"Make It Shine" is a song performed by American actress and singer Victoria Justice, and written by Dan Schneider, Michael Corcoran, and its producer Dr. Luke, for the Nickelodeon television series Victorious. It was originally released on the channel's website on March 9, 2010, and later commercially re-released on April 13, as the first promotional single from the series' soundtrack album, Victorious: Music from the Hit TV Show, on which it was included as the first track.[1][2]
Background and release[]
On October 19, 2009, Victoria Justice recorded the theme song for the then-upcoming television series Victorious, in which she would play the protagonist character, Tori Vega.[3] The track, titled "Make It Shine", became available to listen to on the Nickelodeon website on March 9, 2010. Dan Schneider, the creator of the series, revealed on his Blogger page the song was written and produced by Dr. Luke and Michael Corcoran (also known as Backhouse Mike). Official final credits list Luke, Corcoran, and Schneider as songwriters, with Luke himself producing the song. Schneider also wrote one of the things about this song that makes him proud is that Justice's vocals are real and not "computerized".[1] Justice later tweeted she was "freaking out" about the release.[4]
In addition to the Nickelodeon website, the track was also featured on the series' website, TheSlap.[5] The song was also available on the website of Schneider's other series, iCarly, which ended with Justice's additional announcement about the premiere of Victorious.[6] On April 12, Justice tweeted the song would be released commercially on iTunes the next day.[7] The single cover artwork features Justice with the rest of the series' cast members – Daniella Monet, Leon Thomas III, Matt Bennett (along with the series' character, the dummy Rex Powers), Ariana Grande, Elizabeth Gillies, and Avan Jogia.
The song was later paired with "Leave It All to Me" (the theme song of iCarly, originally performed by Miranda Cosgrove featuring Drake Bell) to form the mush-up "Leave It All to Shine", which was released as the album's second promotional single on June 10, 2011. This resulted in sharing the same credited songwriters for "Leave It All to Shine" and "Make It Shine", as "Leave It All to Me" was written by Corcoran himself. "Make It Shine" was confirmed for inclusion on the first soundtrack album, originally announced for release on July 12, however the date was pushed back for unknown reasons.[8] Columbia Records and Nickelodeon later confirmed it would be the first track on the album, released under the title Victorious: Music from the Hit TV Show on August 2.[9]
In the series[]
"Make It Shine" was used as the series' theme song and appears in its opening sequence since the second episode, "The Bird Scene". The only episodes where the sequence doesn't occur are "Pilot", "Blooptorious", and "The Breakfast Bunch". The song is cut short in the intro to the first verse, pre-chorus, and chorus. "Freak the Freak Out", as the only episode, had a longer sequence. Additionally, as a tribute to this song, Tori Vega (portrayed by Victoria Justice) decided to decorate her locker at Hollywood Arts High School by adding its title on it because of how much it means to her. "Make It Shine" has been performed four times in the series, the most of all songs, and once on TheSlap.
"Pilot"[]
"Make It Shine" was first performed by Trina Vega (portrayed by Daniella Monet) and by Tori Vega in the series' first episode, "Pilot", that premiered on March 27, 2010. In the series' universe, the song was composed and written by André Harris (portrayed by Leon Thomas III), who partners with Trina for the big showcase at their school, Hollywood Arts, despite her lack of singing skills. However, her tongue is swollen just before the performance, as a result of which she couldn't sing. Looking for someone to replace her, André suggests Trina's younger sister Tori, who helped them with their rehearsals. Tori, who doesn't want to perform at all, is eventually dragged onto the stage where she's stressed out at first, but decided to continue the performance. It turns out the performance was great enough the school's principal Eikner (portrayed by David Starzyk), offers her to go to Hollywood Arts, which Tori eventually agrees to because of the audience's applause.
"Survival of the Hottest"[]
The song was performed a second time by Tori Vega with André Harris, Trina Vega, Robbie Shapiro (portrayed by Matt Bennett), Jade West (portrayed by Elizabeth Gillies), and Beck Oliver (portrayed by Avan Jogia) in the episode "Survival of the Hottest" which premiered on June 26, 2010. At one point when the group is stuck in Beck's RV at hot temperature, André says his grandmother advised him to sing a song so it would be better when bad things happened. Though Trina finds it stupid, Tori eventually stars singing the chorus of "Make It Shine", and the others eventually joins her until their friend Cat Valentine (portrayed by Ariana Grande), frees them from the vehicle.
