Coordinates	12°2′36″N77°1′42″N
name	Fireflies
cover	Owlcity_fireflies_cover.jpg
artist	Owl City
b-side	"Hot Air Balloon"
album	Ocean Eyes
length	3:48 (Album Version)3:14 (UK Radio Edit)
released	(see release history)
format	Digital download, CD single
recorded	2007/2008
genre	Pop, Synthpop
label	Universal Republic
writer	Adam Young
producer	Adam Young, Matthew Thiessen
this single	"Fireflies"(2009)
next single	"Vanilla Twilight"(2010)
misc	}}

}} "Fireflies" is a song and the debut single from synthpop artist Owl City's album ''Ocean Eyes''. Relient K vocalist Matt Thiessen is featured as a guest vocalist in the song. Adam Young described the song as "a little song about bugs and not being able to fall asleep at night."

The song is based around a "bleepy" 80s-influenced synthline and features wondrous, child-like lyrics about insomnia, fireflies and summer.

The single attained worldwide success in late 2009-early 2010, topping the charts in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Netherlands.

Fireflies was used in the promotional video for Sony's ''EyePet'' video game. It is also featured in ''Disney Sing It: Party Hits''.

Music video

The music video for "Fireflies" was directed by Steve Hoover. It features Adam Young playing the song on a Lowrey spinet organ in a toy-filled bedroom, where most of the toys (including an astronaut, toy cars, and a blimp) come to life. Most of the toys are older model toys, with most of them from the 1970s and '80s (the exceptions being a Robosapien and a Roboraptor). There are also vintage household devices such as a black-and-white television and a record player. The video had an exclusive premiere on MySpace, but was leaked onto Dailymotion some time before and YouTube soon after. As of 20 July 2011, the video has received 54.3 million views on YouTube.

Track listings

;Europe CD single #"Fireflies" – 3:48 #"Hot Air Balloon" – 3:35

;US CD promo #"Fireflies" – 3:48

Chart performance

The song debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in early-September at number ninety-seven, and it reached number one in its tenth week, becoming Owl City's first number-one single. The song stayed at number one for two non-consecutive weeks, in the top ten for fifteen weeks and on the Hot 100 for thirty-one weeks. "Fireflies" contributed to sales of the album ''Ocean Eyes'', and was credited as being responsible for its entry to the top ten on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200. On the Billboard Hot 100 2009 year-end chart, it was ranked sixtieth. The RIAA certified "Fireflies" triple-platinum in June 2010. By June 2011, the song had shifted 4,257,000 downloads in the United States. On the Billboard Hot 100 2010 year-end chart, it was ranked thirtieth.

In the United Kingdom, the song entered at number fifty due to early download sales from a fake version that got leaked onto iTunes. The song would go on to make a forty-eight place jump to number two the following week, beaten only to the top by "Replay" by Iyaz. The following week, it rose to number one, and topped the chart for three consecutive weeks, the song has sold 639,587 copies to date. The BPI certified "Fireflies" silver in February 2010. On 2 January 2011 it was revealed that "Fireflies" is the twentieth most downloaded song of all time in Great Britain.

In Australia, the song entered at number thirty-eight and on the week of January 10 2010, it topped the chart with 37,354 copies sold, having the biggest sales for a song in one week.

In Japan, the song peaked at number three and was ranked sixteenth on the 2010 year-end chart, the highest ranking for an international song for 2010.

The song has attained success worldwide. It has reached number one in Denmark, Ireland, Sweden, Australia, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands (for 10 weeks) and the top ten in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Poland, Finland, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal and Switzerland.

Covers

The song is featured in "Weird Al" Yankovic's polka medley "Polka Face", from his album ''Alpocalypse''. Cheryl Cole covered the song on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge. Popular YouTube drummer Cobus Potgieter did a drum cover over the song. He posted it to his Youtube account on March 30, 2010 and it has since been watched over 2.2 million times.

Mac Miller also samples the melody in his song "Don't Mind if I Do".

