Eyes Wide Shut (song)

"Eyes Wide Shut" is a song by English boy band JLS from their second studio album, Outta This World. The song, written by JLS, and Tim McEwan and Lars Halvor Jensen of Danish production team DEEKAY, was released as the third single from the album on 13 February 2011. The single version of the track features guest vocals from English rapper Tinie Tempah. The song has peaked at number eight in the United Kingdom.

For other songs with the same name, see Eyes Wide Shut (disambiguation).

"Eyes Wide Shut"
Single by JLS featuring Tinie Tempah
from the album Outta This World
B-side"Broken Strings"
Released13 February 2011 (2011-02-13)
Recorded2010
Genre
Length3:51
LabelEpic
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)DEEKAY
JLS singles chronology
"Love You More"
(2010)		 "Eyes Wide Shut"
(2011)		 "She Makes Me Wanna"
(2011)
Tinie Tempah singles chronology
"Invincible"
(2010)		 "Eyes Wide Shut"
(2011)		 "Wonderman"
(2011)

Background

JLS recorded the track for inclusion on their second studio album, Outta This World. The band stated that the track was not originally intended to be released as a single, however, following a re-working of the track with rapper Tinie Tempah, Marvin revealed it was the obvious choice for a third single in an interview for Digital Spy: "He's the best rapper in the country and the only person we wanted to work with, so it would silly not to make it a single."[1][2] The band performed the track live for the first time during the opening dates of their Outta This World arena tour, with Tinie Tempah performing the song with them at the London dates of the tour.

Music video

The music video was shot in London in November 2010, and was directed by acclaimed American director Syndrome.[3] Shot entirely against a green screen, Marvin Humes of the group noted that the video took strong influence from the Jim Henson film Labyrinth. The video depicts JLS singing and dancing in a fantasy world, and fighting their way through a series of enforced obstacles such as stone walls, trees etc., whilst a mysterious female figure floats above them throughout the duration of the video. The video premiered on the group's VEVO channel in January 2011.

Reception

Robert Copsey of Digital Spy compared the song to Liberty X's "Thinking It Over". He gave the song 4 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Yes, the newer tune is more club-friendly-2011-stylee and features a guest rap from man of the mo Tinie Tempah, but the pop-garagey verses and R&B-lite, catchy-as-cholera chorus have a distinctly old-school feel to them that makes for yet another unstoppable chart missile from Marv & Co."[4]

Chart performance

The album version of the single made its UK chart debut 15 January 2011, when it debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number seventy-nine. The following week it jumped sixty-nine places to make its top-ten chart debut at number ten. On the chart dated 26 February 2011, the song peaked at number eight becoming the group's sixth top-ten UK hit, but their lowest-charting single at the time. The song's charting also gave Tinie Tempah his fifth UK top-ten single.[5]

Promotion

JLS appeared on Alan Carr Chatty Man to perform the song as well as giving an interview.[6] The single was also promoted with performances on This Morning, Daybreak, Let's Dance for Comic Relief, and on the telethon night for Red Nose Day 2011, where the song was performed as part of a sketch with comedian Miranda Hart and Pineapple Dance Studios star Louie Spence.

Track listing
  1. "Eyes Wide Shut" (Single Version featuring Tinie Tempah) - 3:51
  2. "Broken Strings" - 4:14

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[9] Gold 400,000

sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

Release history
Region Date Format Label
United Kingdom 13 February 2011[1] Digital download Epic Records
14 February 2011[10] CD single
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gollark: *Are* there cons beyond "sometimes it blocks things overaggressively"?

References
  1. Robert Copsey (20 December 2010). "JLS confirm new single details". Digital Spy. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  2. "New single! Blog from Aston". JLS Official. Sony Entertainment. 17 December 2010. Archived from the original on 6 January 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  3. "Promo News - Blog Archive - JLS' Eyes Wide Shut feat. Tinie Tempah by Syndrome". 14 January 2011. Archived from the original on 5 April 2011. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  4. Copsey, Robert (14 February 2011). "JLS ft. Tinie Tempah: 'Eyes Wide Shut'". Retrieved 15 February 2011.
  5. "JLS: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company.
  6. Alan Carr: Chatty Man - appearance JLS, 14 February 2011
  7. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Eyes Wide Shut". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  8. "End of Year Singles Chart Top 100 - 2011". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  9. "British single certifications – JLS ft Tinie Tempah – Eyes Wide Shut". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  10. "Jls: Tinie Tempah: Eyes Wide Shut (2011): CDS". HMV. Retrieved 24 December 2010.
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