" More to Life" is a song by American recording artist Stacie Orrico from her self-titled second studio album. The song was released as the album's second single in the United States in August 2003, and in the United Kingdom in November 2003. "More to Life" was written by Sabelle Breer, Kevin Kadish, Lucy Woodward, Harvey Mason Jr. and Damon Thomas, and produced by The Underdogs. " More to Life" received generally positive reviews from music critics, with most of them calling it "strong" and saying it was a definite highlight from the album. The song was also a worldwide success. The song peaked in the top five in three countries, which included New Zealand at number three, Norway at number two and number five on the US BillboardPop Songs chart. " More to Life" was included in the 2005 filmRobots.
Composition
" More to Life" conveys a message about a person wanting more from their life. Writing for musicOMH, Bill Lehane observed that the track is "concerned with troubles of faith and gradually introduce to the idea that this is, in fact, a record of deeply religious music."
Reception
Jon Singer of PopMatters called the song a "strong" single.
Chart performance
" More to Life" peaked at number 30 on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Orrico's biggest single to date in the country. The song also peaked at number 5 on the US Billboard Pop Songs, and number 31 on the US Billboard Adult Top 40. The song also had received worldwide success. The song debuted at number 32 on the Australian singles chart, and after eight weeks in the charts, it peaked at number 11. It stayed in the charts for 19 weeks, and was certified Gold, selling over 35,000 copies in the country. The song debuted at number 48 on the New Zealand Singles Chart. After two weeks, the song jumped from number 38 to number 9, and after two weeks in the top 10, dropped to number 12; however, the next week, it re-entered the top 10, and after five weeks ascending the top 10, it reached its peak of number 3. It then stayed another two weeks in the top 10 before slowly dropping down the chart, staying 18 weeks total on the New Zealand chart. Half of those 18 weeks were spent in the top 10, and the song was certified Gold, selling over 7,500 copies there. The song also peaked at number 2 for four weeks in Norway and stayed on the country's chart for 16 weeks.
Music video
The video is directed by Dave Meyers. Throughout the video, Orrico portrays a number of women with different yet hectic lives: a poor mother in debt, a member of a busking band, a long-distance marathon runner, a supermodel, a diner waitress, a businesswoman, a gang member, and a BASE jumper. The video ends with Orrico portrayed as a regular girl in a crowd, before finally disappearing as a passerby walks by.
