Released 15 May 2000 Genre Pop | Format CD Length 3:52 | |
Label Transistor Music/CBK Produktions/BMG Australia Writer(s) Vanessa Amorosi/Robert Parde/Mark Holden | ||
"Shine" is the third single from Vanessa Amorosi's debut album The Power. After its release in May 2000, this ballad jumped straight into the ARIA charts at #4 position, went Gold two weeks later, and Platinum a one month after that. Vanessa sang "Shine" at the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games 2000, which was broadcast in 80 countries. "Shine" has won the APRA award 2001 for being the most played song on Australian radio in 2000. Vanessa Amorosi performed her hit "Shine" at the 2002 Commonwealth Games closing ceremony in Manchester.
The original lyrics to "Shine" were much darker. Mark Holden was responsible for the success of her song "Shine", which Amorosi wrote for a friend from high school who committed suicide. Amorosi says: "Mark changed a line in it. He said the song didn't work, or that one particular line in it didn't work. The line went 'Everyone you see, everyone you know is gonna die' and he didn't like the word 'die'. He thought it was just wrong. We were all sitting around trying to find a substitute, and we were all stuck on the word 'try'. But Mark came up with the idea of changing it to 'shine' and it all came together. That's Mark's magic. He has a great ear for music. He knows exactly what makes a hit. I think it was a good outcome, because something that was tragic became positive, but... I could never go back to changing it to 'die' now. It is what it is. A lot of my music on The Power was very personal, because I suppose that's what sets me apart from the other songwriters. I'm very blunt and honest with melodies and lyrics. I like to get straight to the point. So I think with "Shine" I tried to make it uplifting but it was very, very personal - and quite an upsetting song."
The song "Shine" was adopted by Ansett Airlines for their final advertising campaign before the company went bankrupt and had to shut down. “I jinxed them with my song!" Amorosi said. "That was heartbreaking, actually. We had some little goodbye parties and stuff. It was horrible.”
Mark Holden covered the song in 2004 for his Live at the George Ballroom DVD/ EP.