''A Different Kind of Human (Step 2)'' is the third studio album by Norwegian singer-songwriter and record producer

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

. It was released on 7 June 2019 by

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

and

Glassnote Records Glassnote Records (also known as Glassnote Entertainment Group LLC) is a record label that was launched by American music executive Daniel Glass in 2007. The label primarily has a lineup of indie rock and alternative rock artists, most notably ...

. It succeeds the album's first and previous chapter ''

Infections of a Different Kind (Step 1) ''Infections of a Different Kind (Step 1)'' is the second studio album by Norwegian singer-songwriter and record producer Aurora. It was released digitally on 28 September 2018 and physically on 1 November 2019 by Decca and Glassnote Records. It ...

'', which was released in September 2018. Aurora collaborated with producers including

Magnus Skylstad Magnus Åserud Skylstad (born 17 June 1983) is a Norwegian musician and record producer from Bergen. He began playing drums at around the age of fifteen years old. He currently is an affiliate of fellow Norwegian and singer-songwriter Aurora ...

, MyRiot, Askjell Solstrand, Odd Martin, Mark Ralph,

Toby Gad Tobias "Toby" Gad (born 28 March 1968) is a German music producer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. He is known for co-writing songs including John Legend's biggest hit, " All of Me", the fifth-highest certified single in RIAA history, and for ...

, and Kill Dave during its recording. It has been categorised to be a

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

art pop Art pop (also typeset art-pop or artpop) is a loosely defined style of pop music influenced by art theory, art theories as well as ideas from other art mediums, such as fashion, fine art, film, cinema, and avant-garde literature. The genre dra ...

, and

electropop Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

Background and production

On the same day of the release of ''

'', Aurora confirmed in an interview with ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' that ''Step 2'' would be released either in 2019 or 2020. 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. On 24 December 2018, Aurora announced in an interview for ''

Bergens Tidende is Norway's fifth-largest newspaper, and the country's largest newspaper outside Oslo. is owned by the public company Schibsted ASA. Norwegian owners held a mere 42% of the shares in Schibsted at the end of 2015. History and profile Founded ...

'' that ''Step 2'' is coming faster than expected, most likely because she and

had been in the studio for a very long time. ''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.

Music and lyrics

Musically, ''A Different Kind of Human (Step 2)'' combines

, and

, while drawing influences from Native American, African, Norwegian and

Japanese folk In Japan, music includes a wide array of distinct genres, both traditional and modern.ref> The word for "music" in Japanese is 音楽 (''ongaku''), combining the kanji 音 ''on'' (sound) with the kanji 楽 ''gaku'' (music, comfort). Japan is the ...

music. The record has been described to be a

that tackles themes of

ecological crisis An ecological or environmental crisis occurs when changes to the environment of a species or population destabilizes its continued survival. Some of the important causes include: * Degradation of an abiotic ecological factor (for example, incr ...

that "aim at society's self-centred capitalistic apathy."

Release and promotion

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. In a 2021 interview, she said that a third album in the series "is coming", but that "it's just not its time yet".

Singles

The album's first single, "

Animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Biology, biological Kingdom (biology), kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, ...

", 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. 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 and last single. It was followed by three promotional singles "A Different Kind of Human", released on 31 May 2019, "Apple Tree", and "Daydreamer", released on 14 August 2019 and 1 November 2019 respectively.

Critical reception

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, 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".

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

editor Marcy Donelson wrote that "while uneven, it's an album that sticks, both for its theatrical melodies and uncommon benevolence." Michael Cragg of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' suggested that the album "would have benefited from its predecessor's nfections of a Different Kind (Step 1)brevity" and added that it "deserves wider attention." ''

'' 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." '' Clashs Malvika Padin highlighted that "Aurora consistently plays to her lyrical strength, as meaningful words ..make a home within the listeners psyche."

Commercial performance

''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. In the United Kingdom, the record peaked at number #32 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

Track listing

Notes * signifies a co- producer * signifies an additional producer.

Charts

Certifications

, -

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Different Kind of Human 2019 albums Aurora (singer) albums Art pop albums Decca Records albums Glassnote Records albums