"The Sign" is a song by Swedish group Ace of Base from their first North American studio album, The Sign (1993), and their re-released debut studio album, Happy Nation (1992), titled Happy Nation (U.S. Version). The song was released by Arista and Mega as a single in Europe on 1 November 1993 and the US on 14 December 1993. It was written by band member Jonas Berggren, who also produced the song with Denniz Pop and Douglas Carr. "The Sign" is a techno-reggae, Europop, and pop ballad with lyrics describing a couple contemplating the state of their relationship.
"The Sign" topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six non-consecutive weeks in the United States, which allowed Ace of Base to become the first Swedish group to simultaneously have a number one song and album on the Hot 100 and Billboard 200 respectively. Consequently, the song was ranked as the number one song of 1994 on Billboards year-end chart. It also reached number one in 14 countries such as Australia, Canada, Germany, and New Zealand, and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Mathias Julien directed its music video. "The Sign" was nominated for Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 37th Annual Grammy Awards. In 2023, Billboard magazine ranked it among the 500 best pop songs of all time.
Background and development
Ace of Base originally released their debut studio album Happy Nation in 1992, which did not include "The Sign", as it was intended to be for their next album. The head of Arista Records, Clive Davis, heard the song's demo, and in turn passed it to Swedish producers Douglas Carr and Denniz Pop, as he wanted something different from Happy Nation. The demo only contained the song's instrumental, which Pop thought that the verse was the chorus. In contrast to their 1992 single "All That She Wants", Pop knew what he wanted to do with the song from the beginning.
"The Sign" was recorded at Cheiron Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. Ace of Base members Linn and Jenny Berggren re-arranged the song like they wanted to, so that it would become a duet between both women. Jenny played around with the chords at the end and composed the harmonies around it. In an interview with Idolator, Jonas Berggren stated that Jenny and Linn split the chorus into two parts, with the former singing the second and fourth parts. He acknowledged that it "was hard to sing" since there was no breathing time. The song was recorded at a loud volume, which caused the producers Pop, Douglas Carr, and Jonas Berggren, to lower the sound by three decibels during audio mastering.
Composition
"The Sign" is a techno-reggae, Europop, and pop ballad. The song's lyrics describe a couple contemplating the state of their relationship and deciding to split up as a result. During recording, Jonas Berggren added hums between the melody lines to become "major and minor" with the chorus being "mostly major", as he believed that the song was originally "too merry". He added that the lyrics are "about thinking back on an old [relationship]", but are deliberately oblique to allow listeners to form their own meanings. Jenny Berggren compared the lyrics to the "road of life" metaphor, noting, "You see signs in your life, and that's why you change direction."
"The Sign" is performed in the key of G major for the verses and chorus but in G minor for the intro and instrumental breaks. It follows a tempo of 97 beats per minute in common time. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Universal Music Publishing Group, the group's vocals span from the low note of A3 to the high note of E5. The song initially begins with the sounds of a hand clap, kick drum, and snare over a four bar beat, which was sampled from "Shack Up" by American funk group Banbarra. The melodic hook contains a synth flute, with a bass combining a Moog sub-bass and a Korg M1 bass. Throughout the verses, a Yamaha TG77 synthesizer is used to create a reggae rhythm guitar sound. During the bridge, the band's vocal range increases by an octave.
Chart performance
In Europe "The Sign" reached number one in Denmark, Finland, Germany and Spain. On 28 November, it entered the Eurochart Hot 100 at number 29 and peaked at number two eight weeks later. Additionally, the song was a top 10 hit also in Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland (#2), Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Scotland (#2), Sweden (#2), Switzerland and the United Kingdom (#2). In the latter, it peaked in its second week at UK Singles Chart on 27 February 1994. It was held off reaching the top spot by Mariah Carey's "Without You" (1994), and spent a total of three weeks as number two on the chart.