Daylight in Your Eyes

"Daylight in Your Eyes" was composed by songwriters and guitarists Tony Bruno and Tommy Byrnes, and initially intended to appear on the self-titled debut album of American rock band New Life Crisis, their debut with Tommy Boy Records.[3] Recorded in 2000, their rendition received a limited release in the United States, and ended on various sampler albums such as the MTV Party to Go Remixed compilation (2001).[3] Plans for an international release however fell through as Bruno and Byrnes had sold the appropriate license rights of song separately, both stateside and abroad, and the label lacked the right to release the band's version on any format throughout Europe.[4] Further problems arose as Byrnes, Bruno, and the publishing company that bought the rights to the song were forced to not only acknowledge the writing contribution of New Life Crisis leader Paul Mahos, but to also pay him back and continuing royalties.[4]

Peter Plate was instrumental in disposing "Daylight".[3]

Meanwhile, Bruno met New York City singer Victoria Faiella when they were working as background musicians on Enrique Iglesias' 1999 Cosas del Amor World Tour. Following a concert, he introduced her to German producer Peter Plate, one half of the musical duo Rosenstolz, who later became instrumental in her signing with the German division of Epic Records.[4] The pair soon began work on Faiella's debut album Drama, also resulting into a re-recording of Bruno's "Daylight".[4] Faiella's uplifiting, poppier version, produced by Bruno, Plate and his partner Ulf Leo Sommer, was eventually selected as her debut single with the record company.[4] In summer 2000, an accompanying music video was filmed and sent to German music networks, but as the record lacked general airplay support, it underperformed and the singer was eventually dropped from her label.[3]

A few months later, Plate got known that Polydor Records, RTL II network and production company Tresor TV were searching songs for a girl band, the soon-to-be-cast result of the inaugural season of Popstars, the German adaptation of the international reality show of the same name.[4] Submitted by Plate, Faiella's version of "Daylight" found general approval among the members of the newly formed No Angels, and became one of several songs they recorded for their debut album Elle'ments (2001).[4] While Plate, Sommer and Burno received proper credit, recording and production duties were acceded by Elle'ments producer Thorsten Brötzmann.[5] Mixing of the song was overseen by Joachim "Jeo" Mezei.[5] Re-titled "Daylight in Your Eyes", the No Angels' version made no significant changes to Faiella's backing track.[4] Although the label initially favoured album cut "Go Ahead and Take It" as the band's debut single, the song was eventually selected out of a total of ten songs to lead the album.[4]

"Daylight in Your Eyes" received mixed reviews from music critics. Billboard magazine editor Chuck Taylor called the song "an ideal illustration of bouncy, gleeful bubble gum, tailor-made for the tween set." He felt that "the group's harmonies are equally beaming and the exhilarating production is perfectly suited to the spirit of the chorus."[6]

Although "Daylight in Your Eyes" was not officially released until 5 February 2001, it appeared a week early on the German Airplay Chart, instantly reaching number-one.[7] The CD maxi single sold more than 500,000 copies within its first week of release and was certified gold after twenty-four hours only,[8][9] making it both the third fastest-selling single ever in Germany (behind Elton John's 1997 version of "Candle in the Wind" and follow-up Popstars winners Bro'Sis' 2001 debut single "I Believe"), and one of the biggest-selling German singles of the 2000s.[10] Thus, "Daylight" also debuted atop the German Singles Chart, where it remained another five weeks atop due to constant sales, but quickly fell out of the top 100 in its 19th week.[11] However, with more than one million copies shipped to stores "Daylight in Your Eyes" was ranked first on the German year-end singles chart, and received a platinum certification by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI).[10][12]

In Switzerland, the single sat six weeks atop the Swiss Top 100 singles chart, making it the 12th successful single of the year.[13] The song remained within the top 50 until July 2001, but fell out of the chart in early August—one week prior to the release of the band's third single "There Must Be an Angel". In Austria, however, "Daylight in Your Eyes" debuted at number four on the Ö3 Austria Top 40 chart, reaching the top position three weeks later for four consecutive weeks. The song charted until its 19th week on particular, and became the third successful single of the year behind Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out of My Head" and Gigi D'Agostino's "Super (1, 2, 3)".[14]

Outside German-speaking Europe, the song reached number 50 on the French Singles Chart.[15] Released in early October 2001 in the United Kingdom and the United States, respectively, "Daylight in Your Eyes" also saw minor commercial success in both countries with peak positions of number 88 on the UK Singles Chart and a single entry at number 36 on the Billboard Hot Singles Sales chart.[16][17]

In the video, each of the five girls represented a different element.

The original music video for "Daylight in Your Eyes" was directed and produced by Robert Bröllochs for Camelot Filmproduktionen and entirely filmed at the X-Sight-Studios in Groß-Gerau near Darmstadt, Hesse, on 22 December 2000.[18] Popstars coach Detlef Soost with whom the band had worked during the casting process, handled the video's choreography.[19] Shot in a time span of 17 hours, it is primarily composed of individual close shots and dance sequences using split screen and bluescreen technique.[19][20]

The video does not have a substantial plot, but as both the band's management and their label attempted to introduce aliases assigning each member of the group—similar to the Spice Girls pseudonyms—in due consideration of the polysemous title of the band's debut album, Elle'ments, focus is on the personalization of the classical elements.[18] While Nadja Benaissa ("Air"), Lucy Diakovska ("Fire"), Sandy Mölling ("Water"), and Vanessa Petruo ("Earth") incorporated one of the four archetypal type images for each themselves, a fifth element ("Spirit") was specially-created for Jessica Wahls because of a lack of another element.[18] The band later dismissed the video for its styling and make-up, both of which was widely influenced by the element theme and, according to Benaissa, made them look like a group of "five casted whores".[21]

The final video cut for "Daylight in Your Eyes" premiered in January 2001 at the end of its making of episode on the first installment of Popstars.[18] As the original music video was considered "too sexy" for broadcast on the North American television market, an alternate version for the song was shot by Stephen Scott in Toronto, Canada, in April 2001.[22] Set in a park, it abandons the elements topic of the original video in favor of performance and dancing routines.[22]

Following the success of the No Angels' interpretation of "Daylight in Your Eyes" the song has been covered by several artists. Among both versions by Victoria Faiella and New Life Crisis, German band Audiosmog released a rock version of the song, featuring Tobias Schlegl, as a single, which reached number 36 on the German Singles Chart in 2001. In addition, the track has been re-recorded by heavy metal band Lakehurst,[23] German-South African singer Howard Carpendale,[23] and Stefan Raab's studio band Herb & The Heavytones.[23] Rockabilly band Boppin'B covered the song on their 2003 studio album 42.[23]

• List of number-one hits of 2001 (Austria)
• List of number-one hits of 2001 (Germany)
• List of number-one hits of 2001 (Switzerland)

• American "Daylight in Your Eyes" music video on YouTube
• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics