“Home” by Phillip Phillips

song info

    “Home” by Phillip Phillips (official video) is from the final two of American Idol season 11.

    
    U.S. Billboard Hot 100: #9 (nine), down from last week #8 (eight), down from previous week #7 (seven) with a bullet, previous week #7 (seven), up from previous week #8 (eight) with a bullet, Streaming Gainer, up from previous week #12 (twelve) with a bullet, 26 weeks on chart, peak #7 (seven)
    Rock: #2 (two), last week #2 (two), previous week #2 (two), up from previous week #3 (three), previous week #3 (three), up from previous week #4 (four), 14 weeks on chart, peak #2 (two)
    Country: #36 [5 Jan 2013]
    Pop: #8 (eight), last week #8 (eight), up from previous week #9 (nine), up from previous week #10 (ten), up from previous week #12 (twelve), previous week #12 (twelve), 19 weeks on chart, peak #8 (eight)
    Adult Contemporary: #17, last week #17, previous week #17, down from previous week #16, previous week #16, down from previous week #12 (twelve), 17 weeks on chart, peak #12 (twelve)
    Adult Pop: #2 (two), down from last week #1 (one), up from previous week #2 (two), previous week #2 (two), previous week #2 (two), up from previous week #3 (three), 28 weeks on chart, peak #1 (one)
    Radio Songs: #8 (eight), up from last week #9 (nine), up from previous week #10 (ten), up from previous week #11 (eleven), up from previous week #12 (twelve), up from previous week #14, 18 weeks on chart, peak #8 (eight)
    Digital Songs: #9 (nine), up from last week #11 (eleven), down from previous week #9 (nine), previous week #9 (nine), down from previous week #6 (six), up from previous week #9 (nine), 27 weeks on chart, peak #1 (one)
    On-Demand Songs: #16, down from last week #12 (twelve), down from previous week #11 (eleven), previous week #11 (eleven), up from previous week #12 (twelve), up from previous week #31, 19 weeks on chart, peak #11 (eleven)
    Ringtones: peak #28
    Rock Airplay: #32, down from last week #30, down from previous week #26, up from previous week #27, up from previous week #28, up from previous week #30, 14 weeks on chart, peak #26
    Rock Digital Songs: #2 (two), last week #2 (two), previous week #2 (two), previous week #2 (two), down from previous week #1 (one), up from previous week #2 (two), 31 weeks on chart, peak #1 (one)
    Country Airplay: #49, missing week, #57
    Country Digital: #38, missing week, #17
    Japan: out of chart, #96 [debut - 22 Dec 2012], 1 week on chart, peak #96
    Canadian Hot 100: #11 (eleven), up from last week #13, down from previous week #12 (twelve), up from previous week #17, up from previous week #18, up from previous week #27, 19 weeks on chart, peak #9 (nine)
    MySpace: #4 (four), down from last week #3 (three), previous week #3 (three), up from previous week #4 (four), up from previous week #18, up from previous week #23, 9 weeks on chart, peak #3 (three)
     Billboard information for the week of Jan 5, 2013
     Billboard chart listings courtesy of Billboard Magazine

link to the static song information page for this song:
http://www.thissideofsanity.com/music/songs/ho/homephillipphillips.php

    Summary quotation from Wikipedia:

    “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.

    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 and included as a track on the compilations American Idol Season Finale - Season 11 EP and Journey to the Finale released at the same time. The song was also included on his debut album, The World from the Side of the Moon, released later in November that year. The single debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 with a first week sales figure of 278,000 downloads. It has the biggest digital sales week for any Idol winner’s coronation song, and it became the best selling of all coronation songs.

Background

    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. Pearson and Holden had previously not met before but were brought together to write the song, with Holden the primary lyricist. The song was written in three hours and a demo recorded. Holden had performed the song in his tour, but he expressed no intention of releasing his recording of the song. 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”. He also revealed that he had wanted to use a song he co-wrote with his brother-in-law, “Drive Me,” as the coronation song. 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.” 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.” Later he said he was “starting to grow a connection” with the song, and that “I kind of sing it like me, and on the guitar I do some different strummings on some parts, so it’s coming along.”

Critical reception

    The song “Home” has received positive reviews. 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. 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.”

Music video

    The music video was directed by Joseph Tomanand and was shot over three days while on the road with the Idol summer tour - Denver to Salt Lake City. The video premiered on Phillip Phillips’ Vevo site on August 2, 2012. Much of the video interweaves black-and-white imagery of American landscapes with footage of Phillips jamming on the tour bus. The purpose of the video, according to the director, was to “make something that felt real and show people who Phillip really is”, to “give a sense of journey, both for the viewer and the star”, and “the idea of feeling home, at peace, even when you can’t actually be ‘home.’ ”

—from Wikipedia (the Wikipedia:Text of Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License applies to Wikipedia’s block of text and possible accompanying picture, along with any alterations, transformations, and/or building upon Wikipedia’s original text that ThisSideofSanity.com applied to this block of text)

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