Pure Shores
"Pure Shores" is a song by English-Canadian girl group All Saints, released by London Records on 14 February 2000 as the lead single from "The Beach: Motion Picture Soundtrack" and their second studio album, "Saints & Sinners". Written by group member Shaznay Lewis and producer William Orbit, it is a dream pop song with ambient and electronic production. The track has a syncopation of synth delays, arpeggiated and reverberated guitar, and various ethereal sound effects. Composed for a scene in the 2000 film, "The Beach", where co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Virginie Ledoyen swim underwater, the lyrics are  about finding a beach for complete relaxation. "Pure Shores" received acclaim from music critics, who praised the production, lyrics and vocals and has featured on several best-song lists. The song was also a commercial success worldwide, entering the UK Singles Chart at number one, where it remained for two weeks. It achieved worldwide success, topping the charts in Belgium (Wallonia), Ireland, Italy and Romania and also reaching the top ten in countries including Australia, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden. It became the second most successful single of 2000 in the United Kingdom, selling a total  of 815,000 copies there and received multiple certifications in other countries. The music video for "Pure Shores" was directed by Vaughan Arnell and shows the group walking and singing at Wells-Next-The-Sea beach in Norfolk, England. The group performed the song on "Top of the Pops", 2000 MTV Europe Music Awards, and the World Sports Awards in 2000. The single received accolades and nominations, and was awarded the Ivor Novello Award for Most Performed Work and was nominated for two BRIT Awards for Best British Single and Best British Video. Writing and production. "Pure Shores" was written by  All Saints group member Shaznay Lewis, and William Orbit, who also produced the song. Pete Tong, All Saints' A&R at the time, wanted the group to be a part of the soundtrack he was producing for Danny Boyle's 2000 adventure drama film, "The Beach". Boyle, however, hated the idea of having a pop group associated with his film. Tong then contacted Orbit and convinced Boyle to include All Saints on the basis that Orbit would produce the song. Lewis wrote "Pure Shores" based on Orbit's backing track, and a 40-second clip from the scene where co-stars  Leonardo DiCaprio and Virginie Ledoyen swim underwater. She had previously read half of the 1996 novel which the film was based on. Regarding the writing process, Lewis said: "It was a case of 'watch this, be inspired, go off and give it a go'. They didn't really point me in any direction of how they wanted it to be lyrically. Being given a brief like that, they'd already painted the picture for me." Lewis originally wrote down the lyrics during an aeroplane flight to Los Angeles where she was going to work with Orbit on the song. However , after arriving at her hotel, she discovered that she lost the lyrics and had to rewrite them. The rewritten version had lyrics that were the same as the original, but also parts that were different. Lewis came up with the title "Pure Shores" after writing the song. "I've never even thought that it isn't mentioned once in the actual song," she said. "Pure Shores" was recorded at Guerilla Beach and Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles, and Whitfield Street and AIR Studios in London. Orbit and engineer Jake Davies used a Solid State Logic (SSL) 9000 J-series  mixing console, Boxer 5 studio monitor, Sony 3348 digital multitrack recorder and the digital audio workstation Pro Tools. English mixing engineer Spike Stent mixed the song in his room at Olympic Studios in London using a SSL 4064 G-series console, Genelec monitor and Studer tape recorder. The song took Orbit such a long time to produce that he inevitably thought it was "pure shite", but in a 2021 interview claimed that it was "all right" and that "when you really slave over something, it takes years until you can really listen to it with pleasure." Composition. Eschewing the R&B  style of All Saints' previous releases, "Pure Shores" is a dream pop song, with electronic and ambient production. Tom Ewing from the e-zine "Freaky Trigger" described it as "a pop take on ambient music" with "chillout bubbles and ripples". Composed in time and the key of D major, the song has a tempo of 102 beats per minute and a chord progression of D–Em–C–G, with a sequence of A–Asus–A in the bridge. Although written by Lewis, the lead vocals on the track are by group member Melanie Blatt; Lewis sings the bridge, and sisters  Natalie and Nicole Appleton sing backing vocals and harmonies. The song is built around a syncopation of synth delays, arpeggiated and reverberated guitar, and electronic percussion. Ethereal sound effects are filtered and distorted throughout, with some resembling whale vocalisations. All Saints harmonise, overlap, and meander around each other's vocal lines. The track has a