"Rewrite the Stars" is a song performed by

Zac Efron Zachary David Alexander Efron (; born October 18, 1987) is an American actor. Efron began acting professionally in the early 2000s and rose to prominence as a teen idol for his leading role as Troy Bolton in the ''High School Musical'' film ...

and

Zendaya Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman ( ; born September 1, 1996) is an American actress and singer. List of awards and nominations received by Zendaya, Her accolades include two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globe Award. I ...

for the film ''

The Greatest Showman ''The Greatest Showman'' is a 2017 American musical period drama film directed by Michael Gracey from a screenplay by Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon, based on an original story by Bicks. The film stars Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, ...

'' (2017). It was released on November 17, 2017, by

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

as a promotional single from

the soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured ...

. In Australia, "Rewrite the Stars" was released to

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

on July 20, 2018. The song sees Efron's character, Phillip, serenading Zendaya's character, Anne, trying to convince her that they're meant to be together, despite their different races. The song is expected to appear in the upcoming 2026 stage musical adaptation of the film.

Composition

According to sheet music published at Sheetmusicdirect.com, "Rewrite the Stars" is a moderately fast tempo of 125

beats per minute Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of in ...

. Written in

common time A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...

, the song is in the key of B major. Throughout the track, Efron's vocal range spans from the low note of E₃ to the high note of B₄, and Zendaya's vocal range spans from the low note of E₃ to the high note of E₅. "Rewrite the Stars" had many melodic inspirations, most notably being "

Unconditionally "Unconditionally" is a song by American singer Katy Perry. It was released as the second single from her fourth studio album '' Prism'' (2013) on October 16, 2013, two days before the album was released. Inspiration for the song came primarily fr ...

" by

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. She is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists in hist ...

, produced by

Dr. Luke Łukasz Sebastian Gottwald (born September 26, 1973), known professionally as Dr. Luke, Tyson Trax, and Made in China, is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He began his professional music career as the Saturday Night Live ...

Max Martin Karl Martin Sandberg (born 26 February 1971),Max Martin
AllMusic known professional ...

, and

Cirkut Henry Russell Walter (born April 23, 1986), known professionally as Cirkut, is a Canadian record producer and songwriter. He has co-produced and co-written commercially successful singles, often in tandem with American record producer Dr. Luke ...

Reception

Sam Damshenas from ''GayTimes'' called the song a "stunning duet" with perfectly fitting romance, and Michael Ordoña from the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' called the song "a standout duet" and "a signature karaoke duet". However, Emily Yoshida from ''Vulture'' described the song as a "

Jason Derulo Jason Joel Desrouleaux (born September 21, 1989), known professionally as Jason Derulo (; formerly stylized as Derülo), is an American singer, songwriter and dancer. Since the start of his solo recording career in 2009, he has sold over 250 m ...

castoff circa 2012."

Accolades

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Reimagined version

On November 16, 2018, '' The Greatest Showman: Reimagined'' was released, which features a cover of "Rewrite the Stars" by English singers

James Arthur James Andrew Arthur (born 2 March 1988) is an English singer and songwriter. He rose to fame after winning the ninth series of ''The X Factor'' in 2012. His debut single, a cover of Shontelle's " Impossible", was released by Syco Music aft ...

and

Anne-Marie Anne-Marie Rose Nicholson (born 7 April 1991) is an English singer and songwriter. She has attained various charting singles on the UK Singles Chart, including Clean Bandit's " Rockabye", which peaked at number one, as well as "Alarm", " Ciao ...

as a single. The pair performed the song on the fifteenth season of British ''The X Factor'' on December 1 and the fifteenth season of American ''The Voice'' on December 4. It was released to Australian radio, and a remix by

Wideboys The Wideboys are an English electronic music duo known for club remixes and for their own song "Sambuca", featuring Dennis G on vocals, which reached number 15 in the UK in October 2001. Another top 40 single, "Daddy-O" featuring Shaznay Lewis ...

was released on December 14.

Track listing

*Remix #"Rewrite the Stars" – 3:36

Charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Pasek and Paul 2010s ballads 2017 songs 2018 songs 2018 singles Anne-Marie songs Atlantic Records singles James Arthur songs Male–female vocal duets Number-one singles in Singapore Pop ballads Song recordings produced by Greg Wells Songs written by Justin Paul (songwriter) Songs written by Benj Pasek Songs written for films Songs from The Greatest Showman Songs from Pasek and Paul musicals Zac Efron songs Zendaya songs Love themes