"When Can I See You Again?" 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 came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

project

Owl City Owl City is an American electronic music project created in 2007 in Owatonna, Minnesota. It is one of several projects by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Adam Young (American musician), Adam Young, who created the project while exp ...

from the 2012

Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that produces animated feature films and short films for the Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a s ...

film ''

Wreck-It Ralph ''Wreck-It Ralph'' is a 2012 American animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. It was directed by Rich Moore and produced by Clark Spencer, from a screenplay by Phil Johnston (filmmaker), Phil Johnston and Jennifer Lee ( ...

''. It was written and produced by Adam Young, with additional writing from

Matt Thiessen Matthew Arnold Thiessen (born August 12, 1980) is a Canadian-born American musician known for being co-founder, lead singer, guitarist, pianist, and primary songwriter for the rock band Relient K. With Relient K, he has released eight full-lengt ...

and Brian Lee. The song was made available for streaming on October 6, 2012 via

AOL Music AOL (formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City, and a brand marketed by Yahoo! Inc. The service traces its history to an online ...

Background

Following the success of his 2012 hit, " Good Time", with

Carly Rae Jepsen Carly Rae Jepsen (born November 21, 1985) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. After studying musical theatre for most of her school life and while in university, Jepsen garnered mainstream attention after placing third on the fifth season of ...

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

reached out to Adam Young to contribute a song to ''

''. Tom MacDougall stated that he chose Owl City because his music, "felt very much in sync with videogames."

Composition and lyrics

"When Can I See You Again?" is an uptempo

dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...

and

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

single. It features Young's "light vocals over a bed of pounding drums and twinkly synths". Young told

, "As a huge fan of Disney animation films growing up, it was a real honor to write 'When Can I See You Again' for ''

''. I felt like it was really challenging to try to live up to the Disney legacy. I had a blast." Since October 1, 2014, a Cantonese-language arrangement has been used as one of the two theme songs for

Hong Kong Disneyland Hong Kong Disneyland () (abbreviated HKDL; also known as HK Disneyland or Disneyland Hong Kong) is a theme park located on reclaimed land in Penny's Bay, Lantau Island, Hong Kong. It opened to visitors on Monday, September 12, 2005, at 13:00 H ...

's Paint the Night Parade, alongside " Baroque Hoedown". An expanded version of the parade premiered at

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, ...

in Anaheim, California, on May 22, 2015, and features new lyrics and vocals recorded by Young.

Music video

The music video for "When Can I See You Again?" was released on October 26, 2012, and directed by Matt Stawski. It features "fun video game themes" and clips from ''Wreck-It Ralph''. Young told AOL Music, "The funniest thing has been actually standing in front of the arcade game with controls, putting the quarter in. It's great to be back and feel like I'm 12 years old again in the arcade."

Awards and nominations

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Owl City Songs about parting 2012 songs Dance-pop songs Disney songs Owl City songs Songs written for animated films Songs written by Adam Young Songs written by Brian Lee (songwriter) Songs written by Matt Thiessen Synth-pop songs Film theme songs Walt Disney Records singles Wreck-It Ralph (franchise)