Nothing (N.E.R.D album)
Encyclopedia
Nothing is the fourth studio album
by American funk rock
band N.E.R.D, released November 2, 2010 on Star Trak Entertainment
and Interscope Records
in the United States. On October 17, 2010, the standard edition and the deluxe edition of the album became available for pre-order on iTunes
.
"So we thought why not make a timeless album that's kind of a time capsule, so 10 years from now people look at that album and go, 'I remember that era. That's when the 'Nothing' album came out.' I just wanted to make some good music that would affect people in a good way." Williams says it wasn't easy. N*E*R*D worked on "a previous body of work which was really good, but it wasn't timeless to me. I didn't feel like we were pushing ourselves as much as we could. We needed to perfect the sound, so we kept pushing the date back until it was right." The result includes "a lot of vintage sounds...The album is very '68-'72, '73, America meets Crosby, Stills & Nash meets Moody Blues."http://www.billboard.com/news/pharrell-describes-new-n-e-r-d-album-as-1004120408.story#/news/pharrell-describes-new-n-e-r-d-album-as-1004120408.story
Hugo had previously adopted many in-the-box techniques, and Williams always had a backpack to tote around various fashionable gadgetry, so adding in a Macbook Pro and portable MIDI controllers was no stretch. Certainly, not having a dozen pieces of outboard gear to have to relocate or rent (not to mention rewire) was a relief to Coleman and second engineer Mike Larson, who split N*E*R*D sessions between such facilities as South Beach Studios, Midnight Blue Studios in Miami, and The Neptunes' own Hovercraft Studios in Virginia Beach (Hugo's home base for mixing elements in to the base).
With ideas no longer waiting to be actualized with bodies sitting in front of the Korgs and beats synced to the ProTools clock, the composing of Nothing involved entire rhythm and chord progressions plus sequenced instrumentation ideas (courtesy of ESX24 virtual sampler libraries) being brought to Coleman's Pro Tools HD rig to form the bed of tracks. Monitoring with the Apogee Ensemble, the team would bounce the tracks down and import them, at which time Coleman would begin to apply signature tweaks to get a characteristic snap and thump.
The Access Virus TI still has a noticeable presence on Nothing, and live overdubs are blended into the programmed environment to reinforce it. Most often these guitar and bass licks come from Hugo, and sometimes Coleman, run into the Pro Tools DI, and then are processed through Line 6 Amp Farm and Tech21 SansAmp.
In short, Williams often lays down the initial patterns he has been playing out in his head (including everything from clavinet to handclaps), Hugo replays keys and adds tones such as "angry saxophone noise" (his description), and then Williams and Haley track lead vocals, harmonies, beatbox, and other percussive sounds. When needed, different drums are auditioned and triggered from disk, but there was no recording of additional live kits during the 2010 sessions. Finally, tone sculpting commences. "It's a different process [to be more virtual], and it does make some things easier," says Hugo. "There are also songs on the album that are more straightforward in rhythm, more four-on-the-floor, so there wasn't as much time in drum editing."
This time around, songwriting duties were shared between both Pharrell Williams
and Chad Hugo
, unlike their last effort Seeing Sounds
where Williams had the majority of songwriting credits, with the exception of "Hot N' Fun
", "Hypnotize U
" (co written between Pharrell and Daft Punk) and "I Wanna Jam". (Co-written between Pharrell and Shae).http://www.eqmag.com/article/nothing-sacred-/October-2010/120711 However, "Ride That Thang" which features Fam-Lay
, is co-written by Texas
-born singer, Tanya Tucker
, and Michael Paynter
, whom both co-wrote the song, "Love the Fall
" by Paynter.
Along with these singles, N*E*R*D has also released a few viral videos for 2 additional singles, one for "Help Me" and also for "Life as a Fish" which can be seen on the BBC Ice Cream website.
chart, with first-week sales of 20,000 copies.
, which assigns a normalized
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
score of 62, based on 19 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Rave Magazine said, "Pharrell Williams should either stop letting his wang co-write his songs or start giving it a credit in the liner notes" and gave it two and a half stars out of five. http://www.ravemagazine.com.au/content/view/24222/180
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by American funk rock
Funk rock
Funk rock is a music genre that fuses funk and rock elements. Its earliest incarnation was heard in the late 1960s through the mid-1970s by acts such as the Jimi Hendrix Experience , Eric Burdon and War, Trapeze, Parliament-Funkadelic, Betty Davis and Mother's Finest. The 1990s were known for acts...
band N.E.R.D, released November 2, 2010 on Star Trak Entertainment
Star Trak Entertainment
Star Trak Entertainment is a record label, founded by record producers Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams in 2001. Today it operates as a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, and is distributed by Interscope Records.-Beginnings:...
and Interscope Records
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:...
in the United States. On October 17, 2010, the standard edition and the deluxe edition of the album became available for pre-order on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
.
