We Are All Made Of Stars (2002) – Moby

“On a basic quantum level, all the matter in the universe is essentially made up of stardust.”
– Moby

Like the picture above and the title suggest, We Are All Made Of Stars has this airy, space-like feel. Despite seeming simple, it deceptively goes pretty deep and becomes wonderfully atmospheric, just like many of Moby’s productions. It edges towards techno with a world music sensibility and a trance-like feel.

I like that loopy guitar in the chorus. It’s so groovy. My favourite part of the song is where it feeds back on itself and comes full circle at 2:35, staying like that for the rest of the song.

What Moby had to say below about why he chose We Are All Made Of Stars as the lead single from his album 18 is how I feel too whenever I hear it:

I chose this song because every time I listen to this song, it makes me smile. I made the song, I’ve heard it a million times, but every time the chorus comes, it makes me smile. 

The song reminds me a bit of David Bowie’s Heroes. Interesting too, since Moby has repeatedly acknowledged David Bowie as one of his greatest musical influences. You can’t help but hear Bowie’s influence here, along with a spacey vibe that also recalls his earlier Space Oddity era.

As you can imagine, there are remixes galore that lean even further into techno and dance music, with some listeners even citing them as superior to the original.

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Wikipedia:

We Are All Made Of Stars reached number 11 on the UK Singles Chart and became a top-10 hit in several other European countries.

We Are All Made of Stars was written by Moby in New York after the September 11 attacks to express a sense of hopefulness. Moby has stated that the song was inspired by the song Flowers from the album Today by American alternative rock band Galaxie 500.

The song’s music video below points out the excesses of the typical “Hollywood” lifestyle, showing celebrities in seedy environments, while Moby, an outsider to that world, portrays a spaceman. 

Richard Melville Hall known professionally as Moby is considered by some to be among the most important dance music figures of the early 1990s, helping bring dance music to a mainstream audience both in the United States and the United Kingdom.

[Verse 1]
Growing in numbers
Growing in speed
Can’t fight the future
Can’t fight what I see

[Chorus]
People they come together
People they fall apart
No one can stop us now
‘Cause we are all made of stars

[Verse 2]
Efforts of lovers
Left in my mind
I sing in the reaches
We’ll see what we find

[Chorus]
People they come together
People they fall apart
No one can stop us now
‘Cause we are all made of stars
People they come together
People they fall apart
No one can stop us now
‘Cause we are all made of stars

[Breakdown]
Slow slow slow, come come
Someone come come come
Someone’s come come
Someone’s come
Even love is going round
You can’t ignore what is going ’round
You can’t ignore what is going ’round
You can’t ignore what is going ’round

[Verse 3]
Slowly rebuilding
I feel it in me
Growing in numbers
Growing in peace

References:
1. We Are All Made of Stars – Wikipedia