth incarnation of the ...

'' on March 14, 2013.

Music video

The music video for "Shine Your Way" premiered via

VEVO Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, di ...

on March 15, 2013. The video showcases Yuna and Young performing the song around the animated landscape of the film.

Charts

Use in media

"Shine Your Way" was performed by the top ten contestants on the

singing competition A music competition is a public event designed to identify and award outstanding musical ensembles, soloists, composers, conductors and musicologists. Pop music competitions are music competitions which are held to find pop starlets. Examples ...

series ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

''.

References

{{Yuna (singer) 2013 songs 2012 singles Owl City songs Yuna (singer) songs Songs written for animated films Songs written by Alan Silvestri Songs written by Glen Ballard Male–female vocal duets