New Soul

For the genre, see Neo soul.

"New Soul"
Single by Yael Naïm
from the album Yael Naim
Released	February 15, 2008 (Europe) February 18, 2008 (UK) March 4, 2008 (U.S.)
Format	Digital download
Recorded	2007
Genre	Folk
Length	3:34 (Album Version) 3:44 (Single Version)
Label	Tôt ou tard[1]
Writer(s)	Yael Naïm
Producer	Yael Naïm, David Donatien
Certification	Gold
Yael Naïm singles chronology
"Toxic" (2007) "New Soul" (2008) "Too Long" (2008)

"New Soul" is a song by the French-Israeli indie folk singer Yael Naïm, from her eponymous album. The song has gained popularity in the U.S. following its use by Apple in an advertisement for their MacBook Air 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 USA to date, and her only one to reach the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.

Music video

The video shows Naïm 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 in MTV.

Chart performance

In the issue dated February 16, 2008, "New Soul" debuted on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 at number 9, giving Naïm her first single ever to enter any U.S. chart. It reached #7 on the Hot 100 before falling to #42 the following week making it one of the largest falls from the top 10 in Billboard history. It later rebounded into the top 50 due to being featured on the Apple MacBook Air commercials, but nonetheless the song spent a total of 19 weeks on the chart. It debuted at #44 on the Canadian Hot 100, and jumped to #7 on the chart the following week. In her birth country of France, the single has reached #2 so far on the French Singles Chart. In February 2008, it debuted on the UK Singles Chart at #42 and reached #30 one month later.

Charts

Chart (2008)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart[2]	29
Austrian Singles Chart[3]	2
Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart[4]	7
Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart[5]	1
Billboard Eurochart Hot 100 Singles[6]	3
Canadian Hot 100[7]	7
Dutch Singles Chart [8]	12
French Singles Chart[7]	2
Hungarian Airplay Chart[9]	7
Italian Singles Chart[8]	6
New Zealander Singles Chart[10]	21
Swiss Singles Chart[7]	5
UK Singles Chart[7]	30
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[7]	7
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks	16

Year-end charts

Chart (2008)	Rank
German Singles Chart [11]	33

See also

• Ultratop 40 number-one hits of 2008
• List of number-one hits of 2008 (France)

References

1. ^ Yael Naim - Keep listening
2. ^ "New Soul", Australian Singles Chart Australian-charts.com (Retrieved April 2, 2008)
3. ^ "New Soul", Austrian Singles Chart [1]
4. ^ "New Soul", Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart Ultratop.be (Retrieved April 2, 2008)
5. ^ Top Music Charts - Hot 100 - Billboard 200 - Music Genre Sales
6. ^ Top Music Charts - Hot 100 - Billboard 200 - Music Genre Sales
7. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Yael Naim - New Soul worldwide chart positions and trajectories". aCharts.us. Retrieved February 8, 2008.
8. ^ ^{a b} lescharts.com - Yael Naim - New Soul
9. ^ Hungarian Airplay Chart. mahasz.hu. Retrieved July 24, 2008.
10. ^ "New Soul", New Zealander Singles Chart Charts.org.nz (Retrieved April 2, 2008)
11. ^ http://www.mtv.de/charts/Jahrescharts2008

External links

• Yael Naim on MySpace