City_of_Stars

City of Stars

City of Stars

2016 song by Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone


"City of Stars" is a song performed by Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in the film La La Land (2016). The music of the song was composed by Justin Hurwitz while the lyrics were provided by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.[2] The song won numerous awards, including the award for Best Original Song at both the 74th Golden Globe Awards and 89th Academy Awards.

Quick Facts from the album La La Land: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Released ...

Another version of the song was also released as a 'Hollywood remix' but was not used in the original film.[3] "City of Stars" was released as a single in Italy on March 3, 2017.[1]

Context

In the film, the song is first sung by Gosling alone as the character of Sebastian as he sings and dances on the Hermosa Beach Pier. Later in the film, it is reprised by Sebastian and Mia (Stone) during a montage of him getting ready to tour with Keith's (John Legend) band, as well as Mia quitting her job at a coffee shop and renting out a theater for her one-woman play.

Inspiration

Justin Hurwitz, the composer of the song, discussed the writing of the song:[4]

[The song] started at the piano with me just working on demos for Damien, sending him ideas until something really sparked. It's so funny that that and "Audition" are the two songs that people seem to be responding to the most, at least so far, because they had similar processes in the sense that they had probably the least amount of fussing at the piano demo stage. [...] I was just composing it from an emotional place and thinking about the tone. I would say the tone is hopeful, but melancholy at the same time. And it kind of goes back-and-forth between cadencing in major and cadencing in minor, because I think that’s kind of what the song is about. You have these great moments and then you have these less great moments in life and in Los Angeles and we see it happen in the story. I was thinking about that idea a little bit and just trying to compose a melody that I thought was shapely and beautiful. I guess it has some jazz inflections, because it’s something Sebastian plays on the piano.

Music video

The music video was uploaded to YouTube channel on Apr 17, 2017, and has gained more than 31 million views as of April 2024.

Accolades

Charts

Weekly charts

More information Chart (2017), Peak position ...

Year-end charts

More information Chart (2017), Position ...

Certifications

More information Region, Certification ...

See also


References

  1. Aldi, Giorgia (February 27, 2017). "Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone - City of Stars (Radio Date: 03-03-2017)" (in Italian). EarOne. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  2. Tapley, Kristopher (November 17, 2016). "Listen to 'City of Stars' From the 'La La Land' Soundtrack, Arriving Dec. 9". Variety. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  3. Tapley, Kristopher (August 31, 2016). "'La La Land' Composer Justin Hurwitz Details the Film's Songwriting Process". Variety. Retrieved January 14, 2017.
  4. "Justin Timberlake & Alexandre Desplat Among Winners At Hollywood Music In Media Awards". Deadline (published November 18, 2016). 18 November 2016. Retrieved November 18, 2016.
  5. McNary, Dave (November 2, 2016). "'La La Land' Scores Three Hollywood Music in Media Nominations". Variety. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
  6. "La La Land Leads with 12 Nominations for the 22nd Annual Critics' Choice Awards". Critics' Choice. December 1, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
  7. "Houston Film Critics Nominations for 2016 Films". MovieAwardsPlus.com. December 13, 2016. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
  8. "Houston Film Critics Society Nominations – 'The Nice Guys' and Rebecca Hall Get a Deserved Boost". AwardsCircuit.com. December 13, 2016. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
  9. Kilday, Gregg (November 29, 2016). "Satellite Awards Nominees Revealed". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  10. Sheehan, Paul (January 24, 2017). "Oscar nominees list: 2017 Academy Award nominations". GoldDerby. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  11. "Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone – City of Stars" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  12. "Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone – City of Stars" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  13. "Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone – City of Stars" (in French). Ultratip. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
  14. "Greece Digital Song Sales, 4 February 2017". billboard.com. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  15. "Metro Radio Chart (International) - Week: 6". Metro Broadcast Corporation. Archived from the original on February 17, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  16. "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Single (track) Top 40 lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  17. "Billboard Japan Hot Overseas" (in Japanese). Billboard Japan. 13 March 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  18. "Billboard Japan Radio Songs" (in Japanese). Billboard Japan. 13 March 2017. Archived from the original on 8 March 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  19. Aniftos, Rania (December 18, 2023). "Ryan Gosling & Mark Ronson Tease 'I'm Just Ken' Holiday Version". Billboard. Retrieved December 20, 2023.

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