"Shine a Light" is the second single from English band

McFly McFly are a British pop rock band formed in London in 2003. The band took their name from the ''Back to the Future (franchise), Back to the Future'' character Marty McFly. The band consists of Tom Fletcher (lead vocals, guitar, and piano), Da ...

's fifth studio album, ''

Above the Noise ''Above the Noise'' is the fifth studio album from English pop rock band McFly. The album was released on 15 November 2010. The album spawned three singles: " Party Girl", which was released on 6 September; " Shine a Light", which was release ...

''. The single features vocals from singer

Taio Cruz Adetayo Ayowale Onile-Ere (born 23 April 1980), known professionally as Jacob Taio Cruz ( ), is an English singer-songwriter, rapper, and record producer. Cruz was discovered in the mid-2000s by American record producer Tricky Stewart, joinin ...

. The single was released on 7 November 2010 via digital download, with a physical release following the next day. A free download was available for members of the band's new website, SuperCity. The song received mostly positive reviews from pop music critics. On 3 November 2010, the song was added to

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

A-List An A-list actor is a major movie star, or one of the most bankable actors in a film industry. The A-list is part of a larger guide called ''The Hot List'', which ranks the bankability of 1,400 movie actors worldwide, and has become an industry ...

. The song peaked the number 9 in UK Airplay Chart. McFly secured their fifteenth Top 5 hit with "Shine a Light" on the UK Singles Chart.

Writing process

The single was first confirmed by band frontman

Tom Fletcher Thomas Michael Fletcher (born 17 July 1985) is an English musician, composer, author and vlogger. He is one of the lead vocalists and rhythm guitarist of British pop rock band McFly, in addition to being the group's founder. In his 20-year ca ...

, before being made available to pre-order on the HMV website. Fletcher described the writing process as "working backwards" in comparison to how the band usually writes their songs. They started out with the beat and then built the song around it.

Critical reception

Robert Copsey from

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 initial launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television pro ...

awarded it 4 stars and said: "'Shine a Light' might be a sentimental number about missing an ex, but with Cruz's squelchy synths, McFly's trademark pop/rock choonage and some deceptively catchy "Eh Eh"s, the urge to bound around the nearest open space for three minutes and 45 seconds is near-irresistible." Iain Moffatt from

BBC Music BBC Music is the arm of the BBC responsible for the music played across its services. The current director of music is Lorna Clarke. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio operational division; however, its remit also includes music used i ...

said that: "even the perfectly serviceable of-the-moment pop of Shine a Light are little preparation for the delights in store here". The Entertainment Focus review said that: "Across the record the band takes anthemic pop on the corking Shine a Light". Johnny Dee from

Virgin Media Virgin Media Limited is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 ...

said: "Better is the Auto-Tune soul of "Shine a Light" which sees the band teaming up with Taio Cruz to good effect." Jack Foley from ''Indie London'' said that: "Shine a Light showing what can be achieved when they fuse pop rock with dance-pop and combine vocals with Taio Cruz (arguably the best offering either of these two acts have had in the charts for some time!)".

Music video

The song premiered on 21 September 2010, following a video treasure hunt competition involving the band. The treasure hunt allowed fans to appear in the music video for the track by hunting for clues to get to the place of filming. It premiered on the group's website on 9 October, appearing on their YouTube page just hours later. The video was directed by Phil Griffin. It features McFly and Cruz performing together in a cage, whilst hordes of fans watch them from outside.

Live performances

McFly performed "Shine a Light" live for the first time on ''

Paul O'Grady Live ''Paul O'Grady Live'' is a British comedy chat show hosted by Paul O'Grady, that began airing on 10 September 2010 on ITV. The show is a Friday night chat show that features a mixture of celebrity guests, airing at 21:00. The show culminates w ...

'', without an appearance from Cruz. On 4 December, McFly and Cruz performed the song together live on

Jingle Bell Ball The Jingle Bell Ball is a concert held annually in December since 2008 (except for 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic), by the radio station Capital (radio network), Capital FM at The O2 Arena. Various notable artists have headlined the con ...

