"Make It Shine" (alternatively titled "Make It Shine (Victorious Theme)") is a song performed by the Victorious cast featuring the American singer and actress Victoria Justice from the show's debut soundtrack album, Victorious: Music from the Hit TV Show (2011). It was released as the album's first single on April 13, 2010, through Columbia Records and Nickelodeon. The song premiered on the pilot episode of Victorious and served as the show's theme song
"Make It Shine" is a pop, pop rock, and teen pop song with lyrics about encouraging a person to follow after their dreams. Music critics thought it 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 and entered secondary charts in the United States and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Justice performed the song live in 2012.
Release
"Make It Shine" was first featured on the pilot for the Nickelodeon American television sitcom Victorious on March 27, 2010.[1][2] Tori Vega (Victoria Justice) performs the song after standing in for her sister, which leads to her acceptance into Hollywood Arts High School.[3][4][5] The song was later released as a single on April 13, 2010.[6][7][8] The song was used as the theme song for Victorious.[9][10] "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.[11][12]
Composition
Justice provides the lead vocals on the track, with Niki Watkins contributing background vocals. The song was written by the show's producer Dan Schneider, ran and Dr. Luke. Corcoran handled drums, keyboards, and programming. Dr. Luke served as producer, adding guitar, drums, keyboards, and programming the song. The track was mastered by Brian Gardner and mixed by Serban Ghenea, while Emily Wright served as the recording engineer and editor, supported by additional engineering from John Hanes and assistance from Tim Roberts.[13]
Music critics have described "Make It Shine" as a pop, pop rock, and teen pop track.[11][14][15][16] 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."[17][18] William Ruhlmann for AllMusic wrote that the track has "relentless beats, synthesized instrumentations, nonstop simple, repetitive choruses, and Auto-Tune vocals".[11]
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".[19] Writing for The Post-Standard, Mark Bialczak described the theme song as Justice's "first hit single".[20] The staff of HelloGiggles said it is a "bop of a theme song".[21] The joint website of Bop and Tiger Beat labeled it as a "great song" and stated it "instantly puts us in a great mood".[7] Bob Hoose and Steven Isaac for Plugged In stated that while the track is not "crass or violent or sexual", they opined the lyrics in "Make It Shine" were "not the best message for kids".[17]
Kendra Beltran, writing for Yardbarker, placed the song at number 22 on her list of the 27 best television theme songs of the 21st century, calling it a "great theme song".[22] Crystal Bell of MTV ranked the track at number 16 on her list of the 17 best Nickelodeon theme songs.[23] Writing for Her Campus, Megan Gaertner and Allison Kane placed the song at number six on their "Best Songs from Victorious" list, describing the track as "uplifting and catchy".[24] Tiara B for The Shade Room put the song at number one on her "Victorious: The Top 10 Songs That Still Have Us Hooked" list, labeling it as a "bop" and "iconic theme song".[25]
To promote the song, Justice performed it live in 2012.[31] In November 2019, during fellow Victorious actress Ariana Grande's Sweetener World Tour, fellow cast member Matt Bennett appeared on stage and sang "Make It Shine" with the crowd.[32][33] In 2022, Bennett performed the song live during some of his DJ concert sets.[34]