"Helen Back Again"[]
"Make It Shine" was performed a third time by Tori Vega with André Harris in the episode "Helen Back Again" which premiered on September 10, 2011. The new principal of the Hollywood Arts, Helen Dubois (portrayed by Yvette Nicole Brown), announces re-auditions for students to stay in the school. Tori and André, who work together for the re-audition, have trouble choosing a song at first, until Tori offers to perform a remixed version of "Make It Shine". After their performance, André asks Helen if she likes it, but she only screams for the next student, though later it turns out Tori and André are staying at school, so she liked it.
A performance of this episode is later used during the closing credits of the episode "Car, Rain & Fire" that aired on February 25, 2012.
"The Breakfast Bunch"[]
The song was performed a fourth time by Tori Vega in the episode "The Breakfast Bunch" which premiered on January 28, 2012. Tori, along with her friends, went to her locker to get the tacos, though they should have been sitting in the library due to their detention. The gang tries to get back to the library as not to be caught by the vice principal Mr. Dickers (portrayed by Rob Riggle). However, at one point they get stopped by the wet floor in the hallway. To distract him, Tori decides to run through the hallway singing "Make It Shine" and destroying posters, being eventually caught by Dickers who criticizes her for singing off-key and locks her in the janitor's closet.
TheSlap[]
The song was performed in the first episode of the Rex Sings segment on TheSlap by Rex Powers (voiced by Jake Farrow), to which Sinjin Van Cleef (portrayed by Michael Eric Reid) dances.
Composition and reception[]
AllMusic's William Ruhlmann mentioned "Make It Shine", along with the album's next track, "Freak the Freak Out", is "typical of the teen pop genre due to its relentless beats, synthesized instrumentations, nonstop simple, repetitive choruses, and Auto-Tune vocals".[10]
In 2015, Crystal Bell from MTV ranked "Make It Shine" the 16th best Nickelodeon theme song.[11] The song was ranked sixth on the list of the best songs from Victorious by Megan Gaertner of Her Campus, writing "The theme song for the show, this song is uplifting and catchy. They lyrics of this song get referenced several other times throughout the series, and the song works perfectly to summarize the themes throughout."[12]
Commercial performance[]
"Make It Shine" was Victoria Justice's first song to appear on the charts. In the United States, the song appeared on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart, where it peaked at number 16 and spent five weeks. It also appeared on three now-discontinued charts: Heatseekers Songs, where it spent five weeks and peaked at number 17; Kid Digital Song Sales, where it spent 42 weeks and peaked at number six; and Pop Digital Song Sales, where it spent five weeks and peaked at number 39. As of June 6, 2010, the song has been downloaded 100,000 times on iTunes in the country.[13] "Make It Shine" reached number 308 and spent five weeks on the chart in the Commonwealth of Independent States.
It was one of the five songs by Justice to appear on the 2011 Kid Digital Song Sales year-end chart, with the others being "Beggin' on Your Knees", "Best Friend's Brother", "Leave It All to Shine", and "I Want You Back". "Make It Shine" peaked at number 22.[14]
| Region | Chart | Week of | Week number | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Bubbling Under Hot 100 | May 1, 2010[15] | 1 | 18 |
| May 8, 2010[16] | 2 | 23 | ||
| May 15, 2010[17] | 3 | 16 | ||
| May 22, 2010[18] | 4 | 20 | ||
| May 29, 2010[19] | 5 | 24 | ||
| Heatseekers Songs | May 1, 2010[20] | 1 | 17 | |
| May 8, 2010[21] | 2 | 18 | ||
| May 15, 2010[22] | 3 | 17 | ||
| May 22, 2010[23] | 4 | 19 | ||
| May 29, 2010[24] | 5 | |||
| Kid Digital Song Sales | April 16, 2011[25] | 1 | 6 | |
| April 23, 2011[25] | 2 | Unknown | ||
| April 30, 2011[25] | 3 | |||
| May 7, 2011[25] | 4 | |||
| May 14, 2011[26] | 5 | |||
| May 21, 2011[25] | 6 | |||
