Written in the Stars (Tinie Tempah song)
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"Written in the Stars" is a song by English rapper
Tinie Tempah Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu (born 7 November 1988), better known by his stage name Tinie Tempah, is a British rapper. He has been signed to Parlophone Records since 2009, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. He created his own entertainment compa ...
featuring American singer Eric Turner. Unlike his two prior breakthrough singles, which were produced by
Labrinth Timothy Lee McKenzie (born 4 January 1989), better known by his stage name Labrinth, is an English singer, rapper, songwriter and record producer. After initially pursuing a career in music production, Simon Cowell signed him to his record labe ...
, the track instead features production by iSHi. It was released digitally in September 2010 through
Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...
on the
iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...
. It serves as the third official single from his debut album ''
Disc-Overy ''Disc-Overy'' is the debut studio album by the British rapper Tinie Tempah, released in Ireland on 1 October 2010 and in the United Kingdom on 4 October, by Parlophone Records. The original album track list includes Kelly Rowland, Ellie Goul ...
''. The song debuted at number one on the
UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
, becoming Tinie Tempah's second number-one single in the United Kingdom. The song was released as Tempah's debut U.S. single and peaked at No. 12 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The track also marks Tinie's first top 10 hit on the ''Billboard''
Mainstream Top 40 Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...
. "Written in the Stars" was used by
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
for their commercials relating to the 2011 postseason. It was also chosen by
WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...
as its theme song for
WrestleMania XXVII WrestleMania XXVII (also written as WrestleMania 27) was the 27th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDow ...
. Recently, it was used as the introduction to the eighth season of the South Asian Softball League. Since the 2011–12 season, it has been used as the theme song for
Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
' coverage of
Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
football. Samples of "Written in the Stars" can be heard in promos used for the
USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...
sports-drama '' Necessary Roughness''. The song was chosen as
Miss USA 2011 Miss USA 2011 was the 60th Anniversary of the Miss USA pageant, held on the Las Vegas Strip at the Theatre for the Performing Arts in the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, Paradise, Nevada on Sunday, June 19, 2011. Rima Fakih of Michigan crowned ...
Evening Gown Competition's background music. The
New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...
used the song as their entrance song in
Super Bowl XLVI Super Bowl XLVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...
on 5 February 2012. It was also used in the closing ceremony of the London Olympic Games in August 2012. In May 2016, Tempah performed the song live at
Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...
before the
FA Cup final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...
.


Background

"Written in the Stars" was written by "iSHi", Mughal, Tempah, Turner and Charlie Bernardo and produced by iSHi and James Perolls. Tinie Tempah first revealed the song on 17 June 2010 performing it live on Sony Ericsson's Pocket TV along with "
Frisky Frisky may refer to: * Frisky (automobile) a family of British microcars produced 1957-1964 * '' Frisky Tom'', a 1981 arcade game * Mister Frisky, a racehorse * ST ''Frisky'', a tugboat, previously the ''Empire Rita'' * "Frisky" (song), by Tin ...
". Tempah said "Written in the Stars it is a real passionate track about the sort of struggle that I've had to face. You know I just really feel it as something to perform at festivals as well so I thought I might as well get my practice and start warming up now." The song was released on 27 September 2010, followed by ''
Disc-Overy ''Disc-Overy'' is the debut studio album by the British rapper Tinie Tempah, released in Ireland on 1 October 2010 and in the United Kingdom on 4 October, by Parlophone Records. The original album track list includes Kelly Rowland, Ellie Goul ...
'' on 4 October 2010. ¨Written in The Stars¨ is written in the key of
A minor A minor is a minor scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats and no sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major. The A natural minor scale is: : Changes ...


Critical reception

Robert Copsey of ''
Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...
'' gave the song a very positive review:
Tempah makes abundantly clear on single number three that success wasn't handed to him on a platinum dinnerware set marked 'Doulton'. Au contraire, it was an exhausting journey of "believing and praying" in a dream that, for a time, "wasn't going nowhere" – and with his ear-snagging rhymes cloaked in a stadium-sized chorus courtesy of US newbie Eric Turner, we're all going to hear about it whether we want to or not. Oh Tinie, we'll never doubt your work hard, play hard mentality again. .


Music video

The official music video was directed by
Alex Herron Alex Herron is a Norwegian director and photographer. He has directed over 100 music videos and has also been a jury in Alarmprisen. Herron was presented with the Spellemannprisen award for Margaret Berger Margaret Berger (born 11 October 1 ...
and was released on YouTube by Parlophone on 13 August 2010, along with a 43-second trailer of the video three days before. The video, shot in New York City, features
Tinie Tempah Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu (born 7 November 1988), better known by his stage name Tinie Tempah, is a British rapper. He has been signed to Parlophone Records since 2009, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. He created his own entertainment compa ...
standing and rapping on the roof while Eric Turner is sitting on the piano in a white room playing the chorus. The narrative scenes see a young boy whose life is shaped by the fact he and his mother are subjected to a financially insecure life and he is regularly bullied by his peers and how he is consumed with his book. After an interview with Virgin Media, the rapper claimed the boy 'not to be his younger self in the tennis courts' – he was trying to portray the life of a city boy. It made its US debut on 1 February 2011.


