Drive My Soul

{{Infobox song

| name = Drive My Soul

| cover = Drive My Soul.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Lights

| EP = Lights and the album The Listening

| released = {{start date|2008|03|11}}

| recorded = 2007

| studio = Sony ATV Launch Pad Studios (Toronto, ON){{cite AV media notes|title=The Listening|others=Lights|publisher=Universal Music Canada|year=2009|type=liner notes|id=0252712881}}

| venue =

| genre = {{hlist|Synthpop|alternative rock{{cite web | url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/lights-mn0000887363/biography | title=Lights | work=AllMusic | accessdate=11 October 2016 | author=Leahey, Andrew}}}}

| length = {{duration|m=3|s=22}}

| label = Underground

| writer = {{hlist|Lights Poxleitner|Thomas "Tawgs" Salter}}

| producer = {{hlist|Lights|Tawgs Salter}}

| prev_title =

| prev_year =

| next_title = February Air

| next_year = 2008

}}

"Drive My Soul" is the debut single by Canadian singer-songwriter Lights from her debut self-titled EP. It was released as the EP's lead single on March 11, 2008, in Canada and July 24, 2008, in the United States.{{cite web|title=Amazon.com: Drive My Soul (EP Version): Lights: MP3 Downloads|url=https://www.amazon.com/Drive-My-Soul-EP-Version/dp/B001EBW0AM|website=Amazon Music|accessdate=14 September 2016}} The song reached number 18 on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 and was certified gold by Music Canada for digital sales of over 40,000. It was later included on her debut album, The Listening.

Background

{{more citations needed|section|date=September 2016}}

"Drive My Soul" is about the element in your life that you cannot live without and without it you feel lost and lose control. Lights said that this element could be anything you feel drives your soul and keeps you in the right path: your parents, a friend, or even something supernatural or a religious element.

Lights has stated that "Drive My Soul" was actually a song where she had the title first before she even wrote the lyrics. She's said it all started when she was listening to an indie radio station, and heard a song which she thought had the lyrics "Drive My Soul" sung in a really beautiful way. After hearing the song, Lights, searched for the lyrics and to her surprise the lyrics "Drive My Soul" were never used in the song she heard. When she was searching for ideas to write, she went back to the title of "Drive My Soul" for her own song.

Music video

The music video features Lights as Barbarella in a campy, 1960s-style science fiction film theme, and her romantic relationship with an astronaut. Lights has mentioned that the astronaut can represent anything that you want. The video's astronaut is played by her father, Eric Poxleitner. Directed by Sean Michael Turrell, the video premiered September 22, 2008.{{cite web|author1=lights|title=LIGHTS - Drive My Soul [Official Music Video]|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7_ucPlzaiA|website=YouTube|accessdate=14 September 2016|date=September 22, 2008}}

It starts with Lights sitting on her bed reading a comic (presumably the one she had written in "Saviour") when she looks out the window and sees something glowing. A purple planet can be seen from the window. She gets up and looks into her binoculars. She sees an astronaut roasting marshmallows on the planet. The astronaut appears to notice; he looks up at Earth with interest. Lights then walks over to her computer and inserts a map of Earth. After pressing a couple of buttons, she creates a spaceship and drives out of the city and into space. As Lights zooms through space towards the purple planet, a comet hits the ship and it crashes into the purple planet. As the dust clears, Lights walks toward the astronaut and grabs his hand. The two walk away together, and the video ends with a shot of the comic that Lights was reading. It details her meeting with the astronaut, and at the bottom it says "to be continued". That comes to "February Air".

The video reached number one on MuchMusic's Countdown for the week of January 8, 2009.{{cite web |url=http://www.muchmusic.com/tv/countdown/ |title=MuchMusic Countdown |publisher=MuchMusic. CHUM Limited |date=January 8, 2009 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113110119/http://www.muchmusic.com/tv/countdown/ |archivedate=January 13, 2009 |accessdate=August 20, 2011}}

Uses in other media

The song was featured on the hit TV series The Hills. It was also used in an Old Navy women's swimwear commercial

in 2008.{{cite web|title='08 Old Navy Commercial #3 - Drive My Soul (by LIGHTS)| date=13 August 2010 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdXun0bNL04|publisher=YouTube}}

Track listing

{{track listing

| headline = Drive My Soul / February Air Digital 45{{cite web|title=Drive My Soul / February Air [Digital 45] by Lights|url=https://music.apple.com/ca/album/drive-my-soul-february-air/322316592|website=iTunes Store (Canada)|publisher=Apple Inc|access-date=14 September 2016}}

| extra_column = Producer(s)

| title1 = Drive My Soul

| writer1 = {{hlist|Lights Poxleitner|Thomas "Tawgs" Salter}}

| length1 = 3:21

| extra1 = {{hlist|Lights|Salter}}

| title2 = February Air

| writer2 = {{hlist|Poxleitner|Dave "Dwave" Thomson}}

| length2 = 3:50

| extra2 = {{hlist|Lights|Thomson}}

| total_length = 7:11

}}

Charts

{{col-start}}

{{col-2}}

=Weekly charts=

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

! Chart (2008–09)

! Peak
position

{{single chart|Canada|18|artist=Lights|rowheader=true|accessdate=September 14, 2016}}
{{single chart|Billboardcanadaac|4|artist=Lights|rowheader=true|accessdate=February 5, 2018}}
{{single chart|Billboardcanadachrtop40|11|artist=Lights|rowheader=true|accessdate=February 5, 2018}}
{{single chart|Billboardcanadahotac|8|artist=Lights|rowheader=true|accessdate=February 5, 2018}}

{{col-2}}

=Year-end charts=

class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

! Chart (2008)

! Position

scope="row"| Canada (Canadian Hot 100){{cite magazine|title=Canadian Hot 100: 2008 Year-End Charts|url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2008/canadian-hot-100|magazine=Billboard|publisher=Prometheus Global Media|accessdate=14 September 2016}}

| 70

{{col-end}}

Certifications

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Canada|award=Gold|title=Drive My Soul|type=single|artist=Lights|access-date=September 14, 2016|certyear=2008|digital=true}}

{{Certification Table Bottom | noshipments=true}}

Release history

class="wikitable"

! Country

! Date

! Format

! Label

! {{abbr|Ref.|Reference}}

Canada

| March 11, 2008

| rowspan="2"| Digital download

| Underground

| {{citation needed|date=September 2016}}

United States

| July 24, 2008

| Warner Bros.

|

Canada

| July 14, 2009

| Digital 7" single

| LIGHTS Music

|

References