"Nobody to Love" is a song by British record production duo Sigma. The song was originally a bootleg remix of " Bound 2" by

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

featuring Charlie Wilson, released on 24 January 2014 as a free download. It later received support from major British radio stations including

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

and

1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been co ...

, and so was reworked into an original track with Wilson's vocals covered by former

One True Voice One True Voice were a British boy band created on the ITV television series '' Popstars: The Rivals''. In the show, pop groups of both sexes were created through a public vote and competed in the UK Singles Chart for the 2002 Christmas numbe ...

member Daniel Pearce. It was released as the second single from their debut studio album, ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

'' (2015). The song topped the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

upon release, making it not only Sigma's first UK number one but also their first ever top 40 single. It sold over 121,000 copies in the first week. It also topped the charts in Poland, Scotland and New Zealand. In New Zealand, after falling out of the chart after three weeks, it returned to the chart the following week and went straight to number one. The song also reached the top 3 in Belgium and Ireland and number 11 in Australia.

Background and composition

"Nobody to Love" was originally a bootleg remix of American rapper

's 2013 single " Bound 2", featuring Charlie Wilson. Sigma frequently played the remix in nightclubs around the UK and received positive feedback. The remix was released on 24 January 2014 as a free download and, after the duo sent it to some DJs at

, they "got really behind it" and record labels later started approaching Sigma. This led them to rework it into an original song, with Wilson's vocals covered by former

member Daniel Pearce. The beginning of the song's original mix samples "

Think (About It) "Think (About It)" is a funk song recorded by Lyn Collins and released as a single on James Brown's People Records in 1972. The recording was produced by Brown (who also wrote the song) and features instrumental backing from his band The J.B.'s ...

" by

Lyn Collins Gloria Lavern Collins (June 12, 1948 – March 13, 2005), better known as Lyn Collins, was an American soul singer best known for working with James Brown in the 1970s and for the influential 1972 funk single, " Think (About It)". A favorite ...

. The female voice saying "uh huh, honey" is a sample of "

Sweet Nothin's Sweet Nothin's is a 1959 song by Brenda Lee written by Ronnie Self. It peaked at No. 4 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 12 on the Hot R&B Sides chart, in 1960. The song (as Sweet Nuthin's) also charted on the UK Singles Chart in 1960, peaki ...

" performed by

Brenda Lee Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Performing rockabilly, pop and country music, she had 47 US chart hits during the 1960s and is ranked fourth in that decade, surpassed onl ...

. The song is composed in the key of

E-flat major E-flat major (or the key of E-flat) is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has three flats. Its relative minor is C minor, and its parallel minor is E minor, (or enharmonically ...

, and it has a fast tempo of 175 BPM, due to the genre being drum and bass.

Music video

A music video to accompany the release of "Nobody to Love" was directed by Craig Moore and was filmed in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. It was first released onto

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

on 24 March 2014 at a total length of four minutes and four seconds. The video features South African models Liv de Klerk and Nicole Naude on a road trip, described as "''

Thelma and Louise Thelma is a female given name. It was popularized by Victorian writer Marie Corelli who gave the name to the title character of her 1887 novel ''Thelma''. It may be related to a Greek word meaning "will, volition" see ''thelema''). Note that altho ...

'' reinvented".https://www.facebook.com/icegenetics/posts/our-girls-liv-de-klerk-and-nicole-naude-feature-in-the-new-sigma-music-video-the/611255295633722/ As of October 2022, the video has received over 276 million views.

Track listing

Credits and personnel

*Songwriting –

, John Stephens, Charlie Wilson, Che Pope, Elon Rutberg, Cydel Young, Malik Jones, Sakiya Sandifer, Mike Dean, Norman Whiteside, Bob Massey, Robert Dukes,

Ronnie Self Ronnie Self (July 5, 1938 – August 28, 1981) was an American rockabilly singer and songwriter. His solo career was unsuccessful, despite being signed to contracts with Columbia and then Decca from the late 1950s through the early 1960s. His ...

*Production and keyboards – Cameron Edwards, Joe Lenzie *Additional programming and keyboards – Hal Ritson, Richard Adlam *Vocals – Daniel Pearce *Backing vocals –

Yolanda Quartey Yolanda Claire Quartey (born 31 July 1983), known professionally as Yola or Yola Carter, is an English singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. Her debut studio album ''Walk Through Fire'' (2019) received critical acclaim and earned her four Gr ...

Credits adapted from CD single liner notes.

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control 2014 singles 2014 songs Sigma songs Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in Poland Number-one singles in Scotland UK Singles Chart number-one singles Songs about loneliness Songs written by Kanye West Songs written by John Legend Songs written by Charlie Wilson (singer) Songs written by Ronnie Self 3 Beat Records singles