Eyes Open (song)

"Eyes Open" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for the soundtrack to the 2012 film The Hunger Games. Produced by Swift and Nathan Chapman, "Eyes Open" is an alternative rock song with chiming guitars. Its lyrics are about staying strong during hardships, told from the perspective of the film's protagonist, Katniss Everdeen. The track was released as a promotional single from the soundtrack.

Music critics commented that the song's rock sound showcased Swift's expanding artistry beyond her previous country pop songs. The track won a Teen Choice Award for Choice Single by a Female Artist in 2012. "Eyes Open" charted in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, and it received certifications in the first three countries. A re-recording titled "Eyes Open (Taylor's Version)", was released on March 17, 2023, as part of Swift's re-recordings of her back catalog, following the 2019 dispute over the ownership of the masters of her first six albums.

Background and composition
Taylor Swift wrote two songs for the soundtrack to the 2012 film The Hunger Games: "Safe & Sound" and "Eyes Open". She wrote the former with the Civil Wars and the latter by herself. According to Swift, she wrote the song about the Hunger Games protagonist Katniss Everdeen's "relationship" with the Capitol. She described the song as the opposite of the melancholic "Safe & Sound", stating that "[it is] more frantic and fast-paced, a completely different shade of music".

"Eyes Open" is four minutes and four seconds in length. Critics described the song's genre as alternative rock. Billboard said that it "[exists] more in the modern rock vein than [Swift's] usual country-pop oeuvre".

Critical reception
The song garnered general critical acclaim from contemporary critics - most of whom favorably noted the song's more rock-oriented tone as compared to her previous releases. While reviewing The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond, Matt Bjorke named "Eyes Open" as one of the "standouts" on the record. Jason Lipshutz of Billboard also found the same description of the song - stating that it "[exists] more in the modern rock vein than her usual country-pop oeuvre." In June 2022, Insider ranked "Eyes Open" as Swift's third best soundtrack song, only behind "Safe & Sound" and "I Don't Wanna Live Forever".

Release and commercial performance
Swift first premiered the song during a performance in Auckland for her Speak Now World Tour. The song was leaked before its official release date of March 20, 2012.

Upon the soundtrack's release, "Eyes Open" entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 19 with 176,000 digital copies as the week's highest debut. After it was sent to mainstream radio, the song debuted on Billboard 's Mainstream Top 40 airplay chart at number 28 and was Swift's highest debut to date; it would reach number 20 on the chart. On December 2012, "Eyes Open" received a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); it became Swift's sixteenth million-seller and her second from the soundtrack after "Safe & Sound". By November 2017, the song had sold 1.4 million units in the United States.

Elsewhere, "Eyes Open" peaked on the charts in various Anglophone territories, at number 17 in Canada, number 47 in Australia, number 65 in Ireland, and number 70 in the United Kingdom. In New Zealand, the song debuted and peaked at number six on the RMNZ's Top 40 Singles chart and was certified gold by Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ).

"Eyes Open (Taylor's Version)"
On March 17, 2023, Swift released "Eyes Open (Taylor's Version)", a re-recorded version of "Eyes Open", via Republic Records. The song is part of Swift's re-recording plan following the 2019 dispute over the ownership of the masters of her older discography, after the talent manager Scooter Braun acquired Big Machine Records, including the masters of Swift's albums which the label had released. By re-recording the albums, Swift had full ownership of the new masters, which enabled her to control the licensing of her songs for commercial use and therefore substituted the Big Machine–owned masters.

"Eyes Open (Taylor's Version)" was released for streaming and download as an independent track without appearing on any album. It was included on a streaming-only compilation titled The More Red (Taylor's Version) Chapter.

Personnel
Credits are adapted from Tidal.


 * Taylor Swift – vocals, background vocals, songwriter, producer
 * Christopher Rowe – producer, vocal engineer
 * Paul Mirkovich – producer, executive producer, additional engineer, piano, synthesizer, drum programming
 * Derek Garten – engineer, editor
 * Travis Ference – editor, recording engineer, additional engineer
 * Justin Derrico – recording engineer, additional engineer, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bouzouki
 * Nate Morton – drums, drum programming
 * Alexander Sasha Krivtsov – electric bass
 * Max Bernstein – electric guitar
 * Serban Ghenea – mixing
 * Bryce Bordone – mix engineer
 * Randy Merrill – mastering