Chart performance

On 13 September 2010, "Written in the Stars" debuted on the New Zealand Singles Chart at number 22, beating " Pass Out", which peaked at number 33 on the chart in March 2010. It later peaked at number 16. The single also managed to chart in Switzerland, where it debuted at number 71 on 26 September 2010, Tempah's first single to make an impact in the country. On 3 October 2010, the track charted at No. 1 in the
UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
and
UK R&B Chart The UK Hip Hop and R&B Singles Chart and the UK Hip Hop and R&B Albums Chart (also known as The Official UK Hip Hop and R&B Charts, the Top 40 Hip Hop and RnB Singles and the Top 40 Hip Hop and RnB Albums, or simply the UK Urban Chart) are 40-posi ...
, beating " Just the Way You Are" by
Bruno Mars Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985), known professionally as Bruno Mars, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is known for his stage performances, retro showmanship, and for performing in a wide range of musical s ...
and "
Let the Sun Shine "Let the Sun Shine" is the debut single from English musician, Labrinth. It was produced and written by Labrinth and Da Digglar, and was released on 27 September 2010 on Simco Ltd and Sony Records. The single is available on iTunes as an exten ...
" by
Labrinth Timothy Lee McKenzie (born 4 January 1989), better known by his stage name Labrinth, is an English singer, rapper, songwriter and record producer. After initially pursuing a career in music production, Simon Cowell signed him to his record labe ...
, making "Written in the Stars"
Tinie Tempah Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu (born 7 November 1988), better known by his stage name Tinie Tempah, is a British rapper. He has been signed to Parlophone Records since 2009, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. He created his own entertainment compa ...
's second number 1 in the UK after " Pass Out". "Written in the Stars" sold over 115,000 copies in its first week alone, which at that point of the year was a first week figure surpassed only by "
California Gurls "California Gurls" is a song recorded by American singer Katy Perry. It served as the lead single for her third studio album, '' Teenage Dream'' (2010). The song features verses from rapper Snoop Dogg. The artists co-wrote the song with Bon ...
" by
Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Known for her influence on modern pop music and her Camp (style), campy style, she has been ...
featuring
Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...
(124,000) and the charity single "
Everybody Hurts "Everybody Hurts" is a song by American rock band R.E.M. from their eighth studio album, ''Automatic for the People'' (1992), and released as a single in April 1993. It peaked at number 29 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and reached the top 10 ...
" by
Helping Haiti "Everybody Hurts" is a song by American rock band R.E.M. from their eighth studio album, ''Automatic for the People'' (1992), and released as a single in April 1993. It peaked at number 29 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and reached the top 10 ...
(over 450,000). In the
European Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by '' Billboard'' and '' Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately ...
, the song debuted at number 5, the highest debut of the week. In January 2011, the single reached a peak position of number 34 and was certified Platinum in Australia. The song became Tinie Tempah's first song to chart on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, debuting at number 91 for the week ending 5 March 2011 and peaking at number 12.


Track listings

* Digital download # "Written in the Stars" – 3:40 * Digital EP # "Written in the Stars" – 3:39 # "Written in the Stars" – 3:39 # "Written in the Stars" – 3:33 * Promotional CD single # "Written in the Stars" – 3:33 # "Written in the Stars" – 3:40 # "Written in the Stars" – 3:39 # "Written in the Stars" – 3:40 *
2011 BRIT Awards Brit Awards 2011 was the 31st edition of the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music show, the Brit Awards. The awards ceremony was held on Tuesday 15 February 2011 at The O2 Arena in London for the first time in its history, moving fro ...
Performance # "Written in the Stars" / "
Miami 2 Ibiza "Miami 2 Ibiza" is a song by Swedish house music group Swedish House Mafia and English rapper Tinie Tempah. It was released as the second and final single from the group's debut studio album and compilation, '' Until One'' (2010) by Virgin Record ...
" / " Pass Out" – 4:43


