Sandcastles in the Sand (song)
Fictional 1980s-style breakup ballad from How I Met Your Mother.
20th Century Fox · via Wikipedia: Sandcastles in the Sand (song) · Fair use
"Sandcastles in the Sand" was written by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for the CBS sitcom *How I Met Your Mother*. Canadian actress Cobie Smulders performed it as her character Robin Scherbatsky, who secretly had a past as a teenage Canadian pop star named Robin Sparkles. The track served as a follow-up to the 2006 song "Let's Go to the Mall" and took inspiration from several 1980s pop ballads. It became available for streaming on April 15, 2008, was featured in a *How I Met Your Mother* episode of the same name on April 21, and came out as a single on April 23, 2008.
- Released
- April 23, 2008 (single)
- Writers
- Craig Thomas, Carter Bays
- Performer
- Cobie Smulders (as Robin Sparkles)
- Length
- 3 minutes 33 seconds
- Genre
- Breakup ballad
- Label
- 20th Century Fox Records, Fox Music
- Appears on
- How I Met Your Music (2012)
Lore & Background
The song was created as a less-successful artistic follow-up to Robin Sparkles' minor hit "Let's Go to the Mall". In the episode, Robin reveals it was about her first boyfriend Simon, who led a rock band and had a collection of Hard Rock Cafe T-shirts. The couple met while making the music video and broke up behind his van after a week and a half together. The music video was shot at Zuma Beach, California, featuring Tiffany, Alan Thicke, and James Van Der Beek as her love interest. The video includes black-and-white flashbacks, schoolgirl-uniformed friends, and the Omnibot 2000 from the earlier video.
Reader's Guide
The song is significant as a meta-commentary on 1980s pop ballads and as a key element of the Robin Sparkles storyline in How I Met Your Mother. It was praised by television and music critics for its humor and compared to "Let's Go to the Mall". As of August 2008, it had sold 1,000 digital downloads in the United States, and its music video attracted more than 70,000 views online after three days of release. The song and video contributed to the show's exploration of character backstory and parody of teen pop culture. Smulders later reprised the role of Robin Sparkles in "Glitter" (2010) and "P.S. I Love You" (2013).
Did You Know?
- The song was inspired by Belinda Carlisle's "Circle in the Sand", Debbie Gibson's "Foolish Beat", and Martika's "Toy Soldiers".
- Cobie Smulders improvised the line "I'm on the pill now!" which was added to the song.
- The music video was filmed at Zuma Beach, California, a week and a half after the parent episode was shot.
- Alan Thicke and James Van Der Beek returned in multiple episodes of the series.
More in The Gang & Key Figures
Elsewhere in How I Met Your Mother
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