"Soak Up the Sun" is a song by American singer Sheryl Crow. She and her longtime co-worker Jeff Trott wrote the song following a conversation they had during a plane flight, when they discussed the changing weather as they flew to New York City from Portland, Oregon. Crow was recovering from surgery at the time, inspiring her and Trott to write a happy song that would cheer her up. In the song, Crow has no money to afford any luxuries or necessities, but she decides that wallowing in her sadness is not a productive activity, so she reflects on what she currently has and "puts on a happy face" that she plans to spread to others. Crow chose to release the song as the lead single from her fourth studio album, C'mon, C'mon (2002), as she wanted to enliven people living in a post-9/11 society.
Crow first performed the song at the 2002 AFC Championship Game in January 2002, and A&M Records released "Soak Up the Sun" as a single in the United States on February 11, 2002. The song became Crow's sixth top-40 hit in the US, reaching number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping two other Billboard rankings. The Victor Calderone and Mac Quayle remixes also topped the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart, making it Crow's only record to peak atop the listing. "Soak Up the Sun" was America's 35th-best-performing single of 2002, and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) awarded the song a gold disc in 2005. Worldwide, the song reached the top 10 in Croatia and the top 20 in Austria, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
A music video directed by Wayne Isham was made for the song, featuring Crow performing the track with many beachgoers on Oahu, Hawaii. The video shows her performing the song at several locations on the beach and surfing. These scenes are interspersed with other surfers riding the waves as well. Various cosmetics and lotions were used to achieve Crow's tanned look in the music video, with makeup artist Scott Barnes wanting a "St. Tropez" look. On her birthday, which occurred during filming, Crow received a surfboard from the crew that she uses in the video.
Background, release, and promotion
"Soak Up the Sun" originated from a conversation that Sheryl Crow had with co-worker Jeff Trott during a plane trip. The two were flying from Portland, Oregon, to New York City, and Trott commented how "ironic" it was that they were departing a rainy city for a sunny city. This thought stuck with Trott after the trip, and he and Crow wrote a song based on what he felt during the trip. Around the same time, Crow was recovering from non-invasive surgery, leaving her debilitated. She and Trott decided to write the song to take her mind off her discomfort, and the lyrics came to them rapidly. Crow claims that the reason they came to her so quickly was because of the medication she was on, which also influenced her to write another track for C'mon, C'mon, "Weather Channel". In a 2002 interview with Radio & Records, Crow recalled that she wrote the song and most of the album before the September 11 attacks, and she wanted to release the song as the lead single from C'mon, C'mon since northern summer was only a few months away and because she wanted everyone to feel better after the stressful winter. Along with Trina Shoemaker and Eric Tew, Crow recorded the song and album at various studios in the United States and United Kingdom.
Crow first performed "Soak Up the Sun" on January 27, 2002, at the 2002 AFC Championship Game, and it was released to adult album alternative, hot adult contemporary, and top 40 radio stations on February 11, 2002. Two days later, Radio & Records Music Meeting website made the song available for download, becoming the first retailer to do so. In Europe and Australia, A&M Records issued the song as a CD single on March 25, 2002, backed with two non-album B-sides: "Chances Are" and "You're Not the One". The same month, Crow traveled around Europe to promote the song and its parent album. Two days after its European release, a CD single was issued in Japan, and on April 1, 2002, A&M released "Soak Up the Sun" in the United Kingdom as two CD singles and a cassette single. During a live performance at the Glastonbury Festival in June 2019, Crow dedicated the song to Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg.