Watch: ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ Soundtracks Kia Super Bowl Ad
Kia’s new Super Bowl ad brings together a robotic dog, an electric car and Bonnie Tyler's classic hit "Total Eclipse of the Heart."
While the song features prominently in the car company's commercial, the real star is a robotic pooch with life-like puppy dog eyes who escapes an electronics store to do what dogs do -- chase cars. On the short adventure, the electronic puppy dodges a bicycle, plows through boxes, and even decides to launch himself off of a building to get close to Kia’s new EV6 all-electric SUV. “Total Eclipse of the Heart” soundtracks the clip, which can be seen below.
Released in 1983, "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was part of Tyler's fifth studio album, Faster Than the Speed of Night. The track originally clocked in at 7-minutes in length, but was whittled down to 4 minutes and 30 seconds for radio airplay. The strategy worked, as the single spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The track was penned by Jim Steinman, best known for his collaborations with Meat Loaf.
“I had a vision of this woman lying on the ground looking at the moon like a sacrifice,” the late songwriter and producer once explained. “I once worked on music for Murnau's famous ‘Nosferatu’ and have always known that vampires would make an ideal subject for an opera or a musical. In fact I wrote ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart,’ probably my most successful song ever, as a tribute to ‘Nosferatu.’
“Total Eclipse of the Heart” has remained a popular track, even in the decades since Steinman and Tyler came together to make it a hit. The song was featured in the films Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and Old School, as well as the TV shows Glee, Nip/Tuck and Grey’s Anatomy.
The Kia commercial will officially premiere during the Super Bowl, Feb. 13 on NBC.