Jacob Tell’s “Hard To Be Human” Turns Everyday Struggle into Soulful Americana
- Editorial Board
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
An honest slice of Americana-blues that captures the quiet ache of disconnection, doubt, and trying to stay human in a numbed-out "machine-like" world.
There’s something timeless about Hard To Be Human by Jacob Tell
It doesn’t try to reinvent anything, it just tells the truth, and that’s rare enough to feel revolutionary. From the first line, Jacob Tell sounds like a man wrestling with the noise around him and the noise within. His delivery is raw but never rough, like a conversation whispered across a kitchen table at midnight with a blues lamp lighting the room.
Musically, it sits somewhere between Americana, country, and late-night blues, guitars that hum like old neon, drums that keep the heart steady, and a mix that leaves plenty of air to breathe for Jacob's vocals. Don Douglass’ production is restrained, letting Jacob’s words carry the weight. Mick Combs’ lead guitar weaves in and out like a thought that keeps coming back, familiar, aching, necessary.
Lyrically, Jacob Tell has that Dylan, XTC (Earn Enough For Us for the ones that do know music) style almost blues spoken and sang poetry. He cuts through irony and goes straight for what hurts: the loneliness of modern life, the emptiness of performative empathy, the absurdity of politics and pills as coping mechanisms.
Lines like “It’s so hard to be human when no one looks up from their phone” or “It’s so hard to be human when every time the rent is due, it’s you who’s feeling leased” hit like sighs you didn’t know you were holding.
What gives the track its pulse is honesty, not just about the world, but about the self.
Tell isn’t blaming anyone. He’s just trying to make sense of why connection feels like a luxury. That refrain, “Sometimes I just wanna leave the conversation", becomes a kind of mantra for everyone who’s tired of pretending to care about surface talk when the soul’s running on empty. There's some levels of stoicism in this song, by the end, Hard To Be Human feels like both a confession and a song release. It’s the kind of song that doesn’t need a big synth chorus to stick; it stays resonatin because it’s true. You don’t walk away just humming it (it's quite catchy, beware) you walk away thinking about it.
It’s not easy to be human. But songs like this make it a little easier and make your day brighter.