Concept
"We needed to align ourselves and make ourselves parallel and congruent with what society is feeling," Williams tells Billboard.com. "There's a lot going on and a lot of things people don't necessarily understand. We have a Tea Party. We have conservative Democrats. We have liberals that are like neo-liberals and nothing like you thought they'd be. There's so many different hybrid sects of people and issues..."So we thought why not make a timeless album that's kind of a time capsule, so 10 years from now people look at that album and go, 'I remember that era. That's when the 'Nothing' album came out.' I just wanted to make some good music that would affect people in a good way." Williams says it wasn't easy. N*E*R*D worked on "a previous body of work which was really good, but it wasn't timeless to me. I didn't feel like we were pushing ourselves as much as we could. We needed to perfect the sound, so we kept pushing the date back until it was right." The result includes "a lot of vintage sounds...The album is very '68-'72, '73, America meets Crosby, Stills & Nash meets Moody Blues."http://www.billboard.com/news/pharrell-describes-new-n-e-r-d-album-as-1004120408.story#/news/pharrell-describes-new-n-e-r-d-album-as-1004120408.story
Recording
The impetus was partially based on more wholeheartedly embracing digital audio workstation programs such as Logic Studio Pro, while using new tools to invoke a spirit of emotionally-responsive late-'60s/early-'70s psychedelic pop with the final product.Hugo had previously adopted many in-the-box techniques, and Williams always had a backpack to tote around various fashionable gadgetry, so adding in a Macbook Pro and portable MIDI controllers was no stretch. Certainly, not having a dozen pieces of outboard gear to have to relocate or rent (not to mention rewire) was a relief to Coleman and second engineer Mike Larson, who split N*E*R*D sessions between such facilities as South Beach Studios, Midnight Blue Studios in Miami, and The Neptunes' own Hovercraft Studios in Virginia Beach (Hugo's home base for mixing elements in to the base).
With ideas no longer waiting to be actualized with bodies sitting in front of the Korgs and beats synced to the ProTools clock, the composing of Nothing involved entire rhythm and chord progressions plus sequenced instrumentation ideas (courtesy of ESX24 virtual sampler libraries) being brought to Coleman's Pro Tools HD rig to form the bed of tracks. Monitoring with the Apogee Ensemble, the team would bounce the tracks down and import them, at which time Coleman would begin to apply signature tweaks to get a characteristic snap and thump.
The Access Virus TI still has a noticeable presence on Nothing, and live overdubs are blended into the programmed environment to reinforce it. Most often these guitar and bass licks come from Hugo, and sometimes Coleman, run into the Pro Tools DI, and then are processed through Line 6 Amp Farm and Tech21 SansAmp.
In short, Williams often lays down the initial patterns he has been playing out in his head (including everything from clavinet to handclaps), Hugo replays keys and adds tones such as "angry saxophone noise" (his description), and then Williams and Haley track lead vocals, harmonies, beatbox, and other percussive sounds. When needed, different drums are auditioned and triggered from disk, but there was no recording of additional live kits during the 2010 sessions. Finally, tone sculpting commences. "It's a different process [to be more virtual], and it does make some things easier," says Hugo. "There are also songs on the album that are more straightforward in rhythm, more four-on-the-floor, so there wasn't as much time in drum editing."
This time around, songwriting duties were shared between both Pharrell Williams
Pharrell Williams
Pharrell Williams , commonly known simply as Pharrell, is an American rapper, singer, record producer, composer, and fashion designer. Williams and Chad Hugo make up the record production duo The Neptunes, producing hip hop and R&B music...
and Chad Hugo
Chad Hugo
Charles Edward Hugo is an American musician and record producer. He is best known as one half of the music production and writing duo The Neptunes and as a member of the funk/rock band N.E.R.D. He is a saxophonist, pianist and guitarist...
, unlike their last effort Seeing Sounds
Seeing Sounds
Seeing Sounds is the third studio album by American funk rock band N.E.R.D released June 10, 2008 on Star Trak Entertainment and Interscope Records in the United States. After ending their contract with Virgin Records in 2005, the band felt their previous album Fly or Die was too consistent. Using...
where Williams had the majority of songwriting credits, with the exception of "Hot N' Fun
Hot N' Fun
"Hot-n-Fun" is a song by funk rock/hip hop group N.E.R.D. featuring vocals of Portuguese-Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado. It was released as the first single off their fourth studio album Nothing.-Official Video:...
", "Hypnotize U
Hypnotize U
"Hypnotize U" is a song by funk rock/hip-hop group N.E.R.D., produced by The Neptunes and Daft Punk. It was released on October 16, 2010. It is the second single off their fourth studio album, Nothing.-Music video:...
