Owl City
| Owl City | |
|---|---|
 Adam Young |
|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Pop , Indietronic |
| founding | 2007 |
| Website | http://www.owlcitymusic.com/ |
| Current occupation | |
| Adam Young | |
| Live and session members | |
| Steve Goold | |
| Breanne Düren | |
| Jasper Nephew | |
| Daniel Paul Jorgensen | |
Owl City is an American music project. It consists of Adam Young, who calls himself and his band standing in the background "Owl City". Young started making music in his parents' basement, which he said was a result of his insomnia .
Young's influences are disco music , European electronic music and the synthpop of the 1980s. After two independent albums are without label and growing awareness by Owl City's MySpace -profile the band reached their major label debut Ocean Eyes in America the mainstream and national popularity. The album features the number one hit Fireflies , which was more successful than any electronic / alternative track before. The album Ocean Eyes topped the US electronic charts and made it into the top 10 on the official Billboard 200 .
Together with Austin Tofte, Adam Young also founded the band Swimming with Dolphins in 2008 . However, as Owl City grew in popularity, Young turned to his own projects. Tofte was a member of Owl City's live band in 2008. Swimming with Dolphins released the EP Ambient Blue in 2008 and the album Water Colors in 2011 .
Band name
In an interview Adam Young explained, hence the band name come from, that in second grade, a classmate whose family bred owls, an owl (ger .: owl ) brought into the social studies classes. But when he got them out of the cage, the bird freaked out and flew around wildly while the children ran through the classroom, screaming and laughing. This image made an impression on him and has always been the inspiration for the band name.
history
The beginnings (2007-2008)
Owl City was founded by Adam Young, originally from Owatonna, Minnesota. Owl City grew in popularity through its MySpace profile, which received more than 8.6 million plays from songs like Hello Seattle .
In 2007 Owl City released the EP Of June and in 2008 the album Maybe I'm Dreaming . Of June reached number 20 and Maybe I'm Dreaming number 16 on the Billboard Electronic Album Charts.
Young released the first two albums without the help of a record company. However, in early 2009 it was announced through the music industry website Crazed Hits that Owl City had signed with the major label Universal Republic .
Ocean Eyes (2009)
Owl City's second album was first released digitally on iTunes on July 14, 2009 and on CD on July 28, 2009. The album Ocean Eyes debuted at number 27 on the Billboard 200 and reached number two in the "Top Albums" category in the first week of iTunes' release. After two weeks, the album had received over 2,600 ratings with an average of 5/5 stars. Owl City also released four singles in advance of the release of Ocean Eyes , Hello Seattle , Hot Air Balloon , Strawberry Avalanche and Fireflies .
With a few exceptions, Young created Ocean Eyes entirely on his own. He recorded and arranged almost all instruments and was the producer and technician of the album.
Young is accompanied by Breanne Duren in a few songs; best heard in The Saltwater Room . Owl City's live band consists of: Breanne Duren (background vocals / keyboard), Matthew Decker (drums), Laura Musten (violin) and Hanna Schroeder (cello).
Relient K singer Matt Thiessen also worked with Owl City on several songs. In return, Young produced the Relient-K-Lied Terminals . Thiessen also announced that it is very likely that he and Young will produce a side project called 'Goodbye Dubai' in the future.
The song Fireflies was released as a free download on the iPod / iPhone game Tap Tap Revenge 3 . In the lead up to the July 14th iTunes release of Ocean Eyes and the Fireflies single, Steve Hoover was hired to direct the Fireflies music video. The video was published exclusively on MySpace, but illegally found its way hours before on the video portals 'Dailymotion' and 'YouTube'. Fireflies was a surprise success and even climbed to number one by November 1, 2009.
Owl City contributed a song called Sunburn to the soundtrack of the television series 90210 , which was released on October 13, 2009. In addition, the song The Technicolor Phase is included in the soundtrack of Almost Alice . Owl City toured China and Japan with Cobra Starship in November 2009 . Owl City toured with The Scene Aesthetic and Brooke Wagoner .
In early 2010, Fireflies was also released in Europe. In Great Britain it was originally supposed to go on sale in mid-February; But after cover versions of the song achieved high sales in the download charts at the turn of the year, the sales start was brought forward at short notice and within two weeks the song also took number 1 in the UK charts .
On September 21, 2010 Owl City released the song To the Sky . On October 25, 2010, a cover of the song In Christ Alone appeared on the Owl City blog . A Christmas single called Peppermint Winter was released on November 22nd .
All Things Bright and Beautiful (2011)
The first official song of the third album, Alligator Sky , was released on April 12, 2011 and the accompanying music video premiered on May 6, 2011.
His album All Things Bright and Beautiful was released on June 14, 2011 (June 10, 2011 in Germany). On May 23, 2011, the third single Deer in the Headlights from the album All Things Bright and Beautiful was released as a download. The website went online on June 22, 2011. The video for Deer in the Headlights premiered on June 30, 2011.
