• By JOHN WIRT
• Music writer
• Published: Feb 5, 2010

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Adam Young, better known as Owl City, and his whimsical “Fireflies” reached the top of Billboard’s pop singles chart in October. The song then hovered in the Top 5 for 11 weeks.

An amazing achievement for a young man who began writing songs after two uninspiring years of loading trucks at a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Minnesota. 

“It all really started on a whim, partially out of boredom, as something to keep me busy,” the 23-year-old Young explained this week in an email interview. “I remember starting to work on an electronic song and the ideas just started flowing. It was crazy.”

Young named his one-man musical project after an experience he’d had as a child during his annual visit to his grandmother in Scotland.

“I happened to be waltzing scot-free through the Scottish foothills when I suddenly came upon a deep, dark, marvelously mysterious forest,” he said. “This forest was literally CRAMMED full of owls. Big owls, small owls, fat owls, skinny owls, tall owls, short owls, smart owls, dumb owls, tough owls, sissy owls, owls who climb on rocks … you name it. It was a city of owls and, me being the clever bloke I so happen to be, I thought OWL CITY had a bit more of a ring to it than CITY OF OWLS. The rest, I’d say, is as plain as the nose on your face.”

Back in his parent’s basement in Minnesota, Young loved making music, but he never expected to find much of an audience.

“I thought the music I made wouldn’t be heard by anyone more than myself and my closest friends,” he said. “The rest that has happened is just icing.”

MySpace became Young’s avenue to a vast audience. He released a digital EP, Of June, in 2007, and then the full-length Maybe I’m Dreaming the next year. Tens of millions of MySpace plays followed.

The big MySpace numbers sparked the interest of Universal Republic Records, another surprise for music business novice Young.

Released last July, Owl City’s Universal Republic debut, Ocean Eyes, entered Billboard’s Top 200 albums chart at No. 27. His second sold-tour followed as well as that No. 1 position for “Fireflies.”

Despite Young’s massive iTunes and MySpace popularity, “Fireflies’ ” ascent to the top was another unexpected development for the song’s unassuming creator.

“It’s a weird emotion in a way,” he said. “It’s sort of like waking up on a weekday, dragging in to work and discovering everything has already been done. It’s surreal, to say the least.”

Never having performed as Owl City before February 2009, Young was apprehensive about appearing on stage. Far beyond feeling mere butterflies, he was petrified.