John Rzeznik was picked to write the song for the movie because it was believed he could relate well with Treasure Planet's main character, Jim, and his "rebel-with-a-cause angst". Directors Ron Clements and John Musker stated on the film's audio commentary that they had temped a scene in the film using the song Iris by Rzeznik's band The Goo Goo Dolls. Referring to Jim, Rzeznik said, "It was easy to relate to Jim, you know? I felt a lot like that when I was his age." "I'm Still Here" is one of two songs on the Treasure Planet soundtrack performed by Rzeznik; the other being "Always Know Where You Are". The song was sung by Rzeznik during the film, but performed by BBMak on the soundtrack.
Music video
A music video was created that featured a young man in front of changing scenery all the while Rzeznik is appearing alongside him. The young man and Rzeznik are seen running throughout the video towards Treasure Planet and away from the young man's arguing parents; Scroop, one of the villains from the movie, in silhouette; and the destruction of the planet. The end of the video depicts Rzeznik walking down a road. PluggedIn said the "stylish rock music video...subtly ties to the film without lazily lifting montages of animated scenes and dumping music on top—it’s an MTV-ready artistic creation in its own right."
Critical reception
Ricky Brigante of InsideTheMagic said the song "dat the film tremendously" as the 90's-style vocals are jarringly featured in the middle of the movie. The site added "This one song is a far cry from the brilliant musical numbers featured in so many of Disney’s animated films". The BBC described it as one of two pop songs "strangely detached from workmanlike and inoffensive" soundtrack, and "an attempt to extend the soundtrack's appeal to an older, rockier audience". It described the song as "sandpaper-voiced...heavy-rock, angsty teen anthem...updating the traditional pre-pubescent Disney hero". DVDDizzy said "It is a great song for the movie, but I found the music video boring and hardly worth watching again."
International Versions
For international releases of Treasure Planet, the song was redone in different languages, including:
