Highness (song)

"Highness"
Single by Envy & Other Sins
from the album We Leave at Dawn
Released3 March 2008 (2008-03-03)
Recorded2008
GenreIndie rock
Length3:44
SongwritersEnvy & Other Sins
ProducerDanton Supple
Envy & Other Sins singles chronology
"Man Bites God"
(2007) 		"Highness"
(2008)

"Highness" is a song by the British indie rock band Envy & Other Sins. It was released on 3 March 2008 as the lead single from their debut album We Leave at Dawn, and peaked at number 65 on the UK Singles Chart.[1]

Background

Envy & Other Sins rose to prominence as contestants on the Channel 4 TV programme mobileAct Unsigned, a talent competition sometimes described as an "indie X Factor".[2] During the series, the band were eliminated by the judges in the competition's later stages, before being brought back by a public vote as wild cards.[3] The band performed "Highness" on the final episode,[4] and ultimately won the competition over runners up Revenue.[5] Their prize for winning was a million-pound record deal with A&M Records, which included an album and two singles.[6]

Recording and release

Following their win on mobileAct Unsigned, Envy & Other Sins recorded "Highness" and the rest of their debut album, We Leave at Dawn. With the exception of lead singer Ali Forbes's vocals, which were recorded at Robannas Studios in Birmingham, "Highness" was recorded at Olympic Studios in London.[7] The song was produced by Danton Supple, and was engineered by Rob Smith and Paul Gray.[8]

"Highness" was released as a single on 3 March in three formats: CD single, 7-inch and digital download. The CD single featured a new original song—"Orient Express"—as a B-side, which was mixed by Gisli at Goodbeating.[7] The B-side of the 7-inch included two new tracks, "When Saturday Comes" and "You've Got Something".[8]

Composition and style

Stylistically, "Highness" has been associated with Britpop and late-1990s indie rock.[2][6] Writing for This Is Fake DIY, Stuart McCaighy detected a "Bluetones-esque" air to the song, while noting that, although it would not have been out of place in the Britpop era, it did not sound dated nor deliberately retro.[6] Dan Grabham of Stuff described "Highness" as catchy, and compared its sound to "Franz Ferdinand having a pillow fight with the Kaiser Chiefs while the Bluetones play Britpop covers next door".[4] Alex Fletcher of Digital Spy compared "Highness" to the "jangly guitar" style of early Supergrass and the art rock sound of Franz Ferdinand.[5]

Reception

Critical reception to "Highness" was positive. McCaighy awarded the song of 3.5 stars out of 5, and praised its polished production, deftness, and charm, saying that the band's victory on mobileAct Unsigned was justified. McCaighy described the song as easy to "fall in love with", but acknowledged that it might be considered too gentle or pop-oriented for some indie purists.[6] Fletcher praised the "Highness", and felt that the song demonstrated that Envy & Other Sins deserved "more than jibes about being the indie equivalent of Leona Lewis".[5] In a review of We Leave at Dawn for Drowned in Sound, Mike Diver compared "Highness" to Envy & Other Sins' tourmates The Hoosiers, and felt that the song had been "done right".[9] Natalie Shaw of Gigwise described the track as a "storming single",[10] while Dan Gennoe of Yahoo! Music UK praised the song as a "piece of quintessentially English indie-pop".[11] In contrast, a review of a more critical nature came from NME, who slated the band as "indie X Factor desperados" and the song as "1998-era Britpop (worst year ever)".[2]

Following its release on 3 March 2008, "Highness" peaked at number 65 on the UK Singles Chart for the week ending 15 March. That same week, the single charted at number 20 on the UK Physical Singles Chart.[12]

Formats and track listings

  1. "Highness" – 3:44
  2. "Orient Express" – 3:33
  1. "Highness"
  2. "When Saturday Comes"
  3. "You've Got Something"
  • Digital download[13]
  1. "Highness" – 3:43

Chart performance

Chart (2008) Peak
position
UK Singles (OCC)[14] 65
UK Physical Singles (OCC)[12] 20

References

  1. ^ "Envy & Other Sins release single". BBC. Birmingham. 3 March 2008. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
  2. ^ a b c "Envy and Other Sins". NME. London. 22 February 2008. Retrieved 19 February 2026.
  3. ^ Storey, Katie (12 January 2013). "Bands aim for TV big break". Manchester Evening News. Reach. Retrieved 5 March 2026.
  4. ^ a b Grabham, Dan (9 March 2008). "Download of the Week: Envy & Other Sins – Highness". Stuff. London. Retrieved 19 February 2026.
  5. ^ a b c Fletcher, Alex (30 January 2008). "Envy & Other Sins: 'Highness'". Digital Spy. London. Retrieved 19 February 2026.
  6. ^ a b c d McCaighy, Stuart (3 March 2008). "Envy and Other Sins – Highness". This Is Fake DIY. London. Archived from the original on 3 March 2008. Retrieved 19 February 2026.
  7. ^ a b c Highness (Media notes). Envy & Other Sins. UK: A&M. 2008. CD insert. 1762714.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  8. ^ a b c Highness (Media notes). Envy & Other Sins. UK: A&M. 2008. Back cover. 1762716.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  9. ^ Diver, Mike (12 April 2008). "Envy & Other Sins – We Leave At Dawn". Drowned in Sound. London. Retrieved 19 February 2026.
  10. ^ Shaw, Natalie (4 April 2008). "Envy & Other Sins - 'We Leave At Dawn' (Polydor) Released 31/03/08". Gigwise. London. Archived from the original on 13 October 2008. Retrieved 19 February 2026.
  11. ^ Gennoe, Dan (2 April 2008). "Envy & Other Sins – We Leave At Dawn". Yahoo! Music UK. Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2025.
  12. ^ a b "Official Physical Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  13. ^ "Highness – Single". iTunes Store. 3 March 2008. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  14. ^ "Envy & Other Sins Songs and Albums | Full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
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