Smile

A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a "Duchenne smile". Smiles performed without the eye contraction can be perceived as "fake".

Among humans, smiling is an expression denoting pleasure, sociability, happiness, or amusement. It is distinct from a similar but usually involuntary expression of anxiety known as a grimace. Although cross-cultural studies have shown that smiling is a means of communication throughout the world, there are large differences between different cultures, with some using smiles to convey confusion or embarrassment.

Historical background

Primatologist Signe Preuschoft traces the smile back over 30 million years of evolution to a "fear grin" stemming from monkeys and apes who often used barely clenched teeth to portray to predators that they were harmless. The smile may have evolved differently among species and especially among humans. Apart from Biology as an academic discipline that interprets the smile, those who study kinesics and psychology such as Freitas-Magalhaes view the smile as an affect display that can communicate feelings such as love, happiness, pride, contempt, and embarrassment.

Smile! (novel)

Smile! is a children's book by Geraldine McCaughrean. In 2004 it won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize Bronze Award.

References

Smile (The Beach Boys album)

Smile (occasionally typeset as SMiLE) was a projected album by American rock band the Beach Boys intended to follow their 11th studio album Pet Sounds. After the group's songwriting leader Brian Wilson abandoned large portions of music recorded between 1966 and 1967, the band recorded and released the dramatically scaled-down Smiley Smile album in its place. Some of the original Smile tracks eventually found their way onto subsequent Beach Boys studio and compilation albums. As more fans learned of the project's origins, details of its recordings acquired considerable mystique, and it was later acknowledged as the most legendary unreleased album in the history of popular music.

Working with lyricist Van Dyke Parks, Smile was composed as a multi-thematic concept album, existing today in its unfinished and fragmented state as an unordered series of abstract musical vignettes. Its genesis came during the recording of Pet Sounds, when Wilson began recording a new single: "Good Vibrations". The track was created by an unprecedented recording technique: over 90 hours of tape was recorded, spliced, and reduced into a three-minute pop song. It quickly became the band's biggest international hit yet; Smile was to be produced in a similar fashion. Wilson touted the album "a teenage symphony to God," incorporating a diverse range of music styles including psychedelic, doo-wop, barbershop singing, ragtime, yodeling, early American folk, classical music, and avant-garde explorations into noise and musical acoustics. Its projected singles were "Heroes and Villains", a Western musical comedy, and "Vega-Tables", a satire of physical fitness.

Numb (Rihanna song)

"Numb" is a song by Barbadian singer Rihanna from her seventh studio album Unapologetic (2012). It features guest vocals by American rapper Eminem, making it the pair's third collaboration since the two official versions of "Love the Way You Lie". Following the album's release, "Numb" charted on multiple charts worldwide including in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Composition and lyrical interpretation

"Numb" lasts for a duration of 3:25. The song's instrumentation consists of an Egyptian flute riff and "a crashing bombastic beat." "Numb" contains a sample of Kanye West's song "Can't Tell Me Nothing", written by West and Aldrin Davis. The lyric "Let the champagne smash/ Let that man get cash" from "Can't Tell Me Nothing" is the sample used in "Numb". The song's lyrical content is "controversial" as it is about feeling "numb after taking drugs." and a "homage to getting high." Rihanna performs the lines

I don't care Can't tell me nothing I'm impaired

in the first Verse. Eminem "spits" his verse, performing the lines

Numb (August Alsina song)

"Numb" is a song by American recording artist August Alsina, released on December 10, 2013, as the third single from his debut studio album Testimony (2014). The song was produced by DJ Mustard and features guest appearances from American rappers B.o.B and Yo Gotti. When it was originally released in October 2013 it featured West Coast rappers Iamsu! and Problem. The song has since peaked at number 39 on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

Commercial performance

Following the BET Awards 2014, August Alsina experienced a surge in digital single sales resulting in "Numb" reaching a new peak of 41 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. On the week ending June 29, 2014, the song sold 8,757 copies, up from 3,920 copies the previous week.

Music video

The music video for "Numb" was released on December 2, 2013.

Chart performance

References

Numb (U2 song)

"Numb" is a song by rock band U2. It is the third track from their 1993 album Zooropa and was released in June 1993 as the album's first single. The song features a monotonous mantra of "don't" commands spoken by guitarist the Edge amidst a backdrop of various sound effects and samples. The noisy composition and lyrical concept for "Numb" were inspired by the theme of sensory overload, which had prominently been incorporated into the Zoo TV Tour. Lead singer Bono and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. provided backing vocals on the track.

"Numb" originated as a discarded song from the Achtung Baby recording sessions called "Down All the Days." While recording Zooropa, the band transformed the song with mixing assistance from co-producer Flood, the addition of keyboards and samples by co-producer Brian Eno, and the addition of the Edge's monotone vocals. The song was released as a VHS single, featuring a music video directed by Kevin Godley, but it did not attain widespread commercial success. U2 added "Numb" to their live setlists after resuming their Zoo TV Tour in May 1993, but like most songs on Zooropa it has never been performed live since the end of that tour.