"Listen to the Man" is a song by English singer-songwriter

George Ezra George Ezra Barnett (born 7 June 1993) is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist. After releasing two EPs, '' Did You Hear the Rain?'' (2013) and '' Cassy O (2014), Ezra rose to prominence with the release of his hit single, "Budapest", ...

. It was released in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

on 28 October 2014 through Columbia Records as the fifth single from his debut studio album ''

Wanted on Voyage ''Wanted on Voyage'' is the debut studio album by British singer-songwriter George Ezra. It was released on 30 June 2014. It released in the United States on 27 January 2015. It was produced by Cam Blackwood at Voltaire Road Studios, Clapham, Lo ...

'' (2014). The song has peaked at number 41 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. The accompanying music video features actor Sir Ian McKellen, who lip syncs to the lyrics.

Music video

The official music video was directed by Rob Brandon, who also did the videos for Ezra's previous singles "

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

" and " Cassy O'". It was filmed over four days in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and features actor Sir Ian McKellen (who

lip sync Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , the same as the word ''sink'', short for lip synchronization) is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements with sung or spoken vocals. Audio for lip syncing is generated th ...

s to the lyrics). It was uploaded to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

on 28 October 2014. Ezra told

FUSE TV Fuse is an American pay television channel launched in 1994 which was originally dedicated to music. After merging with the Latino-oriented NuvoTV in 2015, Fuse shifted its focus to general entertainment and lifestyle programming targeting multi ...

, "When we're making a video, I just say a really vague thing that I want to happen. For this one, I just said 'I don't want to be singing the song', so that could be anything! Then you pitch it to directors and it's their job to make that interesting ..I was in New York, actually, and randonrang me and said, 'How would you feel about having Ian McKellen in your video?' I said, 'Very funny, Rob, but you're going to have to ask him first', and he already had! And Ian had already said yes!" The video begins with Ezra sitting on a park bench and McKellen comes in to upstage him. Midway through the video, the song cuts off and Ezra confronts McKellen, who says he is so excited to be a part of the video. He also calls Ezra "Geoff" instead of George and says he loves Ezra's song "Bucharest" (Ezra then corrects him and says it's actually "

"). Ezra then continues the song, with McKellen continuing to lip sync, both agreeing not to upstage the other. The video has received over 102 million views as of August 2022.

Charts and certifications

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control 2014 singles 2014 songs George Ezra songs Columbia Records singles Songs written by Joel Pott Songs written by George Ezra Song recordings produced by Cam Blackwood