Animal

Animal
Song
Artist	AURORA
Album	A Different Kind of Human - Step 2
Released	January 24, 2019
Genre	Alternative Electropop Art pop
Length	3:35 3:33 (early version)
Label	Decca Records Glassnote Petroleum Records
Writer(s)	Aurora Aksnes Kill Dave Toby Gad
Producer(s)	AURORA Kill Dave Toby Gad Magnus Skylstad Askjell Tim Bran Roy Kerr

Singles Chronology
Previous	"Forgotten Love"
Next	"The Seed"

A Different Kind of Human – Step 2 Chronology
Previous	"The River"
Next	"Dance on the Moon"

"Animal" is the fifteenth single released by AURORA and the first single from A Different Kind of Human - Step 2. On January 24, 2019, the song was officially released worldwide.

It was first teased on January 21, where a snippet of the song was sent to subscribers of her Facebook messenger. More was revealed on the 22nd when she sent 6 different other snippets of the instrumental randomly to those in the messenger, leaving it to them to piece it together.

A snippet of an early version of the song leaked in September 2019, the full recording leaked on February 4, 2022. This version has a few different vocals and a slightly different instrumental.

About the song

"Animal" talks about the hunger of searching for love and the sensuality of nature. Aurora said on Instagram:

"Animal for me is a very ironical song. It's raw because we are raw, it's sensual because nature is sensual. It's wrong and strange because the world is wrong and strange. It's free because we should be free. There is a lot of things I hate about us, (next to all the things I love) and part of me hate the industrial part of the music industry. And that is exactly why the song had to sound the way it did. Because it's a way for me to make. A bit fun of it. Still Aurora, but with elements form that world. For me, It amplifies the irony in all of it. The world we all have mixed feelings about. Because it's so easy to show people something horrible, something deep and we still choose what we want to see. And that is the must fun thing with it all."

In an interview with Backyard Opera she said:

"Animal is inspired by today's society. There are some strange behaviour patterns in us, that I know we have in common with the animals, and some behaviour that even for the wildest animal, would be too cruel. We are such strange beings, and the song is inspired by the many things I dislike and like about us.

I wrote the lyrics during one of my travels, and I went into a studio in LA to write with a lovely man who came 4 hours late to the session because of traffic, and I'd almost finished the song by then, and he made a very short but nice comment for a lyrical change and then went into the other room to play pool. LA is a strange place for me, so I really wanted to wrap the song in a blanket that reminded me of that place."

Lyrics

• Transcribed
• Official
• Early version

You are the victim, the victim of my love
I dangle upon rooftops
Before I push you off

I stand under headlights
Looking for a corner where I can't be found
With a goddess in my right eye
Watching every lover on the battle ground

You're hunting for love, killing for pleasure*
Lost in the concrete jungle
If I am alone, make me a stranger
Lost in the concrete jungle

I'm an animal, animal,
Hunting for an animal, animal,
Hunting for love, killing for pleasure,
Lost in a concrete jungle

Isolation makes me hungry
Will you stay here till I sleep?*
You'll return home in the morning
But you never really leave...

I keep the memories alive
The weight upon my shoulders felt so divine
With a goddess in my right eye
Watching every step I take before I die

You're hunting for love, killing for pleasure*
Lost in the concrete jungle
If I am alone, make me a stranger
Lost in a concrete jungle

I'm an animal, animal,
Hunting for an animal, animal,
Hunting for love, killing for pleasure,
Lost in a concrete jungle

I become an animal, animal*
Hunting for an animal, animal*

Let me become an animal*
Let me become an animal*
Cause when you are an animal,
You lose control

You're hunting for love, killing for pleasure*
Lost in the concrete jungle
If I am alone, you make me a stranger*
Lost in the concrete jungle

I'm an animal, animal,
Hunting for an animal, animal,
I become an animal, animal,*
Hunting for an animal, animal*
Hunting for love, killing for pleasure,
Lost in a concrete jungle

I'm an animal, animal,*
Hunting for an animal, animal
I become an animal, animal.*
Hunting for an animal, animal.*

You are the victim, the victim of my love
I dangle upon rooftops
Before I push you off

I stand under headlights
Looking for a corner where I can't be found
With a goddess in my right eye
Watching every lover on the battle ground

Your hunting for love, killing for pleasure
Lost in the concrete jungle
If I am alone, make me a stranger
Lost in the concrete jungle

I'm an animal, animal,
Hunting for an animal, animal,
Hunting for love, killing for pleasure,
Lost in a concrete jungle

Isolation makes me hungry
Will you stay here until I sleep?
You'll return home in the morning
But you never really leave...

I keep the memories alive
The weight upon my shoulders felt so divine
With a goddess in my right eye
Watching every step I take before I die

Youre hunting for love, killing for pleasure
Lost in the concrete jungle
If I am alone, make me a stranger
Lost in a concrete jungle

I'm an animal, animal,
Hunting for an animal, animal,
Hunting for love, killing for pleasure,
Lost in a concrete jungle

Hunting for an animal

Let me become and animal,
Let me become and animal
Cause when you are an animal,
You lose control

Your hunting for love, killing for pleasure
Lost in the concrete jungle
If I am alone, make me a stranger
Lost in the concrete jungle

I'm an animal, animal,
Hunting for an animal, animal,
Hunting for love, killing for pleasure,
Lost in a concrete jungle

I'm an animal,
Hunting for an animal, animal
Hiding from an animal, animal.
Hunting for an animal.

You are the victim, the victim of my love
I dangle upon rooftops
Before I push you off

I stand under headlights
Looking for a corner where I can't be found
With a goddess in my right eye
Watching every lover on the battle ground

You're hunting for love, killing for pleasure
Lost in the concrete jungle
If I am alone, make me a stranger
Lost in the concrete jungle

I'm an animal, animal,
Hunting for an animal, animal,
Hunting for love, killing for pleasure,
Lost in a concrete jungle

Isolation makes me hungry
Will you stay here till I sleep?
You'll return home in the morning
But you never really leave...

I keep the memories alive
The weight upon my shoulders felt so divine
With a goddess in my right eye
Watching every step I take before I die

You're hunting for love, killing for pleasure
Lost in the concrete jungle
If I am alone, make me a stranger
Lost in a concrete jungle

I'm an animal, animal,
Hunting for an animal, animal,
Hunting for love, killing for pleasure,
Lost in a concrete jungle

Let me become an animal
Let me become an animal
Cause when you are an animal,
You lose control

You're hunting for love, killing for pleasure
Lost in the concrete jungle
If I am alone, you make me a stranger
Lost in the concrete jungle

I become an animal, animal,
Hunting for an animal, animal,
I become an animal, animal,
Hunting for an animal, animal
Hunting for love, killing for pleasure,
Lost in a concrete jungle

I'm an animal, animal,
Hunting for an animal, animal
I become an animal, animal.
Hunting for an animal, animal.

Transcribed lyrics made by listening; official lyrics copied from YouTube. Differences are marked with *

Music Video

A music video for the song premiered on the same day of the song's release. It was directed by Tim Mattia.

Behind the Scenes

Audio

Early version

Fan repost

Trivia

• The cover art of the single was painted by Aurora.