| May 28, 2011[26] | 7 | |||
| June 4, 2011[27] | 8 | 15 | ||
| June 11, 2011[27] | 9 | |||
| June 18, 2011[25] | 10 | Unknown | ||
| June 25, 2011[25] | 11 | |||
| July 2, 2011[25] | 12 | |||
| July 9, 2011[25] | 13 | |||
| July 16, 2011[26] | 14 | |||
| July 23, 2011[25] | 15 | |||
| July 30, 2011[26] | 16 | |||
| August 6, 2011[28] | 17 | 15 | ||
| August 13, 2011[28] | 18 | 11 | ||
| August 20, 2011[25] | 19 | Unknown | ||
| August 27, 2011[25] | 20 | |||
| September 3, 2011[26] | 21 | |||
| September 10, 2011[25] | 22 | |||
| September 17, 2011[25] | 23 | |||
| September 24, 2011[26] | 24 | |||
| October 1, 2011[26] | 25 | |||
| October 8, 2011[25] | 26 | |||
| October 15, 2011[26] | 27 | |||
| October 22, 2011[25] | 28 | |||
| October 29, 2011[26] | 29 | |||
| November 5, 2011[25] | 30 | |||
| November 12, 2011[25] | 31 | |||
| November 19, 2011[26] | 32 | |||
| December 3, 2011[25] | 33 | |||
| January 7, 2012[29] | 34 | 15 | ||
| January 14, 2012[29] | 35 | |||
| January 21, 2012[26] | 36 | Unknown | ||
| January 28, 2012[25] | 37 | |||
| February 11, 2012[26] | 38 | |||
| February 18, 2012[25] | 39 | |||
| February 25, 2012[25] | 40 | |||
| June 2, 2012[26] | 41 | |||
| June 9, 2012[25] | 42 | |||
| Pop Digital Song Sales[30] | May 15, 2010 | Unknown | 39 | |
| Commonwealth of Independent States | Top Radio Hits[31] | November 20, 2010 | 1 | 340 |
| November 27, 2010 | 2 | 319 | ||
| December 4, 2010 | 3 | 314 | ||
| December 11, 2010 | 4 | 308 | ||
| December 18, 2010 | 5 | 318 |
Promotion[]
The music video for "Make It Shine" was released on TheSlap in May 2010. It features Victorious cast dancing on the set used in the series for Hollywood Arts High School. Many scenes from this video were used for the opening sequence.[32] A piece of the behind-the-scenes of the music video appeared in Popstar! Magazine's video "On the Set of VICTORIOUS!".
"Make It Shine" was performed live by Victoria Justice for the first time during the Victorious: Walmart Soundcheck concert on May 26, 2011. The song was a part of the setlist of her 2013 Summer Break Tour.
Credits[]
- Personnel
- Michael "Backhouse Mike" Corcoran – Drums, keyboards, programmer, writer
- Brian Gardner – Mastering engineer
- Serban Ghenea – Mixing engineer
- Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald – Drums, guitars, keyboards, producer, programmer, writer
- John Hanes – Engineer
- Victoria Justice – Lead vocals
- Tim Roberts – Assistant engineer
- Dan Schneider – Writer
- Niki Watkins – Background vocals
- Emily Wright – Recording engineer, vocal editing
- Recording and management
- Produced for Kasz Money Productions, Inc.
- Engineered at the Backhouse (Los Angeles, California)
- Mixed at MixStar Studios (Virginia Beach, Virginia)
- Mastered at Bernie Grundman Mastering (Hollywood, California)
- Published by DanWarp Tunes (ASCAP); Kasz Money Publishing, administered by Kobalt Music Publishing America (ASCAP); Tunes by Nickelodeon Inc., administered by Sony/ATV Harmony (ASCAP); Mmm Assetco LP (BMI); Mt. Sea Music (BMI); Music by Nickelodeon Inc., administered by Sony/ATV Melody (BMI)[33][34]
Lyrics[]
[Verse 1]
Here I am, once again
Feelin' lost but now and then
I breathe it in to let it go
[Pre-chorus 1]
And you don't know where you are now
Or what it would come to, if only somebody could hear
When you figure out how
You're lost in the moment, you disappear
[Chorus]
You don't have to be afraid to put your dream in action
You're never gonna fade, you'll be the main attraction
Not a fantasy, just remember me
When it turns out right
'Cause you know that if you live in your imagination
Tomorrow, you'll be everybody's fascination
In my victory, just remember me
When I make it shine
[Verse 2]
Reachin' high, feelin' low
I'm holdin' on but lettin' go
I like to shine, I'll shine for you
[Pre-chorus 2]
And it's time to show the world how
It's a little bit closer, as long as I'm ready to go
All we have is right now
As long as you feel it inside, you know
[Chorus]
You don't have to be afraid to put your dream in action
