City Lights (Coral Harris song)

"City Lights" is a song performed by British recording artist Coral Harris. It was written by Harris with Danja producing the track. The song serves as the second single from her debut studio album, The English Rose and was released one week before the album. The single was meant to appeal to Coral's fans who enjoy her 'pop music', however the single does have a strong R&B presence. it was also released alongside a download only urban track titled "Karate Chop" which appealed more to her fans of rap. Released via Coral's record label Next Generation Records, the single is due for release 27 August 2012. Upon it's release, the song debuted at #1 on the charts, giving Coral her second chart topping single, and first as a lead artist.

Background
On 02 July, during her set at T4 On The Beach Coral revealed she would be unleashing three seperate releases (a single, download single and album) in August. Then on the 07 July she revealed that "City Lights" would be the second single from the album. The single was preceeded by a download only single titled "Karate Chop", which was released to build excitement for the single and album "The English Rose". "City Lights" was also used as the single to launch the album. On 16 August, "City Lights" recieved it's world wide premiere. The song describes falling in love with someone, however eventually beginning to loose their love, as they become to focused on the glitz and glamour of city life, and loose focus on the little things, such as their other half. The song was covered by girlband Electra and used as a b-side to their debut single "Neon".

Release and reception
The song premiered on Radio 1 on 16 August 2012. It recieved a positive reception from fans and critics, with most regarding it as "Coral's best to date".

Digital Spy gave the song 4/5 stars: 'City Lights', Harris' follow-up, is a rather more straightforward offering than its predecessor. The lyrics tell the tale of Coral herself, who loses a guy to "someone else", but sadly for Coral the person in question isn't a flesh-and-blood adversary, but actually the a city. It's a much bigger target of course, but one that's harder to hit with a fist, like we're sure Coral usually would do. The song is an instant hit, and manages to whet the appetite for Harris' upcoming album very well indeed.

The song was performed on various television shows in the UK, including This Morning, Loose Women and Daybreak. It was also performed live on Radio 1's Live Lounge.

Music video
The music video premiered on 26 August. The video begins in a gloomy, poor looking street in London meant to represent the area where Coral grew up and her music career first began. She is shown singing in different poor areas, and meets a boy in one scene. They spend lots of time together, in a park and a cafe and look extremelly happy as they fall in love. Then the boy pulls a train ticket out and shows Coral, who looks delighted as she leaps into his arms. They pack their suitcases and move to their new home, the city.

Now in the city, Coral arrives into their new flat and walks over to her boyfriend who is working on his laptop. She comes over and rubs his shoulder singing to him, but he pushes her away as he is too busy working. Coral is shown in a new cafe and park like she was back at home, but this time it's on her own, not with her boyfriend. She also stands on a rooftop with two males as she looks at the city lights from the height, but by the time night comes, she's on the roof alone.

Coral comes home again one night, to find her boyfriend not in. She sits on the sofa waiting for him. Suddenly she looks to her side and see's her reflection in a mirror. Not happy with who she has become, Coral goes into her bedroom, changes into a sexy dress and heads out. She sings infront of an ocean view, and finally as the song ends, she comes back home and wakes up her boyfriend. She hands him two train tickets. "This is enough, either we go home together, or it's goodbye" The man looks at Coral shocked, as the video ends.

Track listing

 * CD1
 * 1) "City Lights"
 * 2) "Rack City" (Live Lounge Cover)
 * 3) "City Lights" (Live Lounge Cover)

Chart performance
The song was released on 27 August 2012 and charted at #1, giving Coral her second number one (after "Guy Like You") and first as the main artist. It's first week sales were 95,889. Despite still being in the charts by the time the End of Year charts came out, "City Lights" was the 20th best selling single of 2012.

Chart Run
TOTAL: 429,411
 * Week 1: #1 - 95,889
 * Week 2: #5 - 60,382
 * Week 3: #11 - 30,453
 * Week 4: #12 - 29,258
 * Week 5: #14 - 22,858
 * Week 6: #12 - 19,203
 * Week 7: #16 - 17,497
 * Week 8: #20 - 14,409
 * Week 9: #21 - 14,103
 * Week 10: #18 - 12,002
 * Week 11: #19 - 13,302
 * Week 12: #19 - 12,854
 * Week 13: #14 - 21,143
 * Week 14: #20 - 10,786
 * Week 15: #30 - 6,565
 * Week 16: #26 - 9,464
 * Week 17: #28 - 10,432
 * Week 18: #30 - 12,878
 * Week 19: #36 - 5,222
 * Week 20: #28 - 10,711