2007–2009: early years, Of June, and ''Maybe I'm Dreaming'' Adam Young has attributed the name Owl City to a number of sources. His official blog says it derives from the short film
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1962), due to his identification with the protagonist. In other interviews, he has referred to his sister's pet
owl, as well as to an owl that met its demise on the
windshield of his father's truck. He has also described seeing a large number of owls in a
forest in
Scotland while visiting his
grandmother. Suffering from
insomnia while working loading Coca-Cola trucks, Young began to compose music, recording with a C-1
Behringer Microphone. Among the software that he began with was
Reason from
Propellerhead. He began uploading songs recorded in his parents' basement to MySpace. "
Hello Seattle" was the first track written for Owl City, which also inspired the project. After receiving favorable attention for his music, he began receiving emails from major record labels in the spring of 2008. His manager Steve Bursky later highlighted the significance of Young's engaging online manner in building his following saying: "People feel like they know him, like they've got a direct connection to him because of how he approaches his connection with them online."
Of June reached No. 15 on the
Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart, and ''Maybe I'm Dreaming'' peaked on the same chart at No. 13. The song "The Technicolor Phase", from his debut album, was featured in the soundtrack of
Tim Burton's
Alice in Wonderland. In February 2009, Owl City signed with Universal Republic. He played his first show to a sold-out crowd at the
Varsity Theater in
Minnesota.
2009–2010: Ocean Eyes Ocean Eyes, Owl City's major label debut and second studio album, was released on
iTunes on July 14, 2009, with the physical release following on July 28. The album peaked at number eight on the
Billboard 200 and topped the
Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart for four weeks. By April 2010, it was certified Platinum in the United States. The song became a commercial success, topping the
Billboard Hot 100 in the United States for the week ending November 7, 2009. The song spent two non-consecutive weeks at number one on the
Billboard Hot 100, returning to top spot for the week ending November 21, 2009. It was the ninth best-selling songs of 2009 in the United States. The song was certified Diamond by the RIAA. "Fireflies" was featured as
iTunes' "Single of the Week" and garnered 650,000 downloads. "Fireflies" also peaked at the top of the charts in the United Kingdom, becoming Britain's 20th most downloaded song of all time. "
Vanilla Twilight" was released on January 26, 2010, as the second single from the album. The song debuted at No. 95 on the
Billboard Hot 100, the same week "Fireflies" reached No. 1. The song eventually peaked at No. 72 on the chart. It was certified Platinum by the RIAA. The album's third and final single, "
Umbrella Beach" was released on May 17, 2010, and peaked at No. 110 on the
UK Singles Chart. Young was joined by
Breanne Düren on several tracks; the most notable example of which is "The Saltwater Room". The track "Sunburn", is featured on
Soundtrack 90210, which was released on October 13, 2009. The song "
Hello Seattle" found commercial success peaking at number 12 on the
Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart and was certified Gold by the RIAA. During the summer of 2009, Owl City embarked on his first headlining tour and opened for
Relient K. He continued to tour in early 2010, in support of the album. He was joined by
Lights and
Deas Vail. Owl City joined
Cobra Starship as an opening act on their Australian and New Zealand tour in March 2010. In 2010, Young revealed a new musical project known as Sky Sailing, which moved away from his usual
electronica genre of music and introduced acoustic guitar and piano accompaniments into his work. The unrefined tracks were recorded in the summer of 2007, before he began making music as Owl City. Young collaborated with English electronic musician
Chicane and released the single "
Middledistancerunner" on July 30, 2010, featuring Young on vocals. He also worked with Dutch producer
Armin van Buuren, appearing on a track called "
Youtopia" from the van Buuren album
Mirage. In August 2010, "
To the Sky" was officially released on the soundtrack for ''
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'hoole''. That same month, he opened for
John Mayer and
Maroon 5. On October 25, 2010, Young released a
cover version of
Keith Getty &
Stuart Townend's modern
hymn "
In Christ Alone" for streaming on his website.
