Scattered Echoes

"Scattered Echoes" is a collaborative single by pop singers Ben Johnston and Elice Claire. The song is featured on Ben Johnston's fifth studio album, Resistance In The Distance and on Elice Claire's rarities album Mademoiselle, as well as her second studio album, Intimate Encounters. It will be released physically on June 13. It is the follow-up to Johnston's recent #1 single, "Someone I Don't Know" (with Crystal Barker), and the first single for Claire since August 2010's "Cloud Nine/Never Let Go". The single also became Johnston's and Claire's best seller. The single also became the best seller of 2011.

Background
The duet was initially written in 2008, begun by Claire, with additional input by Johnston in 2010 as per the writing credits. Claire retired from music in August 2010, but Johnston intended on releasing the single, initially during the Christmas shopping season in December 2010, but later as the fourth and final single from his most recent album in June 2011. The song was first released to the re-issue of Elice's sophomore efford Intimate Encounters and to the singer's 2011 rarities album Mademoiselle, the song was also included in Johnston's studio album Resistance In The Distance.

Reception
While reviewing Claire's Intimate Encounters reissue, Karen Jones of BBC Music referred to the song as "a gorgeous duet with Ben Johnston which reveals a silkier side to the edgy [Elice] we normally know, and ends with the kind of lung excess that was never heard by Claire." Becky Bain from Idolator wrote, "Johnston can feel pretty good as his latest releases have all been hits, but he should feel much more confident thanks to collaborating with [Elice] Claire in the beautiful song 'Scattered Echoes'. A piece that appears on both Claire & Johnston's album, this has the potential to become a hit." A few days after the song was announced as a single, PopJustice named it their Song of the Day, claiming it is possibly both the best single by both singers.

Background and release
A video for the duet was completed 21 March 2011. The video was shot in Rodanthe, North Carolina, USA. EClaire shot her solo parts in a warehouse in New York city on 5 March 2011. During an interview with radio station Z100 in New York City to promote the release, Claire said that she dyed her hair dark for the role she had to play in the video. According to the two singers, the full length version of the video runs about 11 minutes, while the TV version is about 5 minutes long. The first behind the scenes picture of the video was posted by Claire on her official twitter. Johnston posted two stills on his website following the announcement that the video would be out early June. On 29 May 2011, Johnston announced on his website that the video would be added to VEVO on 1 June 2011 at Midnight standard time.

Synopsis
The video is divided into three parts: an opening, a storyline, and a closing.

The opening, set in the current time (June 2011), begins with a conversation between Elice, aged 28 and her sister Alyson, aged 18, who has just shown up at Elice's doorstep. Alyson's boyfriend, Daniel, was recently killed in a car accident, which shocks Elice. Despite Alyson's emotional turn, Elice pulls out a box and relays to her through a photograph that she too had a boyfriend, Ben, who also passed away. They share a cry together.

The storyline travels back to exactly ten years earlier, in June 2001, with a blonde-haired 18-year-old Elice at her parents' hotel, where she first meets Ben as he arrives at the inn. She is intially reluctant to meet him, but they settle in together. They take walks on the beach, prepare dinner together, and become more aquainted with one another throughout the summer months, with change in time shown through title cards. After a party, Ben and Elice promise to meet together the next summer, and share a bed with another. There is an interlude of scenes throughout the next few summers of them together, including a night on the pier and a drive on the ocean boulevard. In August 2005, Elice prepares Ben to go off and fight in the war in Iraq. Ben promises her will "come back" for Elice and he "won't ever forget" her. Elice finds a letter he left for her and smiles at it. Elice is seen writing more letters to him throughout the following year, with Ben in his army bunker writing back to her. In June 2006, a visibly pregnant Elice is given the news that Ben has been killed on the front line and she falls to the floor.

The video then goes back to curent time for the closing with Alyson and Elice, consoling one another. Elice notes that she'll never be able to introduce her now five-year-old daughter, Sophie, to her father, Ben. Sophie enters the room, and she and Elice talk of fairytales and how the story just told has a"beautiful ending". Elice brings her daughter back to her room, then settles into her own bed, and the video ends with a memory of Ben and Elice on the beach together. They share a kiss and watch the sunset on the horizon before the image fades.

Promotion
URAPS Idol 12 dedicated a week to Elice Claire songs, and a pre-recorded performance of Johnston and Claire was shown on the show, filmed on June 4 and aired on June 6.

