by JOE DEMICHELE Staff writer
Adam Young, best known as the artists Owl City, released his new four-song EP “Shooting Star” worldwide on May 15, 2012. The new album sounds different from past Owl City work. Instead of his usual electronic sounds, it is more pop sounding. Moreover, the song “Dementia”, which features Mark Hoppus from Blink-182, has more of a rock type of beat. “I’m not a huge fan of Owl City, but I like some of their music. Their new album though is catchy,” said sophomore Kennedy Nazario. “Shooting Star” is more of a mainstream pop song one would hear on the radio. It is the most popular song on the album, followed by “Gold”, according to iTunes charts. On iTunes, the album overall has an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars, from 2,134 listener ratings. From the beginning of Young’s career to present, he has been doing very well, creating music with various artists and performing shows. He is also very successful in today’s competitive music industry, with a genre that is up and coming in the United States. Owl City is best known for his hit song “Fireflies”, which was in the Top Ten Songs chart at the time, and sold roughly three million copies. However, Young has done so much more work than just his hit song “Fireflies”. Before he released the single, he released his first album “Ocean Eyes” on July 14, 2009. After that, he released three singles, one of them being “Fireflies”, which was a big sleeper-hit. Between 2009 and 2010, Owl City worked on soundtracks for movies and T.V shows, such as “90210” and “Alison in Wonderland”. He also worked with big name artist and groups such as Maroon 5, John Mayer, Lights, and Tim Burton. After the electric-pop genre, he took a break and moved more toward the smooth and soft sounds of acoustic guitar and piano. However, Young was soon back in the electric-pop genre with his album “An Airplane carried me to Bed”. Young collaborated with the European trance artist Arim Van Buuren, who is popular for his “State of Trance” albums. Young made a another full album last year “All thing Bright and Beautiful”, which was leaked out onto the Internet before it was officially released. The album was not a big hit due to the date being pushed back and the song leaks. Young is still working hard making music for his new album. In January, Young said on his blog that his fourth studio album would be released between summer to fall 2012, but was released on May 15. “After listing to the album preview, I think I’m going to buy the full album,” said sophomore Steven Karl. Listeners can download the “Shooting Star” EP on iTunes for $4.26.