Someone To You

Album: Where The Shadow Ends (2017)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Banners is the British singer Michael Nelson, who released "Someone To You" as a single in 2017 and included it on his first full-length album, Where The Shadow Ends, in 2019. The song didn't find a substantial audience until 2020, when it took off on TikTok thanks to its jaunty and very danceable hook.
  • In this song, Banners has a lot of love, and just wants somebody to share it with. It's tinged with loneliness, but also hopeful - you get the sense that when he finds that special girl, he'll treat her right.
  • Banners wrote this song with Grant Michaels and Samuel Hollander, who have teamed on tracks by Goo Goo Dolls ("Indestructible") and Fitz And The Tantrums ("Roll Up"). In a Songfacts interview with Hollander, he said: "It's an interesting song because it came out with so little fanfare and it was sort of thrown against the wall and it disappeared. But there's an emotional resonance to it, and I think a lot of it has to do with Michael - Banners' - his voice. There's a longing in his voice when he sings. There are moments where I get that strange goosebump, sort of visceral response, even now when I listen to it. And it's all in his vocal to me. I think it's the emotion, because I really believed everything about him when he was singing it. I really truly connected with it. A strummy, uptempo record like that can do its thing, but there's something just so innately cool in his voice when he hits that chorus."
  • In the video, directed by Danielle Girdwood and Charlotte Fassler, Banners leads an uprising of the freaks and geeks at high school, who after some training, pull off a crowd-pleasing dance routine at prom. It was a little odd for Banners because they don't have prom (or dodgeball) in England.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets

Curt Kirkwood of Meat PuppetsSongwriter Interviews

The (Meat)puppetmaster takes us through songs like "Lake Of Fire" and "Backwater," and talks about performing with Kurt Cobain on MTV Unplugged.

Songs Discussed in Movies

Songs Discussed in MoviesSong Writing

Bridesmaids, Reservoir Dogs, Willy Wonka - just a few of the flicks where characters discuss specific songs, sometimes as a prelude to murder.

Kelly Keagy of Night Ranger

Kelly Keagy of Night RangerSongwriter Interviews

Kelly Keagy of Night Ranger tells the "Sister Christian" story and explains why he started sweating when he saw it in Boogie Nights.

Vince Clarke

Vince ClarkeSongwriter Interviews

An original member of Depeche Mode, Vince went on to form Erasure and Yaz.

Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty

Rob Thomas of Matchbox TwentySongwriter Interviews

Rob Thomas on his Social Distance Sessions, co-starring with a camel, and his friendship with Carlos Santana.

Marvin Gaye

Marvin GayeFact or Fiction

Did Marvin try out with the Detroit Lions? Did he fake crazy to get out of military service? And what about the cross-dressing?