British-Canadian girl group All Saints released ‘Pure Shores’ on February 7th 2000, as the soundtrack for Danny Boyle’s film adaptation of the novel The Beach. All Saints were approached to sing the track, infuriating Madonna at the time.
Its success in the new year was fantastic as the second best-selling single of 2000, topping the UK Singles Charts for a fortnight. With this, the single reached critical acclaim in the U.K. Yet its success spanned the rest of Europe, New Zealand and Japan.
Coined as ‘dream pop’ and ‘ambient’, its lyrics represent longing for a place of belonging and relaxation. This song has been immortalised not only in its place as The Beach’s soundtrack but a turn of the century genre-bender and girl group dominance.
Watch the music video here:
