"New Soul" is a song by the French-Israeli singer Yael Naïm, from her self-titled second album. The song gained popularity in the United States following its use by

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

in an advertisement for their

MacBook Air The MacBook Air is a line of Mac (computer), Mac laptop computers developed and manufactured by Apple Inc., Apple since 2008. It features a thin, light structure in a machining, machined aluminum case and currently either a 13-inch or 15-inch ...

laptop. In the song Naïm sings of being a new soul who has come into the world to learn "a bit 'bout how to give and take". However, she finds that things are harder than they seem. The song, also featured in the films '' The House Bunny'' and '' Wild Target'', features a prominent "la la la la" section as its hook. It remains Naïm's biggest hit single in the US to date, and her only one to reach the top 40 of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. "New Soul" was mixed and mastered by S. Husky Höskulds at Groundlift Studios, Reykjavik and Los Angeles.

Composition

The sheet music for "New Soul" published in the key of

C major C major is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and its parallel min ...

, and is set in

time signature A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...

common time A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...

with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of 100 beats per minute. Yael Naim's vocal range spans from A₃ to A₅.

Music video

The video shows Nami moving into an empty apartment. She covers the walls in wallpaper depicting a lake surrounded by forest. She then begins unpacking several other things, including furniture, a piano, a goldfish in a bowl and a number of photographs of people, which she hangs on the wall. As she hangs the photographs, the people in the pictures are shown in real life, in the setting depicted in the pictures. Naïm then begins painting on the photographs, and whatever she paints appears with the people in real life. She removes one of the pictures to discover a hole in the wall, revealing the actual forest setting shown in the wallpaper. She pushes on the wall, and it falls away into the lake. The remaining walls fall onto the water leaving the floor of the apartment like a raft floating on the lake, together with her furniture. The people from her pictures reach her by boat. They climb onto the makeshift raft with her, as they all celebrate, dancing and playing instruments, whilst she empties the goldfish bowl into the lake. In 2008, the video received strong airplay on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

Chart performance

In the issue dated 16 February 2008, "New Soul" debuted on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 9, giving Naïm her first single ever to enter any US chart. It reached number 7 on the Hot 100 before falling to number 42 the following week. It later rebounded due to being featured on the

commercials, but nonetheless the song spent a total of 19 weeks on the chart. It debuted at number 44 on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...

, and jumped to number 7 on the chart the following week. In her birth country of France, the single hit number 1 on the French Singles Chart. In February 2008, it debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number 42 and reached a peak of number 30 one month later.

Personnel

* Yael Naïm – vocals, guitar, piano, composition, lyrics * Laurent David – bass, guitar * David Donatien – drums * Sebastien Llado – trombone

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

Official video
{{authority control 2008 singles Ultratop 50 Singles (Wallonia) number-one singles Yael Naim songs 2008 songs