; the first and unique time they had done so. McFly performed the song on '' The Hollyoaks Music Show'', ''

The Alan Titchmarsh Show ''The Alan Titchmarsh Show'' is a British daytime chat show presented by Alan Titchmarsh. It was first broadcast on ITV on 3 September 2007 until 14 November 2014 and aired on weekday afternoons. The show's main focus is the "Best of British" th ...

'', '' TMI'' and the charity events

ChildLine Concert The ChildLine Concert, known for sponsorship reasons as the 'Cheerios ChildLine Concert', was an annual pop music charity event which took place in Ireland between 1997 and 2014. The money raised from the concerts was donated to the young perso ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and ''

Children in Need ''BBC Children in Need'' is the BBC's UK Charitable organization, charity dedicated to supporting disadvantaged children and young people across the country. Established in 1980, the organisation has raised over £1 billion by 2023 through its ...

''. McFly also performed an acoustic version of the song in Spain on ''

El Hormiguero (; Spanish for "The Anthill") is a Spanish television program with a live audience focusing on comedy, science, and guest interviews airing since September 2006. It is hosted and produced by screenwriter Pablo Motos. The show aired on Spain' ...

''. During the 2020

COVID-19 lockdowns During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of Non-pharmaceutical intervention (epidemiology), non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar socie ...

, Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones with

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 ...

Olly Murs Oliver Stanley Murs (born 14 May 1984) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence after participating on the sixth series of the television talent show ''The X Factor'' in 2009, where he finished as runn ...

and

Niall Horan Niall James Horan ( ; born 13 September 1993) is an Irish singer-songwriter. He rose to prominence as a member of the boy band One Direction, formed in 2010 on the singing competition ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor''. The gr ...

did a virtual performance of the song.

Track listing

; UK CD1 # "Shine a Light" (featuring Taio Cruz) - 3:39 # "Shine a Light" (featuring Taio Cruz) (WestFunk & Steve Smart Remix) - 3:28 ; UK CD2 # "Shine a Light" (McFly Solo Version) - 3:55 # "Dynamite" (Radio 1 Live Lounge Session) - 3:56 # "I'll Be Your Man" (Acoustic Version) - 4:59 # "End of the World" (Acoustic Version) - 3:38 ; UK 7" Picture Disc # "Shine a Light" (featuring Taio Cruz) - 3:39

Chart performance

On 14 November, the single debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number 4, with sales of more than 51,000 copies, the song spent seven weeks in the Top 20, In its 7th week, "Shine a Light" became the top selling singles of McFly after " All About You" and spent eighteen weeks in UK top 100. The song peaked the number 9 in UK Airplay Chart. As of 2012, it has sold 341,000 copies in the UK. In Scotland the song spent three weeks on Top 10 and eight weeks in the Top 20. In Portugal the song spent seven weeks on Top 20. Nine weeks after the original release, "Shine a Light" featured 16 in 4Music's top 20 for the week.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Personnel

Danny Jones Daniel Alan David Jones''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1984–2005'' (born 12 March 1986) is a British singer, songwriter and musician who is one of the lead vocalists and the lead guitarist for pop-rock band McFly. From ...

- songwriter, guitar, lead vocals, backing vocals *

Harry Judd Harry Mark Christopher Judd (born 23 December 1985) is an English musician who is the drummer for the rock band McFly. Early life and education Judd was born in Chelmsford, Essex in southern England, the youngest of three children. He is the so ...

- drums, percussion *

Dougie Poynter Dougie Lee Poynter (born 30 November 1987) is an English musician, songwriter, fashion model, aspiring clothing designer and children's author. He is the bassist of the pop rock band McFly. He won the eleventh series of the ITV reality series ...

- bass *

- songwriter, lead vocals, synths, keyboard, producer *Alan Nglish - producer *Serban Ghenea - mixer

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2010 singles McFly songs Songs written by Danny Jones Songs written by Tom Fletcher Songs written by Taio Cruz 2010 songs Island Records singles