"Beautiful Life" | ||||
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Single by Ace of Base | ||||
from the album The Bridge | ||||
Released | 20 October 1995 | |||
Genre | Eurodance, techno | |||
Length | 3:38 | |||
Label | Mega | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | ||||
Ace of Base singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Beautiful Life" on YouTube | ||||
Audio sample | ||||
"Beautiful Life" is a song by Swedish band Ace of Base,released on 20 October 1995 from their second album, The Bridge (1995). [1] In North America,it was the first single released from the album;in Europe,it followed "Lucky Love" as the second single. Co-written by band member Jonas Berggren and produced by him with Denniz Pop and Max Martin,the single reached number 15 on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart in December 1995. [2] It reached number one on the Canadian RPM Dance/Urban chart and Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart. In 2017, BuzzFeed ranked "Beautiful Life" number 51 in their list of The 101 Greatest Dance Songs Of the '90s. [3]
"I was at the Canary Islands in Spain, and the last evening I just heard the song ‘Beautiful Life’ in my head. I have the ability to hear three different melodies in my head at the same time — it’s very helpful while composing songs. Melody, bass and a flute on a chorus for example. It was melancholic to leave the islands and it was a wonderful evening, with the mood and sunset. It was a beautiful life!"
The song was written on January 1, 1994 by band member Jonas Berggren while he was in the Canary Islands. At the time, "The Sign" had reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, which inspired him to write the song. On a late flight home he heard some chords, and started humming, and there the song was made. He had to record it swiftly so he wouldn't forget it. Berggren incorporated gospel elements into the song and the roof-raising gospel singing toward the end was made by a four-piece female group that Denniz Pop had. They tracked those vocals many times over for maximum soulful impact. [5]
In a 2018 interview, Ulf Ekberg said that Michael Jackson, after asking to meet the band when they performed "Beautiful Life" at World Music Awards in Monaco, told them that he thought that it was the best song that he had heard in many years. [6]
J.D. Considine from The Baltimore Sun described "Beautiful Life" as "techno-tinged", adding that it "tempers its impetuous pulse and seemingly happy message with a memorably sad melody." [7] Larry Flick from Billboard deemed it a "jaunty, incredibly catchy li'l ditty that indulges in Euro-NRG dance rhythms while continuing to mine the ABBA-esque pop melodies". He stated that "even the act's detractors will find it impossible to resist the sugar-coated confection, with shoulder-shaking percussion and sing-along chorus." [8] Steve Baltin from Cash Box called it "ridiculous", [9] noting that "for this track, the quartet has jumped into this decade with a rocking dance beat that embodies the group's European heritage." [10] The Daily Vault's Michael R. Smith declared it as a "high-octane techno gem". [11] Dave Sholin from the Gavin Report commented, "Those asking the musical question—can Ace Of Base repeat? The answer is Yes! Yes! Yes!" [12] Pan-European magazine Music & Media said the song has a "hyper-kinetic rhythm topped off by a killer hook that's part of your system before you realise it." [13] A reviewer from Music Week rated it three out of five, noting the band's "switch from light reggae to pure Europop" and describing it as "uplifting but unremarkable." [14]
Neil Strauss from The New York Times felt it is "pure treacly pleasure, with bubbling keyboards and a fast, chirpy rhythm that will inspire most listeners to forget that the 70's ever ended and accept the chorus – "It's a beautiful life"—for one night of disco-era hedonism." [15] Bob Waliszewski of Plugged In (publication) viewed it as "a joyful admonition to hang tough when times get hard." [16] J.D. Considine for Spin magazine noted in a writeup about The Bridge that "the real genius of Ace of Base lies not with perky singing... but with the ability to make melancholy sound so damned appealing." The evaluation continues to narrow in scope as he continues to say "even the cheerfully titled 'Beautiful life' dampens its club-savvy stomp with a heartbreaking minor key chorus." [17] A reviewer from People Magazine opined that it "offers a blast of jumpy techno". [18] Chuck Campbell from Scripps Howard News Service said that it is "contagious" and "a high-energy dance song that rings with unbridled optimism (and eschews the reggae cadence of the group's previous American hits)." He added that "the Berggren sisters sing in ABBA-esque exclamation points on the song." [19]
"Beautiful Life" was very successful worldwide, reaching number-one both on the RPM Dance/Urban chart in Canada and the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in the United States. In Europe, it made it to the top 10 in Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary and Lithuania, as well as on the Eurochart Hot 100 and MTV's European Top 20, where it hit number nine and eight. Additionally, the single was a top 20 hit in Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Scotland and the United Kingdom. In the latter, it peaked at number 15 in its second week at the UK Singles Chart, on January 28, 1996. [20] Outside Europe, "Beautiful Life" also reached number three on the RPM Top Singles chart in Canada, number 11 in Australia, number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number ten on the Cash Box Top 100 in the US. It earned a gold record in Australia, with a sale of 35,000 singles.
