"Make It Shine" is an upbeat pop, pop rock, and teen pop song with lyrics about following your dreams. Music critics thought the song was successful as a theme song and praised Justice's vocals. The song peaked at number 16 on the US BillboardBubbling Under Hot 100 chart, number six on the US Kid Digital Song Sales chart, and number 39 on the US Pop Digital Song Sales chart. Justice performed the song live in 2012.
Background and release
"Make It Shine" was first released as a promotional single on April 13, 2010.[1] The song was later featured on the pilot for the Nickelodeon American television sitcom Victorious. Tori Vega (Victoria Justice) performs the song after standing in for her sister, which leads to her acceptance into Hollywood Arts High School.[2][3] The song was used as the theme song for Victorious.[4][5] In the theme song's video, Justice and the Victorious cast perform the song while driving around Los Angeles while visiting the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Griffith Observatory.[6] "Make It Shine" was then released as the first track on the show's debut soundtrack album Victorious: Music from the Hit TV Show on August 2, 2011.[7][8]
Writing and music
"Make It Shine" was written by Dan Schneider, Michael Corcoran, and Łukasz Gottwald, with production being handled by Gottwald.[6][9] Music critics have described "Make It Shine" as an upbeat pop, pop rock, and teen pop track.[6][7][10] The track contains instrumentation consisting of guitar strings, keyboard, and drum kicks.[9][6] Lyrically, the song is about telling people to work hard
and to not give up on following their dreams: "You don't have to be afraid to put your dream in action/You're never gonna fade/You'll be the main attraction/'Cause you know that if you're livin' your imagination/Tomorrow you'll be everybody's fascination."[6][11] William Ruhlmann for AllMusic wrote that the track has "relentless beats, synthesized instrumentations, nonstop simple, repetitive choruses, and Auto-Tune vocals".[7]
Critical reception
"Make It Shine" received positive reviews from music critics. Brenton Blanchet, writing for Billboard magazine, described "Make It Shine" as an "ever-catchy theme performance".[12] Writing for The Post-Standard, Mark Bialczak described the theme song as Justice's "first hit single".[13] The staff of Top40-Charts called it a "buoyant theme song",[8] while the staff of HelloGiggles said it is a "bop of a theme song".[14] Bob Hoose and Steven Isaac for Plugged In stated that while the track was not "crass or violent or sexual", they opined the lyrics in "Make It Shine" were "not the best message for kids".[11]
Kendra Beltran, writing for Yardbarker, placed the song at number 22 on her 27 of the Best TV Theme Songs of the 21st Century list, calling it a "great theme song".[15] Crystal Bell of MTV placed the song at number 16 on her The 17 Best Nickelodeon Theme Songs, Ranked list, praising the theme song and opining that "Justice came out on top".[16] Writing for Her Campus, Megan Gaertner and Allison Kane placed the song at number six on their the Best Songs from Victorious list, describing the track as "uplifting and catchy".[17]
Commercial performance and live performances
In May 2010, "Make It Shine" peaked at number 16 on the US BillboardBubbling Under Hot 100 chart, lasting five weeks on the chart.[18] It also peaked at number three on the US Kid Digital Song Sales chart[19] and number 39 on the US Pop Digital Song Sales chart.[20]
To promote the song, Justice performed it live throughout 2012.[21][22] In 2022, fellow Victorious actor Matt Bennett performed the song live during some of his DJ concert sets.[23][24][25]
