So Human
Encyclopedia
"So Human" is a single by the English
rapper
Lady Sovereign
. The song was the second single off her second album Jigsaw. The single was released on and has so far reached 38 on the UK Singles Chart
. The song was written by Louise Harman (a.k.a. Lady Sovereign) and Gabriel Olegavich. The song was produced by Lukasz Gottwald, Benjamin Levin and Robert Smith. The song contains heavy sampling of The Cure
single "Close to Me", as well as some of its lyrics.
gave the song 4 out of 5 stars and a very positive review, stating "it's a perky urban pop tune about having bad days and not beating yourself up about it. Sovereign remains as straight-talking and listenable as ever - "I need a bag of green to make this go away," she raps at one point - making this a welcome reminder of her talents".
Orange UK gave the song 4 out of 5 stars and welcomed Lady Sovereign back onto the music scene, saying "'So Human' sees Sovereign applying her no-nonsense straight-talking wit to one of British pop's most prized possessions. The result is a perky, poppy urban track that just about sidesteps novelty territory and is all the better for it. Welcome home m'Lady".
BBC Radio 1's Chart Blog commented on both the video and the song:
BBC gave the song an overall 4 stars out of 5.
one week before the full release at 38, on the next week's chart it stayed at 38 making it two weeks in the top 40.
The song debuted at #82 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart
, after receiving a substantial amount of airplay recently. The song has since gone to #36 on the ARIA Charts. It spent a total of 4 weeks within the top 50, compared to Love Me Or Hate Me which spent only 1 week within the top 50.
UK Single #2
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
rapper
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
Lady Sovereign
Lady Sovereign
Louise Amanda Harman , better known by the stage name Lady Sovereign, is an English rapper & grime artist. She is noted for her professional success in performing styles of music generally dominated by males...
. The song was the second single off her second album Jigsaw. The single was released on and has so far reached 38 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. The song was written by Louise Harman (a.k.a. Lady Sovereign) and Gabriel Olegavich. The song was produced by Lukasz Gottwald, Benjamin Levin and Robert Smith. The song contains heavy sampling of The Cure
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
single "Close to Me", as well as some of its lyrics.
Critical response
Digital SpyDigital Spy
Digital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....
gave the song 4 out of 5 stars and a very positive review, stating "it's a perky urban pop tune about having bad days and not beating yourself up about it. Sovereign remains as straight-talking and listenable as ever - "I need a bag of green to make this go away," she raps at one point - making this a welcome reminder of her talents".
Orange UK gave the song 4 out of 5 stars and welcomed Lady Sovereign back onto the music scene, saying "'So Human' sees Sovereign applying her no-nonsense straight-talking wit to one of British pop's most prized possessions. The result is a perky, poppy urban track that just about sidesteps novelty territory and is all the better for it. Welcome home m'Lady".
BBC Radio 1's Chart Blog commented on both the video and the song:
The video goes perfectly with this song; it's sort of comfortingly cheap, with slightly-crap-but-carried-off-well "special effects" like the magazine covers and it fits the lyrics (which, admittedly, I didn't actually realise were about maintaining your human side whilst famous until I watched that so top marks for illustrative education there) and it's generally very good.
The song itself, again, is very good. The use of the sample from the theme from The Smoking Room 'Close To Me' by The Cure is well done; although 'Close To Me' is a desperately heartbreaking (and desperately desperate) song, its beat has always been wonderfully gentle and reassuring, bumbling along in an intimate, gentle way like an audiohug. Which is perfect for a song essentially all about having a really rubbish time of it and losing your temper and getting a bit "tired and emotional" and then having a big cry and feeling better.
Sov looks great in the video, she sounds great on the track, I really like both. It's all really good.
Maybe it's me being hard to please, though but a bit of me sinks when I see this; yes, it works really well and hopefully it'll be successful but as good as this all is, there's a lot of me that wishes Lady Sovereign wouldn't have to do something as, essentially, cheap as this to make it work; seeing artists constrained by budget is never particularly satisfying, even when it works out and I'd rather see personality pieces like 'I Got U Dancin' given the treatment they deserve than this being released because it's doable with the resources available, in the end.
BBC gave the song an overall 4 stars out of 5.
Chart performance
The song debuted on the UK Singles ChartUK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
one week before the full release at 38, on the next week's chart it stayed at 38 making it two weeks in the top 40.
The song debuted at #82 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
, after receiving a substantial amount of airplay recently. The song has since gone to #36 on the ARIA Charts. It spent a total of 4 weeks within the top 50, compared to Love Me Or Hate Me which spent only 1 week within the top 50.
Music video
The video starts off with Sovereign standing in front of a white wall with a splash of yellow paint on it. Then it goes to Sovereign on the red carpet being interviewed, after the paparazzi take many pictures of her a model walks on and tries to steal the spotlight so she trips her over. She then steals a camera of the paparazzi and throws it away from him. She then appears on two magazine covers one called "Crazed" and another called "Any Other Magazine". She then appears on a couch with a psychiatrist sitting next to her and she takes notes on everything Sovereign says. the psychiatrist eventually breaks down in tears and hugs Sovereign. She then appears on two new magazines one called "Vague" and the other called "Spender". She then talks to a guy who is viewing art at a gallery and then she walks off because he bores her. When she walks off she lets her friends sneak in and they have a party. She then ends it by going everywhere she has already been in the video and the person next to her mimes the words off the song.Track listing
UK Single #1- "So Human" clean edit
- "So Human" dirty album version
UK Single #2
- "So Human" album version
- "I Got You Dancing" Semothy JonesSemothy JonesAndrew Hughes, better known as Semothy Jones or Sem for short, is an English songwriter and record producer from Islington, London. Semothy first gained attention in 2007 after working closely with old friend Plan B on a bootleg Mixtape called Paint It Blacker...
Remix
Release history
| Country | Release date | Format |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | April 6, 2009 | CD single/digital download |
Charts
| Chart (2009) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
36 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
38 |
| Chart (2010) | Peak position |
| UK R&B Chart UK R&B Chart The Official UK R&B Chart is a forty-position R&B/Hip-Hop chart compiled by The Official UK Charts Company. Although the chart does not receive any airplay, its compilation is viewed on BBC Radio 1's website and publications such as ChartsPlus and Music Week... |
36 |