Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Beautiful Life (Ace of Base song)

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Released
  
October 20, 1995

Length
  
3:38

Recorded
  
1995

Label
  
Mega

Genre
  
Eurodance, pop, techno, gospel

Writer(s)
  
Jonas Berggren, John Ballard

"Beautiful Life" is a song by Swedish band Ace of Base, released on October 20 1995. In North America, it was the first single released from The Bridge; in Europe, it followed "Lucky Love".

Contents

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 just hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 list, which inspired him to write the song. Berggren incorporated gospel elements into the song, and the single proved quite successful worldwide, reaching number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart in December 1995. It also hit #1 on the U.S. Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.

Critical reception

J.D. Considine of Spin magazine said 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."

Music video

The video for the song was directed by Richard Heslop, who would go on to direct the band's later video for "Never Gonna Say I'm Sorry". The 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.

Personnel

  • Vocals by Linn Berggren, Jenny Berggren, Jonas Berggren
  • Backing Vocals and cue choir by Jeanette Söderholm
  • Music by Jonas Berggren
  • Lyrics by Jonas Berggren and John Ballard
  • Produced by Denniz Pop, Max Martin and Jonas Berggren
  • Recorded and produced at Cheiron Studios

    • Cover versions

    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.

    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.

    Appearances in other media

  • This song was included on the Night at the Roxbury (1998) soundtrack and was featured in the advertising campaign for the movie.
  • The song was featured by the Filipino dance group "The Streetboys" (members like Vhong Navarro, Jhong Hilario and others) performed in the variety show in the Philippines, Eat Bulaga! in 1996.
  • The song was used in a TV advertisement for Lincraft in Australia.
  • The song was the first to be played the night that the Florida Marlins won Game 7 of the 1997 World Series.
  • The song was also heard in the Adam Sandler films, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry from 2007 and You Don't Mess With The Zohan from 2008.
  • The Colombian latin pop singer Sara Tunes produced a new version of the song with a more electronic sound which has a rhythm similar to house music or dubstep, originally included on her second studio album, titled "XOXO".
  • In the episode "The Eye of the Kong" of the web series Game Grumps, a MIDI version of the song is played as part of a montage.
  • The song appeared on the TV show Hindsight.
  • The song featured on the soundtrack for Russian TV series Olga on TNT.

    • References

    Beautiful Life (Ace of Base song) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA