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"My first album was a lot about looking inwards and working with your own demons, becoming a warrior for yourself. All in all, it's about becoming a warrior for the people that can't be a warrior for themselves yet, so that's why it's important that this album felt like it was sent to a different kind of human. It has this mix of the ancient and futuristic because we are in a very interesting time now, as humans; we are trying to learn how to live with the world, the technology, with us, and trying to balance it all in harmony."
On the same day of the release of Infections of a Different Kind (Step 1) , Aurora confirmed in an interview with NME that Step 2 would be released either in 2019 or 2020. [5] Months later, Aurora posted a photo which seems to be an alien invasion with a text that said "Something is coming in 2019" in Morse code, which hinted that Step 2 would be set to be released in 2019. [6]
On 24 December 2018, Aurora announced in an interview for Bergens Tidende that Step 2 is coming faster than expected, most likely because she and Magnus Skylstad had been in the studio for a very long time. [7] A Different Kind of Human (Step 2) was recorded in November 2018 in a "tiny room", in which Aurora and Skylstad did not sleep until the album completion. [8] [9]
Musically, A Different Kind of Human (Step 2) combines pop, [10] art pop, [11] and electropop, [12] while drawing influences from Native American, African, Norwegian and Japanese folk music. [4] The record has been described to be a concept album that tackles themes of ecological crisis that "aim at society's self-centred capitalistic apathy." [13]
On 18 February 2019, Aurora announced that the title would not be under the assumed title of Infections of a Different Kind (Step 2), and it would have a different name. "It's kind of what I would hope for the music to do to us", Aurora said about Step 2's title. [14] In a 2021 interview, she said that a third album in the series "is coming", but that "it's just not its time yet". [15]
The album's first single, "Animal", was released on 24 January 2019 alongside a music video released the same day. At the end of March, "The Seed" was confirmed to be the second single from the project. [16] Following the announcement, the album title and tracklist were revealed on 4 April 2019. On 10 May 2019, the song "The River" was released as the album's third single. It was followed by the promotional single "A Different Kind of Human", released on 31 May 2019. The singles "Apple Tree" and "Daydreamer" were released on 26 September 2019 and 1 November 2019, respectively.
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AnyDecentMusic? | 7.3/10 [17] |
Metacritic | 77/100 [18] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [19] |
Clash | 7/10 [10] |
Dork | [20] |
Gigwise | [21] |
The Guardian | [12] |
The Independent | [13] |
The Line of Best Fit | 9/10 [22] |
musicOMH | [23] |
NME | [24] |
The Young Folks | 9/10 [25] |
At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews and ratings from mainstream publications, A Different Kind of Human (Step 2) received an average score of 77, based on 7 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [18]
AllMusic editor Marcy Donelson wrote that "while uneven, it's an album that sticks, both for its theatrical melodies and uncommon benevolence." [19] Michael Cragg of The Guardian suggested that the album "would have benefited from its predecessor's [Infections of a Different Kind (Step 1)] brevity" and added that it "deserves wider attention." [12] NME reviewer Andrew Trendell lauded the album's production, and message but commented that "Aurora's idiosyncrasies — which mostly set this album apart — sometimes also weigh it down." [24] Clash's Malvika Padin highlighted that "Aurora consistently plays to her lyrical strength, as meaningful words [...] make a home within the listeners psyche." [10]
A Different Kind of Human (Step 2) debuted at number four on the Norwegian VG-lista Topp 40 Album with first-week sales of 2,100 units, thus becoming Aurora's second top 5 record in the chart. [26] In the United Kingdom, the record peaked at number #32 on the UK Albums Chart. [27]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "The River" |
|
| 3:37 |
2. | "Animal" |
|
| 3:35 |
3. | "Dance on the Moon" |
| 3:36 | |
4. | "Daydreamer" |
| 3:39 | |
5. | "Hunger" |
|
| 2:46 |
6. | "Soulless Creatures" |
|
| 5:02 |
7. | "In Bottles" |
| 3:58 | |
8. | "A Different Kind of Human" | Aksnes |
| 4:01 |
9. | "Apple Tree" |
|
| 3:08 |
10. | "The Seed" |
| 4:26 | |
11. | "Mothership" |
|
| 2:16 |
Total length: | 40:04 |
Notes
Chart (2019) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Albums (ARIA) [28] | 52 |
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [29] | 66 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [30] | 172 |
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI) [31] | 98 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [32] | 58 |
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [33] | 4 |
Norwegian Vinyl Albums (IFPI Norge) [34] | 4 |
Scottish Albums (OCC) [35] | 34 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [36] | 54 |
UK Albums (OCC) [37] | 32 |
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard) [38] | 5 |
US Independent Albums (Billboard) [39] | 21 |
US Top Album Sales (Billboard) [40] | 96 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Norway (IFPI Norway) [41] | Platinum | 20,000* |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Region | Date | Version | Format | Label | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Various | June 7, 2019 | Standard | [42] [43] | ||
Japan | September 16, 2020 | Bonus Track | CD | Universal | [44] |
Drones is the seventh studio album by English rock band Muse, released on 5 June 2015 through Warner Bros. Records and the band's own Helium-3 imprint. The album was recorded between October 2014 and April 2015 at the Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, with orchestral sections recorded at Officine Meccaniche in Milan, and was produced by the band and Robert John "Mutt" Lange. Drones is a concept album following a soldier's abandonment, indoctrination as a "human drone", and eventual defection. It also comments on the Obama administration's drone program. After their previous albums incorporated orchestral and electronic music, Muse aimed to return to a more straightforward rock sound musically.
Aurora Aksnes, known simply as Aurora, is a Norwegian singer, songwriter and record producer. Born in Stavanger and raised in the towns of Høle and Os, she began writing her first songs and learning dance at the age of six. After some of her songs were uploaded online and became popular in Norway, she signed a recording contract with Petroleum Records, Decca and Glassnote Records in 2014. Aurora gained recognition with her debut extended play (EP), Running with the Wolves (2015), which contained the sleeper hit "Runaway". Later that year, she provided the backing track for the John Lewis Christmas advert, singing a cover of the Oasis song "Half the World Away".
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