Lovefool

"Lovefool" is a pop song written by Peter Svensson and Nina Persson for The Cardigans' third studio album, First Band on the Moon (1996). It was released as a single on 14 September 1996 in the United Kingdom and internationally on 5 October 1996. It was released as the album's lead single in 1996 and became the Cardigans' first international hit single, topping the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart and making appearances on six other Billboard charts. In 1997, the song found international success, peaking at number two on the UK Singles Chart and finding moderate success on some other European charts. The single also topped the charts in New Zealand, and was certified Gold in Australia.

The song was featured in the film William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet just two months after the release of the single, as well as in the 1999 film Cruel Intentions. It has also been covered by numerous musical acts since its release, including by indie pop band The Hush Sound, who have played the song at several of their shows. More recently the song was covered by pop punk band New Found Glory on their album From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II.

The Cardigans

The Cardigans are a Swedish rock band formed in Jönköping, Sweden, in 1992, by guitarist Peter Svensson, bassist Magnus Sveningsson, drummer Bengt Lagerberg, keyboardist Lars-Olof Johansson and lead singer Nina Persson, with the line-up remaining unchanged to this day.

Their debut album Emmerdale (1994) gave them a solid base in their home country and enjoyed some success abroad, especially in Japan. It was not until their second album Life (1995) that an international reputation was secured. Their popularity rose when their single "Lovefool", from the album First Band on the Moon (1996), was included in the soundtrack to the 1996 film version of Romeo + Juliet. Other singles included "Erase/Rewind" and "My Favourite Game" from the album Gran Turismo (1998). After a two-year hiatus the band returned recording and releasing their fourth album Long Gone Before Daylight (2003) a mellower country-laden record. Their last album Super Extra Gravity (2005), a continuation of the country music infused by pop sensibility and further maturing in the band's sound, was the best-selling Swedish album of that year. After a 2006 tour, the band embarked on a long five-year break from musical activities, before reuniting in 2012 to play several concerts. Overall the band sold over 15 million albums worldwide.

New Zealand

New Zealand (/njuːˈziːlənd/ new-ZEE-lənd, Māori: Aotearoa [aɔˈtɛaɾɔa]) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses – that of the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu – and numerous smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres (900 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres (600 mi) south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long isolation, New Zealand developed a distinctive biodiversity of animal, fungal and plant life. The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland.

Somewhere between 1250 and 1300 CE, Polynesians settled in the islands that were to become New Zealand, and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Abel Tasman, a Dutch explorer, became the first European to sight New Zealand. In 1840, representatives of the British Crown and Māori Chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, making New Zealand a British colony. Today, the majority of New Zealand's population of 4.5 million is of European descent; the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealand's culture is mainly derived from Māori and early British settlers, with recent broadening arising from increased immigration. The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, with English predominant.

Performing arts

Performing arts are art forms in which artists use their voices and/or the movements of their bodies, often in relation to other objects, to convey artistic expression—as opposed to, for example, purely visual arts, in which artists use paint/canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Performing arts include a variety of disciplines but all are intended to be performed in front of a live audience.

Performers

Artists who participate in performing arts in front of an audience are called performers. Example of this include actors, comedians, dancers, magicians, circus artists, musicians, and singers. Performing arts are also supported by workers in related fields, such as songwriting, choreography and stagecraft.

A performer who excels in acting, singing, and dancing is commonly referred to as a "triple threat". Well-known examples of historical triple threat artists include Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, and Judy Garland.

Performers often adapt their appearance, such as with costumes and stage makeup, stage lighting, and sound.

Theatre

Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music, and dance. Elements of art and stagecraft are used to enhance the physicality, presence and immediacy of the experience. The specific place of the performance is also named by the word "theatre" as derived from the Ancient Greek θέατρον (théatron, "a place for viewing"), itself from θεάομαι (theáomai, "to see", "to watch", "to observe").

Modern Western theatre comes, in large measure, from ancient Greek drama, from which it borrows technical terminology, classification into genres, and many of its themes, stock characters, and plot elements. Theatre artist Patrice Pavis defines theatricality, theatrical language, stage writing, and the specificity of theatre as synonymous expressions that differentiate theatre from the other performing arts, literature, and the arts in general.