In U.K. Charity's Stark Appeal, 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' Takes on Deeper Meaning

Not everyone has a home for the holidays

Total eclipse of the heart. Yeah, that nails it.

One of the most overplayed songs of all time undergoes an amazing transformation in Don’t Panic London’s annual appeal for Shelter, the U.K. charity that helps folks struggling with homelessness.

The synth-driven, power-pop bombast that’s boosted a billion brands is nowhere to be found. Instead, the spot wrings potent emotion and irony from Bonnie Tyler’s ’80s epic, as a youngster facing dire straits belts out the tune for the holidays, with great gusto, sans musical accompaniment.

The tune’s familiarity draws eyes and ears, while the stripped-down take subverts ad tropes to deliver the requisite gut punch.

Unlike last year’s Shelter spot steeped in space fantasy—impressive in its own right—this new PSA keeps things urban, understated and wrenchingly real.

Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman) directs in an almost documentary style, serving up everyday images of schoolrooms, streets and unwholesome lodgings. He brought choreographer Ashley Wallen onto the project, and he keeps the kid in constant, hopeful motion.

You won’t find Santa Claus or spaceships here. Just humans chilled by reduced circumstances, with a song in their hearts, hanging on as best they can.

“‘Total Eclipse’ was our top choice and hit all the marks for us: a genuine earworm, feels like it could legitimately be hold music and, as it’s a real fist-clenching power ballad, meant our lead character could be both frustrated by it and then lose himself to it,” Georgia Stephenson, agency ACD. tells Muse. “We actually wrote the script with director Gracey in mind, so we were really chuffed to get him and all that Hollywood expertise on board for such a good cause.”

“We deliberately cast a child whose dancing style was his own, rather than talent that had been formally trained,” she says. “this helped him feel more relatable and authentic.”

When he first leapt on the lunch table during rehearsals he proclaimed that “‘This move is the best!’ “So wherever he could enjoy the moves and take ownership of the dancing, we enabled him.”

Shelter has a lived experience panel of individuals who have faced homelessness and know what it’s like to live in temporary accommodations, “so we had some really important chats with them about authenticity, getting the details right. Including things like the amount of belongings, mould, fridge by the bedside—all those things are important to portray the reality of what thousands of families are experiencing this Christmas.”

As for the a-cappella performance, “We wanted it to cut through wall to wall music in Christmas ads, with just his powerfully raw singing.”