In a December 2011 interview with Digital Spy, band member Jay McGuiness was asked about a track written for the group by singer and rapper Example. "Yeah, we've been talking with him for ages," McGuiness said. "He sent a few before that didn't quite make it, but we've got one from him now that we absolutely love. Tom has it on his iPod and it's now become his most played song on there! We're hopefully going to record the track this week. It's actually similar in some ways to 'Glad You Came'. It won't be out before Christmas because people don't want to be raving when it's p*ssing with snow." On 26 March 2012, The Wanted premiered said track, entitled "Chasing the Sun". Talking to MTV News, McGuiness said: "I think this song, it can mean many things. To some people, it is partying all night and chasing the sun the next morning. That's what video's about, the girls, the teeth are there, the vampires. So we're all there partying away. And that's one aspect of the song. Another aspect of the song is chasing your dreams, the unattainable acorn in the distance."
Music video
There are two music videos for "Chasing the Sun". The first and official video was directed by Director X. It begins with The Wanted standing on the roof of the Rosslyn Hotel in Los Angeles in the middle of the night. It then begins to intersect with scenes of them in a club with some mysterious women, all of whom have strange sun-shaped tattoos on their hands, arms, thighs or belly. Each of the band meets one of these women and, upon being touched by them, all suddenly have exactly the same tattoo. The band decide to leave the club with their women and start walking down the secluded streets. They soon enter a different club. At the bridge, the boys are back on the roof of the Rosslyn Hotel, but this time at sunrise. The scene then changes back to the second club, where the boys start to get close to their women, but it turns out that the women are actually vampires, and all five boys get their necks bitten. The video ends with The Wanted walking out of the club into the bright sunlight. The second video was specifically made for the 2012 film . It features The Wanted performing on blocks of ice in the Arctic Ocean while characters such as Manny, Sid, and Diego dance alongside them. It also contains footage from the film.
Critical reception
The song received positive reviews from music critics. Robert Copsey of Digital Spy gave the song four out of five stars writing, "The result may be their darkest club track yet, but it's easily the brightest they've shined since that worldwide smash." John Earls of the Daily Star wrote: "Jay takes the lead on a brand new track that’s their biggest outright dance choon yet. The lads sound right at home on a track David Guetta would kill for".