You're never gonna fade, you'll be the main attraction
Not a fantasy, just remember me
When it turns out right
'Cause you know that if you live in your imagination
Tomorrow, you'll be everybody's fascination
In my victory, just remember me
When I make it shine
[Bridge]
Everyone can tell you how it's all been said and done (Woah)
That harder times will change your mind
And make you wanna run
But you want it, and you need it
Like you need to breathe the air
If they doubt you, just believe it
That's enough to get you there
[Chorus]
You don't have to be afraid to put your dream in action
You're never gonna fade, you'll be the main attraction (Woah)
Not a fantasy, just remember me
When it turns out right (It turns out right)
'Cause you know that if you live in your imagination
Tomorrow, you'll be everybody's fascination (Woah)
In my victory, just remember me (Woah)
When I make it shine
[Verse 1]
Here I am, once again
Feelin' lost but now and then
I breathe it in to let it go
[Pre-chorus 1]
And you don't know where you are now
Or what it would come to, if only somebody could hear
When you figure out how
You're lost in the moment, you disappear
[Chorus]
You don't have to be afraid to put your dream in action
You're never gonna fade, you'll be the main attraction
Not a fantasy, just remember me
When it turns out right
'Cause you know that if you live in your imagination
Tomorrow, you'll be everybody's fascination
In my victory, just remember me
When I make it shine
[Verse 2]
Reachin' high, feelin' low
I'm holdin' on but lettin' go
I like to shine, I'll shine for you
[Pre-chorus 2]
And it's time to show the world how
It's a little bit closer, as long as I'm ready to go
All we have is right now
As long as you feel it inside, you know
[Chorus]
You don't have to be afraid to put your dream in action
You're never gonna fade, you'll be the main attraction
Not a fantasy, just remember me
When it turns out right
'Cause you know that if you live in your imagination
Tomorrow, you'll be everybody's fascination
In my victory, just remember me
When I make it shine
[Bridge]
Everyone can tell you how it's all been said and done (Woah)
That harder times will change your mind
And make you wanna run
But you want it, and you need it
Like you need to breathe the air
If they doubt you, just believe it
That's enough to get you there
[Chorus]
You don't have to be afraid to put your dream in action
You're never gonna fade, you'll be the main attraction (Woah)
Not a fantasy, just remember me
When it turns out right (It turns out right)
'Cause you know that if you live in your imagination
Tomorrow, you'll be everybody's fascination (Woah)
In my victory, just remember me (Woah)
When I make it shine
[Outro]
Hey, it's me, Victoria Justice! Watch my new show Victorious, March 27th, right after the Kids' Choice Awards!
Trivia[]
- "Make It Shine" is one of Victoria Justice's two songs whose title begins with "Make It", the other being "Make It in America". Additionally, both songs are the opening tracks of the record they appear on.
- It's Justice's first song released under her own name. Although she was as a vocalist on "Lonely Love Song", "On the Wings of a Dream", and "Things We Do for Love" released a year earlier, they were released only under "Spectacular! cast".
- In a 2021 MTV video, when asked about her favorite song from Victorious, Justice answered "'Make It Shine' will always have a very, very special place in my heart."[35]
- "Make It Shine" was a trending topic on Twitter.[36]
- The track was included on three compilation albums:
- Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 2011, released on September 23, 2011, by Sony Music.[37]
- Lo Esencial De Super Exitos Vol. 4, released on 2012, also by Sony Music.[38]
- Pop Princesses 4, released on 2014, by Universal Music TV.[39]
- This song was used in TheSlap game Hollywood Beats, along with "You're the Reason" and "Finally Falling". All three of these songs also appeared in the game's sequel Hollywood Beats 2, along with "Song 2 You" and "Tell Me That You Love Me".
