Soul Suicide

"Soul Suicide" is a single from urban/soul artist L.E.X. The song was the third released from L.E.X's debut album. The single was released on October 11th, 2010. It entered the charts at #3, matching the peak position of previous single 'Nothing Of Me'. It was certified silver, spending six weeks on chart. It hit #1 in both the US and Russia.

Background
'Soul Suicide' was developed early on in the creative process, originally being conceived as a dark, downtempo ballad incorporating elements of jazz. The song reportedly wasn't working; so when Rich Harrison was hired to produce the final version of the song, he re-imagined it as an uptempo song, keeping in the jazz elements while adding extra elements of funk. Lionell was much happier with the uptempo version, as this is how the track appears on the album. It recalls Rich's previous productions, 'Crazy In Love' by Beyonce and 'Get Right' by Jennifer Lopez. The song focuses again on Lionell's vocals over his rapping, and it shows a different side of Lionell's voice with its staccato rhythms and layered vocals. 'Soul Suicide' proved to be a fan favourite, being in the running for the second single when it was put up to a public poll.

Reception
When it was first revealed, the song enjoyed strong positive reaction, with many declaring it single-worthy. When the song was finally premiered as a single, it received praise from both the general public and from critics, having surprised people with the strength of his vocals on previous single 'Nothing Of Me', many loved his vocals on the song. Some critics commented that the track is reminiscent of work by Paulo Araujo; who is one of Lionell's mentors. With increased publicity from his leading role in 'The Dreidel Room' and from his status as a contestant in the 2010 season of 'Strictly Come Dancing', Bennett was able to improve on the performance of 'Nothing Of Me' on the singles chart, while the single has not lived up to its predecessor on the airplay chart due to the sheer enormity of the previous single's radio presence.

Promo CD

 * 1) Soul Suicide (Radio Edit)
 * 2) Soul Suicide (Album Version)
 * 3) Soul Suicide (Call-Out Hook)

CD1

 * 1) Soul Suicide
 * 2) Oh No (I Ain't Gonna Take No More)
 * 3) Soul Suicide (Diplo Remix)

CD2

 * 1) Soul Suicide
 * 2) Tuning It Out
 * 3) Soul Suicide (Harmony Homicide Remix)
 * 4) Soul Suicide (Ginger’s Kamikaze Queen Mix)
 * 5) Psycho Soul (L.E.X vs. Becca Hayworth)

Digital EP

 * 1) Soul Suicide
 * 2) Oh No (I Ain’t Gonna Take No More)
 * 3) Tuning It Out
 * 4) Soul Suicide (Midnight’s Pull The Trigger Dub)
 * 5) Soul Suicide (Butterscotch’s Gushing Flow Mix)
 * 6) Soul Suicide (Aftershock’s Deep Cut Dub)
 * 7) Soul Suicide (Music Video)

Music Video
The video opens just as the trailer did, with a shot of a wrecked car sitting in some kind of dump site. The video title screen is shown, and we see Lionell wandering into frame as the music kicks in. He is looking around the place and thinking about the events that led up to this situation as he begins to perform the song for the camera. We enter a flashback which tells the story of the lyrics, and for the first verse we see Kharizma speeding along the highway in an expensive car; we see her job as a model, appearing for photo shoots and on the red carpet, stopping for photos as she walks along, and smiling for all the cameras, but her smile fades when another model steps in front of her and steals her spotlight. While we see more performance shots of Lionell in the abandoned lot singing in front of the busted up car, through the flashback, we see a popular surgeon from a plastic surgery clinic strutting through the reception area, with various staff and clients eyeing him appreciatively as he walks past. He is meeting with Kharizma to arrange some plastic surgery for her, and we see her laying on the table as the surgeon makes his preparations. With her new look, we then see Kharizma out partying and getting drunk; she gets behind the wheel while intoxicated, and with three friends in her car, she upends her car in a pothole on a backwoods road. The car flips forward, slamming into a tree and killing them all; the scene fades back to the junk heap, where we see the same wrecked car being dumped.

