Shatter Me (song)

"Shatter Me"
Single by Lindsey Stirling featuring Lzzy Hale
from the album Shatter Me
Released 23 April 2014
Format Digital download
Genre Dubstep, classical crossover, electro house, EDM
Length 4:40 (album version)
Label BridgeTone
Writer(s)
Producer(s) SILAS
Lindsey Stirling singles chronology
"Beautiful Times"
(2014)
"Shatter Me"
(2014)
"Master of Tides"
(2014)
Lzzy Hale chronology
"Shatter Me"
(2014)

"Shatter Me" is a song composed and performed by American dubstep-violinist Lindsey Stirling for her second studio album of the same name, and features vocals from American rock singer Lzzy Hale, the lead singer of American rock band Halestorm. The song was written and composed by Stirling, Dia Frampton, and the song's producer, Mark Maxwell, under his production moniker SILAS. The themes explored in "Shatter Me" were based in part on Stirling's experiences with an eating disorder.[1] It became Stirling's first charting airplay single in November 2014 when it entered the Billboard Adult Pop Songs at number 39.[2] Prior to that, it had peaked at number 1 on the Classical Digital Songs and number 10 on the Dance/Electronic Digital Songs charts, as well as charting in Germany at number 59.

Composition

The second single of the album was co-written by Stirling and her friend Dia Frampton, the song was originally written and produced by Mark Maxwell (also called by the name of SILAS).[3] It was not only Stirling's first lyrics composed by her but "Shatter Me" was also Stirling's first collaboration to be included on one of her own studio albums. On an interview with blabbermouth.net Lindsey told the media: "This song is very, very — obviously — different for a Lindsey Stirling track, because I've never written lyrics before, I've never gotten to blatantly say what I feel."

Lzzy Hale, member of the band Halestorm, sang the lyrics of the song.

According to Stirling, she had never heard of Lzzy Hale or Halestorm before but she needed a rock-star female vocalist. In an interview, Lindsey stated "It was so important for me to find the right singer for it, because I had in my mind the idea of who I wanted. I love vocalists like Hayley Williams from Paramore and Amy Lee from Evanescence, so I really wanted a powerhouse, rock-star female vocalist."[4]

On an interview with azcentral.com Stirling described Lzzy Hale as an "energetic performer".[3] About the writing of the lyrics, Lindsey wrote to azcentral.com that "for some reason, I had this little burst of inspiration. I just saw the image that is on my album cover. I saw a ballerina on a music box. It was a snow-globe music box. And she has a very stark expression but she's perfect and flawless and poised. And basically, that ballerina, I related so strongly to her because there was a time in my life when I was surrounded by this shell that I had basically built around myself, this image of perfection because I was so obsessed with being what I thought everyone else wanted me to be and I realized one day that I was so unhappy because I was a slave to my own control."[3] On another interview with newmediarockstars.com Stirling explained the theme of the song according to her own experience:

The whole theme of the overall album is about breaking free and learning(...) It all started kind of with the theme of “Shatter Me” — I had to break free from the shell that I put over myself, and so that’s why it’s “Shatter Me.”[5]

According to Stirling, "Shatter Me" epitomizes the restrictions that world puts on us and shows how difficult it is to break out of old habits and have the courage to step out of our comfort zones into the light.[6]

Release and promotion

On April 9, Lindsey posted on her PledgeMusic account three teaser pictures of the upcoming "Shatter Me" music video, only the persons who had pre-ordered the album had access to this images.[7] A week later the "Shatter Me - Studio Behind The Scenes" video was released in which Lindsey talked about recording with the musician and singer Lzzy Hale and how did they finish knowing each other. Fragments of the song could be heard for moments in the video.[8] On April 18th Lindsey posted on her Pledge account a video of herself having prosthetic makeup for her second single-music video.[9] The single was released on iTunes on April 21st but it wasn't until two days later that the music video was released on YouTube.[10]

Live performances

On April 29, Lindsey played live two songs of her new album: the instrumental version of "Shatter Me" and "Take Flight" at Barnes & Noble.[11] The instrumental version of the single was also performed on the Lindsey Stirling 2014/2015 Tour as the last song of the tracklist, but at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on May 15th, Stirling performed the final song with Lzzy Hale live. On the same month Lindsey performed the single live at The Kennedy Center on Washington, D.C.[12] On June 17th, Stirling performed live at the CBS Radio Boston lounge. Two days later, she performed live at the Mix 107.9 studio. Both of these performance were presented with the support of Drew Steen and Jason Gaviati.[13] On July 15th Stirling performed with Hale at Good Morning America and on August 7th both performed live again at America's got Talent, being the first time for Lindsey to go back since she was disqualified in the fifth season of 2010.[14]

Music video

Stirling representing the ballerina breaking free at the music video of "Shatter Me"

The music video was filmed at YouTube Space L.A in only one week, according to Stirling. The music video for "Shatter Me" was released on Stirling's YouTube account on April 23rd. The video showed two different situations, in first place Lindsey appeared as a ballerina inside a glass globe of a music box. On the other side Lzzy Hale was presented as a clock-girl who's always fixing things. The theme of the story is centered on the ballerina who hopes that someone will shatter the glass and free her, but she finds out that she is the only one who can break the glass.[15] The video was released without any prior advertisement. Still, the video was a success as it accumulated more than 1.3 million views in less than 24 hours, becoming one of Lindsey's more successful YouTube music videos.[16] The video was directed by EVERDREAM and produced by James Khabushani. As of May 9, 2016 the video has accumulated more than 51 million views. A seven-minute behind-the scenes music video was released on May 20th, 2014, of Stirling explaining the producing and directing of the music video. The "Shatter Me" music video is Lindsey's most successful music video of 2014.

