Reception
Critical reception towards the single was generally positive. Yahoo! Music's Jairne Gill reviewed the single positively, giving it 7 stars out of 10. In spite of this, he criticized Snow Patrol for "established the kind of ruthless commercial formula more commonly associated with corporations like Microsoft or Starbucks." He also said that "the first single back is always a semi-rocky, fidgety beast - as if to reassure people they are still an indie band at heart, you know - and is swiftly followed by a big, sweltering, lovelorn ballad designed to make housewives melt and bring US television executives in search of a season finale running to them with blank cheques." He went on the say the song was rather lovely. He praised the guitar and glockenspiel in the song, and called the chorus "a warm hug". He also felt that vocalist Gary Lightbody's feelings sound genuine in the song. The Sunday Mail's Avril Cadden, though called the song "nothing new and typical Snow Patrol", but defended it, saying that it has "a cracking tune and the best from that album." To her, Snow Patrol were "back on form". She further praised the song, calling it "rousing and effective". She also called the lyrics "heartfelt" and the vocals "emotive", which "give you a warm glow". She awarded the single 4 stars out of 5. The Daily Record's John Dingwall also gave the single 4 stars out of 5. He called the album "brilliant" and the song "cleverly-written". He felt the delivery of the vocals was "perfect" and Gary Lightbody's "emotive vocals" provided "the icing on the cake."
Nick Levine of Digital Spy, however reviewed the single negatively, giving it 2 stars out of five. He wrote that the single sounded similar to their earlier work, and that it "chugs along from intimate, piano-driven verses to choruses that are supposed to coax the mobile phones out of punters' pockets at their arena gigs". He criticized the chorus for not being "as rousing as it thinks it is". He ended saying fans should rather buy Take That's album The Circus instead. The Sun's Poppy Cosyns called the single a "lok-key offering" and gave it 3 stars out of 5. She felt the lyrics were "littered with cliches and gooey romance".
The song was named the "Record of the Week" in the Netherlands for week 2 of 2009. The single was quite successful on the charts, charting in eight different countries around the world. The single peaked at #43 in the UK Singles Chart, making it the band's first single to miss the UK Top 40 since the original release of "Spitting Games", back in 2003. The single lasted eight weeks in the UK Top 75, and ten weeks in the UK Top 100. However, the song was a success in the Netherlands, reaching #14, as did Snow Patrol's other most successful Dutch single: "Shut Your Eyes" but charting five weeks less than the latter. Furthermore, the single topped the Triple A chart in the United States, a feat previously achieved by "Take Back the City", the previous single released from A Hundred Million Suns. Till date, the single has spent a total of seventy weeks on record charts around the world.
Read more about this topic: Crack The Shutters
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
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