relaxed pace with surges in the chorus and bridge. Richard Folland of "PopMatters" writes that "Pure Shores" is "buoyed by a lyric promising a bright future." Critical reception. "Pure Shores" was well received by music critics upon release. In his review for "The Times", Ed  Potten characterized the song as the "musical equivalent of a pina colada: faintly exotic, syrupy sweet and ultimately quite intoxicating." Similarly, Tom Horan of "The Daily Telegraph" deemed the track "fiendishly catchy". "Uncut"s Chris Roberts praised the production's "beauty" and said it "will sound as floatily motivating in a decade's time". John Walshe of "Hot Press" wrote that it "marries William Orbit's swirling galaxies of sound with their harmony-driven pop to perfect effect", while Caroline Sullivan of "The Guardian" argued that All Saints "lend radiance to [Orbit's] twinkling fairy lights" and their vocals "would be  haunting even without Orbit's sparse production". Dan Gennoe of "Q" named it the "crowning glory" of "The Beach" soundtrack which "confirmed All Saints' position as pop's coolest girl band." In "The Sydney Morning Herald", Stephanie Peatling said the "lush" song "puts the streetwise cousins of the Spice Girls back on the block." Fiona Shepherd of "The Scotsman" described it as a "classy single" to "offset all the gossip column inches". Dorian Lynskey wrote for "Mixmag" that "Pure Shores" provided "a twist" to All Saints, regarding it as "a heady, sensual melancholy better suited to headphones than the Met  Bar." "Playlouder"s reviewer wrote that the "bewitching" track found the group "ditching the famous-for-being-famous tag, and finally becoming the statuesque pop goddesses they always claimed to be." In a less enthusiastic review, James Poletti of "Dotmusic" gave the song a rating of three out five, writing, "Despite Orbit's slightly lightweight electronics, the song isn't half bad". Jim Wirth of "NME" derided it as "an inane enough confection of bleeps and fieldmouse rhythms which sounds so close to Madonna that it's almost indistinguishable." However, the song later placed 18th on the "NME" Single of the  Year list. "Playlouder" ranked "Pure Shores" as the best single of 2000, while "The Independent" hailed it as "one of the undisputed singles of the year". At the 2001 Brit Awards, it was nominated for Song of the Year but lost to "Rock DJ" by Robbie Williams. The track also appeared at number 54 in "The Daily Telegraph"s list of "100 pop songs that defined the Noughties". In 2018, London magazine "Time Out" included "Pure Shores" in its list of the 50 best pop songs at number 47. Commercial performance. "Pure Shores" debuted at number one on the UK Singles  Chart on 26 February 2000, staying there for two consecutive weeks and remaining on the chart for 16 weeks. It was certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in May 2021. The song remains the group's second best performing single in the United Kingdom and has sold 1,200,000 copies there according to Official Charts Company. The song became the second best-selling single of 2000. According to BBC Radio 2, "Pure Shores" is the 14th most played song on the station since 2009. In Ireland, the song debuted at number three and peaked at number one a  week later, becoming the group's only chart-topper in Ireland. The song was also successful in mainland Europe. It debuted at number 16 in Switzerland and peaked at number six, staying in the charts for 23 weeks, making it the group's most successful single there. It also peaked at number six on the French singles chart, staying in the charts for 20 weeks. The song also charted in Belgium, peaking at number five in Flanders, and number one in Wallonia. It also reached the top five in Finland and Norway. However, the song did not reach the top  10 in Austria, where it debuted at number 39 and peaked at number 11, staying in the charts for 11 weeks. It was eventually certified gold in Sweden and France, selling 10,000 copies in Sweden and 150,000 copies in France. "Pure Shores" repeated its European success in Oceania. It debuted at number five on the ARIA Charts in Australia, and peaked at number four for three consecutive weeks, remaining in the charts for 16 weeks. The song is the group's second-most successful single in that country. In New Zealand, it debuted at number 44, rose to number 17  the next week, and peaked at number two for one week. It stayed in the charts for 19 weeks. To date, it is the group's most successful single in that country. It was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) and gold by the Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ), selling 70,000 and 7,500 copies respectively. The song was eventually released in North America, where it failed to chart on the "Billboard" Hot 100 or any of the "Billboard" component charts, but it peaked at number 35 in Canada, where it was the group's last single to chart  in Canada. The song was well received internationally, garnering chart success. However, many have suggested that due