Lionell has moved on to a new location; we see him wandering shirtless through the wreckage of what used to be a school building as he performs the second verse for the camera. As before, we are treated to flashbacks of what has previously occurred in this place. Telling the story of the lyrics, we see a post-exams high school senior class at their final day of school, focusing on one boy who’s life has fallen on hard times. With no-one paying any attention to him, he disappears into a bathroom and pulls out a handgun from his bag. We see him lift it to his temple but we cut away to the reaction of a girl outside (another character played by Kharizma), who is late to class when she hears the gunshot. Paying no heed to the fact that it is the boys’ toilets, she dashes inside and peers into one of the stalls; screaming when she finds the body. The girl runs out into the hall screaming and crying, interrupting classes and alerting teachers to the situation. Chaos ensues as we see police cars and ambulances pulling up outside the school. There are also news crews who show up to try and cover the emerging story of the boy’s suicide. Student and staff alike watch as the boy’s body (covered in a sheet) is loaded into an ambulance and taken away. Back in the performance shot, Lionell has picked up an old jacket; he dusts it off and puts it on, mouth now covered with duct tape. Back in the past, we see the boy’s family trying to cope with the aftermath of his suicide. On a mural dedicated to deceased students from the school, we see the girl who found him writing ‘THINK BEFORE YOU ACT’ on the wall.

As we reach the third verse of the song, we’re treated to yet another scenario telling the story of the lyrics. We see a young man holding up a vial of some liquid drug that he has been making, looking at the contents. Seemingly satisfied, he leaves the motel room he’s staying in, climbing out through the window and down the fire escape to an accomplice in his car below, while evading the searchlights from police helicopters. While on the move the searchlights find them anyway, and they are pursued. They stop at a gas station and the man with the drug gets out, telling his accomplice to divert the cops’ attention. The accomplice drives off, leading several police squad cars after him as the blond man gets away. Through all this, we see Lionell in yet another outfit, this time walking through an abandoned church. We don’t yet see how this place is related to the story being told to us. The blond man has caught sight of a statue of the Virgin Mary situated on top of a church. He decides there is where he’ll find sanctuary, so he makes a break for the entrance. During this time, the police catch up with him, as one car nearly runs him down. In desperation, he grabs hold of a priest who is leaving through the church entrance and is just about to lock up. The blond dashes up the steps and grabs the startled priest, grabbing him and holding him hostage at gunpoint with a gun to his head. The police helicopters have now closed in on his position as well, and as the blond and his hostage ascend the steps, he fires out at the helicopters. Just as he reaches the church doors, he releases his hostage, but that is when the police let fire, and he is fatally shot. His vial of drugs is shattered as he drops it. Inside the church, he closes the door tightly behind him, falling to his knees as he begins to die from his gunshot wound. The scene fades back into the performance shot with Lionell, and we learn that this is the same church that the blond man died in.

Chart Performance
'Soul Suicide' was receiving top 5 predictions from the time that it was announced, due to the success of Lionell's previous single. As the date drew nearer, weak competition and increased publicity for Lionell saw the projections increase to #1 potential, with the major challengers being the releases from the previous week. Again, like with 'Nothing Of Me', Lionell's management was only seeking to improve on the previous single's performance, so while the single opened at #3 like its predecessor it achieved an opening sales week of 72,790 copies - more than 'Nothing Of Me' opened with. The single also provided Lionell with his best second-week sales to date, and after 5 weeks the single became his best-selling, even factoring in the increased deterioration of Lionell's weekly sales as compared to 'Nothing Of Me'. 'Soul Suicide' spent 6 weeks in the top 40, selling in excess of 150k.

'Soul Suicide' did not live up to the performance of 'Nothing Of Me' on the digital chart, but it was still a strong hit in its own right. It charted on the digital chart for six weeks, trading in a higher peak for more consistent sales. In total the song sold 94,072 digital downloads. On airplay the single did not match up to 'Nothing Of Me' either, only achieving a #6 peak. Indeed, improving on the radio performance of 'Nothing Of Me' would be a major feat, given the strength that single showed on the airplay chart. 'Soul Suicide' is still receiving moderately strong airplay. In the US, 'Soul Suicide' became Lionell's biggest hit to date, with the song peaking at #1 on both urban and rhythmic radio formats. The song is a larger pop-crossover hit than 'Nothing Of Me', the song having built up momentum to propel it to #3 on pop radio. Due to the high level of airplay, the single has had consistenly high sales on US iTunes. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 on two separate occasions. In April 2011, Lionell released a Russian-language version of 'Soul Suicide' in Russia, where it skyrocketed to #1 before he had even travelled to Russia to promote it.

Chart Run
TOTAL: 154,435
 * Week 1: #3 - 72,790
 * Week 2: #8 - 45,624
 * Week 3: #17 - 16,554
 * Week 4: #27 - 8,384
 * Week 5: #30 - 7,562
 * Week 6: #37 - 3,521