"The Wind Blows" is a song by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

The All-American Rejects The All-American Rejects is an American rock band from Stillwater, Oklahoma, formed in 1999.When the World Comes Down ''When the World Comes Down'' is the third studio album by American rock band The All-American Rejects, released December 16, 2008, by Interscope Records. Following on from touring and promotion for their previous album, The All-American Rejec ...

'' on April 21, 2009.

Background

"The Wind Blows" (originally titled "Alone Again") was written by Nick Wheeler and

Tyson Ritter Tyson Jay Ritter (born April 24, 1984) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actor, and model. He is best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, pianist, and songwriter of the multi-RIAA certification, platinum selling American alternative ...

, originally for American singer-songwriter

Gwen Stefani Gwen Renée Stefani (; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, fashion designer and actress. She is a co-founder, lead vocalist, and the primary songwriter of the band No Doubt, whose singles include "Just a Girl", "Spiderwebs ...

prior to the release of ''When the World Comes Down'', but was ultimately turned down by her record label. During the recording sessions for ''When the Word Comes Down'', the band's A&R manager Jeff Sosnow provided producer

Eric Valentine Eric Dodd, known professionally as Eric Valentine, is an American record producer who began his career as drummer and producer in the heavy metal band T-Ride. He subsequently produced albums for artists such as Good Charlotte, Lostprophets, Tak ...

with a digital audio library of The All-American Rejects demo songs, where in which the latter person discovered "The Wind Blows". Seeing its potential, Valentine reintroduced the demo to the band, who were uncertain on the song's sound at the time. The band decided to rewrite its chorus and eventually re-record it for the album. Album-wise on ''When the World Comes Down'', "The Wind Blows" is segued into by the previous track "Believe".

Reception

Critical reception

The song received mixed reviews from music critics. An examiner for the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

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 ...

said that they were unsure about the song's soft and mellow sound "for a band that claims to be alternative rock" and compared it to ballad songs by

Maroon 5 Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It currently consists of lead vocalist Adam Levine, keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine (musician), James Valentine, drummer Matt ...

and

Green Day Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, together with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt. For most of the band's career, they have been a powe ...

. They however praised its lyrics, saying "the message about getting through ruff times is actually a good one."

Chart performance

"The Wind Blows" peaked at number 13 on the

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

and the number 34 on the

Mainstream Top 40 Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...

, before slowly beginning to lose public interest.

Music video

The All American Rejects music video for "The Wind Blows" was directed by

Rich Lee Richard "Rich" Lee is an American music video and commercial director. He has directed music videos for Eminem, Lana Del Rey, Maroon 5, The Black Eyed Peas, Norah Jones, Michael Bublé and The All-American Rejects. Rich Lee started his professio ...

and shot between March 30 and 31, 2009 in

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malibu ...

and was released a month later on April 27. It revolves around the relationship between a character played by lead singer Tyson Ritter and his girlfriend - eventually reaching a neutral ending - with scenes of the band performing the song on the shore of a beach overlapped through the video. A second version, featuring alternative scenes of the relationship between Ritter's character and his girlfriend, was later released in October 2009.

Reception

EMVees reviewed the music video and praised its camera work and effects, but felt that they "hurt" the video and got overused, especially on the numerous close-ups of Ritter and the beach scenes. They also thought that the scenes between Ritter and his significant other were "never fully fleshed out as much as they could be", but admitted that with a more fleshed out story, the video could easily be the band's best yet and "makes a person very excited to see where their next music video and song are going".http://www.emvees.com/mvr/a/all-american-rejects-the-wind-blows.html

Track listing

Chart performance

Release history

References

External links

"The Wind Blows" music video on MTV.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wind Blows, The 2009 singles The All-American Rejects songs Song recordings produced by Eric Valentine 2008 songs Interscope Records singles Songs written by Tyson Ritter Songs written by Nick Wheeler Music videos directed by Rich Lee