“We’re at the Top of the World” (To the Simple Two) by The Juliana Theory, Wednesday, July 27, 2022

The Juliana Theory started as a pop-rock side project for Brett Detar, guitarist of the Christian metalcore band Zao. The band's first record, Understand This Is a Dream, underperformed when it released in 1999 and throughout their career, The Juliana Theory suffered from marketing purgatory due to not wanting to be marketed to the Christian market but being on a predominately Christian label. On the band's second record, Tooth & Nail's founder and CEO Brandon Ebel thought The Juliana Theory had a hit with "We're at the Top the World," a short, lyrically dearth song that was pure emotion on the ironically titled album Emotion Is Dead.

WE'VE GOT A LOT OF TIME. Twenty-two years have solidified Emotion Is Dead as a cult classic in the Tooth & Nail cannon. Like Understand This Is a Dream, Emotion Is Dead was recorded and co-produced with friend and Zao producer Barry Poynter. While Poynter was most known for heavy records, lead singer Brett Detar talked with Less Than Jake's Chris DeMakes about the recording process of the album and particularly today's song "We're at the Top of the World" on DeMakes' podcast. Detar was able to experiment with sounds on the record, calling on a variety of musical influences from The Beach Boys to Journey. The sound of the album is as diverse as the band's influences from sappy chorus to early a few well placed screams, though nothing sounding remotely like Zao. "We're at the Top of the World" became The Juliana Theory's biggest song in their career. The catchy song comes just before the cusp of when pop punk and emo went mainstream and became radio-friendly. And how did this song gain its popularity? It wasn't radio or MTV. It was a Disney Channel original film called Motorcrossed.

WE’RE ON TOP OF THE WORLD. While marketing for the album never provided a music video for any of the songs on Emotion Is Dead, not even the band's biggest hit "We're at the Top of the World," last year the band released A Dream Away, which contained reimagined versions of some of their biggest hits, including today's song. Detar did film a video for the reimagined version (see below), and it is brilliant. In the video, Detar is dressed as a gothic rocker who just filmed a death metal video; however, when he finishes the video he puts on an uplifting song, "We're at the Top of the World." One of the reasons that Emo works is because it is rooted in heavy music. The sappiness contrasts with the heaviness and Emo fans understand that their favorite band has "cred." Detar, in various interviews, has talked about his journey with the song that he claims took less than thirty minutes to write. Detar's musical career spans from Metal to Country to film scores. He has influenced the next generation of alternative rockers like Anberlin, whose lead singer Stephen Christian claimed that Detar taught him a vocal technique that Christian uses the band's concerts. Yet, this simple pop song with a name reminiscent of Carpenters' hit "Top of the World" remains The Juliana Theory's claim to fame.

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