Starz In Their Eyes

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Jay Reynolds, who produced the whole of Overtones, then worked tirelessly, tweaking, editing, honing, even re-recording the drums, to get the best out of this tune.

What you’ve always considered a great dance tune suddenly has an entirely new inflection; a tale of a singer worried that they are moving closer to the label of ‘one hit wonder’, that their star is dying and that they still haven’t found the happiness they always craved. Tony then came up with the great drum groove, including the brilliantly simple but effective rising drum fill, and Adam recorded the three chords that are the meat of the song on top.

The main issue is that often the people who do take a stand are the rich and famous and it’s very hard for the general public to empathise.

It’s highly publicised that the rich and famous do have their struggles; we often put them up on a pedestal and stare at them with wide and envious eyes wishing for their fortune and fame, but really it’s not the dream we make it out to be. Although probably not the original intention of the lyrics, I am also reminded of television talent shows at this part of the song. At this point I was pretty happy with what I’d got, but never could have foreseen what the song would later become in the studio. Whilst I could pick out more of the lyrics to dissect they all tend to suggest the same two things; that fame isn’t what it's cracked up to be and that the industry uses and abuses talent.To me, the producers of these kinds of shows are the users who laugh in their sleeves whilst setting up innocent people for a live and televised downfall. In the first verse, the lyrics suggest that once someone becomes famous ("VIPerson"), their problems worsen and their paranoia grows. The lyrics depict the negative effects of celebrity status and the disillusionment that comes with it. It strips away the glamour and instead of talking about a global superstar it focuses on the overnight stars; the normal people who get used and abused by the industry. It does seem that everything is magnified for those cursed with fame; every mistake is chewed over by the masses and their life and work comes under constant criticism, I certainly wouldn’t wish it upon anyone.

The song title is taken from British TV talent show Stars in Their Eyes which ran between 1990 and 2006. In the press she was being simultaneously lauded for winning the contest and derided for being ‘overweight’ and not what a ‘normal’ pop star should look like.What they don’t show on TV however is that these shows usually require video auditions and face-to-face off-camera auditions before people are even allowed onto the stage. I think we have all seen in the past when a star emerges set to be the next best thing, only to disappear after a short while into thin air. But… Although I loved what we had done, I began feeling that it sounded too much like a straight ahead disco-y indie pop song. At some point my mate Sam got his little nephew to record the “When I grow up I’m wanna be famous” line, and that was pretty much it. I added the second verse soon after and the ‘dog and duck karaoke machine’ section which ended up being another chorus.

The way these shows are set up gives the impression that these people have turned up on the day hoping to try their luck at a new life of stardom and of course therefore some will be better than others. When it came to recording the parts the idea for the big tom drums in the intro came from hearing a snippet of an Adam Ant tune (on my way back from the loo) being played in a neighbouring studio. The song "Starz in their Eyes" by Just Jack criticizes the culture of celebrity and the desire for fame.I’m just happy my most well known song has a real and enduring message, and a bit of timelessness in the production. In the second bridge, the lyrics delve into the artificial and shallow nature of the entertainment industry. With lines such as ‘It’s a long way to come from the Dog and Duck karaoke machine’ and ’It’s a long way to come from your private bedroom dance routines’ being sung in a cheeky cockney accent, the song relates back to us; I think this does much more to help us understand.