to the benchmark the song had created for 2000 and the following years, it underperformed commercially. Music video. The music video for "Pure Shores" was directed by Vaughan Arnell and filmed at Holkham beach in Norfolk, England in January 2000. After the shooting, police investigated a claim by a freelance photographer that he was punched in the face by a security guard protecting All Saints whilst filming the video. The snapper alleged that he was told to leave and warned that it was  a place where "nasty accidents could happen". He said the attack left him with a swollen nose and headaches. The music video for "Pure Shores" premiered on 25 January 2000 on Dotmusic. It features the members of All Saints walking near the beach at night, using various camera effects such as night vision, with some daytime shots of the group in front of the Wells-next-the-Sea beach huts. The video also featured clips from the film "The Beach". Additionally, scenes were also filmed with All Saints being featured in a jungle house with bamboo and trees. CBC Television  placed "Pure Shores" at number two in its ranking of the group's music videos, only not placing it at number one "since the video is used mostly as a promotional tool for The Beach", but praised "how the director reflects scenes from the movie with the girls". James Manning from "Time Out" noted that despite the lyric about deserts, "the shots of the band walking on a beach in the video were filmed on the North Norfolk coast". Lewis Corner of Digital Spy agreed, commenting that it was "just a shame that the video was shot on a chilly  beach in Norfolk, instead of tropical Koh Phi Phi". BBC America's Kevin Wicks was more negative, calling it the "most unflattering girl group video ever". He continued, "Whose bright idea was it to light this video in nightvision, making four very pretty girls look like hopelessly dazed raccoons? Not a bad song at all, but dreadful video". Live performances. To promote "Pure Shores", All Saints performed the song on television shows such as "Top of the Pops", "", "Sen kväll med Luuk", "Wetten, dass..?", and "Later with Jools Holland". The song was also included on their sets for Witnness, V2000  and Creamfields festivals in August 2000. The group then performed "Pure Shores" at the 2000 MTV Europe Music Awards, which were held on 16 November 2000 at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden. "NME" magazine complimented their "flare-clad, pristine performance". A day later, they performed on BBC's "Children in Need" marathon. All Saints performed the song at the 2001 World Sports Awards, held at London's Royal Albert Hall on 16 January 2001. For the performance, Natalie Appleton wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the legend 'I Love Liam' as a reference to her boyfriend, The Prodigy's  Liam Howlett. At the time, the group was at the verge of splitting up, with the media noting the "irreconcilable rift had indeed developed between the four" on stage. Upon the group's first return in 2006, it was performed on their show at the Sheperd's Bush Pavilion in London. The group wore black or white-coloured shirts teamed with big, loose-knotted ties. Eva Simpson and Caroline Hedley of the "Daily Mirror" said that the group "put on one hell of a show". "Pure Shores" was then performed live on "Popworld" on 4 November 2006 as part of  promotion leading up to their new album "Studio 1"s release two days later. Additionally, the song was performed by All Saints on "The Chart Show" on 18 November 2006, and on Channel 4's "T4", aired on the same day. In January 2014, Natalie Appleton performed the song with English singer Melanie C on her Sporty's Forty concert, which celebrated her 40th birthday. Upon their second return eight years later, All Saints performed "Pure Shores" as the encore on their opening act for Backstreet Boys' In a World Like This Tour in 2014. They also sang the song in  a concert at G-A-Y, and the 2014 V Festival. After the announcement of their fourth studio album "Red Flag", the group performed it on the 2016 Elle Style Awards, and as the encore on their show at London's KOKO. The group also sang the song at in Austria, that Energy Fashion Night event, as well as on "Michael McIntyre's Big Show". and V Festival 2016. "Pure Shores" was included on the setlist of their 2016 Red Flag Tour. All Saints supported Take That on their Wonderland Live tour in 2017, and performed "Pure Shores" on their  set as opening acts. To promote their fifth studio album "Testament", they performed again the song on Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park, "Children in Need Rocks 2018", and "". "Pure Shores" was also included on the setlist of the Testament Tour later that year. Usage. In 2002, DJ Osymyso sampled the song on his album "Intro-Inspection" (2002). It is also included in the 2013 video game "Grand Theft Auto V" on one of the game's radio stations. Personnel. Personnel adapted from the liner notes of "Saints & Sinners". References. Citations Bibliography