"So Damn Beautiful" is the debut single from British singer-songwriter

Poloroid Poloroid is a former stage name of Essex-born singer-songwriter Danielle "Dan" Rowe, best known for her 2003 single " So Damn Beautiful". Originally referring to a trio, the name "Poloroid" was adopted by Rowe for her solo material in 2001, foll ...

, real name Danielle Rowe. It was released on 29 September 2003 in the UK, and peaked at number 28 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 ...

and number one on the

UK Dance Chart The UK Dance Singles Chart and the UK Dance Albums Chart are music charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company from sales of songs in the dance music genre (e.g. house, trance, drum and bass, garage, synthpop) in record ...

Background

"So Damn Beautiful" was written by Rowe with two former bandmates, Lee Milleare and John Horrocks. It was first brought to the attention of

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

s after British disc jockey

Dave Seaman Dave Seaman (born 29 April 1968) is a British DJ and record producer. He was formerly a member of the Disco Mix Club, DMC Publishing, and editor of music magazine ''Mixmag''. Biography He formed Brothers in Rhythm with Steve Anderson (music ...

included it on the mix album '' Global Underground 012: Bueno Aires'' in 1999. Because of this attention for the song, Rowe was invited to perform a live set for

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...

. As well as interest from the clubs, the track was also used in the UK as part of soundtracks to various victories of the

England national football team The England national football team has represented England in international Association football, football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in Engl ...

, such as their 5–1 defeat of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in 2001 and their 1–0 victory over

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in 2002. "So Damn Beautiful" was officially released by

Telstar Records Telstar Records was a British record label that operated from 1982 to 2004. Background Telstar was founded in 1982 by Sean O'Brien and Neil Palmer with a government loan of £120,00Telstar RecordsIt was launched as a specialist compilation mar ...

in the UK on 29 September 2003, in a radically remixed form by trance DJs

Dogzilla Dogzilla were a British electronic music duo. The group had four major releases between 2003 and 2008, and was composed of Simon Patterson and Richie Kayvan, both based in London. They are most famous for their single "Without You" which charte ...

. The song was playlisted on

's C list and received airplay, where Australian singer

Holly Valance Holly Rachel Candy (; born 11 May 1983), known professionally as Holly Valance, is an Australian actress and singer. Valance began her acting career on the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours'', as Felicity Scully (1999–2002, 2005, 2022). Sh ...

expressed a like for the song on ''

The Chris Moyles Show ''The Chris Moyles Show'' is the title given to two differing versions of a radio programme hosted by Chris Moyles, originally broadcast as Radio 1 Breakfast from 5 January 2004 to 14 September 2012 before transferring three years later on 21 ...

''. "So Damn Beautiful" peaked at number 28 on the

and number one on the

– it was Poloroid's biggest chart hit. It was also used in the episode "Nanette Babcock" of the American drama ''

Nip/Tuck ''Nip/Tuck'' is an American medical drama television series created by Ryan Murphy that aired on FX in the United States from July 22, 2003, to March 3, 2010. The series, which also incorporates elements of crime drama, black comedy, family dra ...

'' and was included on the soundtrack album '' Nip/Tuck: Original TV Soundtrack''. On reviewing the album, UK-based website

musicOMH MusicOMH (stylized as musicOMH) is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B. History MusicOMH was founded and launched by ...

described the track as "lovely" and called it "a truly haunting song".

Formats and track listings

*CD single #"So Damn Beautiful (Andy Morris radio mix)" – #"So Damn Beautiful (original mix)" – #"So Damn Beautiful (Dogzilla mix)" –

Chart performance

References

External links

"So Damn Beautiful"
at

Last.fm Last.fm is a music website founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. Using a music recommender system called "Audioscrobbler", Last.fm builds a detailed profile of each user's musical taste by recording details of the tracks the user listens to, e ...

{{Authority control 2003 debut singles 1998 songs Trip hop songs Telstar Records singles