- The song appears in the Nickelodeon Essentials playlist on Apple Music, along with "Freak the Freak Out", "Take a Hint", "Beggin' on Your Knees", and "Best Friend's Brother".[40]
- It also appears in two playlists on Spotify:
- Matt Bennett played "Make It Shine" on his DJ concerts.[43] He also performed an acoustic cover.[44]
- Nathan Kress and Jennette McCurdy covered the chorus of "Make It Shine", as well as "Leave It All to Me" and "I Found a Way" (the theme songs from Dan Schneider's other Nickeloden series, iCarly and Drake & Josh, respectively), during the credits scene of the iCarly episode "iGot a Hot Room". The clip was later used as an advertisement for Victorious episode "Wi-Fi in the Sky". McCurdy also sang a piece of this song in the iCarly episode "iApril Fools", as her character Sam Puckett.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
Images[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20100325120035/https://danwarp.blogspot.com/2010/03/make-it-shine-victorious-leaked.html
- ↑ https://open.spotify.com/album/7nC5cTgzVYA1DEdb0uxvwg
- ↑ https://twitter.com/VictoriaJustice/status/4981726005
- ↑ https://twitter.com/VictoriaJustice/status/10251013927
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20100331174231/https://www.theslap.com/tunes
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20110806050505/https://www.icarly.com/m/isongs
- ↑ https://twitter.com/VictoriaJustice/status/12032430699
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20110428223211/https://www.victoriajustice.net/home
- ↑ https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/columbia-recordsnickelodeon-reveals-tracklisting-for-victorious-soundtrack-album-125552183.html
- ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/album/victorious-music-from-the-hit-tv-show-mw0002113944
- ↑ https://www.mtv.com/news/wy9llq/best-nickelodeon-theme-songs-ranked
- ↑ https://www.hercampus.com/school/xavier/best-songs-victorious/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20100610200641/https://danwarp.blogspot.com/2010/06/tons-of-awesome-news-icarly-victorious.html
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20201129044509/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2011/kid-digital-song-sales
- ↑ https://www.billboard.com/charts/bubbling-under-hot-100-singles/2010-05-01/
- ↑ https://www.billboard.com/charts/bubbling-under-hot-100-singles/2010-05-08/
- ↑ https://www.billboard.com/charts/bubbling-under-hot-100-singles/2010-05-15/
- ↑ https://www.billboard.com/charts/bubbling-under-hot-100-singles/2010-05-22/
- ↑ https://www.billboard.com/charts/bubbling-under-hot-100-singles/2010-05-29/
- ↑ https://www.billboard.com/charts/heatseekers-songs/2010-05-01/
- ↑ https://www.billboard.com/charts/heatseekers-songs/2010-05-08/
- ↑ https://www.billboard.com/charts/heatseekers-songs/2010-05-15/
- ↑ https://www.billboard.com/charts/heatseekers-songs/2010-05-22/
- ↑ https://www.billboard.com/charts/heatseekers-songs/2010-05-29/
- ↑ 25.00 25.01 25.02 25.03 25.04 25.05 25.06 25.07 25.08 25.09 25.10 25.11 25.12 25.13 25.14 25.15 25.16 25.17 25.18 25.19 25.20 25.21 25.22 https://www.billboard.com/charts/search/results/?chart-artistname=Victorious+Cast+Featuring+Victoria+Justice&chart-charttitle=Make+It+Shine+Victorious+Theme&chart-label=Nickelodeon&chart-chartcode=KDT
- ↑ 26.00 26.01 26.02 26.03 26.04 26.05 26.06 26.07 26.08 26.09 26.10 26.11 26.12 https://www.billboard.com/charts/search/results/?chart-page=2&chart-artistname=Victorious+Cast+Featuring+Victoria+Justice&chart-charttitle=Make+It+Shine+Victorious+Theme&chart-label=Nickelodeon&chart-chartcode=KDT
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/00s/2011/BB-2011-06-11.pdf
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/00s/2011/BB-2011-08-13.pdf
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/00s/2012/BB-2012-01-14.pdf
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20210607160703/https://www.billboard.com/music/victoria-justice/chart-history/PPD/
- ↑ https://tophit.com/tracks/29581
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20100528130840/https://www.theslap.com:80/clips/make-it-shine-music-video
- ↑ https://www.ascap.com/repertory#/ace/search/iswc/T9061393097
- ↑ https://repertoire.bmi.com/Search/Search?SearchForm.Main_Search=BMI+Work+ID&SearchForm.Main_Search_Text=12323609
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=953099648769599
- ↑ https://twitter.com/VictoriaJustice/status/224973512497037312
- ↑ https://open.spotify.com/album/5UNSN9h2oaYhd7Tg2ENhnt
- ↑ https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Britney-Vazquez-direction-Chayanne-Victoria/dp/B008U9MBK0
- ↑ https://music.apple.com/gb/album/pop-princesses-4/1452875701
- ↑ https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/nickelodeon-essentials/pl.7e36142599294ec783aced5a07650184
- ↑ https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX2Zbv3JDcc4J
- ↑ https://open.spotify.com/playlist/09xYO3Tci5rmxOsdmlV9w2
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/Cbs9fGYFcTY/
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci0v4ODvj8L/