Taylor Swift's song "
Enchanted", released on October 25, 2010, was rumored to be about the time she met Adam Young. Young recorded his cover of "Enchanted" as a response, altering the lyrics to address Swift directly. He posted the recording on his website on February 13, 2011. He released a Christmas single called "
Peppermint Winter" in November 2010.
2010–2011: All Things Bright and Beautiful Production on Young's third studio album began around mid-2010, after he returned home from his
Ocean Eyes World Tour, with Young being announced as the executive producer of the album. Young also worked with engineer and producer
Jack Joseph Puig on the album. On October 18, Young wrote an entry on his blog regarding his third studio album, saying that the album was nearing completion. This time around, Young opted to use less auto-tune and processed vocals for the album and wanted it to sound more "finished" than his previous album. A lot of the record was influenced by his experiences visiting places like Japan, Australia and New Zealand, while on tour. In February 2011, the title of the album was announced to be
All Things Bright and Beautiful and that the album would be released on May 24, before the release date was later bumped up to May 17. However, on April 6, Young released a statement on his website, along with lengthy previews of four of his songs ("Dreams Don't Turn to Dust", "Alligator Sky Featuring
Shawn Chrystopher", "Galaxies", and "Deer in the Headlights"), that the release date for
All Things Bright and Beautiful would be pushed back to June 14. The album's title is based on the
hymn of the same name. In addition to the tour announcement, an app titled
Owl City Galaxy was launched, where fans could pre-order the album and access content such as an exclusive bonus track not included in the album, early access to concert tickets and merch. The album debuted at number six on the
Billboard 200 with first week sales of 48,000 copies. in Washington, D.C., in November 2011 "
Alligator Sky" was released as the lead single from the album on March 22, 2011, featuring rapper
Shawn Chrystopher. The music video for the song premiered on May 6. Young discussed the concept in a making-of video posted on Owl City's
VEVO account, "The concept is basically about these two guys who are leaving Earth. Rather than it being this very dark post-apocalyptic vibe, it's very optimistic, and so it's like people are excited to leave earth." The song peaked at number five on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. Young stated that the song is about the
Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. It reached number 39 on the US
Hot Christian Songs chart. "
Deer in the Headlights" was released on iTunes on May 23, 2011, as the first promotional single from the album. The music video for the track was released on June 30, 2011, and showcases Young driving through the night in a replica of the
DMC DeLorean featured from the
Back to the Future trilogy. Canadian musician
Lights also makes a cameo appearance during the video. "
Lonely Lullaby" was released as the album's third single on July 19, 2011. Though it was not featured on the standard edition of
All Things Bright and Beautiful, it was included as a bonus track for the album. The song is dedicated to his ex-girlfriend Annmarie Monson, who he described as the "most wonderful, beautiful woman" he knew. The song was previously available only to
Owl City Galaxy members in March 2011. "
Angels" was released for
Christian radio airplay on September 20, 2011. "
Dreams Don't Turn to Dust" was released as a single exclusively in the UK on October 10, 2011. During the month of July at the Club
Nokia concert in Los Angeles, Young announced that the concert was being filmed for a Live DVD. The recording entitled,
Owl City: Live From Los Angeles, was eventually released on iTunes in December 2011. In August 2011, Owl City was featured on the song "All About Us" by
He Is We. On November 15, 2011,
Jumeirah released a commercial for their famous
Burj Al Arab luxury hotel which Young was called upon to compose the music for the commercial.
