| Show Me What I'm Looking For | |
| Cover: | CarolinaLiarShowMeWhatI'mLookingFor.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Carolina Liar |
| Album: | Coming to Terms |
| Recorded: | 2005–2006 |
| Studio: | |
| Genre: | Pop rock |
| Label: | Atlantic |
| Producer: | Max Martin, Tobias Karlsson |
| Prev Title: | I'm Not Over |
| Prev Year: | 2008 |
| Next Title: | Beautiful World |
| Next Year: | 2009 |
"Show Me What I'm Looking For" is a song by Swedish– American rock band Carolina Liar. The song was a hit in 2009, particularly in Ireland, where it rose up the Irish Singles Chart to number six.[1] [2] The song was also a radio hit on several stations in the United Kingdom and the United States. It peaked at number 67 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States as well and was a top ten hit on the Adult Top 40 chart.[3] The song was certified double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It also had a lengthy run on the top 20 video countdown of cable television network VH1. The song was written by lead singer Chad Wolf with Tobias Karlsson, and it was produced by Max Martin and Tobias Karlsson.
In the United Kingdom, "Show Me What I'm Looking For" was played on stations such as BBC Radio 1, Xfm, 95.8 Capital FM and Absolute Radio.[4] It was released in the United Kingdom on June 1, 2009.
"Show Me What I'm Looking For" is said to have changed the band members' lives forever.[2] According to vocalist Chad Wolf, the song was written in only twenty minutes, and the vocals used on the final track were his first attempt; recorded in a bedroom. "We tried...a couple of different studios to beat the vocals, but we just couldn't," Wolf explained.[5] Hot Press called the song "a choon and a half" after witnessing it performed live at The Academy, Dublin, in August 2009.[2] During live performances Wolf conducts the audience during the "Save Me/I'm lost" chorus.[2]
The Santa Barbara Independent described it as "sunny and poppy" and "a lot like early Phantom Planet".[6] Digital Spy said it was "rock music for anyone who finds Snow Patrol a bit too giddy sometimes".[7] The Houston Chronicle said it had "a tweentastic vibe" and that it was "easy to imagine lip-glossed girls swooning" over the single.[8]
Directed by Diane Martel, the video is set in Atlantic City, New Jersey where lead singer Chad Wolf roams the city with his guitar and is seen with many of the locals in a motel, the Trump Taj Mahal and near a boardwalk during the day and night.
The song's use in The CW Television Network series The Beautiful Life was described by the Boston Heralds reviewer Mark A. Perigard as "an inadvertently hilarious way to close one dramatic scene" and suggested that "the network needs to vet its background music more carefully".[10]