"Home" is the debut single and coronation song from American Idol season 11 winner Phillip Phillips. The song was co-written by Drew Pearson and Greg Holden, and produced by Drew Pearson.^[1] Holden, a Scottish-born, English-raised songwriter currently living in New York City has performed it many times, but the song does not appear on any of his official recordings.

Phillips first performed the song on the season's final performance night on May 22, 2012, and then again on the finale after he was declared the winner. His recording of "Home" was released as a single on May 23, 2012. The single debuted at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 with a first week sales figure of 278,000 downloads.^[2] It is the biggest digital sales week for any Idol winner's coronation song.^[3]

Background[link]

The song was written by Drew Pearson and Greg Holden, and chosen by Jimmy Iovine as a coronation song for the eventual winner of Season 11 of American Idol, Phillip Phillips. According to Drew Pearson, it was originally intended for Greg Holden, but was submitted to Idol as a possible finale number by Pearson's publishing company, Pulse Recordings.^[4] Pearson cited Mumford & Sons, Arcade Fire and a few Irish bands as influences for the song.

However, Phillip said that while the song and its writers are "really good", "it's not really something I would write".^[5] In interviews after the finale, he said, "The song that I did tonight that supposedly is my single, it's not really my single, I told them it's not my single."^[6] He also said, "I have my own stories to tell," and added "[but] I couldn’t do my song [on the finale]; we just didn’t have enough time." Philip stated that he writes songs in the "jazz and rock alternative sound; not really rock-rock."^[6]

Critical reception[link]

The song "Home" has received unanimous acclaim. Phillips received a standing ovation- the only one of the night- from the judges after his first performance of the song. Randy Jackson said, "Dude, I love the song, I love the production. Everything about that was perfect." Jennifer Lopez said, "That was a Phillip song and there is nothing on the radio that sounds like that!" Similarly, Steven Tyler said, "By virtue of your vulnerability and style, you made the world your home."

Professional music reviews have praised the song unanimously, calling it one of the best American Idol coronation songs of all time. ^[7] Popdust gave it a good review saying, "it runs with the necessary thematic elements needed to market someone who came from a reality competition show, while picking up more interesting styles that focus on instrumentals and arrangement in addition to vocals."

EW Music Mix gave the song an A-, and likened it to Mumford & Sons and Fleet Foxes. They added, "The triumphant track is easily the coolest, most relevant song ever used as a reality TV coronation song."

Spin, who titled their post called the tune "shockingly good — especially for an Idol coronation song, which have a tendency to be horrifyingly embarrassing."

Chart performance[link]

"Home" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 10, the first time in four years a coronation single from an American Idol winner reach the top 10 since David Cook's single "The Time of My Life" debut at number three. ^[2] It also debuted at number two in Hot Digital Songs. It sold 278,000 the first week, which is the biggest digital sales week for a winner's coronation song, surpassing David Cook's "Time of My Life" first week sales of 236,000 in 2008, and is also the second-best digital sales week ever for any "Idol" contestant, behind Kelly Clarkson's 2009 song "My Life Would Suck Without You" which sold 280,000 in its debut week.^[3]

Track listing[link]

Charts[link]

Release history[link]

References[link]

http://pulserecordings.com/2012/drew-pearson-phillip-phillips-1.html

Phillip LaDon Phillips, Jr. (born September 20, 1990) is an American singer-songwriter from Leesburg, Georgia, and the winner of the eleventh season of American Idol.^[1][2][3]