Charts

Peak position

!Chart (2009)	!Peakposition
!Chart (2010)	!Peakposition
Czech Republic IFPI Top 100
Slovak Republic IFPI Top 100

Year-end charts

!End of year chart (2009)	!Position
Australian Singles Chart
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)
New Zealand (RIANZ)
US ''Billboard'' Hot 100
!End of year chart (2010)	!Position
Australian Singles Chart
Belgium (Flanders)
Belgium (Wallonia)
Canadian Hot 100
European Hot 100
align="left"
Ireland
Italian Singles Chart
Japan Hot 100
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)
New Zealand (RIANZ)
Switzerland
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)
US ''Billboard'' Hot 100

Certifications and sales

!Country	!Certification
Australia
Belgium
Denmark
New Zealand
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States

Release history

Region	! Date	! Label	! Format
	United States		July 14, 2009			Music download>Digital download
	Australia		November 9, 2009		CD single
		January 8, 2010		Digital download
	February 22, 2010		CD single
	Republic of Ireland>Ireland		January 14, 2010		Digital download
	Poland		January 16, 2010		CD single
	Germany		January 22, 2010		CD single

See also

List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 2009 (U.S.)

List of Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks number-one singles of 2010

Dutch Top 40 number-one hits of 2009

List of number-one singles in Australia in 2010

List of number-one singles from the 2010s (UK)

List of number-one singles of 2010 (Ireland)

List of Swedish number-one hits

References

Category:2009 singles Category:Owl City songs Category:Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Category:Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks number-one singles Category:Dutch Top 40 number-one singles Category:Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Category:Number-one debut singles Category:Number-one singles in Australia Category:Number-one singles in Denmark Category:Number-one singles in Sweden Category:UK Singles Chart number-one singles Category:Singles certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America

cs:Fireflies de:Fireflies es:Fireflies fr:Fireflies it:Fireflies he:Fireflies (שיר) lv:Fireflies (dziesma) nl:Fireflies pt:Fireflies ru:Fireflies simple:Fireflies (song) sk:Fireflies sv:Fireflies (låt) tr:Fireflies vi:Fireflies (bài hát)

Coordinates	12°2′36″N77°1′42″N
name	Owl City
landscape	Yes
background	group_or_band
alias	Adam Young
genre	Electronica, Synthpop
origin	Owatonna, Minnesota, United States
years active	2007–present
label	Universal Republic
associated acts	Sky Sailing, Swimming With Dolphins, Matt Thiessen, Lights, Breanne Düren
website
current members	Adam Young }}

Owl City is an American electronica musical project by singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Adam Young formed in 2007 in Owatonna, Minnesota. Young created the project while experimenting with music in his parents' basement. Like many musicians who achieved success in the late 2000s, Owl City developed a following on the social networking site Myspace before signing with Universal Republic in 2008.

After two independent releases, Owl City gained mainstream popularity with the 2009 major label debut album ''Ocean Eyes'', which spawned the quadruple-platinum hit single "Fireflies". The album was certified Platinum in the United States in April 2010.

In 2011, Owl City released his third studio album, ''All Things Bright and Beautiful''.

Early years (2007–2009)

Suffering from insomnia while working loading Coca-Cola trucks in his hometown Owatonna, Minnesota, Young turned to composing music. He began uploading songs recorded in his parents' basement to Myspace. He started to receive favorable attention for his music and then helped cultivate this nascent fanbase by being an open and accessible web presence, responding to any messages he received and constantly posting blogs. His manager Steve Burksy later highlighted the significance of Young's engaging online manner in building his following saying: "People feel like they know him, like they've got a direct connection to him because of how he approaches his connection with them online." Through a deal with the digital aggregator CD Baby, he then started making the songs available for sale through iTunes. In 2007, Owl City released an EP titled ''Of June'', followed by the 2008 release of the album ''Maybe I'm Dreaming''. ''Of June'' reached No. 15 on the ''Billboard'' Electronic Albums chart, and ''Maybe I'm Dreaming'' peaked on the same chart at No. 13.

