Music videos with car chases, laser guns, and werewolf transformations have been done so many times that they can sometimes feel predictable. However, Muse scrambles those formulas entirely with their lush new song and video for "Something Human," defying the expected.
Bellamy described the video as a representation of "taming the beast" while on the road. In an interview with Billboard, the vocalist detailed the creative process behind the song after the band's extensive Drones tour:
The Drones Tour was amazing and we’re very happy with how it went, but at the same time it was quite grueling. Six nights in Paris, five nights in London, the same show — it’s the first time we did that, an extensive arena tour with multiple nights in multiple cities. And the nature of the album and the show was quite dark in message and tone, and I think that living in that for a long time can actually be quite draining.
It had a dark vibe, which is good, but when you’ve been doing that for a while that natural result was that as soon as I came off the road, “Something Human” came out, which is a more tender, down-to-earth, simplistic song about what it feels like to be burned out and wanting to get home to a more normal life after being on the road for a couple years.
Continuing the '80s visual themes and characters from their previous song and video for "Thought Contagion," frontman Matt Bellamy takes the role of protagonist, outrunning his armed bandmates Chris Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard in a futuristic car chase while trying to return a VHS tape. It gets weirder.
"Something Human" has a lighter sound than what we would expect from Muse. Spacey electronic percussion is mixed with bouncy acoustic guitar, giving the number a breezy vibe. Bellamy's vocals are accompanied by serene harmonies at the track's chorus, with building layers of orchestration. The band is mainly known for intense arena rock, but this song is a welcome change of pace. There is some cognitive dissonance between the laid-back vibe of the music and the intense chase sequence in the video, but that is also what makes it so interesting.
Muse are currently working on their yet-to-be-named eighth album, expected to be released in November.
For more music, news, and tour dates, check out Muse's Zumic artist page.