Human (OneRepublic album)

The album was announced by frontman Ryan Tedder in September 2019, with a planned release in "late November" of that year. Tedder stated that he wanted to put out an album with eight or nine songs and then continue releasing new music in 2020. Tedder later revealed that the album had been delayed until the second quarter of 2020 because it was "physically impossible to finish an album in the timeframe that we thought we needed it", and he believed the album would not be successful if released between Thanksgiving and Christmas.^[1] Tedder also said the band had "two years worth of songs just scattered on hard drives" and were trying to find and finish "the best ones" to make "a coherent album out of the last two years".^[1] Tedder stated that the May 8 release date was delayed because of it being a "weird time", amid the COVID-19 pandemic.^[2] The band also stated, "due to the current circumstances requiring us to distance ourselves from each other and you, the release has been postponed."^[3] On July 1, 2021, the band announced via their Instagram account that the official release date for Human would be August 27, 2021.^[4]

The lead single "Rescue Me" was released on May 17, 2019, and reached number five on the US Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100.^[5] "Wanted" was released as the second single on September 6, 2019, and reached number nine on the Bubbling Under Hot 100.^[5] The third single "Didn't I" was released alongside the album pre-order on March 13, 2020, and reached number 19 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100.^[6] "Better Days" was released as the fourth single on March 25, 2020.^[7] "Run" was released as the fifth single on May 5, 2021,^[8] and reached number 11 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100.^[5] "Someday" was released as the sixth single on August 27, 2021, along with the album's release.^[9][10][11]

More information Review scores, Source ...

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[15]
Vinyl Chapters	[16]
The Young Folks	7/10[17]

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Human received mixed reviews from music critics. Much of it was divided on Tedder's production and vocals on several tracks, while the lyricism and melodies were praised on certain tracks and received negatively on others due to the excess of rap-trap verses.

Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic called the album proof that OneRepublic are still the "masters of the galloping, upbeat pop anthem, packing whistles, handclaps, throbbing basslines, and dance beats into every second of a song" but also mentions that "by including tracks that have been around since 2019, much of the effort feels like a time capsule of days gone by (especially in such an ever-changing genre) and, in a harsher sense, of dated material that can sound out of place when presented as a whole vision years later".^[15] Vinyl Chapters' Zoë Andrea-Lykourgou wrote that "Human is a solid album that starts and ends considerably strongly. It's relatively easy to listen to and, whilst the quality does vary in places, there are more than a few powerful tracks that keep the listener interested throughout".^[16]

Notes

• ^{^[a]} signifies a co-producer
• ^{^[b]} signifies an additional producer