2012–2013: The Midsummer Station On January 2, 2012, Young wrote an entry on his blog regarding his fourth full-length album. Young said that he would be collaborating with more producers and songwriters, saying that his new record "Marks a flying leap in this direction". Young, along with
Jewel and
Jay Sean, released a song in promotion of the
Child Hunger Ends Here campaign by ConAgra Foods entitled "Here's Hope". On April 17, 2012, "
Dementia", a song by Young which was included on his upcoming album surfaced onto the internet and features additional vocals by
Mark Hoppus of
Blink-182. The song later premiered via
Alternative Press on May 10. Young released a new EP,
Shooting Star, on May 15 and features four songs off his upcoming album, so that fans a could get clear taste of what the album would sound like. The EP spawned the single, "
Shooting Star" which peaked at number 36 on the US Hot Christian Songs chart. On May 24, 2012, Young announced on Twitter that Owl City's fourth studio album would be titled
The Midsummer Station. The album was originally planned to have a release date of August 14, 2012, however, was pushed back to August 17, while the UK release date would be brought to August 20. The album peaked at number seven on the
Billboard 200, selling 30,000 copies in its first week. Additionally, the album peaked at number one on the
Canadian Albums Chart with first week sales of 3,700 copies. On June 20, 2012, he premiered the song, "
Good Time", a collaboration with
Carly Rae Jepsen, via his
SoundCloud account. The song was officially released as a single on June 26, 2012. It was written by Matt Thiessen, Brian Lee and Young himself. The song peaked at No. 8 on the
Billboard Hot 100, becoming his second top 10 in United States. Additionally, the song reached No. 1 in Canada and New Zealand. The song was certified 2× Platinum by the RIAA. On August 18, a preview of "I Hope You Think of Me" was released on Young's blog which was later included on his
The Midsummer Station - Acoustic EP. The following day, Young released two demo songs: "Beautiful Mystery" and "Paper Tigers". In the fall of 2012, Owl City embarked on the Midsummer Station World Tour in support of the album. On October 5, the song "
When Can I See You Again?", from the
Disney film
Wreck-It Ralph, was released. The song was certified Platinum by the RIAA. In December 2012, Adam Young released a cover of the
Art Garfunkel song "
Bright Eyes" from the film
Watership Down; he had previously cited
Watership Down as one of his favorite books. Owl City began working on his next studio album in late 2012 that was expected to be released the following year. Young stated that his new music would contain more
EDM songs and claimed that his new album would be "edgy". He also hoped to record a song for the album with
Ellie Goulding. It also contained two previously unreleased tracks: "Hey Anna" and "I Hope You Think of Me". In the meantime, Young continued to tour and worked on multiple songs for animated films and television commercials. He joined Maroon 5 and
Neon Trees on a US arena tour from February to April 2013. On March 4, the song "
Shine Your Way", featuring Young and
Yuna, was released from the soundtrack to
The Croods. On March 15, Young was featured on "
Cactus in the Valley", a song by Lights. Owl City performed a 90-second jingle for
Oreo's "Wonderfilled" commercial in May 2013. "Live It Up" was released on
The Smurfs 2: Music from and Inspired By Soundtrack. Owl City released the single "Light of Christmas", which featured
tobyMac, on October 22. The song was created for the 2013
VeggieTales Christmas movie
Merry Larry and the True Light of Christmas.
2014–2015: Ultraviolet and Mobile Orchestra On April 8, 2014, "
Beautiful Times" was released and served as the lead single from his then-upcoming EP, which features violinist
Lindsey Stirling. Young stated that he intended to release a steady "series of EPs" in 2014 rather than one larger recording. In June, Young announced that the first extended play would be titled
Ultraviolet and it was released on June 27. The EP was written and produced entirely by Young himself. Young stated that the EP has an "edgier sound to Owl City than experienced before." On June 18, Owl City premiered a new track, "
Wolf Bite" days before the release of the EP. The day before the EP's release, a music video for "Beautiful Times" premiered on the
Rolling Stone's website. The EP peaked No. 30 on the
Billboard 200 chart. On October 4, Owl City performed at
Fuji-Q Highland in
Yamanashi, during a Tokyo Fantasy event. On October 7, Owl City released two new singles: "
Tokyo" featuring Japanese
pop group
Sekai no Owari and "
You're Not Alone" featuring American singer
Britt Nicole. Owl City appeared on
The Art of McCartney tribute album to
Paul McCartney, covering the track "
Listen to What the Man Said", which was released on November 18, 2014. In December 2014, Owl City released a new single for Christmas: "Kiss Me Babe, It's Christmas Time". He briefly toured in Japan in May 2015, playing three concert shows. On May 11, 2015, he announced the release date and title of his fifth studio album,
Mobile Orchestra for July 10. Young revealed that the album took longer to create than his previous records. The album features collaborations with numerous artists including
Jake Owen,
Hanson, Britt Nicole and
Aloe Blacc. Additionally, Young worked with various producers on the album including Blacc, Joshua Crosby,
Joey Moi and Ryan Williamson. On May 5, a sneak peek of Owl City's then-upcoming song "
Verge" featuring Blacc aired on
ESPN's "Draft Academy". The song was released as the lead single from the album on May 14 and peaked at No. 44 on the
Japan Hot 100 chart. Owl City released the second single from the album, "
My Everything", on June 5, 2015. The song reached number 22 on the US Hot Christian Songs chart. An animated video for the song was later released on June 29.
