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"Light Years Away"
Single by G.E.M.
Released	30 December 2016 (2016-12-30)
Recorded	2016
Genre	Mandopop
Length	3:55
Label	Hummingbird Music
Songwriter(s)	G.E.M.
Producer(s)	Lupo Groinig
G.E.M. singles chronology
"Goodbye (Club Remix)" (2016) "Light Years Away" (2016) "Crossfire" (2017)
Music video
"Light Years Away" on YouTube

"Light Years Away" (Chinese: 光年之外; pinyin: Guāngnián zhī wài) is a song recorded by Hong Kong singer-songwriter G.E.M. released on 30 December 2016. It is the Chinese theme song for the American sci-fi film Passengers.

The music video captures scenes from the film Passengers, and features G.E.M. singing in the Avalon. The video became the first by a Hong Kong artist to reach 100 million views on YouTube, and has since garnered over 280 million views on the platform.

Background and development

She was invited to write the song because of her influence in China and her songwriting skill. After she watched few scenes of the film, she was touched by the love between the two characters. She then wrote different demos and chose this as the final work.

Music video

The music video captures scenes from the film Passengers, and G.E.M. is singing in the Avalon. The music video starts with G.E.M. standing alone in the Avalon, then intersperses the scenes of Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt taken from the film, such as dancing together, playing games, watching films, etc. At the end, it shows the sleeper ship out of control and uses special effects to imitate giant spherical water flow caused by weightlessness.

The video is the first by a Hong Kong artist to reach 100 million views on YouTube. It is also the twelfth Chinese music video to reach 100 million views and the fastest music video by a Chinese female singer to reach 100 million views on YouTube. On 17 March 2019, it has become the most viewed Chinese music video among female singers on YouTube, with a view count of over 177 million. The song reached 250 million views on YouTube by October 2022.

Live performances

G.E.M. performed "Light Years Away" at various events following its release. She premiered the song at the HunanTV New Year Concert for 2016-2017. Following this, she made an appearance at the Tencent Myapp Internet Festival on 13 January 2017. Later that year, on 18 June, she attended the Weibo Film Gala. On 16 December 2017, she appeared and performed the song at the 2017 Migu Music Awards.

G.E.M. attended and performed the song at the KKBox Music Awards on 21 January 2018. On 13 April, she performed it alongside Hua Chenyu during Singer 2018. On 4 November 2018, G.E.M. performed "Light Years Away" live at the Seventh Annual Breakthrough Prize at the NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California.

Credits and personnel

• G.E.M. – vocals, background vocals
• Lupo Groinig – producer, keys/synths & programming, executive producer

Charts

Release history

References

1. ^ "Light Years Away – iTunes" (in Chinese). iTunes Store. 30 December 2016.
2. "G.E.M. wrote the Chinese theme song for Passenger" (in Chinese). 27 December 2016. Archived from the original on 26 April 2018.
3. "G.E.M. wrote Chinese theme song for American sci-fi film, Passenger" (in Chinese). 27 December 2016.
4. "Light Years Away" on YouTube
5. "Light Years Away reached over 100 million" (in Chinese). 18 January 2018.
6. "Light Years Away reached 100 million views, it became the fastest music video owned by Chinese female artist reached over 100 million views" (in Chinese). 18 January 2018.
7. 2016–2017 Hunan TV New Year Concert.
8. Tencent Myapp Internet Festival.
9. Weibo Film Gala on YouTube
10. "13th KKBOX Music Awards" (in Chinese). 4 January 2018. Archived from the original on 14 May 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
11. Prize, Breakthrough. "SEVENTH ANNUAL BREAKTHROUGH PRIZE – "THE OSCARS OF SCIENCE" – CELEBRATES TOP ACHIEVEMENTS IN PHYSICS, LIFE SCIENCES & MATHEMATICS; AWARDS $22 MILLION IN PRIZES AT GALA TELEVISED CEREMONY IN SILICON VALLEY". PR Newswire. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
12. "中国公告牌音乐单曲榜" [China Music Singles Top 100]. Billboard China (in Chinese). 11 January 2019. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
13. ^ "Billboard Radio China公布2017年度华语十大金曲" [Billboard Radio China announces the top ten Chinese hits of 2017]. Billboard Radio China (in Chinese). 11 December 2017. Archived from the original on 1 October 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
14. "Singapore Top 30 Digital Streaming Chart Week 43" (PDF). Recording Industry Association (Singapore). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 November 2018.

• 2016 songs
• G.E.M. songs
• Songs written by G.E.M.