Joe McElderry (b. 16 June 1991) is a pop singer from South Shields, Englan… Read Full Bio ↴Joe McElderry (b. 16 June 1991) is a pop singer from South Shields, England and the winner of Series 6 of the X Factor UK, which took place in 2009. He first auditioned in Manchester where he sang Luther Vandross’ 'Dance With My Father'.

He was in the Boys group, mentored by Cheryl Cole.

His vocals appear on the X Factor Finalists 2009 Charity single (a cover of Michael Jackson's You Are Not Alone) which reached number 1 status in the UK Charts on the 21st of November 2009. It remained there for one week, before being knocked off by Peter Kay's charity single for Children In Need.

Joe won X Factor on December 13th 2009. His debut single, The Climb (A cover of the Miley Cyrus song) was released on December 14th 2009, and charted at number 2 - beaten by a anti-X Factor campaign backed Rage Against The Machine song, Killing In The Name. He was then number one on December 28th.

The single had the fifth highest sales of all UK singles released in 2009 staying one week at #1. It was also the top selling Irish single of 2009 where it remained at the top spot for four consecutive weeks. "The Climb" was nominated in the British Single category at the 2010 BRIT Awards.

In January 2010, he participated in the Helping Haiti charity single, a cover of "Everybody Hurts" arranged by Simon Cowell in order to raise money for victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

He was also crowned the winner of the second series of Popstar to Operastar in 2011 and the first series of The Jump in 2014. In 2015, McElderry played the lead role of Joseph in the touring production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.

To date he has released four top 20 albums – two of them reaching the UK top three. He was the first X Factor contestant to release a fourth album. As of 2014, McElderry has sold over 2 million records worldwide

Wide Awake
Joe McElderry Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

First Kiss, First Touch
First Time You Ever Said It Back
When I Close My Eyes I Still Remember
Too Much, Too Fast
Too Good To Ever Make It Last
And When I Woke Up You Were Gone

Now I Keep Dreaming Of Falling Back To Sleep

Coz I Know You Will Be Waiting There For Me
And Every Breath Keeps Me Praying For The Night
Coz I Know You're On The Other Side
But I'm Wide Awake
I'm Wide Awake
Since You Went Away
I'm Wide Awake

Last Hope, Last Chance
Last Time I Ever Felt Alive
Was Before The Morning Pulled You Under
Tonight, Too Close
To Lose The Only Thing That I
Ever Believed Could Save Me Now

Now I Keep Dreaming Of Falling Back To Sleep
Coz I Know You Will Be Waiting There For Me
And Every Breath Keeps Me Praying For The Night
Coz I Know You're On The Other Side
But I'm Wide Awake
(But I'm Wide Awake)
I'm Wide Awake
I'm Wide Awake
I Can't Escape
I'm Wide Awake

Now I Keep Dreaming Of Falling Back To Sleep (Falling Back To Sleep)
Coz I Know You Will Be Waiting There For Me (Waiting There For Me)
And Every Breath Keeps Me Praying For The Night (Praying For The Night)
Coz I Know You're On The Other Side
But I'm Wide Awake
I'm Wide Awake
Since You Went Away
I'm Wide Awake
But I'm Wide Awake (And Every Breath Keeps Me Praying For The Night)
I'm Wide Awake
Since You Went Away (I Know You're On The Other Side)

I'm Wide Awake
I'm Wide Awake

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of "Wide Awake" by Joe McElderry describe the pain and longing that comes with a breakup. The first verse reminisces on the happy moments in the relationship, such as the first kiss and the first time the other person said "I love you" back. However, things moved too quickly and it was too good to last, as the other person ended up leaving. The chorus expresses the desire to fall asleep in hopes of dreaming of the person, but also the pain of waking up and realizing they are gone. The second verse talks about how the relationship was the last hope and the last time the person felt alive before everything crumbled at the end. The chorus repeats, stressing the fact that even though the other person is gone, the pain and longing remains.

Overall, "Wide Awake" is a song about heartbreak and the difficulty of moving on from a relationship that was so meaningful. The lyrics express the desire to hold onto happy memories and the struggle of letting go and moving forward.

Line by Line Meaning

First Kiss, First Touch
The moment when I first kissed and touched you

First Time You Ever Said It Back
The first time you ever said 'I love you' in return

When I Close My Eyes I Still Remember
I still remember every moment we spent together, even when I close my eyes

Too Much, Too Fast
We moved too fast and it was too intense

Too Good To Ever Make It Last
Our love was too good to last forever

And When I Woke Up You Were Gone
When I woke up, you were no longer with me

Last Hope, Last Chance
You were my last hope and my last chance at true love

Last Time I Ever Felt Alive
The last time I truly felt alive was with you

Was Before The Morning Pulled You Under
That feeling went away when you were taken from me in the morning

Tonight, Too Close
Tonight, our love is too close to losing everything

To Lose The Only Thing That I
To lose the only thing that I truly cared about in life