Beautiful Life (Ace of Base song)
| "Beautiful Life" | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||
| Single by Ace of Base | |||||||
| from the album The Bridge | |||||||
| Released | October 20, 1995[1] | ||||||
| Recorded | 1995 | ||||||
| Genre | Eurodance, techno, gospel | ||||||
| Length | 3:38 | ||||||
| Label | Mega | ||||||
| Writer(s) | Jonas Berggren, John Ballard | ||||||
| Producer(s) | Jonas Berggren, Denniz Pop, Max Martin | ||||||
| Ace of Base singles chronology | |||||||
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"Beautiful Life" is a song by Swedish band Ace of Base, released on October 20 1995.[1] In North America, it was the first single released from The Bridge; in Europe, it followed "Lucky Love".
The song was written on January 1, 1994 by band member Jonas Berggren while he was in the Canary Islands. At the time, "The Sign" had just hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 list, which inspired him to write the song. Berggren incorporated gospel elements into the song, and the single proved quite successful worldwide, reaching number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart in December 1995.[2] It also hit #1 on the U.S. Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.
Critical reception
J.D. Considine of Spin magazine said in a writeup about The Bridge that "the real genius of Ace of Base lies not with perky singing... but with the ability to make melancholy sound so damned appealing." The evaluation continues to narrow in scope as he continues to say "even the cheerfully titled 'Beautiful life' dampens its club-savvy stomp with a heartbreaking minor key chorus."[3]
Music video
The video for the song was directed by Richard Heslop, who would go on to direct the band's later video for "Never Gonna Say I'm Sorry". The video included computer-generated bubbles which whisked the band from place to place. According to music channel VH1 in the United States, the band's record label, Arista Records, insisted the bubbles be removed from the video, leading to a somewhat strange-looking U.S. video, with the band members looking at (and reacting to) bubbles that were no longer there. In Europe, both versions of the video were released. In addition to the two alternate videos, remix videos were also created, and VH1 released a Pop-Up Video version of the video in 1998.
Track listings
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Personnel
- Vocals by Linn Berggren, Jenny Berggren, Jonas Berggren
- Backing Vocals and cue choir by Jeanette Söderholm
- Music by Jonas Berggren
- Lyrics by Jonas Berggren and John Ballard
- Produced by Denniz Pop, Max Martin and Jonas Berggren
- Recorded and produced at Cheiron Studios
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
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Chart successions
| Preceded by "Be My Lover" by La Bouche |
Billboard Hot Dance Club Play number-one single January 6, 1996 - January 12, 1996 |
Succeeded by "If I Were You" by k.d. lang |
| Preceded by "El Tiburón" by Proyecto Uno |
Canadian RPM Dance chart number-one single January 29, 1996 (1 week) |
Succeeded by "Missing" by Everything but the Girl |
Cover versions
Indie band Jukebox The Ghost recorded a cover of the song for Engine Room Recordings' compilation album Guilt by Association Vol. 2, which was released in November 2008.[23]
In 2015, the American dance-pop trio Punch !nc recorded a reimagined version of the song, titled "Heaven (Beautiful Life)." This version has reached number six on Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart.[24]
Appearances in other media
- This song was included on the Night at the Roxbury (1998) soundtrack and was featured in the advertising campaign for the movie.
- The song was featured by the Filipino dance group "The Streetboys" (members like Vhong Navarro, Jhong Hilario and others) performed in the variety show in the Philippines, Eat Bulaga! in 1996.
- The song was used in a TV advertisement for Lincraft in Australia.
- The song was the first to be played the night that the Florida Marlins won Game 7 of the 1997 World Series.
- The song was also heard in the Adam Sandler films, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry from 2007 and You Don't Mess With The Zohan from 2008.
- The Colombian latin pop singer Sara Tunes produced a new version of the song with a more electronic sound which has a rhythm similar to house music or dubstep, originally included on her second studio album, titled "XOXO".
- In the episode "The Eye of the Kong" of the web series Game Grumps, a MIDI version of the song is played as part of a montage.[25]
- The song appeared on the TV show Hindsight.
- The song featured on the soundtrack for Russian TV series Olga on TNT.
References
- 1 2 "Ace of Base's success fuels Swedish confidence". Billboard. 28 October 1995. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
- ↑ Billboard - Google Boeken. Books.google.com. 1995-12-16. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
- ↑ J.D. Considine (February 1996), Ace of Base - The Bridge, Spin magazine
- ↑ "Australian-charts.com – Ace of Base – Beautiful Life". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
- ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Ace of Base – Beautiful Life" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
- ↑ "Ultratop.be – Ace of Base – Beautiful Life" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
- ↑ "Ultratop.be – Ace of Base – Beautiful Life" (in French). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
- ↑ Canada top singles peak
- ↑ Canada dance peak
- ↑ "Ace of Base: Beautiful Life" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
- ↑ "Lescharts.com – Ace of Base – Beautiful Life" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
- ↑ "Musicline.de – Ace of Base Single-Chartverfolgung" (in German). Media Control Charts. PhonoNet GmbH. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
- ↑ Search for Irish peaks Archived 2009-06-03 at WebCite
- ↑ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Ace of Base search results" (in Dutch) Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
- ↑ "Charts.org.nz – Ace of Base – Beautiful Life". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
- ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Ace of Base – Beautiful Life". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
- ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Ace of Base – Beautiful Life". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
- ↑ "Archive Chart: 1996-02-03" UK Singles Chart. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
- ↑ "Ace Of Base – Chart history" Billboard Hot 100 for Ace Of Base. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
- 1 2 3 Allmusic. Ace of Base | Billboard Singles.
- 1 2 "The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles 1996". The Australian Record Industry Association Ltd. Archived from the original on 2015-11-02. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
- ↑ Canada Top 50 Dance Tracks of 1996
- ↑ Matthew Solarski (19 November 2008). "My Brightest Diamond, Frightened Rabbit Do Covers". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
- ↑ Chart history for Punch !nc from Billboard
- ↑ Nintendo Land: The Eye of the Kong - PART 7 - Game Grumps. Game Grumps. 2012. Event occurs at 12:13.