Child of Light version

On May 9, an instrumental version of "Shatter Me," called "Child of Light," was released. The song was part of the soundtrack of the Ubisoft fantasy game Child of Light. The video showed Stirling dressed as the protagonist of the game: Aurora, a small princess with powers against the dark, running through the forest. At the end of the video a small propaganda of the video was shown and the voice of Stirling at the back informed the viewers about the game.[17]

Charts

"Shatter Me" debuted at number 39 on the Billboard Adult Pop Songs chart for the week ending November 8, 2014, becoming Stirling's first single to enter an American airplay chart.[2]

Chart (2014–15) Peak
position
Germany (Official German Charts)[18] 59
US Adult Top 40 (Billboard)[18] 34
Japan (ZIP Dance Hits 20)[19] 3
US Classical Digital Songs (Billboard)[20] 1
US Dance/Electronic Digital Songs (Billboard)[21] 10

Year-end charts

Chart (2014) Position
US Billboard Dance Electronic Digital Songs[22] 48
Billboard Classical Digital Songs[23] 1

References

  1. Lesley Messer (July 16, 2014). "'All of Me' Violinist Lindsey Stirling Talks About Her Eating Disorder". ABC News. Retrieved 2014-09-01.
  2. 1 2 Trust, Gary. "Chart Highlights: Gwen Stefani Returns, Foo Fighters Fly to No. 1". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 "Interview: Lindsey Stirling on 'Shatter Me'". Azcentral.com. 2014-05-27. Retrieved 2014-08-22.
  4. "Halestorm's Lzzy Hale Featured On New Lindsey Stirling Album". Blabbermouth.net. 2014-04-22. Retrieved 2014-08-22.
  5. "Lindsey Stirling 'Shatters' The YouTube Space L.A. For Her Album Debut Party [INTERVIEW". New Media Rockstars. 2014-04-23. Retrieved 2014-08-22.
  6. "EXCLUSIVE: Interview Lindsey Stirling". Rockeramagazine.com. Retrieved 2014-08-22.
  7. "Shatter me pics". PledgeMusic. Retrieved 2014-08-22.
  8. "Shatter Me - Studio Behind The Scenes - Lindsey Stirling". YouTube. 2014-04-16. Retrieved 2014-08-22.
  9. "Don't be scared". PledgeMusic. Retrieved 2014-08-22.
  10. "» Shatter Me Video!". Lindseystirling.com. 2014-04-24. Retrieved 2014-08-22.
  11. Jeannie Loso. "Shatter Me - Instrumental ~ Lindsey Stirling". YouTube. Retrieved 2014-08-22.
  12. "Lindsey Stirling, "Shatter Me" - Live at the Kennedy Center". YouTube. Retrieved 2014-08-22.
  13. "Lindsey Stirling: Shatter Me (Live Acoustic Instrumental)". YouTube. 2014-06-19. Retrieved 2014-08-22.
  14. "Lindsey Stirling: Former AGT Act Performs "Shatter Me" With Lzzy Hale - America's Got Talent 2014". YouTube. 2014-08-06. Retrieved 2014-08-22.
  15. Fulghum, Sherrill (April 4, 2014). "Lindsey Stirling: Shattering the nonbelievers". Allvoices. Archived from the original on April 7, 2014.
  16. "Lindsey Stirling on Twitter: WOW! 1.3 million views of my #ShatterMe video in just over 24 hours. Thank you! Watch it here if you haven't seen it: http://t.co/JjKAag4Aua". Twitter.com. 2014-04-25. Retrieved 2014-08-22. External link in |title= (help)
  17. Stirling, Lindsey (2014-05-09). "Child of Light". YouTube. Retrieved 2014-08-22.
  18. 1 2 "Offiziellecharts.de – Lindsey Stirling feat. Lzzy Hale – Shatter Me". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
  19. http://zip-fm.co.jp/program/zip_dance_hits20/
  20. "Classical Digital Songs : Page 1". Billboard. Retrieved 2014-03-10.
  21. "Chart Search for "Shatter Me"". Billboard Dance/Electronic Digital Songs for Lindsey Stirling. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  22. "2014 Year End Charts - Top Dance/Electronic Digital Songs". Billboard. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
  23. "2014 Year End Charts - Classical Digital Songs". Billboard. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
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