In June and July 2011 concerts were held in North America. Owl City toured Europe in September and October. There have been concerts in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden. The German stations of the "All Things Bright and Beautiful World Tour" were Munich, Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg.
On August 30, 2011, He Is We released a song entitled All About Us , where Owl City was a guest vocalist. Owl City was also a guest singer on TobyMac's song The First Noel , which was released on October 4, 2011. On November 28, 2011, the music video for Youtopia by Armin Van Buuren feat. Adam Young.
The Midsummer Station (2012)
On January 2, 2012, Young announced on his blog that his fourth studio album will be released in summer / fall 2012. He also said that he would like to work with several other artists.
On February 3rd, 2012 Owl City's first DVD was released in Germany. This DVD shows the 2011 concert from Los Angeles .
In an interview with Billboard.com on February 28, 2012, Adam Young said he was 80-85 percent done with the new album. But he is not sure in which way the song I Hope You Think of Me would be on the record. For the album he collaborated with Dr. Luke , Stargate , JR Rotem , Brian Kennedy and Emily Wright worked together.
For a charity campaign, Adam Young released a song on March 5, 2012 with the name Here's Hope . The title was also sung by Jewel and Jay Sean .
With Mark Hoppus from Blink-182 , Adam Young released the song Dementia on April 17, 2012. On May 4, 2012, Young wrote on Twitter that an EP will be released on May 15, 2012, containing four songs from the fourth studio album. He also disclosed the tracklist of the EP. The four songs also include the single Dementia .
On May 25, 2012 Adam Young announced via his Twitter account that the fourth album is called The Midsummer Station and will be available worldwide on August 14, 2012.
On the album Sonne by Schiller there is a song ( Alive ) for which Adam Young took over the vocals. Adam Young also released the theme song for The Croods : Shine Your Way in March in collaboration with Malaysian singer Yuna .
Mobile Orchestra (2015)
In May 2015 Adam Young released the single Verge with the American singer and songwriter Aloe Blacc . Verge was the first single from the album Mobile Orchestra , which came out on July 10, 2015. The single went largely unnoticed and the album could not build on the previous releases internationally. Only in the USA did the album reach a good chart position at number 11.
Cinematic (2018)
On October 30, 2017 Owl City announced on their YouTube account that their new album Cinematic with 18 songs would be released on June 1, 2018. In the period from the announcement to the album's release date, he has released three EPs (he called Reels), each with three songs from the upcoming album. It is also his first work that was not released by a major label. The album, as before Mobile Orchestra, could not build on the previous successes.
Influences
Young names, among others, Imogen Heap , Relient K , Boards of Canada , The Album Leaf and Armin van Buuren as influencing his style. This was also shaped by the New Wave of the 1980s, but he does not name any particular band from this time as an example.
Owl City is very often compared to The Postal Service and sometimes Ben Gibbard's main band Death Cab for Cutie . The comparisons are based on the similarity of Gibbard and Young's voices, their 1980s-influenced electro-pop, and the use of female guest singers in some of their songs.
Owl City is also compared to the artist Lights , who became known in Canada in 2008 with her songs Drive My Soul and February Air . Both went on a European tour together in early 2010.
Discography
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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| Albums | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Singles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Studio albums
- Maybe I'm Dreaming (2008)
- Ocean Eyes (2009)
- All Things Bright and Beautiful (2011)
- The Midsummer Station (2012)
- Mobile Orchestra (2015)
- Cinematic (2018)
EPs
- Of June (2007)
- Ambient Blue (2008, with Swimming with Dolphins )
- Shooting Star (2012)
- The Midsummerstation Acoustic (2013)
- Ultraviolet (2014)
- Reel 1 (2017)
- Reel 2 (2018)
Singles
-
Hello Seattle (2008) (US:
gold) - Hot Air Balloon (2009)
- Strawberry Avalanche (2009)
- Vanilla Twilight (2009)
- Fireflies (2009)
- Umbrella Beach (2010)
- Peppermint Winter (2010)
- Alligator Sky (2011)
- Galaxies (2011)
