"Everyone" is the official theme

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

of the

2010 Summer Youth Olympics The 2010 Summer Youth Olympics, ) officially known as the I Summer Youth Olympic Games, and commonly known as Singapore 2010, were the inaugural edition of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG), an Olympic Games-based event for young athletes. Held ...

held in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

from 14 to 26 August 2010. The song was sung by five artistes, namely

Sean Kingston Kisean Paul Anderson (born February 3, 1990), known professionally as Sean Kingston, is an American former singer and rapper. Born in Miami, Florida, and raised in Jamaica, he signed with J. R. Rotem's record label Beluga Heights Records ...

Tabitha Nauser Tabitha Nauser (born 23 February 1992) is a Singaporean Singaporeans are the citizens and nationals of the sovereign island city-state of Singapore. Singapore is home to a people of a variety of ethno-racial-religious origins, with the c ...

Jody Williams Jody Williams (born October 9, 1950) is an American political activist known for her work in banning anti-personnel landmines, her defense of human rights (especially those of women), and her efforts to promote new understandings of securit ...

Stevie Appleton Stephen Appleton (born in Surrey, England) is a British singer, songwriter and producer. At the age of fifteen, Appleton began playing piano in a Soho restaurant improvising jazz and playing covers from the likes of Elton John and Billy Joe ...

and

Jessica Mauboy Jessica Hilda Mauboy (; born 4 August 1989) is an Australian singer. Born and raised in Darwin, Northern Territory, she rose to fame in 2006 on the Australian Idol (season 4), fourth season of ''Australian Idol'', where she was runner-up and s ...

, each representing one of the five continents of the world. It was written and produced by Singaporean producer and composer

Ken Lim Ken Lim Chih Chiang (born 1964) is a composer, music producer, publisher, artist manager, concert promoter, campaign management and concept development. Early life and career Ken Lim runs one of Singapore's most established record companies, ...

. The song premiered worldwide on 30 May 2010, with a total length of 3 minutes and 40 seconds, and it was complemented by a music video six seconds longer than the song. "Everyone" was released as a CD single only in Singapore on 14 June 2010. Traditionally, the modern Olympic Games has always featured theme song specifically for each games, typically sung by a singer of the host country. ''Everyone'' was the first ever theme song for the

Youth Olympic Games Youth Olympic Games is an international multi-sport event for athletes aged 15 to 18 years old. Organized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Games are held every four years in staggered summer and winter events consistent with ...

(YOG), in what the

Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee The Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee (SYOGOC) is the organisation in charge of organising the inaugural 2010 Youth Olympic Games. A selection process to determine the members of the games' organising committee commenced soon aft ...

(SYOGOC) said would create "a global anthem for today's youth". ''Everyone'' was not the only song created for the games; the

Singapore Sports Council Sport Singapore (SportSG) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth of the Government of Singapore. It is the lead agency tasked with developing a holistic sports culture for the nation. History Sport Singapore was ...

was involved in the production of cheer songs for Singaporeans.

Background

Most of the Olympic Games in contemporary years have featured a song(s), many of which were branded the official theme song of the games. Typically, the songs would be sung by an artiste from the host country, centering upon a theme related to the Olympics or the spirit of the games. Many of these songs have gone on to do well in music charts, the most recent example before ''Everyone'' being that of '' I Believe'' by

Nikki Yanofsky Nicole Rachel "Nikki" Yanofsky (born February 8, 1994) is a Canadian jazz-pop singer from Montreal, Quebec. She sang the CTV Olympic broadcast theme song, "I Believe (Nikki Yanofsky song), I Believe", which was also the theme song of the 2010 ...

, which topped the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...

list dated 27 February 2010. The tradition of carrying a song alongside the games continued with the inaugural Youth Olympic Games, much as it was a departure from the senior Olympics. SYOGOC was quoted to be confident that the song and its music video "will hit the right notes". Additionally,

Teo Ser Luck Teo Ser Luck (; Teochew pronunciation in Tâi-lô: ''Tionn Sir-la̍k''; born 8 June 1968) is a Singaporean former politician who served as Minister of State for Manpower between 2015 and 2017, Minister of State for Trade and Industry between ...

, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development, Youth and Sports commented that through the song, "more people will take notice of Youth Olympic Games. We need that excitement and publicity, definitely, for Youth Olympic Games to be successful."

Cheer songs

''Everyone'' was not the only song released for the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics. It was to be accompanied by a series of three

cheer Cheering involves the uttering or making of sounds and may be used to encourage, excite to action, indicate approval or welcome. The word cheer originally meant face, countenance, or expression, and came through Old French into Middle English" ...

songs as announced by the Singapore Sports Council, unveiled under the common tag ''Cheer Singapore'' and targeted at Singaporeans. The first cheer song, ''You Are The One Singapore'', was released in April 2010 and had been specially composed and performed by local artiste

JJ Lin Wayne Lim Junjie (; born 27 March 1981), professionally known as JJ Lin, is a Singaporean singer, songwriter, record producer, and businessman. One of the most successful artists in the Sinophone, Chinese-speaking world, Lin achieved recogniti ...