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by British director Richard Heslop, who would go on to direct the band's later video for "Never Gonna Say I'm Sorry". The video was shot on YFO Studios in Gothenburg in October 1995. [21] The music video included computer-generated bubbles which whisked the band from place to place. According to music channel VH1 in the United States, the band's record label, Arista Records, insisted the bubbles be removed from the video, leading to a somewhat strange-looking U.S. video, with the band members looking at (and reacting to) bubbles that were no longer there. In Europe, both versions of the video were released. In addition to the two alternate videos, remix videos were also created, and VH1 released a Pop-Up Video version of the video in 1998. "Beautiful Life" was uploaded to YouTube in January 2015. As of August 2023, the video has amassed more than 137 million views. [22]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [50] | Gold | 35,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Region | Date | Label |
---|---|---|
United States | 20 October 1995 | Arista |
Europe | 20 November 1995 | Mega, PolyGram |
Japan | 8 December 1995 [62] | Arista |
United Kingdom | 15 January 1996 | London |
Indie band Jukebox The Ghost recorded a cover of the song for Engine Room Recordings' compilation album Guilt by Association Vol. 2 , which was released in November 2008. [63]
In 2015, the American dance-pop trio Punch !nc recorded a reimagined version of the song, titled "Heaven (Beautiful Life)." This version has reached number six on Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart. [64]
Russian metal cover project Even Blurry Videos released their version of the song on YouTube in November 2019.
Ace of Base is a Swedish pop group formed in 1987, originally consisting of siblings Jonas, Linn, and Jenny Berggren, with Ulf Ekberg.
"Cruel Summer" is a song by English girl group Bananarama. It was written by Bananarama and Steve Jolley, Tony Swain, and produced by Jolley and Swain. Released in 1983, it was initially a stand-alone single but was subsequently included on their self-titled second album a year later. The song reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart in 1983 and the group appeared on the BBC's Top of the Pops that summer, and after its inclusion in the 1984 film The Karate Kid, it reached number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100.
The Bridge is the second album by Swedish pop music group Ace of Base. It was composed during 1994 and 1995, and released in Europe on 30 October 1995. It is the only Ace of Base album to feature sizable writing, production, vocal, and harmony contributions by all four band members.
"The Sign" is a song by Swedish group Ace of Base from their first North American studio album, The Sign (1993), and their re-released debut studio album, Happy Nation (1992), titled Happy Nation . The song was released by Arista and Mega as a single in Europe on 1 November 1993 and the US on 14 December 1993. It was written by band member Jonas Berggren, who also produced the song with Denniz Pop and Douglas Carr. "The Sign" is a techno-reggae, Europop, and pop ballad with lyrics describing a couple contemplating the state of their relationship.
Cruel Summer is a 1998 studio album by the Swedish pop group Ace of Base, released as the band's third album in North America on 14 July 1998 and in Japan on 25 August 1998, by Arista Records. Flowers was the group's third album worldwide, but Arista decided to release a different version in North America, Japan, and Latin America, retitled Cruel Summer. This version of the album featured the new track "Everytime It Rains" and several new versions of songs that were first featured on Flowers. As executive producer, Clive Davis enlisted collaborators including production team Cutfather & Joe and songwriter Billy Steinberg. While primarily a pop album, Cruel Summer explores Eurodisco, Motown, and dance.
"Always Have, Always Will" is a 1998 song by Swedish pop band Ace of Base. Heavily inspired by the Motown sound of the mid-1960s, the intro samples the intros from the Supremes track "Where Did Our Love Go" and the Four Tops track "I Can't Help Myself ". It was co-written by Jonas Berggren with Mike Chapman. The song was originally titled "Killer on the Rampage" and contained different lyrics. When the song was pitched as a potential song for the upcoming Flowers/Cruel Summer album, Arista records liked the melody; however, requested that the lyrics be rewritten.