The viral phenomenon that was building through Myspace caught the attention of Universal Republic presidents Avery and Monte Lipman who approached Young with a view to signing the artist. Republic recommended Young partner up with 27-year-old manager Steve Bursky of Foundations Artist Management and the two began working together in late 2008. When later asked by HitQuarters why the label chose him for a major label act given his relative inexperience, Burksy said:

"I think they saw Owl City as representing the future of our business. This idea of a kid in a tiny town in rural U.S. being able to make songs in his basement that sound like Top 40 radio could never have happened ten years ago. By hiring a young management company who understands the business circa 2011 over a seasoned industry vet, who might not understand the online spaces well, showed a lot of understanding of where this kid was going to end up having success."

Owl City's label deal with Universal Republic was finally confirmed in February 2009. According to Bursky there was initially some disagreement about the direction Owl City should follow, telling HitQuarters: "They were ready to send him into the studio with big producers and polish him up to try to become this thing that he wasn't. But we put our foot down and said, 'Look, the reason you signed this kid is because it’s working. Whatever it is about him - his music, his interaction with his fans, his brilliance in the online space - these things are connecting with people, and as soon as you change that you lose what’s special about this artist.' To their credit, they really listened and they got it."

''Ocean Eyes'' (2009–2010)

''Ocean Eyes'', Owl City's third full-length album and major label debut, was released on iTunes on July 14, 2009, with the physical release following on July 28, 2009. The album debuted at No. 27 on the Billboard 200. Owl City has released three official singles from this album: "Umbrella Beach", "Vanilla Twilight" and "Fireflies". "Fireflies" topped the US and Canadian charts. ''Ocean Eyes'' reached the top ten on the US album charts, topped the US electronic charts, and also reached Amazon MP3's top 10 most downloaded album list. By April 2010, it was certified Platinum in the United States. On January 24, 2010, Owl City reached the No. 1 spot in the UK Top 40 Singles chart with "Fireflies". The song "Tidal Wave" also received significant airplay on Christian music radio stations. On January 2, 2011, it was revealed "Fireflies" was the 20th most downloaded song of all time in the UK.

Young is joined by Breanne Düren on several tracks; the most noted being "The Saltwater Room". Owl City's live band consists of Breanne Düren (background vocals/keyboards), Casey Brown (drums), Laura Musten (violin), Hannah Schroeder (cello), and Daniel Jorgensen (vibes).

Relient K vocalist Matt Thiessen has toured and collaborated with Owl City on several tracks, including "Fireflies", where Matt can be heard providing the backup vocals. Young also produced Relient K's song "Terminals".

"Fireflies" was released as a free download on the game ''Tap Tap Revenge 3'' by Tapulous. Prior to the July 14, 2009 internet release of ''Ocean Eyes'', and the "Fireflies" single, Steve Hoover was hired as a director for a music video for "Fireflies". The video was to have had an exclusive premiere on MySpace, but had been leaked onto YouTube and Dailymotion hours earlier. "Fireflies" became a big sleeper hit, topping the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States for the week ending November 7, 2009.

Owl City is featured on ''Soundtrack 90210'' with a song titled "Sunburn", which was released on October 13, 2009. Owl City has toured with The Scene Aesthetic, Lights, John Mayer, Maroon 5 and Brooke Waggoner. He was also guest featured in the soundtrack to Tim Burton's ''Alice in Wonderland'' with a song entitled "The Technicolor Phase" that had already been featured in his debut album.

In 2010, Young revealed a new musical project known as Sky Sailing, which moved away from his usual electronica genre of music and introduced acoustic guitar and piano accompaniments into his work. The unrefined tracks were recorded in the summer of 2007 before he began making music as Owl City. His first album under this new project is entitled ''An Airplane Carried Me to Bed'', and was released July 13, 2010 via iTunes.

In May 2010, Adam Young collaborated with high-profile British electronic composer, producer, musician, and songwriter Nick Bracegirdle. Under his Chicane alias, Bracegirdle released the single "Middledistancerunner" on August 1, 2010 featuring Adam Young on vocals. This is the first single from the fourth Chicane album ''Giants''. He also worked with famed Dutch producer Armin van Buuren, appearing on a track called 'Youtopia' from the van Buuren album ''Mirage'' on September 10, 2010.

On September 21, 2010 "To the Sky" was officially released via iTunes on the soundtrack for Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'hoole.