Charts and certifications


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


In popular culture


Parody version

In 2012, a parody of the video was made by the cast and crew of
ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
soap opera ''
Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, '' ...
'' in honour of the departure of character
Aaron Livesy Aaron Dingle (previously Sugden-Dingle, also Livesy) is a fictional character from the British soap opera ''Emmerdale'', played by Danny Miller. The character was originally played by Danny Webb and appeared in a recurring capacity. Aaron made ...
, played by Danny Miller, who is a big fan of the song. The role of Tinie Tempah was played by
Adam Thomas Adam Thomas (born 11 August 1988) is an English actor, known for his roles as Donte Charles in the BBC One school-based drama series '' Waterloo Road'' (2006–2009, 2022–present) and Adam Barton in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'' (2009†...
, who plays Adam Barton (Aaron's best friend in the soap), and the role of Eric Turner was played by
Kelvin Fletcher Kelvin Warren Fletcher (born 17 January 1984) is an English actor, model, racing driver and presenter. He played Andy Sugden in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'', a role he played from 1996 until 2016. In 2019, Fletcher won the seventeenth seri ...
, who plays
Andy Sugden Andy Sugden (also Hopwood) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera, ''Emmerdale'', played by Kelvin Fletcher. He made his first on-screen appearance on 4 July 1996. Andy is the son of Billy Hopwood (David Crellin) and Trisha Hop ...
. The video features many well-known ''Emmerdale'' actors such as
Emma Atkins Emma Jayne Atkins (born 31 March 1975) is an English actress, best known for her role as Charity Dingle in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale''. Early life Atkins grew up in the village of Silverdale, Lancashire, and then went to study at the Uni ...
,
Jeff Hordley Jeff Hordley (born 7 March 1970) is an English actor, best known for portraying the role of Cain Dingle in the ITV soap opera, ''Emmerdale''. For his portrayal of Cain, he has been nominated for the British Soap Award for Best Actor at three c ...
,
Lucy Pargeter Lucy Kate Pargeter (born 1 March 1977) is an English actress, known for her roles as Helen Raven in ''Crossroads'' (2002–2003) and Chas Dingle in ''Emmerdale'' (2002–present). She also finished third in the 13th series of the ITV reality s ...
,
Sammy Winward Samantha Kate Winward (born 12 October 1985) is an English actress, singer and model. She is best known for playing the role of Katie Sugden in the ITV (TV network), ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'' from 2001 to 2015. Early life Winward was born ...
,
Nicola Wheeler Nicola Wheeler (born 4 April 1974) is an English actress. After appearing in the ITV soap opera '' Coronation Street'' in the recurring role of Melanie Tindel in 1999, Wheeler began portraying the role of Nicola King in the ITV soap opera ''Emm ...
,
Charley Webb Charlotte Anne Webb (born 26 February 1988), commonly known as Charley Webb, is an English actress. From 2002 to 2021, she portrayed the role of Debbie Dingle in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale''. In 2014, she was nominated for Best Female Dra ...
,
Natalie Anderson Natalie Jane Anderson (born on 24 October 1981) is an English actress, singer and television presenter. She is known for her roles as Stella Davenport in the medical drama ''The Royal'' from 2005 to 2008 and Alicia Metcalfe in the ITV soap op ...
,
Sian Reese-Williams Sian Reese-Williams (born 18 November 1981) is a Welsh actress, best known for playing detective Cadi John in three series of ''Hidden (2018 TV series), Hidden''. Early life Reese-Williams was born in Glanamman, South Wales. She lived in Swan ...
and veteran actor
Freddie Jones Frederick Charles Jones''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916-2005.''; at ancestry.com (12 September 1927 – 9 July 2019) was an English actor who had an extensive career in television, theatre and cinema productions for a ...
. In 2022, a parody of the
YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
video was made by
442oons 442oons is a YouTube channel, set up by Dean Stobbart, that focuses on animated parodies of various football matches. Stobbart now works with Onefootball, Bundesliga, and many other footballing brands to make weekly videos on their channels. ...
which the start of the
2022-23 Premier League The hyphen-minus is the most commonly used type of hyphen, widely used in digital documents. It is the only character that looks like a minus sign or a dash in many character sets such as ASCII or on most keyboards, so it is also used as such. ...
season which was nostalgic when the song was heard as theme song for
Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
' coverage of Premier League football from 2011-12 until 2014-15.


Sports

TBS used this song in their commercials for the
2011 American League Division Series The 2011 American League Division Series (abbreviated ALDS) were two best-of-five playoffs comprising the opening round of the Major League Baseball postseason, played to determine the participating teams in the 2011 American League Championship ...
and the
2011 National League Division Series The 2011 National League Division Series (abbreviated NLDS) were two best-of-five playoffs comprising the opening round of the Major League Baseball postseason, played to determine the participating teams in the 2011 National League Championship ...
. The
New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...
used this song for their entrance for
Super Bowl XLVI Super Bowl XLVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...
.


Covers

The Mend performed a mashup of "
(I Just) Died in Your Arms "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" is the debut single by the English pop rock band Cutting Crew, released in July 1986 as a single from their debut studio album, ''Broadcast''. The song was written by frontman Nick Van Eede, produced by Terry Brown ...
" and "Written in the Stars" for their semi-final performance on ''
Britain's Got Talent ''Britain's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated to ''BGT'') is a televised British talent show competition, and part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. Presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloquially ...
'' in 2012.
Karmin Karmin was an American pop duo consisting of Amy Renee Noonan and Nick Noonan. Starting as a novelty act that released covers on YouTube, they signed in 2011 with Epic Records. In May 2012, Karmin released their debut EP ''Hello'', which spa ...
recorded a cover of "Written in the Stars" on their YouTube channel.YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RIWmyfyhIo


Release history


See also

* List of number-one singles of 2010 (Ireland) * List of number-one singles from the 2010s (UK) * List of number-one R&B hits of 2010 (UK)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Written in the Stars (Tinie Tempah Song) 2010 singles Tinie Tempah songs Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Scotland UK Singles Chart number-one singles Songs written by Eshraque "iSHi" Mughal Songs written by Tinie Tempah 2010 songs Parlophone singles Songs written by Eric Turner (singer) Rap rock songs