"Stars" is the first single released from Switchfoot's fifth album Nothing Is Sound. "Stars" was released to radio on June 28, 2005 and again on July 5. It was the most-added song on Modern Rock Radio in its first week of release and peaked at number sixteen on the US Modern Rock chart. The song was certified gold as a digital single on December 13, 2005. It is the band's third most successful song, behind previous hits "Meant to Live" and "Dare You to Move". On iTunes, an acoustic mix of the track is available.

According to the song-writer Jon Foreman, "Stars" is about perspective, a song about stepping back in the midst of chaos and looking at the stars; the idea of anti-entropy, implying there must be something keeping the world together. "The first verse looks at things from Descartes perspective, pinning the center of the universe on the individual. 'Maybe I've been the problem,' maybe I'm overcast, falling apart, etc... The second verse talks about our world from the perspective of the stars looking down on earth from the eternal dance of gravity and motion."

The song is a fan favorite for its thought provoking lyrics and heavy aggressive sound.

The music video for this song was filmed at Universal Studios mostly underwater. The video features the band playing in an outdoor setting, but as the video progresses, they can be seen "floating" in a watery environment. At the apex of the song right before the bridge of the song, this environment bursts and the band plays in the rain until the end of the video.

The video was directed by Scott Speer and produced by Coleen Haynes.

A music video based on a shortened version of this song was used for American Idol, in partnership with Ford, in a Mustang commercial.

In 2006, the song won a Dove Award for Short Form Music Video of the Year at the 37th GMA Dove Awards. It was also nominated for Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year.

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