"4am" is a song by Canadian alternative rock band
Our Lady Peace
Our Lady Peace (sometimes shortened to OLP) is a Canadian alternative rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario in 1992. Led by lead vocalist Raine Maida since its formation, the band currently also features Duncan Coutts on bass, Steve Mazur on guit ...
. It was released in December 1997 as the fourth single from their second album ''
Clumsy''.
The band has described the title of the song as having a double meaning. The band wrote the entire song at 4 am. Also, the band's lead vocalist's father's name was Anthony Maida. The song being written at 4am and the initials of
Raine's father give meaning to the song's name. Raine has confessed that the song was triggered by a dream about his father. The dream was about their relationship and the fear he had about his father supporting his musical career. The meaning has resonated with many of the band's fans. The song has a steady upbeat tempo throughout, with poetic lyrics.
Critical reception
The song 4am made the band very popular in North America and ultimately helped them win two Juno Awards. It also helped propel the album "Clumsy" to platinum status. The song was reviewed negatively by ''
Billboard Magazine
''Billboard'' (stylized in lowercase since 2013) is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events and styles related to th ...
'' who said, "To warrant a snail-paced tempo, a song should ideally deliver pleasing vocals or poetic lyrics, and this overwrought ballad by Our Lady Peace unfortunately does neither."
Music video
The music video was directed by Tony Pantages and was filmed in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
during
El Niño
EL, El or el may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Fictional entities
* El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit
* Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things''
* El, fami ...
. In the video, the band is shown riding in a black 1958
Cadillac Series 75
The Cadillac Series 70 (models 70 and 75) is a full-size V8-powered series of cars that were produced by Cadillac from the 1930s to the 1980s. It replaced the 1935 355E as the company's mainstream car just as the much less expensive Series 60 wa ...
limousine
A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment which can be operated mechanically by hand or by a button electronically. A luxu ...
. There is also an edited version of the video made for airing in the U.S. The edited version is similar to the original, except it is shorter and features different camera shots at different times than the original. For example, in the original, Maida sings the majority of the song in the car, while in the edited version, he sings mostly on an empty street.
[OurLadyPeaceVEVO. “Our Lady Peace - 4am.” YouTube, YouTube, 15 Nov. 2009, www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbI7efznvj8.]
Track listing
US promo single
CSK 41071
#"Radio Edit" – 3:30
#"Album Version" – 4:15
#"Callout Hook #1" – :10
#"Callout Hook #2" – :05
Chart performance
References
External links
4am song lyrics
{{DEFAULTSORT:4 Am
1997 singles
Our Lady Peace songs
Songs written by Raine Maida
1997 songs
Songs written by Arnold Lanni
Columbia Records singles