Fly (Hilary Duff song)
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| “Fly” | ||
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| Single by Hilary Duff from the album Hilary Duff and Most Wanted |
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| Released | August 2004 (U.S.) November 8, 2004 (Australia) March 10, 2006 (EU) March 13, 2006 (UK) |
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| Format | CD single, digital download | |
| Genre | Pop rock, alternative rock | |
| Length | 3:42 | |
| Label | Hollywood | |
| Writer(s) | Kara DioGuardi, John Shanks | |
| Producer | John Shanks | |
| Hilary Duff U.S./Australian singles chronology | ||
| "Little Voice" (2004) |
"Fly" (2004) |
"The Getaway" (2004) |
| Hilary Duff UK singles chronology | ||
| "Wake Up" (2005) |
"Fly" (2006) |
"With Love" (2007) |
"Fly" is a pop rock song recorded by Hilary Duff for her second album, Hilary Duff (2004). It was released as the album's first single in 2004 (see 2004 in music) in the United States. It was not released until 2006 (see 2006 in music) in the United Kingdom, where it was released as the second single from Duff's compilation album, Most Wanted (2005). It was co-written by Kara DioGuardi and John Shanks, whose production work on the song was partly responsible for his winning a Grammy Award.[1]
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[edit] Theme
The song's protagonist encourages listeners to "let go of your yesterday" and "reach for something when there's nothing left". Duff has described it as "an uplifting song in the face of all the negativity going around these days. It's about how people are scared to open up and show who they are inside because they're afraid of what others are going to say".[2] "Fly" was featured in the 2004 film Raise Your Voice, in which Duff starred.
Stylus magazine said the song was very similar to one of Duff's previous singles, "Come Clean" (2004), but called it "an easily excusable offense, as it improves on the template ... [it] rightfully leads off the album."[3] Blender magazine said the song is "Urgent and theatrical" and "sounds like Evanescence — but the inspirational lyrics are pure Duff."[4] John Shanks received a 2005 Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical for his work on "Fly" and recordings by Ashlee Simpson, Kelly Clarkson, Sheryl Crow, Robbie Robertson and Alanis Morissette.[1]
[edit] Commercial release
"Fly" was released to CHR/top 40 radio in the U.S. in the week of August 9, 2004,[5] and at one point more radio stations were adding it to their playlists than any other song.[2] In spite of this initial success, "Fly" peaked outside the top twenty on the Billboard Top 40 Mainstream chart and failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100.[6] As a digital download, the song reached the top forty on the Hot Digital Tracks chart,[7] but download sales statistics weren't included in Hot 100 calculations until February 2005.[8]
One reader of Billboard sent in a letter to the magazine comparing the chart performance of "Fly" with that of Ciara's "Goodies"; it said that "what the public buys is definitely not reflected on the Hot 100" because in spite of the number-one success of "Goodies" and the absence of "Fly" on the chart, Ciara's album Goodies was ranked lower on the Billboard 200 chart than the album Hilary Duff. Billboard "Chart Beat" columnist Fred Bronson wrote that the reader's point about album sales was "well taken, but just because Hilary Duff's album outranks Ciara's on The Billboard 200 doesn't mean that "Goodies" shouldn't be more popular than ["Fly"] on the Hot 100 ... The fact that Duff's album sold so well doesn't give "Fly" a pass on the Hot 100; it will have to earn a place on that chart on its own merits."[9] Bronson said the reason that sales statistics had little influence on the Hot 100 was because the U.S. singles market had "shriveled up to almost nothing", but he said that the then-impending incorporation of paid digital download data into the Hot 100 "should give sales more weight on this chart."[9] A later letter to the magazine stated that the low radio airplay of "Fly" compared to sales of Hilary Duff was "a great example of the fact that radio simply does not play what music buyers want to hear", a point with which Bronson agreed, writing "I've written about the disparity between the sales and airplay charts many times ... [but] "Fly" hasn't earned a berth on the singles and tracks chart, despite the popularity of its parent album. A free pass for "Fly" really would destroy the credibility of the charts."[10]
In Australia, where the single was released in November 2004, it was more successful: it reached number twenty-one in its second week of release and stayed on the chart for fourteen weeks. It also reached the top forty in New Zealand and the Netherlands.[11] In the British Isles, where the album Hilary Duff was not released, "Fly" was not released as a single until March 2006, when it served as the second single from Duff's 2005 compilation album, Most Wanted. It peaked at number twenty on the UK Singles Chart, failing to match the success of the album's first single, the top ten hit "Wake Up"; it spent five weeks on the chart. The single reached the top ten in the Republic of Ireland.[11]
The single's music video, directed by Chris Applebaum, combines black-and-white backstage footage with color shots of Duff performing the song. It was filmed in Worcester, Massachusetts.[12] The video premiered on MTV's Total Request Live on August 26, 2004, debuted on the show's countdown on August 30 and reached number one on the countdown for one day. It spent twenty-eight days on the countdown, until October 27.[13] Scott Chitwood called it "your standard forgettable pop music video. I'm just amazed that Hilary Duff could perform in front of as big a crowd as is in the video. Is it CGI?".[14]
[edit] Charts
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[edit] Formats and track listings
These are the formats and track listings of minor single releases of "Fly".
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[edit] Notes
- ^ a b "47th Annual Grammy Awards - Winners: Production". VH1.com. Retrieved October 27, 2006.
- ^ a b Sony Music. "Hilary Duff - Hilary Duff". The Star. Retrieved October 27, 2006.
- ^ Burns, Todd. "Hilary Duff". Stylus. September 24, 2004. Retrieved October 27, 2006.
- ^ "Editors' Picks: October 2004". Blender. September 24, 2004. Retrieved February 23, 2007.
- ^ "Going For Adds - CHR/Top 40". Radio & Records. August 9, 2004. Retrieved October 27, 2006.
- ^ a b "Hilary Duff - Billboard Singles". All Music Guide and Billboard. Retrieved October 27, 2006.
- ^ a b Billboard. October 16, 2004.
- ^ "Music downloads get own Billboard chart". Associated Press. February 10, 2005. Retrieved March 23, 2007.
- ^ a b Bronson, Fred. "Chart Beat Chat - The Sales and Airplay Debate Continues". Billboard. October 8, 2004. Retrieved July 10, 2007.
- ^ Bronson, Fred. "Chart Beat Chat - Taking Issue". Billboard. October 29, 2004. Retrieved July 10, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Hilary Duff - Fly". MusicSquare. Retrieved March 23, 2007.
- ^ "Creating the Video and Concert" [on the DVD Hilary Duff: Learning to Fly]. November 16, 2004. United States: Hollywood Records.
- ^ "The TRL Archive - August 2004", "The TRL Archive - September 2004", "The TRL Archive - October 2004". popfusion.net. Retrieved March 23, 2007.
- ^ Chitwood, Scott. DVD Reviews - Raise Your Voice". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved March 23, 2007.
- ^ "México Top 100". AmericanTop100.com. November 15, 2004.
- ^ "Hilary Duff - Fly". top40-charts.com. Retrieved July 10, 2007.
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