Pure Shores

Background

"Pure Shores" was released as the first single from All Saints' second studio album Saints & Sinners (2000), which was released in October 2000. The song was written by William Orbit and All Saints member Shaznay Lewis, and was composed and produced by Orbit. It was written for the film The Beach. "Pure Shores" was released in Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom on 12 September 1999.

According to Cameron Adams of the Herald Sun in Melbourne, American singer and songwriter Madonna "was reportedly livid when producer William Orbit gave this futuristic dream-pop to the UK girl band and not her." On 24 June 2012, Orbit released an instrumental version of the song on the internet.

Composition

"Pure Shores" is an electronica pop song which is set in an ambient style. According to Musicnotes.com, the song is in the key Db Major and the song's lyrics talk about being in a relaxing place and a place one can call their own. Cameron Adams of the Herald Sun called it "futuristic dream-pop". The Herald Sun also said that according to a survey commissioned by Radox, "Pure Shores" was among the ten most relaxing tracks.

Jim Wirth of NME compared the song to Madonna's album Ray of Light (also produced by Orbit, and partly co-written with him), saying "[Pure Shores] is an inane enough confection of bleeps and fieldmouse rhythms which sounds so close to Madonna that it's almost indistinguishable." The New Zealand Herald described the song's composition as "high-lustre" and a "dream pop single". Nigel Packer from BBC Music said the song uses "deep sea bass and dolphin splash keyboards ... "

Critical reception

"Pure Shores" was critically acclaimed by music critics worldwide, who praised it for its "lush, electronic soundscapes". Cameron Adams from the Herald Sun gave it four stars out of five classified it as "futuristic dream-pop" and ranked it at number 17 on the his top 100 songs of the 2000–2009 decade. PlayLouder.com gave it a positive review, saying; "This was the single that saw the Saints out-performing every other girl group on the planet, ditching the famous-for-being-famous tag, and finally becoming the statuesque pop goddesses they always claimed to be. Russell Bailler from the New Zealand Herald highlighted the song along with "Black Coffee" and "Surrender", saying it is "a great single which is also the best thing here [on the album]." Theresa Johnston from About.com listed the song in the "Top Picks for Romantic Songs".

Nigel Packer from BBC Music highlighted the song from the album. Amy Fleming from The Guardian added the song to her list of "songs to have babies to", calling it a "harmless, feelgood, uplifting, and a bit of ambient [song]" and "mellow [and] infectious." Entertainment Weekly reviewed the soundtrack and said along with Sugar Ray's song "Spinning Away", the songs were "bright". Mixmag said along with Barry Adamson's song "Business as Usual", the songs were "superb". On 18 October 2011, David Gerges from The Daily Mail had listed the song on his "Most Relaxing Songs Ever Created" at number seven.

The song received many nominations and accolades. It won the Ivor Novello Award for Most Performed Work and was later nominated for two BRIT Award for Best British Single and Best British Video in 2001, but lost both awards to Robbie Williams' "Rock DJ". It also won the Capital FM choice for Best Song. According to BBC Radio 2, "Pure Shores" is the 14th most played song on the station since 2009.

Commercial performance

"Pure Shores" debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, stayed there for two consecutive weeks and remained in the chart for sixteen weeks. It was certified Platinum on 3 March 2000, selling over 600,000 copies in the UK. The song remains the group's third best performing single in the UK. The song has sold 720,000 copies in the UK as stated by the Official Charts Company. The song became the second best-selling single of 2000 and was awarded the Capital London award for best song on 19 April 2000. In Ireland, the song debuted at number three and peaked at number one a week later, becoming the group's only chart-topper in Ireland.

The song was also successful in mainland Europe. It debuted at number sixteen in Switzerland and peaked at number six, staying in the charts for twenty-three weeks, making it the group's most successful single there. It also peaked at number six on the French Singles Chart, staying in the charts for twenty weeks. The song peaked in both the Belgium Singles Chart at number five (Flanders) and number one (Wallonia). It also reached the top five in Finland and Norway. However, the song did not reach the top ten in Austria, where it debuted at number thirty-nine and peaked at number eleven, staying in the charts for eleven weeks. It was eventually certified gold in Sweden and France, selling 10,000 copies in Sweden and 150,000 copies in France.

"Pure Shores" repeated its European success in Oceania. It debuted at number five on the Australian Singles Chart, and peaked at number four for three consecutive weeks, remaining in the charts for sixteen weeks. The song is the group's second-most successful single in that country. In New Zealand, it debuted at number forty-four, rose to number seventeen the next week, and peaked at number two for one week. It stayed in the charts for nineteen weeks. To date, it is the group's most successful single in that country. It was certified Platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) and Gold by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ), selling 70,000 and 7,500 copies respectively.

The song was eventually released in North America, where it failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 or any of the Billboard component charts, but it peaked at number thirty-five in Canada, where it was the group's last single to chart in Canada. The song was well received internationally, garnering chart success. However, many have suggested that due to the benchmark the song had created for 2000 and the following years, it underperformed commercially. Combining certifications and sales, "Pure Shores" has roughly sold over one million copies to date.

Music videos and promotion

The music video for "Pure Shores" was directed by Vaughan Arnell and is set on a beach and features clips from the film The Beach. The video was filmed on Holkham beach in Norfolk, England and featured the members of All Saints walking near the beach at night, using various camera effects, with some daytime shots in front of the Wells-next-the-Sea beach huts. Scenes were also filmed in a jungle house with bamboo and trees. On 8 May 2000, the video won the Loaded Award as best single of the year. Another video is similar but has clips from the band's other videos and does not feature clips from the film.

All Saints performed "Pure Shores" at the 2000 MTV Europe Music Awards, and at the World Sports Awards in 2000. It was also performed on Top of the Pops. In 2002, DJ Osymyso sampled the song on his album Intro-Inspection (2002). The band then performed a live version of the song on Later with Jools Holland with just a piano and a drum set.

It is also included in the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V on one of the games radio stations.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Saints & Sinners.