Pure Shores

"Pure Shores"
Single by All Saints
from the album The Beach: Motion Picture Soundtrack and Saints & Sinners
B-side"If You Don't Know What I Know"
Released14 February 2000 (2000-02-14)
Studio
  • Guerilla Beach and Conway (Los Angeles)
  • Whitfield Street and AIR (London)
GenreDream pop
Length4:27
LabelLondon
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)William Orbit
All Saints singles chronology
"War of Nerves"
(1998)
"Pure Shores"
(2000)
"Black Coffee"
(2000)
Music video
"Pure Shores" on YouTube

"Pure Shores" is a song by English girl group All Saints from their second studio album, Saints & Sinners (2000). Group member Shaznay Lewis and producer William Orbit wrote the song for a scene in the 2000 adventure drama film, The Beach. Eschewing the R&B sound of All Saints' previous releases, "Pure Shores" is a dream pop song with ambient and electronic production, and a syncopation of synth delays, arpeggiated guitar and ethereal sound effects. It was released by London Records on 14 February 2000 as the lead single from the film's soundtrack and Saints & Sinners.

Music critics complimented the combination of Orbit's elaborate production with the group's harmonies. "Pure Shores" debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart with first-week sales of 199,084 copies, becoming the group's fourth chart topper. Internationally, the song reached number one in Belgium (Wallonia), Ireland, Italy and Romania, and charted in the top 10 in Australia, New Zealand and across Europe. It was the second best-selling single of 2000 in the UK and was certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales of 1.2 million units.

The music video for "Pure Shores" was directed by Vaughan Arnell; it shows All Saints moving in blurry night vision and infrared shots on the coast of Norfolk. The song won Most Performed Work at the Ivor Novello Awards in 2001.[1] At the 2001 Brit Awards, "Pure Shores" was nominated for Song of the Year and Video of the Year, but lost in both categories to "Rock DJ" by Robbie Williams.[2][3]

  1. ^ Wiederhorn, Jon (24 May 2001). "Craig David, David Gray, All Saints Win at Ivor Novello Awards". MTV News. Archived from the original on 9 February 2012. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
  2. ^ "Brits 2001: The nominations". BBC News. 15 January 2001. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
  3. ^ "Robbie Wins Big, David Comes Up Empty at Brit Awards". Billboard. 27 February 2001. Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 21 September 2018.