"Lucky Love" is a 1995 song recorded by Swedish group Ace of Base. It is taken from their second album, The Bridge (1995). The song became their fifth worldwide single, and was the first single from the album to be released in Europe; the acoustic version of the song was the second single in the United States and Canada. "Lucky Love" also became the group's first number-one hit in Sweden and it also peaked at number-one in Finland. The single peaked within the top 10 in Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Hungary, Israel, Spain, and Zimbabwe. The song's lyrics describe the feeling of being a teenager in love and never forgetting that feeling.
"Never Gonna Say I'm Sorry" is a song by Swedish band Ace of Base, released as a single on 11 March 1996. It was the third single taken from the band's second album, The Bridge (1995). In Europe, the song peaked at number six in Hungary, number 12 in Denmark and number 17 in Finland. In the US, it reached number six on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. And in Canada, it peaked at number 53 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart.
"All That She Wants" is a song by Swedish group Ace of Base. It was released in Scandinavia in August 1992 by Mega Records as the second single from the group's first studio album, Happy Nation (1992), and in the following year, it was released as the first single from the 1993 album The Sign in North America. Produced by Denniz Pop with group members Jonas Berggren and Ulf Ekberg, the drum beat was inspired by the Kayo song "Another Mother". Berggren and Ekberg also wrote the lyrics.
"Missing" is a song by English musical duo Everything but the Girl, taken from their eighth studio album, Amplified Heart (1994). It was written by the two band members, Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt, and was produced by Watt and John Coxon. It was taken as the second single off the album on 8 August 1994 by Blanco y Negro Records in the United Kingdom and by Atlantic Records in the United States. It initially did not achieve much success until it was remixed by Todd Terry and re-released in 1995, resulting in worldwide success, peaking at or near the top of the charts in many countries. The release of the remixed version of "Missing" gave an indication of the band's future experimentation with more electronic dance music on subsequent albums. Its music video was directed by Mark Szaszy.
"How Long" is the debut single by the English band Ace, from their 1974 debut album, Five-A-Side. It reached No. 3 on both the US and Canadian charts, and No. 20 on the UK Singles Chart.
"Don't Turn Around" is a popular song written by Albert Hammond and Diane Warren. It was originally recorded by American singer Tina Turner and released as the B-side to her 1986 hit single "Typical Male". It has since been included on Turner's compilation album The Collected Recordings: Sixties to Nineties (1994), as well as featuring in the Tina musical since 2018.
"The Right Time" is a song by Celtic folk rock band The Corrs, the third single from their debut album, Forgiven, Not Forgotten (1995). It was released in 1996 and the track was remixed for airplay. The remix replaced a light and breezy rhythm with a hard, pounding beat coupled with reggae-style bass. The remix was produced by Per Adebratt, Tommy Ekman, and Douglas Carr, who had previously worked with Ace of Base. The song was featured in The Corr's live set for several years.
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"Living in Danger" is a song recorded by Swedish group Ace of Base. It was released in October 1994 by Arista and Mega as the seventh and final single from the group's debut album, Happy Nation and fourth single from their American debut release, The Sign (1993). Written by bandmembers Jonas Berggren and Ulf Ekberg, the single peaked at number 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and also topped the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in December 1994. On the US Cash Box Top 100, it peaked at number ten. The single later reached number 18 on the UK Singles Chart in January 1995. Its music video was directed by Matt Broadley and filmed in Stockholm, Sweden. Ace of Base performed the song on the first ever MTV Europe Music Awards in Berlin, Germany in 1994. Q Magazine included "Living in Danger" in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever" in 2003.
Yaki-Da were a Swedish pop group consisting of singers Marie Knutsen and Linda Schönberg. They were put together by Ace of Base band member and producer Jonas "Joker" Berggren. Berggren produced their entire first album and wrote all but two of the songs appearing on it.
"Shy Guy" is a song by Jamaican recording artist and songwriter Diana King for the movie soundtrack album Bad Boys. It also appeared on King's debut studio album, Tougher Than Love (1995). The song was written by King, Kingsley Gardner and Andy Marvel, who produced the song as well. It was released by Sony Music worldwide in March 1995 as the lead single from Tougher Than Love. The song contains a sample from "School Boy Crush" by Average White Band.
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