"Big City Dreams" is a song by American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band,

Never Shout Never Never Shout Never (originally typeset as nevershoutnever! and NeverShoutNever!) is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Joplin, Missouri, in 2007. Vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Christofer Drew began the band as a solo project before ...

. The song was released on July 18, 2008 as the debut and lead single from their second EP, ''The Yippee EP''. It peaked at number one on the ''Billboard'' US

Hot Singles Sales The Hot Singles Sales, also known as the Hot 100 Singles Sales and the POS chart, was a music chart released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine listing each week's best-selling physical singles in the United States, such as CD singles, vinyl single ...

chart.

Background and composition

"Big City Dreams" was written and produced by Christofer Drew. The track runs at 68 BPM and is in the key of

C major C major is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and its parallel min ...

. The song has been described as a

folk-pop Folk-pop is a broad Music genre#Subtypes, musical fusion genre that includes contemporary folk songs with pop music, pop arrangements, and pop songs with intimate, acoustic music, acoustic-based folk music, folk arrangements. Folk-pop has been ...

song by

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

. It has also been described as Never Shout Never's "big break" into the music industry. Drew performed the song live on '' MTV TRL'' on July 30, 2008.

Critical reception

James Shotwell of ''Under the Gun Review'' gave a positive review for the track stating, "A beautiful piano line mixed with tambourine and guitar sinks under your skin while he vocals take you away to a warm summer day in a field with the one you love. The song is gorgeous, simple, and sure to become the song many teens share with their 'secret' crushes." Andy Gesner of ''Hip Video Promo'' noted, "its just the sort of bracing and emotionally-forthright pop that connects with young listeners. Its narrative, too, is an easy one to identify with."

Music video

The music video for "Big City Dreams" was released in December 2008 and was directed by Isaac Ravishankara. The video was shot in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The video features actress Laura Gilreath as Drew's love interest. The music video begins with Drew in his living room sitting with his girlfriend before she leaves the Midwest. As she walks through the streets of the town she's abandoning, a ball of yellow yarn attached to her ankle begins to unravel. Drew grabs hold of the loose end and walks the same roads as she does, spooling it up in his arms. Finally, he catches up to her in an industrial section of town as she has already taken to the air. Resigned to his fate, the singer lets go of the kite string and watches her sail away.

Charts

References

{{Never Shout Never 2008 debut singles 2008 songs Never Shout Never songs