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, who created the project while experimenting with music in his parents' basement. Owl City developed a following on the social networking site Myspace, like many musicians who achieved success in the late 2000s, before signing with Universal Republic Records, now Republic Records, in 2008.
After two independent releases, his debut EP Of June and debut studio album Maybe I'm Dreaming, Owl City gained mainstream popularity with its 2009 major-label debut and second studio album, Ocean Eyes, which includes the Diamond certified & Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "Fireflies". The album was certified 2× Platinum in the United States, with "Fireflies" being certified Diamond in January 2023.
In June 2011, Owl City released its third studio album, All Things Bright and Beautiful, which was followed by The Midsummer Station in August 2012. It released its fifth studio album and last under Republic Records, Mobile Orchestra in July 2015. It released its sixth and seventh studio album Cinematic and Coco Moon, independently.
Owl City has recorded songs for several animated films, including Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, Wreck-It Ralph, The Croods and The Smurfs 2. Owl City also has released several charting singles, most notably the Carly Rae Jepsen duet "Good Time" and "Fireflies".
History
2007–2009: early years, ''Of June'', and ''Maybe I'm Dreaming''
Adam Young has attributed the name Owl City to a number of sources. His official blog says it derives from the short film An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, due to his identification with the protagonist. In other interviews, he has referred to his sister's pet owl, as well as to an owl that met its demise on the windshield of his father's truck. He has also described seeing a large number of owls in a forest in Scotland while visiting his grandmother.Suffering from insomnia while working loading Coca-Cola trucks, Young began to compose music, recording with a C-1 Behringer Microphone. Among the software that he began with was Reason from Propellerhead. He began uploading songs recorded in his parents' basement to MySpace. "Hello Seattle" was the first track written for Owl City, which also inspired the project. After receiving favorable attention for his music, he began receiving emails from major record labels in the spring of 2008. His manager Steve Bursky later highlighted the significance of Young's engaging online manner in building his following saying: "People feel like they know him, like they've got a direct connection to him because of how he approaches his connection with them online." Through a deal with the digital aggregator CD Baby, he then started making the songs available for sale through iTunes. In 2007, Owl City released an EP titled Of June, followed by the release of his debut studio album Maybe I'm Dreaming on March 17, 2008. Of June reached No. 15 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart, and Maybe I'm Dreaming peaked on the same chart at No. 13. The song "The Technicolor Phase", from his debut album, was featured in the soundtrack of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.
In February 2009, Owl City signed with Universal Republic. He played his first show to a sold-out crowd at the Varsity Theater in Minnesota. He continued to perform shows from May to June 2009. In May, Owl City performed at the 2009 Bamboozle festival.
2009–2010: ''Ocean Eyes''
Ocean Eyes, Owl City's major label debut and second studio album, was released on iTunes on July 14, 2009, with the physical release following on July 28. The album peaked at number eight on the Billboard 200 and topped the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart for four weeks. The album sold 20,000 copies in its first week, before selling 1.1 million copies as of July 2012. By April 2010, it was certified Platinum in the United States. It was certified 2× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in January 2023. The album was mostly recorded in his parents' basement, before Young got his own place and finished it up there.Owl City released his debut single, "Fireflies" on July 14, 2009. The song became a commercial success, topping the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States for the week ending November 7, 2009. The song spent two non-consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, returning to top spot for the week ending November 21, 2009. It was the ninth best-selling songs of 2009 in the United States. The song was certified Diamond by the RIAA. Internationally, the song also topped the charts in Ireland, Australia, Denmark and the Netherlands. "Fireflies" was featured as iTunes' "Single of the Week" and garnered 650,000 downloads. A music video for the song premiered in 2009 and was directed by Steve Hoover. "Fireflies" also peaked at the top of the charts in the United Kingdom, becoming Britain's 20th most downloaded song of all time.
"Vanilla Twilight" was released on January 26, 2010, as the second single from the album. The song debuted at No. 95 on the Billboard Hot 100, the same week "Fireflies" reached No. 1. The song eventually peaked at No. 72 on the chart. It was certified Platinum by the RIAA. The music video for "Vanilla Twilight" was released on March 22, 2010, and features a cameo appearance from Shaquille O'Neal. The album's third and final single, "Umbrella Beach" was released on May 17, 2010, and peaked at No. 110 on the UK Singles Chart.