. An accompanying music video with choreographed cheer movements was also launched, featuring sports icons

Ang Peng Siong Ang Peng Siong (; born 27 October 1962 in Singapore) is a swimmer from Singapore, who once held World Number 1 ranking in the 50 m freestyle. As of 2012, he is Singapore's Swimming National Head Coach. Ang was ranked fifth in a list of ''Sin ...

and C. Kunalan together with Singaporean athletes

Tao Li Tao Li (; born 10 January 1990) is a Chinese-born Singaporean competitive swimmer who specializes in the backstroke and butterfly. Tao has represented Singapore at the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), the Asian Games, World Championship, ...

and twins Nicole and Tabitha Tay. The music video was frequently aired on local television during commercial breaks. As of October 2010, only one out of the three intended cheer songs have been released. Reception to the first cheer song however ranged from neutral to negative, with netizens slamming them on various online forums and portals. A

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

group specifically created to denounce ''You Are The One Singapore'' was also created, which garnered more than 15,000 fans. Countering the tirade, some netizens commented on Singaporeans' tendency to "complain about every single thing but don't do anything about it". In addition,

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Oon Jin Teik challenged Singaporeans to come up with a YOG cheer of their own (which had to be accompanied by a

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

video). The local ''

The New Paper ''The New Paper'' is a Singaporean newspaper. It was originally published in tabloid format as a "noon paper", then from 2016 as a freesheet in the morning from 7 a.m. onwards. In December 2021 the paper went to digital only. History Firs ...

'' started a contest for readers to submit cheers, which eventually received five submissions, including one from former beauty queen

Ris Low Ris Low Yi Min () was crowned Miss Singapore World 2009 on 31 July 2009. She stepped down on 29 September 2009 after a case of credit fraud was revealed.

Music video

The song was released together with a music video, which was shot entirely in

. The three-minute and 46-second video showcased the five singers of the song performing in front of iconic Singapore backdrops such as

The Float@Marina Bay The Float at Marina Bay, stylised as The Float@Marina Bay and also known as the Marina Bay Floating Platform, was a multi-purpose outdoor venue at the Downtown Core area of Marina Bay, Singapore. The venue consists of a steel platform in the Ma ...

, the

Singapore Flyer The Singapore Flyer is an observation wheel at the Downtown Core district of Singapore. Officially opened on 15 April 2008, it has 28 air-conditioned capsules, each able to accommodate 28 passengers, and incorporates a three-story terminal build ...

and the

Marina Barrage Marina Barrage is a dam in southern Singapore built at the confluence of five rivers, across the Marina Channel between Marina East and Marina South. First conceptualised in 1987 by then Prime Minister of Singapore, prime minister Lee Kuan Yew t ...

. The video also showcased montages of young national athletes competing in various sports. A press release noted that it served to celebrate the Olympic values of ''Excellence'', ''Friendship'' and ''Respect''.

Composition

In addition, guitars and cellos were used to supplement the song in its composition. The song was sung by five different artistes each representing his or her continent: * Africa -

, winner in 2007 season of South African Idol, a South African

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

/ R&B singer. * America -

, a U.S.

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

and

reggae fusion Reggae fusion is a Music_genre#Subtypes, fusion genre of reggae that mixes reggae and/or dancehall with other genres, such as pop music, pop, rock music, rock, hip hop music, hip-hop/rap, Contemporary R&B, R&B, jazz, funk, soul music, soul, disco ...

singer. * Asia -

, 2nd runner-up in 2009 season of

Singapore Idol ''Singapore Idol'' was a Singaporean reality television singing competition produced by Mediacorp, MediaCorp Studios and FremantleMedia Operations BV. It began airing on Channel 5 (Singaporean TV channel), MediaCorp Channel 5 on 9 August 2004 un ...

. * Europe -

, a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

singer,

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

and

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

. * Oceania -

, runner-up in 2006 season of

Australian Idol ''Australian Idol'' is an Australian singing competition, which began its first season in July 2003 and ended its initial run in November 2009. As part of the ''Idol'' franchise, Australian Idol originated from the reality program '' Pop Id ...

, an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n R&B/pop singer-songwriter.

Performance

The five singers were involved in various previews of ''Everyone''. All reunited in Singapore to perform the song live at the opening ceremony of the games on 14 August 2010, except for Sean Kingston. Rumours had it that Kingston was not in the country due to settlement fee issues. However, it was reported that the real issue was that of a passport mix-up.

Credits and personnel

* Vocals: Jody Williams, Sean Kingston, Tabitha Nauser, Stevie Appleton and Jessica Mauboy * Executive producer: Ken Lim * Music and lyrics: Ken Lim * Music

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

and guitars: Adam Lee * Mixing and recording: Derek Zuzarte (thewhitehyperoom) * Mastering: Bob Ludwig (Gateway Mastering Studios U.S.A) * Additional guitars: Stevie Appleton *

String section The string section of an orchestra is composed of bowed instruments belonging to the violin family. It normally consists of first and second violins, violas, cellos, and double basses. It is the most numerous group in the standard orchestra. In ...

* 1st Violins: Kong Zhao Hui, Gu Wen Li, Sui JingJing, Chen Da Wei, Wei Zhe, Duan Yu Ling and Cindy Lee * 2nd Violins: Zhang Zhen Shan, Yin Shu Zhan, Ling Yun Zhi, Xu Jue Yi, Zhou Yu Ping, William Tan Violas Shu Bing, Guan Qi, Liu Hao Yu, Jiang Han Song and Gu Bing Jie * Cellos: Wang Yan, Zhao Yu Er and Guo Hao

Charts

"Everyone" was released as a CD single only in Singapore, and hence was only eligible for charting on Singaporean radio. The song reached a peak of #1 on the

987FM 987 is an English-language radio station in Singapore. Owned by the state-owned broadcaster Mediacorp, it broadcasts a contemporary hit radio format. The station launched on 1 January 1989 as Perfect 10 98.7 FM. History Perfect 10 (1989–2005) T ...

Top 20, a singles airplay chart in Singapore, on 13 August 2010. It remained on the top spot for two weeks in total.

References

* * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Theme Song
at

official website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Everyone (Olympics) 2010 songs 2010 Summer Youth Olympics Olympic theme songs Jessica Mauboy songs Sean Kingston songs Stevie Appleton songs