Cloud Nine

"Cloud Nine" is the third and final single from Elice Claire's second studio album Intimate Encounters. The singer announced her hiatus from music with the release of a single in dedication to her father who passed away and to the fans for supporting her career.

Background
Simon Franglen composed the song while Elice wrote the lyrics. Simon Franglen had help from Dave Arch and Francesco Cameli while producing the track and leading the orchestra behind it. James Horner was initially hired by Saturdays Records to compose the song, however Elice turned the offer down and said she wanted something different from what James Horner proposed. Elice took full control over the composition and the production of the track, claiming that even though the lyrics was raw and simple, a deep meaning laid beneath it. According to Dave Arch, Claire turned down 4 orchestral compositions, claiming it was too mainstream. Elice said that it took her about an hour to write the lyrics and about three weeks to complete the full composition of the song. The song has a classical feeling to it. According to Elice it's a mix between Orchestral and Guitar/Piano acoustic, creating a unique sound. Elice also said that she wanted a song that had roots linking to "You Raise Me Up" by Secret Garden and possibly connections to "Run" by Snow Patrol and "Wild Horses" by Natasha Bedingfield, creating a mellow but powerful ballad that would leave anyone teary eyed just by listening to the music.

Reception
The song received extremely positive reviews from critics. Adam from Rolling Stone said that "[Cloud Nine] is organic and emotionally captivating: this is Elice Claire at her vocal best." James from PopEater said that "On the sad track, the singer brings all the honesty and emotion that have made Claire one of the premier balladeers of our time." Elysa Gardner from USA Today said that "On the ballads 'Never Let Go' and 'Cloud Nine', she respectively offers her soul to her father, love and her fans, it sounds so beautiful but at the same time so sad." Jon Pareles from The New York Times said that she barely holding back tears in “Cloud Nine.” Mesfin Fekadu from The Northwest Herald said that "[...] while the emotional ballad “Cloud Nine,” about losing someone important, is exceptional and showcases the singer's unique and powerful vocals".

Live Performance
To promote the single, Elice claire performed the song at the Urapopstar Awards 18. The performance marked Elice's third consecutive performance at the awards show. Elice, her management team and the Awards team kept the performance as a secret, with the singer saying that she wouldn't even be able to appear in the show. Elice flew from Paris, France the night before to appear for the show's performance the following day. According to Elice, she had three rehearsals before the actual live performance. Elice sang 'Cloud Nine', closing the awards ceremony. The performance starts with a group of choir children entering from stage left and stage right holding candle lights. As the children enters, the entire stage gets foggy as the lights all dim down and in the backdrop a beautiful night sky starts to appear. The children exits the stage and an orchestral starts playing. The backdrop wall opens in the center and a silhouette of a woman wearing a huge dress appears. The backdrop image gets lighter and the stage lights gets brighter as Elice takes center stage. The camera's focus goes on Elice's face as she prepares to start singing the first verse of "Cloud Nine". Before she start singing, she looks up to the sky and sends a kiss and whisper to herself "This is for you daddy". Elice starts singing the first verse of the song. As she's singing the song, behind her you see a man running from stage left and a little girl running from stage right and when the meet in the center, they hug each other. In the backdrop, pictures of Elice as a little girl with her father are shown in flashes. Elice starts singing the chorus, and as she sings it as teenager walks into the stage wearing a graduation robe. She meets in the middle of the stage and meets her mother and her father. In the backdrop, you see pictures of Elice during her graduation with her mum and dad. Little clips of home videos are quickly shown in the backdrop wall. These videos shows Elice and her father in various parts in her life. In the last chorus and outro of the song "Cloud Nine", shows a little video of Elice throwing a white rose into the ocean. The camera focus in Elice's face performing the song and you see tear gushing from her eyes. In the backdrop wall you see a night sky turn into a bright morning sky. Elice is shown in the backdrop as an angel walking towards "the light" as she fades away...The performance ends with Elice walking towards the back of the stage. She turns around and waves goodbye as the backdrop wall closes and the lights dim down. The performance was praise by many critics. Jeff Leeds of The New York Times said that "no one was prepared for Sunday night’s fantastic performance by Elice Claire. Possibly being the highlight performance of her career". Vinay Menon of the Toronto Star commented Claire "melted everyone's heart with that performance"

Music Video
The music video for "Cloud Nine" was filmed in Hawaii and France in the month of July. The video was directed by prolific Japanese music video director Wataru Takeishi. According to Saturdays Records, the video is one of the most expensive music video by a Saturdays Records artist in terms of production costs. The music video's cost was $2,000,000+ (£1,300,000). The music video shows Elice in four different sets, represented by the four different seasons (spring, summer, autumn and winter). Each season has a different hidden message, which ties back with the song. In the end of the video Elice is seen as a fairy as she flies away to her "Cloud Nine".

Track listings and formats
These are the formats and track listings of major single releases for the single

Promotional CD

 * 1) "Cloud Nine" (Original Mix)

CD Single

 * 1) "Cloud Nine"
 * 2) "Crossroad" (Duet With China)
 * 3) "Forever on Cloud Nine" (Outro)

Digital Single

 * 1) "Cloud Nine"
 * 2) "Never Let Go" (Radio Edit)
 * 3) "Cloud Nine" (Acoustic Piano Version)
 * 4) "Never Let Go" (La Manichansons Orchestral Version)

Live performances
Elice Claire has performed the song at the following events


 * Urapopstar Awards 18 - 7 August 2010
 * Channel 4 Presents: An Intimate Farewell with Elice - 20 August 2010

Chart Run
TOTAL: 432,888 [Platinum]
 * Week 01: #01 - 140,553
 * Week 02: #03 - 70,235
 * Week 03: #08 - 39,755
 * Week 04: #10 - 39,874
 * Week 05: #14 - 20,675
 * Week 06: #24 - 10,023
 * Week 07: #18 - 17,411
 * Week 08: #24 - 10,985
 * Week 09: #32 - 06,775
 * Week 10: #37 - 03,214
 * Week 11: #32 - 06,467
 * Week 12: #35 - 04,235
 * Week 13: #36 - 04,231
 * Week 14: #32 - 06,467
 * Week 15: #35 - 04,235
 * Week 16: #29 - 10,042
 * Week 17: #39 - 05,653
 * Week 18: #29 - 10,255
 * Week 19: #38 - 05,421
 * Week 20: #33 - 06,545
 * Week 21: #33 - 06,023
 * Week 22: #39 - 03,214