Anthem

An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short sacred choral work and still more particularly to a specific form of Anglican church music.

Etymology

Anthem is derived from the Greek ἀντίφωνα (antíphōna) via Old English antefn. Both words originally referred to antiphons, a call-and-response style of singing. The adjectival form is "anthemic".

History

Anthems were originally a form of liturgical music. In the Church of England, the rubric appoints them to follow the third collect at morning and evening prayer. Several anthems are included in the British coronation service. The words are selected from Holy Scripture or in some cases from the Liturgy and the music is generally more elaborate and varied than that of psalm or hymn tunes. Being written for a trained choir rather than the congregation, the Anglican anthem is analogous to the motet of the Roman Catholic and Lutheran Churches but represents an essentially English musical form. Anthems may be described as "verse", "full", or "full with verse", depending on whether they are intended for soloists, the full choir, or both.

Anthem (Chess song)

"Anthem" is a song from the concept album and subsequent musical Chess by Tim Rice, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. The song describes the feelings of Soviet Russian challenger, Anatoly Sergievsky, when he defects. The song was originally sung by Tommy Körberg on the original concept album]] and as Anatoly in the original West End cast. It was later covered by various artists including Josh Groban on his album Stages and Kerry Ellis.

Plot

Distracted by the loss of Florence's love, Freddie flounders in the chess tournament, leaving himself just one more loss away from losing his title. Florence leaves Freddie, who sends The Arbiter a letter of resignation, resulting in Anatoly's becoming the new world champion. Anatoly immediately defects from the Soviet Union and seeks asylum at the British embassy. Florence, accompanies Anatoly, reflecting on their newfound romance. Walter tips off the press about this scandal. When the mob of reporters ambush Anatoly to ask why he is deserting his country, he tells them in this song that he will never truly leave his country because his land's only borders lie around his heart.

Anthem (N-Joi song)

"Anthem," is a song by the British electronic music group N-Joi. The piano-heavy driven single, which also serves as their debut track, has gone on to become one of their most famous signature songs in the act's career, as well as seeing it chart numerous times since its 1990 release.

Background

The track, which was originally released in 1990, has charted on both the UK and US charts. In its first release, it peaked at number 8 on the UK Pop Chart, but in the United States it had better success on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play Chart, where it made two trips to the top 5, reaching number 4 in 1991 with the original mixes, and again in 1996, where it was rereleased with new remixes as "The New Anthem" (under the expanded credited "N-Joi featuring Mark Franklin and Nigel Champion"). The updated version would be their second number one in the US, following "Mindflux."

Although the single and the video also features Nigerian singer/actress Saffron, who did the live performances for the act (and whose career would take off after this track), "Anthem" actually features samples of three songs: "Peanut Butter" by Gwen Guthrie (using the lyrics "I'm In Love With You, Want You to Love Me, Too"; Saffron performs the same lyrics in the act's live shows), "I Found Love" by Darlene Davis (using the lyrics "True Love Can Be Hard To Find") and "Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)" by Soul II Soul. Because of this, the artists (and their writers) also receive credits on the single.

Soulmate

A soulmate is a person with whom one has a feeling of deep or natural affinity. This may involve similarity, love, romance, friendship, comfort, intimacy, sexuality, sexual activity, spirituality, or compatibility and trust.

Historical usage of the concept

Plato

In his dialogue The Symposium, Plato has Aristophanes present a story about soulmates. Aristophanes states that humans originally had four arms, four legs, and a single head made of two faces. He continues that there were three genders: man, woman and the "Androgynous". Each with two sets of genitalia with the Androgynous having both male and female genitalia. The men were children of the sun, the women were children of the earth and the Androgynous were children of the moon, which was born of the sun and earth. It is said that humans had great strength at the time and threatened to conquer the gods. The gods were then faced with the prospect of destroying the humans with lightning as they had done with the Titans but then they would lose the tributes given to the gods by humans. Zeus developed a creative solution by splitting humans in half as punishment for humanity's pride and doubling the number of humans who would give tribute to the gods. These split humans were in utter misery to the point where they would not eat and would perish so Apollo had sewn them up and reconstituted their bodies with the navel being the only remnant harkening back to their original form. Each human would then only have one set of genitalia and would forever long for his/her other half; the other half of his/her soul. It is said that when the two find each other, there is an unspoken understanding of one another, that they feel unified and would lie with each other in unity and would know no greater joy than that.

Soulmate (song)

"Soulmate" is a song written and produced by Natasha Bedingfield, Mads Hauge and David Tench for Bedingfield's second album, N.B. (2007). The song is written in the key of E-flat minor and set in 4/4 time. Bedingfield's vocals range from F#3 to B4. The lyrics discuss if there is a soulmate for everyone and if Bedingfield will ever find the right partner. The song was released as the album's second single in July 2007. It was a commercial success, and the most successful single from N.B, reaching number seven in the United Kingdom and the top forty in the majority of the charts it entered. "Soulmate" is the fourth single released for the United States version of N.B., titled Pocketful of Sunshine.

The song gained popularity in the U.S after it was played in an episode of the highly rated MTV program The Hills. Promotion for the single started months after its release, in April 2009. She performed it on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, 15 April and Dancing With The Stars on 21 April. The song was also used throughout the final episode of season 5 of the TV series "Medium" and the finale of The Bachelorette's fourth season following Jesse Csincsak's proposal to DeAnna Pappas.