Young was joined by Breanne Düren on several tracks; the most notable example of which is "The Saltwater Room". The track "Sunburn", is featured on Soundtrack 90210, which was released on October 13, 2009. The song "Hello Seattle" found commercial success peaking at number 12 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart and was certified Gold by the RIAA. During the summer of 2009, Owl City embarked on his first headlining tour and opened for Relient K. In the fall, Owl City embarked on a second headlining tour that began in October to November 2009, with support from The Scene Aesthetic and Brooke Waggoner. He continued to tour in early 2010 in support of the album. He was joined by Lights and Deas Vail. Owl City joined Cobra Starship as an opening act on their Australian and New Zealand tour in March 2010.
In 2010, Young revealed a new musical project known as Sky Sailing, which moved away from his usual electronica genre of music and introduced acoustic guitar and piano accompaniments into his work. The unrefined tracks were recorded in the summer of 2007, before he began making music as Owl City. His first album under this new project is entitled An Airplane Carried Me to Bed, and was released on July 13, 2010, via iTunes.
Young collaborated with English electronic musician Chicane and released the single "Middledistancerunner" on July 30, 2010, featuring Young on vocals. He also worked with Dutch producer Armin van Buuren, appearing on a track called "Youtopia" from the van Buuren album Mirage. In August 2010, "To the Sky" was officially released on the soundtrack for Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'hoole. That same month, he opened for John Mayer and Maroon 5. On October 25, 2010, Young released a cover version of Keith Getty & Stuart Townend's modern hymn "In Christ Alone" for streaming on his website.
Taylor Swift's song "Enchanted", released on October 25, 2010, was rumored to be about the time she met Adam Young. Young recorded his cover of "Enchanted" as a response, altering the lyrics to address Swift directly. He posted the recording on his website on February 13, 2011. He released a Christmas single called "Peppermint Winter" in November 2010.
2010–2011: ''All Things Bright and Beautiful''
Production on Young's third studio album began around mid-2010 after he returned home from his Ocean Eyes World Tour, with Young being announced as the executive producer of the album. Young also worked with engineer and producer Jack Joseph Puig on the album. On October 18, Young wrote an entry on his blog regarding his third studio album, saying that the album was nearing completion. This time around, Young opted to use less auto-tune and processed vocals for the album and wanted it to sound more "finished" than his previous album. A lot of the record was influenced by his experiences visiting places like Japan, Australia and New Zealand, while on tour.In February 2011, the title of the album was announced to be All Things Bright and Beautiful and that the album would be released on May 24, before the release date was later bumped up to May 17. However, on April 6, Young released a statement on his website, along with lengthy previews of four of his songs, that the release date for All Things Bright and Beautiful would be pushed back to June 14. The album's title is based on the hymn of the same name. In March 2011, Owl City announced the All Things Bright and Beautiful World Tour. In addition to the tour announcement, an app titled Owl City Galaxy was launched, where fans could pre-order the album and access content such as an exclusive bonus track not included in the album, early access to concert tickets and merch. The album debuted at number six on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of 48,000 copies.
"Alligator Sky" was released as the lead single from the album on March 22, 2011, featuring rapper Shawn Chrystopher. The music video for the song premiered on May 6. Young discussed the concept in a making-of video posted on Owl City's VEVO account, "The concept is basically about these two guys who are leaving Earth. Rather than it being this very dark post-apocalyptic vibe, it's very optimistic, and so it's like people are excited to leave earth." The song peaked at number five on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. The song, "Galaxies" was released as the second single from the album on April 19, 2011. Young stated that the song is about the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. It reached number 39 on the US Hot Christian Songs chart.
"Deer in the Headlights" was released on iTunes on May 23, 2011, as the first promotional single from the album. The music video for the track was released on June 30, 2011, and showcases Young driving through the night in a replica of the DMC DeLorean featured from the Back to the Future trilogy. Canadian musician Lights also makes a cameo appearance during the video. "Lonely Lullaby" was released as the album's third single on July 19, 2011. Though it was not featured on the standard edition of All Things Bright and Beautiful, it was included as a bonus track for the album. The song is dedicated to his ex-girlfriend Annmarie Monson, who he described as the "most wonderful, beautiful woman" he knew. The song was previously available only to Owl City Galaxy members in March 2011. "Angels" was released for Christian radio airplay on September 20, 2011. "Dreams Don't Turn to Dust" was released as a single exclusively in the UK on October 10, 2011.
During the month of July at the Club Nokia concert in Los Angeles, Young announced that the concert was being filmed for a Live DVD. The recording entitled, Owl City: Live From Los Angeles, was eventually released on iTunes in December 2011. In August 2011, Owl City was featured on the song "All About Us" by He Is We. On November 15, 2011, Jumeirah released a commercial for their famous Burj Al Arab luxury hotel which Young was called upon to compose the music for the commercial.