" (co written between Pharrell and Daft Punk) and "I Wanna Jam". (Co-written between Pharrell and Shae).http://www.eqmag.com/article/nothing-sacred-/October-2010/120711 However, "Ride That Thang" which features Fam-Lay
FAM-LAY
Nathaniel Johnson, also known as Fam-Lay is an American rapper from Norfolk, Virginia. Signed to The Neptunes' Star Trak imprint, he first gained notoriety through several guest appearances he made on various Neptunes-related projects, including the Clipse's debut album Lord Willin in 2002...
, is co-written by Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
-born singer, Tanya Tucker
Tanya Tucker
Tanya Denise Tucker is a female American country music artist who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13...
, and Michael Paynter
Michael Paynter
Michael Paynter , is an Australian singer-songwriter. Paynter has released four singles, "Closer", "A Victim Song", "Love the Fall" and "How Sweet It Is", from his upcoming debut studio album, This Welcome Diversion is set for a release in 2011.-Early life:Paynter began playing instruments from a...
, whom both co-wrote the song, "Love the Fall
Love the Fall
"Love The Fall" is the third single released from Australian singer Michael Paynter's upcoming debut studio album, This Welcome Diversion. The single features backing vocals of The Veronicas, who Paynter had met at the 2008 ARIA Music Awards, and became "best friends ever since". The single was...
" by Paynter.
Singles
- "Hot-n-Fun" is the album's lead single released on May 18, 2010. It became a top 30 hit in ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, BelgiumBelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Songs chart and the UK R&B ChartUK R&B ChartThe Official UK R&B Chart is a forty-position R&B/Hip-Hop chart compiled by The Official UK Charts Company. Although the chart does not receive any airplay, its compilation is viewed on BBC Radio 1's website and publications such as ChartsPlus and Music Week...
. - "Hypnotize UHypnotize U"Hypnotize U" is a song by funk rock/hip-hop group N.E.R.D., produced by The Neptunes and Daft Punk. It was released on October 16, 2010. It is the second single off their fourth studio album, Nothing.-Music video:...
" is the official second single released from the album. It was produced by Daft PunkDaft PunkDaft Punk are an electronic music duo consisting of French musicians Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter . Daft Punk reached significant popularity in the late 1990s house movement in France and met with continued success in the years following, combining elements of house with synthpop...
and became available for download on iTunes on October 27.
Along with these singles, N*E*R*D has also released a few viral videos for 2 additional singles, one for "Help Me" and also for "Life as a Fish" which can be seen on the BBC Ice Cream website.
Commercial performance
The album debuted at number twenty one on the US Billboard 200Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart, with first-week sales of 20,000 copies.
Critical response
Nothing received mixed to positive reviews from most music critics. At MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 62, based on 19 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Rave Magazine said, "Pharrell Williams should either stop letting his wang co-write his songs or start giving it a credit in the liner notes" and gave it two and a half stars out of five. http://www.ravemagazine.com.au/content/view/24222/180
Track listing
Deluxe editionCharts
| Charts (2010) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
55 |
| French Albums Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
43 |
| French Digital Albums Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
4 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
83 |
| UK R&B Albums Chart UK R&B Chart The Official UK R&B Chart is a forty-position R&B/Hip-Hop chart compiled by The Official UK Charts Company. Although the chart does not receive any airplay, its compilation is viewed on BBC Radio 1's website and publications such as ChartsPlus and Music Week... |
8 |
| U.S. Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
21 |
| U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999... |
5 |
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
56 |
Personnel
Credits for Nothing adapted from Allmusic- Yaneley Arty – management
- Tom Bailey – assistant
- Thomas Bangalter – arranger, composer, musician
- Jason Carder – trumpet
- Lori Castro – assistant
- Clifford Harris – composer
- Andrew Coleman – arranger, digital editing, engineer, guitar (acoustic)
- Daft Punk – producer
- Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo – arranger, composer, musician
- Demacio "Demo" Castellon – engineer
- Rhea Dummett – vocals, vocals (background)
- Cliff Feiman – production supervisor
- Geoff Foster – engineer
- Brian Gardner – mastering
- Matty Green – assistant
- Hart Gunther – assistant
- Chad Hugo – composer, saxophone
- Jimmy Iovine – composer, executive producer
- Martin Kierszenbaum – A&R
- Adam Larson – art direction, design
- Mike Larson – arranger, digital editing, engineer
- Guillermo Lefeld – assistant
- Daniel Lerner – engineer
- PJ McGinnis – assistant
- Alan Meyerson – mixing
- The Neptunes – producer
- Satoshi Noguchi – assistant
- Terry Richardson – photography
- Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing
- Pharrell Williams – composer, executive producer
Release history
| Region | Release | Edition | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | October 29, 2010 | Standard (CD) Deluxe (Digital download) |
Polydor Polydor Records Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone... |
| United States | November 2, 2010 | Standard (CD / digital download) Deluxe (CD / digital download) |
Interscope Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:... |