Elice Claire Photo Scandal
Promotion was interrupted after an album release party occurred on June 6, when Claire and singer Helena Rossi were reported to have fought, leading to Rossi's dismissal from the celebration. On June 7, after the story erupted, several unclothed photos of Claire leaked to the internet, with no trace to where the original leak had occurred. The scandal led to heavy media coverage, including the cancellation of an American release for the single. Press statements were released by Johnston and Victor Strong on behalf of Saturdays Records, while singers Alesha and Paris were also mentioned in the headlines.

Formats
The single will be released on two CDs: a standard edition and a fan edition, as well as a digital bundle.


 * Promotional CD
 * 1) "Scattered Echoes" (Radio Mix)
 * 2) "Scattered Echoes" (Instrumental)


 * CD Single
 * 1) "Scattered Echoes" (Radio Mix)
 * 2) "Nobody Wins" [Ben Johnston Solo]


 * Digital Single
 * 1) "Scattered Echoes" (Radio Mix)
 * 2) "Destino Mio (La Bella Vita)" [Elice solo]


 * Fan CD Single (Signed; Limited)
 * 1) "Scattered Echoes" (Radio Mix)
 * 2) "Nobody Wins" [Ben Johnston Solo]
 * 3) "Destino Mio (La Bella Vita)" [Elice solo]
 * 4) "Scattered Echoes" (Curtain Call - Part de Deux) 1
 * Comes with 2 (12x12) Lithographs
 * 1 Acoustic, stripped-down piano mix

Charts
The song entered the Downloads Chart on 22 May 2011 at #14, selling 12,992 copies. The single moved up one position to #13 in the following week before slipping down to #19 in the next frame. However, the song took a rebound to #4 in its fourth week on the chart. It eventually spent one week at the top and sold nearly 192,000 downloads.

On the Airplay Chart dated 21 May 2011, the song was the #3 Next In Line to make the chart, roughly in the top 40. The following week, the song entered the Airplay charts at #37, and climbed to #30 the next week. For the chart dated 11 June 2011, the song took a massive leap to #4, settling over 10,000 spins. On the same week the single hit number one on the Single Charts, the song moved from #4 to #1 on the Airplay Charts. It remains in the top 5 as of mid-July.

With the substantial and immediate success of the music video of the song, it debuted at #1 on the premiere edition of the VEVO Chart Show on 9 June 2011. It spent four weeks in the top 5, and has accumulated over 78,000,000 views online.

On the Singles Chart dated 19 June 2011, the song debuted at #1, selling 109,468 copies, the largest frame for a charting single since Johnston's previous release with Crystal Barker, "Someone I Don't Know". It also marks Johnston's third consecutive release and Claire's second consecutive release to debut with sales in excess of 100,000 copies. The single remained at number one for a second week, selling over 90,000 copies and getting its Gold certification. In eighteen weeks, the single topped the 500,000 sales mark. The single became the best seller of 2011, and also one of Urapopstar Best seller.

Chart Runs

 * SINGLE CHARTS
 * Week 01: #01 - 109,468
 * Week 02: #01 - 91,005
 * Week 03: #04 - 67,448
 * Week 04: #12 - 27,893
 * Week 05: #22 - 17,556
 * Week 06: #17 - 25,023
 * Week 07: #24 - 17,484
 * Week 08: #27 - 15,718
 * Week 09: #25 - 17,949
 * Week 10: #25 - 19,686
 * Week 11: #36 - 05,296
 * Week 12: #28 - 14,206
 * Week 13: #35 - 06,884
 * Week 14: #40 - 04,872
 * Week 15: #21 - 22,242
 * Week 16: #26 - 17,250
 * Week 17: #23 - 18,266
 * Week 18: #23 - 12,650
 * Week 19: #28 - 12,768
 * Week 20: #16 - 17,756
 * Week 21: #14 - 23,448
 * Week 22: #21 - 14,154
 * Week 23: #29 - 11,569
 * Week 24: #25 - 13,622
 * Week 25: #26 - 13,800
 * Week 26: #21 - 15,998
 * Week 27: #27 - 11,542
 * Week 28: #28 - 13,855
 * Week 29: #28 - 13,311
 * Week 30: #25 - 15,821
 * Week 31: #29 - 09,817
 * Week 32: #33 - 06,218
 * Week 33: #28 - 09,995
 * TOTAL: 713,959 (2x Platinum)


 * DIGITAL CHARTS
 * Week 01: #14 - 12,992
 * Week 02: #13 - 16,328
 * Week 03: #19 - 7,857
 * Week 04: #04 - 45,012
 * Week 05: #01 - 42,647
 * Week 06: #03 - 28,924
 * Week 07: #14 - 12,922
 * Week 08: #03 - 25,309
 * TOTAL: 191,991

Accolades and Awards
The single won Best Collaboration and Best Video at the 20th Urapopstar Awards.