On October 25, 2010, Young released a cover version of the praise and worship song "In Christ Alone" as a streaming mp3 on his website,

On November 13, 2010, a new album was also released for one of his other musical projects, "Windsor Airlift", called "Flight" on iTunes.

On November 23, 2010, a new Christmas single called "Peppermint Winter" was released. A preview had been released the previous week on Facebook.

''All Things Bright and Beautiful'' (2010–2011)

Production on Young's third studio album began around mid-2010, with Young being announced as the executive producer of the album.

On October 18, 2010 Young wrote an entry on his blog regarding his third studio album, saying that the album was nearing completion.

In February 2011, the title of the album was announced to be ''All Things Bright and Beautiful'' and that the album would be released on May 17. However, on April 6, Young released a statement on his website, along with lengthy previews of four of his songs (Dreams Don't Turn to Dust, Alligator Sky Featuring Shawn Chrystopher, Galaxies, and Deer in the Headlights), that the release date for ''All Things Bright and Beautiful'' would be pushed back to June 14.

On March 22, Alligator Sky was released as the lead single from the album on ''iTunes''.

In Late March and Early April, tickets went on sale for The All Things Bright and Beautiful World Tour, and All Things Bright and Beautiful became available for preorder.

On April 19, Galaxies was released as the second single from the album.

On May 6, the music video for Alligator Sky was released. Young discussed the concept in a making-of video posted on Owl City's VEVO account, "The concept is basically about these two guys who are leaving Earth. Rather than it being this very dark post-apocalyptic vibe, it's very optimistic, and so it's like people are excited to leave earth."

On May 23, Deer in the Headlights, the third single from the album, was released on iTunes.

On June 14, All Things Bright and Beautiful was released on iTunes. Although only a few days prior on May 20, almost all of the album leaked onto the internet.

On June 30, the music video for 'Deer in the Headlights' was released. It features Young driving through the night in the DMC DeLorean featured in the Back to the Future trilogy and Canadian musician Lights makes a cameo appearance in the video.

On July 19, "Lonely Lullaby" was released as a single on iTunes, which was previously available only to Owl City Galaxy members.

Young was interviewed in the August issue of Cliché Magazine. He also appeared on the cover of the magazine and the issue also featured some of Young's very own art work.

On July 21, at the Club Nokia concert in Los Angeles, Young announced that the concert was being filming for a Live DVD to be released by the holiday season.

On November 28, the music video for "Youtopia", by Armin van Buuren Featuring Adam Young, was released on YouTube.

Fourth Studio Album (2011-Present)

In Young's final tour dates of 2011, he said that he had begun the recording process of his fourth studio album. He also performed a new song entitled "I Hope You Think of Me".

On January 2, 2012, Young wrote an entry on his blog regarding his fourth studio album. Young said that he would be collaborating with more producers and songwriters, also saying that his new record "Marks a flying leap in this direction". Young expects the album to be released around late Summer to Fall 2012.

Musical styles and influences

Owl City's music is described as indietronica and synthpop and is often described as belonging under the broad "alternative music" label. Young has stated that he is inspired by disco and European electronic music, as well as instrumental genres such as drone, ambient, and post-rock. He cites his biggest influences as Johnathon Ford of Unwed Sailor and Thomas Newman. Young also incorporates a large amount of his Christian faith into his music, since he is a vocal Christian. Young's faith is evident on the new album, "All Things Bright and Beautiful", especially in "Galaxies". Explaining why the faith-filled song was added to the mix, he said, "I feel like if I were ever to hide the fact that that’s what’s so important to me, it would be a crime, that I should probably be put in jail for that."

Owl City also has been compared to The Postal Service, often critically, for his combination of fuzzy synths, ironic lyrics and use of female guest singers. Pitchfork.com goes far enough to say that "The surprise No. 1 single in the country, Owl City's 'Fireflies,' jacks the Postal Service in such a bald-faced, obvious manner that getting into specifics feels redundant at best and tacky at worst." In response to the suggestion that his work is derivative, Adam Young suggested in a 2009 interview with The New York Times that ''Ocean Eyes'' is perhaps the "next chapter" after American band The Postal Service: "The Postal Service released a record in 2003, and that was it. There was really nothing to compare it to until some one else came along and wrote the next chapter. Maybe that's this record. Maybe that's this band."

