In Jon Bellion’s, ‘Human’, the Long Island raised singer, rapper, songwriter, and record producer is unapologetically honest with his views on being human. In behind the scenes studio footage of ‘Human’, Bellion opens up by saying, “It’s important to be like, just brutally honest. Like the age of popstars and perfection of people’s social media and all that stuff is kind of out the window. I think it would be more taxing on me to not be honest,” which is exactly what he does here. In very Jon Bellion fashion, he simplifies the complexities of being human through his music. The song continuously harps on the uncertainty of what is to follow. Even though his fame and fortune are very beneficial to him, he still feels as if he just put his sails up in the middle of a hurricane, taking him further and further away from his roots. Sometimes the fame and fortune isn’t enough when at the end of the day you are as human as everyone else, still dealing with the same shit (probably just on a MUCH different scale).
Most of that fame and fortune can be attributed to Bellion’s ability to combine processed, authentic, and acoustic sounds, that when put together, result into a blissful musical masterpiece. His unique sound makes it hard to limit him to one specific genre. As I had mentioned before, Bellion’s musical title consists of many different jobs, including producer and singer. This has enabled him to incorporate a number of different elements to his music, to the point where you find yourself asking, “How the hell did he think of that?” or even “Wait, did I hit skip by accident?”.
In ‘Human’, Jon Bellion lures us in at first with a very elementary piano intro. Then que his soothing vocals. But it isn’t until the beat comes in where Bellion gets to showcase his musical mastery. He pairs what sounds like a hollowed-out kick drum and snare with strong chord progression on the beat, which finally gives the song some pulse. But unsurprisingly, Jon Bellion builds us up this whole time just to bring us back down again for a slow, hypnotic chorus. Throughout the second verse, you hear Bellion start to come alive. The pulse is back with our first focus on a cello driving home the heart of the progression. Throughout the rest of the song, we get teased by Bellion with little snippets here and there of the gorgeous chords from the cello. It isn’t until the very end of the song, till we see what Bellion has been teasing this whole time as he finally lets the cello fly. This time – brilliantly paired with an army of horns, gives us the closest thing to effortless perfection that you can get from a piece of music.
Jon Bellion does a great job connecting to his listeners on a personal level through his lyrics. No matter what your background is, you can relate to one of the imperfections he highlights in his verses. Whether it be: My mother calls I have no time to talk – But I can find the time to drink and smoke – Took 15 hits ‘till I can barely walk – I threw up on the lawn, I can’t find my phone. Or even his opening line: I always fear that I’m not living right – So I feel guilty when I go to church – The pastor tells me I’ve been saved, I’m fine – Then please explain to me why my chest still hurts. Bellion’s relatability parallels perfectly with this song’s message: no matter where you came from, everyone has their individual battles that overwhelms them – making them sick of being human. While there are only two verses, ‘Human’ takes you on a musical ride allowing you to remind yourself that humanity is built on imperfection and human error. As Jon Bellion would encourage us to think: wouldn’t imperfection and human flaw be one of the first instances of individuality?
Words About Music 