Songfacts®:

• Written by English pop star Ed Sheeran and his composer brother, Matthew Sheeran, this emotional ballad is about a son's journey to become a musician with a supportive father by his side.
  
  Matteo Bocelli, the son of Italian opera star Andrea Bocelli, could certainly relate to the sentiment, as he shares both a personal and professional relationship with his own father. Before releasing his self-titled solo debut in 2023, Matteo recorded the duet "Fall On Me" with the elder Bocelli (which appeared on Andrea's chart-topping album Sì in 2018) and went on tour with him. While "Chasing Stars" refers to their close bond, it also represents a new phase in Matteo's life as a solo performer.
  
  "It felt so authentic, and that was one of the most important points for me," he explained in a 2023 Songfacts interview. "I already underlined the beautiful relationship I have with my father but this is a sort of second step song. That also underlined the transition from the beginning with him to another phase of my life, especially with my career where I have to start walking with my own feet."
• Music was an important part of Matteo's upbringing, but when his father encouraged him to learn to sing and play the piano, he didn't intend for him to make a career out of it. "Sometimes people think, 'Matteo is in this because he had pressure from his father.' It's not like that. It's actually the opposite," Matteo explained.
  
  "When I told him, 'Dad, I want to make this passion for music become something more,' he was quite afraid and scared for me, because he knows what the music industry is about. It's very tough in every sense. So, he was pretty afraid, but at the end of the day when you see and feel there's a strong passion, you cannot stop a person from doing what he feels and loves."
• Matteo was always a big fan of Ed Sheeran's, but he got to know him as a friend when Sheeran came to Italy to record a song with Andrea Bocelli - "Perfect Symphony," a classical take on Sheeran's 2017 hit "Perfect." When Sheeran found out that Matteo was looking for material for his debut album, he sent him a few songs, and this tune was the standout.
  
  "'Chasing Stars' had everything," Matteo said. "It's a very melodical song. I love the message because it's very positive and beautiful, and the world we live in needs it. It always needs it, but now, in this particular moment, even more. It seemed like they wrote the song for me so that was the point for me."