Other projects

Young also produces music under a wide variety of other projects, which include Port Blue, Dolphin Park, Windsor Airlift, Insect Airport, Seagull Orchestra, Novel, Aquarium, Sky Sailing, and Swimming with Dolphins. Most of these projects were started before Owl City propelled Young to fame. Many of these projects were formed alongside some friends, including Austin Tofte of Swimming with Dolphins.

Young was featured on the track "All About Us" by He Is We released on August 29, 2011, on iTunes. He was also featured on the track "First Noel" on TobyMac's album ''Christmas in Diverse City'' released October 4, 2011.

Band members

;Current members

Adam Young – lead vocals, programming, keyboards, piano, synthesizers, guitars, bass guitar, drums, percussion, vibraphone, accordion

;Current touring members While Young writes, composes, records, and produces all of Owl City's music, during live performances he is accompanied by a group of supporting musicians:

Breanne Düren – keyboards, backing vocals

Daniel Jorgensen – guitar, vibraphone

Laura Musten – violin

Hannah Schroeder – cello

Casey Brown – drums

Concert tours

Discography

;Extended Plays

''Of June'' (2007)

;Studio albums

''Maybe I'm Dreaming'' (2008)

''Ocean Eyes'' (2009)

''All Things Bright and Beautiful'' (2011)

''Untitled Fourth Studio Album'' (2012)

References

External links

Owl City Official Website

Category:Musical groups from Minnesota Category:American indie rock groups Category:American New Wave musical groups Category:Electronic music groups from Minnesota

af:Owl City zh-min-nan:Owl City cs:Owl City da:Owl City de:Owl City es:Owl City fr:Owl City gl:Owl City ko:아울 시티 it:Owl City he:Owl City lv:Owl City li:Owl City nl:Owl City ja:アウル・シティー no:Owl City nn:Owl City pl:Owl City pt:Owl City ru:Owl City simple:Owl City sk:Owl City fi:Owl City sv:Owl City th:อาวล์ซิตี tr:Owl City uk:Owl City vi:Owl City zh:貓頭鷹之城

Mike Tompkins (born November 29, 1948) is a U.S. politician who was the Natural Law Party vice presidential candidate during the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections.

Education and career

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Tompkins is a direct descendant of two U.S. presidents, John Adams and John Quincy Adams. He graduated from Harvard University in 1970 and completed his post-graduate studies at Maharishi European Research University (MERU) in Seelisberg, Switzerland in 1984, where he received a doctorate in the Science of Creative Intelligence. He became an associate director of the Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi that defines itself as a "progressive policy think tank."

Political campaigns

In 1992, Tompkins joined John Hagelin as the first national candidates for the Natural Law Party. Hagelin, a quantum physicist, was the director of the Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy and director of the physics department at the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa. Hagelin and Tompkins received ballot placement in 32 states and their campaign qualifed for federal matching funds.

In 1996, Hagelin and Tompkins ran again as the presidential and vice presidential candidates on the Natural Law Party. During a campaign stop at the University of Houston, Tompkins defended the party’s place in the U.S. political landscape by stating, "The Natural Law Party was founded as an alternative to the Republicans and Democrats, and an answer to the great many issues and great many solutions that were not being brought to the public. We are building this party as a permanent part of the American political landscape. We want to win and influence debate…(America has) the least democratic society. We have made a political system that excludes new voices, new people and new ideas."

Hagelin and Tomkins received 39,000 votes, or 0.04% of the total voter input, in 1992. In 1996, they were on the ballot in 44 states and received 110,000 votes, or 0.1% of the total voter input. In 2000, Hagelin ran for president again on the Natural Law Party, but Tompkins was replaced as the vice presidential candidate by Internet entrepreneur Nat Goldhaber.

References

Category:American people of English descent Category:Harvard University alumni Category:People from Boston, Massachusetts Category:Transcendental Meditation practitioners Category:United States vice-presidential candidates, 1992 Category:United States vice-presidential candidates, 1996 Category:1948 births Category:Living people Category:Natural Law Party (United States) politicians