- Deer in the Headlights (2011)
- Lonely Lullaby (2011)
- Dreams Don't Turn to Dust (2011)
- Shooting Star (2012)
- Good Time (Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen ) (2012)
- When Can I See You Again? (2012)
- Gold (2013)
- Shine Your Way ( feat.Yuna ) (2013)
- Beautiful Times ( feat.Lindsey Stirling ) (2014)
- You're Not Alone (feat. Britt Nicole ) (2014)
- Tokyo (feat. Sekai no Owari ) (2014)
- Kiss Me Babe, It's Christmas Time (2014)
- Verge ( feat.Aloe Blacc ) (2015)
- My Everything (2015)
- Unbelievable (feat. Hanson ) (2015)
- Humbug (2016)
- Not All Heroes Wear Capes (2017)
- All My Friends (2017)
- Lucid Dream (2018)
- Montana (2018)
- New York City (2018)
Other publications
- Sunburn (From Ocean Eyes [Deluxe Version] as the soundtrack for the TV series 90210)
- The Technicolor Phase (From Maybe I'm Dreaming for the Almost Alice Soundtrack)
- To the Sky (Written for the movie "Legend of the Guardians")
- Peppermint winter
- Enchanted (Answer / Cover of 'Enchanted' by Taylor Swift )
- Beautiful Mystery (Demo)
- Paper Tigers (demo)
- Live It Up (Soundtrack for "The Smurfs 2")
- Garden Party (Cover)
- How Deep The Father's Love For Us (Cover)
- Home Of Blues (Cover)
- Bright Eyes (Cover)
- Waving Through A Window (From the soundtrack of the musical "Dear Evan Hansen")
Working together
- Middledistancerunner ( Chicane feat. Adam Young)
- Youtopia ( Armin van Buuren feat. Adam Young)
- All About Us (He Is We feat. Owl City)
- The First Noel (TobyMac feat. Owl City)
- Eternity ( Paul van Dyk feat. Adam Young)
- Alive ( Schiller feat. Adam Young)
- In The Air (Orjan Nilsen feat. Adam Young)
- Tokyo (Sekai no Owari feat. Adam Young)
- That's My Jam (Relient K. feat. Adam Young)
- Light Of Christmas (TobyMac feat. Adam Young)
- Goodbye (Who Is Fancy feat. Adam Young)
- Dementia (Mark Hoppus feat. Adam Young)
Awards for music sales
|
|
Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.
| Country / Region |
 silver |
gold |
 platinum
|
Sales | swell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources) |
|||||
 Australia (ARIA)
|
- |
gold1
|
12 × platinum12
|
875,000 | aria.com.au |
 Belgium (BEA)
|
- |
gold1
|
- | 15,000 | ultratop.be |
 Denmark (IFPI)
|
- |
gold1
|
3 × platinum3
|
40,000 | ifpi.dk |
 Germany (BVMI)
|
- |
gold1
|
platinum1
|
450,000 | musikindustrie.de |
 Italy (FIMI)
|
- |
gold1
|
platinum1
|
65,000 | fimi.it |
 Japan (RIAJ)
|
silver1
|
- | - | - | riaj.or.jp |
 Canada (MC)
|
- |
gold1
|
- | 40,000 | musiccanada.com |
 New Zealand (RMNZ)
|
- | - |
3 × platinum3
|
45,000 | nztop40.co.nz |
 Sweden (IFPI)
|
- | - |
2 × platinum2
|
80,000 | sverigetopplistan.se |
 Switzerland (IFPI)
|
- |
gold1
|
- | 15,000 | hitparade.ch |
 United States (RIAA)
|
- |
2 × gold2
|
10 × platinum10
|
11,000,000 | riaa.com |
 United Kingdom (BPI)
|
silver1
|
gold1
|
2 × platinum2
|
1,500,000 | bpi.co.uk |
| All in all |
2 × silver2
|
10 × gold10
|
34 × platinum34
|
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swell
- ↑ Whooo's Owl City? at startribune.com ( Memento of the original from June 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Hot New Band: Owl City at spin.com
- ↑ Article on Yahoo! Lifestyle ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mn0001030695
- ↑ Owl City Signs to Universal Republic at crazedhits.com
- ^ Owl City at universalrepublic.com
- ↑ Interview with Matt Thiessen
- ↑ Owlcity.org
- ↑ Owl City's 'Fireflies' Lands at No. 1 on Hot 100
- ↑ Article at usatoday.com
- ↑ Yahoo Chart Watch by James Masterton , podcast January 17, 2010
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from February 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.billboard.com/news/owl-city-80-85-percent-done-with-new-album-1006309752.story#/news/owl-city-80-85-percent-done- with-new-album-1006309752.story
- ^ Owl City - Cinematic (Album Announcement). In: YouTube. October 30, 2017, accessed December 14, 2017 .
- ↑ About | Owl City. Retrieved on July 16, 2018 : "" [...] and first independent offering ""
- ^ Owl City at myspace
- ↑ Talking nonsense with Owl City's Adam Young , September 25, 2009 article, accessed November 19, 2009.
- ↑ "Lights & Owl City European Tour" ( memento of the original from November 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Singer website Lights , November 3, 2009. Retrieved November 19, 2009.
- ↑ a b Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
- ↑ Rebecca Milzoff: Owl City's Adam Young on Singing the First Pop Single From 'Dear Evan Hansen'. In: Billboard. June 23, 2017, accessed December 14, 2017 .