Mobile Orchestra debuted on the
Billboard 200 at No. 11.
2016–2021: Scores and Cinematic On December 18, 2015, Young announced that he would focus on a new project titled "Adam Young Scores". During each month of 2016, he composed and recorded a score based on a subject of his choice, which is something he had wanted to accomplish for a long time. Around this time, Young also decided to part ways with Republic Records, allowing him to focus on this endeavor and give him a "bit of space and distance from the pop music space." On June 15, 2017, Owl City released "Not All Heroes Wear Capes", a song about Father's Day, with an acoustic video filmed in Owatonna, Minnesota, in Young's shop at home. On August 29, 2017, he released a song called "Clap Your Hands" for the 2017 golf game ''
Everybody's Golf. On October 30, 2017, Young announced that he would be releasing an 18-track album, Cinematic'', with a release date of June 1, 2018. During the eight months from October to June, three EPs, which he has called
Reels, were released, each with three songs from the upcoming album. He stated that the inspiration for this album is from "the amazing people he has met and the places that he has seen." Many of the album's songs are autobiographical. Originally intended as a non-album single, "Not All Heroes Wear Capes" was included on the album as the lead single. The album's second single, "
All My Friends", was released on November 3, 2017. On December 1, Owl City released the first,
Reel 1. On January 12, 2018, the third single from the album, "
Lucid Dream", was released.
Reel 2 was released on February 2. He released the fourth and final single, "
New York City" on March 9. On April 6,
Reel 3 was released.
Cinematic was released in its entirety on June 1, and was solely written and produced by Young. The album has 15 main songs, plus alternate versions of "All My Friends", "Montana", and "Firebird".
2022–present: return of Owl City and Coco Moon Owl City released a remix cover of "
All Star" by
Smash Mouth on May 13, 2022. In June 2022, Owl City announced that he would be releasing new music soon. He began making cryptic posts on the social media app
Instagram. On August 12, 2022, a track he was featured on by
Armin van Buuren and
Gareth Emery titled "Forever and Always" was released. Young began recording his seventh studio album sometime in 2022, before taking a short break to record a song titled, "
Up to the Cloud" for the
mobile game, Neural Cloud. The first single from the new album, "Kelly Time", was released on January 6, 2023. The second single was released on February 3, titled "Adam, Check Please". On February 9, Owl City announced via social media that he would release an 11-track album titled
Coco Moon on March 24, 2023. Young described the album as a "very Owl City album," containing themes of "autobiographical", "metaphorical", and "odd" songs. "Vitamin Sea" was released on March 3, as the third and final single from the album.
Coco Moon peaked at number 94 on the US
Top Current Albums Sales chart. In support of the album, Young announced the
To the Moon Tour that began in the fall of 2023, with support from special guest
Augustana. In September 2023, Young made a guest appearance on the deluxe edition of
The Beautiful Letdown (Our Version) by
Switchfoot, performing the song "
Gone". Owl City toured in Japan for his To the Moon tour in February 2024. Another leg was added in the United States for March and April 2024. Young released a cover of Augustana's "
Boston" as a single on February 9. On March 22, Owl City released the deluxe edition of
Coco Moon, which featured the single "Car Trouble". ==Musical styles and influences==