Jump to content

The E.N.D.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 199.213.199.33 (talk) at 17:45, 10 July 2009 (→Critical: - fix link). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Untitled

The E.N.D. (short for The Energy Never Dies) is the fifth studio album by American hip hop group Black Eyed Peas. It was initially released on June 3, 2009, in Japan and later worldwide from June 9, 2009. The production is led by will.i.am who takes the album away from the group's traditional hip-hop style into a new era of electro-hop. The album features more anthemic and inspirational songs in a bid to appeal to a new generation of music listeners.[1]

To countdown the album it was revealed that three promotional singles would be released a week apart through the iTunes Store. These are "Imma Be", released on May 19; "Alive", released on May 26 and "Meet Me Halfway", released on June 2. will.i.am has confirmed that these three songs should not be regarded as true singles from the album.[2]

The album's lead single, "Boom Boom Pow", has topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 consecutive weeks, and is also the group's first chart-topper on any U.S. chart. The single also charted well elsewhere reaching number one in Australia, Canada, UK, Turkey and Belgium and several other countries. The album's second single, "I Gotta Feeling" has so far peaked at number one in the U.S., Australia, Canada and New Zealand

Conception

Album title

The album name was thought about since 2006, around the time Fergie released The Dutchess. Originally, they were going to call it Evolution. but that was also the name for Ciara's then-upcoming second studio album. The album title was then tentatively changed to From Roots to Fruits, before the group decided this title may be better suited for a future compilation album. The name was changed again to The Energy Never Dies, before being shortened to The E.N.D. The name was confirmed by will.i.am in an interview promoting the release of his third studio album, Songs About Girls.[3]

Themes

In an interview with Billboard magazine, will.i.am stated that "The E.N.D." stands for "The Energy Never Dies", which describes his model for a project that will be living and frequently updated throughout its designated cycle. "It's a diary [...] of music that at any given time, depending on the inspiration, you can add to it," the artist/producer/songwriter explains."I'm trying to break away from the concept of an album. What is an album when you put 12 songs on iTunes and people can pick at it like scabs? That's not an album. There is no album anymore." He described the music as "a lot of dance stuff, real melodic, electronic, soulful. We call it, like, electric static funk, something like that."[4]

Promotional singles

  • "Imma Be" was the first promotional single from The E.N.D. and was released via iTunes Store on May 17 in the UK, May 18 in Australia and May 19, 2009 worldwide.
  • "Alive" is the name of the second promotional single from the album. It was released May 24 in the UK, May 25 in Australia and May 26, 2009, worldwide.
  • "Meet Me Halfway" was the final promotional single to be released from the album on June 1 in Australia and June 2, 2009, worldwide.
Song Peak chart positions
US Hot US Pop UK AUS CAN
"Imma Be" 50[5] 50[5] — 74[6] 48[7]
"Alive" 102[8] — 88[9] — 62[7]
"Meet Me Halfway" — — — — 64
Notes:
Note that "Meet Me Halfway" reached 64 on Canadian Hot Digital Songs not on Canadian Hot 100.[10]

Track listing

#[1] Title[1] Production and writing credits[1] Length[1]
1. "Welcome to The E.N.D. / Boom Boom Pow" Allan Pineda, William Adams, Stacy Ferguson, Jaime Gomez 5:08
2. "Rock That Body" Mark Knight, Muns, A. Pineda, W. Adams, S. Ferguson, Jean Baptiste, David Guetta, J. Gomez, Adam Walder 4:28
3. "Meet Me Halfway" Keith Harris, A. Pineda, W. Adams, S. Ferguson, J. Baptiste, Sylvia Gordon, J. Gomez, 4:44
4. "Imma Be" T. Brenneck, M. Deller, D. Foder, K. Harris, A. Pineda, J. Tankel, W. Adams, S. Ferguson, J. Gomez, 4:16
5. "I Gotta Feeling" A. Pineda, Frederick Riesterer, W. Adams, S. Ferguson, D.Guetta, J. Gomez 4:48
6. "Alive" A. Pineda, W. Adams, S. Ferguson, J. Baptiste, J. Gomez 5:02
7. "Missing You" A. Pineda, W. Adams, S. Ferguson, Printz Board, J. Baptiste, J. Gomez 4:34
8. "Ring-a-Ling" (includes interlude) K. Harris, A. Pineda, W. Adams, S. Ferguson, J. Gomez 4:32
9. "Party All the Time" A. Pineda, W. Adams, S. Ferguson, J. Gomez 4:43
10. "Out of My Head" K. Harris, Tim Orindgreff, W. Adams, A. Williams, S. Ferguson, George Pajon, Printz Board, J. Gomez 3:51
11. "Electric City" A. Pineda, Bert Berns, Ri Gottehrer, W. Adams, S. Ferguson, Robert Feldman, Gerald Goldstein, J. Gomez 4:08
12. "Showdown" (includes interlude) Ryan Buendia, A. Pineda, W. Adams, S. Ferguson, J. Gomez 4:27
13. "Now Generation" T. Orindgreff, A. Pineda, W. Adams, S. Ferguson, G. Pajon, J. Gomez 4:06
14. "One Tribe" (includes interlude) A. Pineda, W. Adams, S. Ferguson, Printz Board, J. Gomez 4:40
15 "Rockin to the Beat" G. Pajon Jr, A. Pineda, W. Adams, S. Ferguson, Printz Board, J. Gomez 3:45
Deluxe Edition Bonus Disc
No.TitleProducer(s)Length
1."Where Ya Wanna Go"will.i.am & Bucky Jonson5:08
2."Simple Little Melody" (Japan bonus track on standard edition)Boys Noize3:12
3."Mare" (International bonus track on standard edition)apl.de.ap & DJ Replay2:56
4."Don't Bring Me Down"apl.de.ap & DJ Replay3:11
5."Pump It Harder" ("Pump It" remix)will.i.am3:52
6."Let's Get Re-Started" ("Let's Get Retarded/Let's Get it Started" remix)will.i.am2:57
7."Shut the Phunk Up" (censored Knee Deep remix of "Shut Up")will.i.am4:19
8."That's the Joint" ("Joints & Jam" remix)Paul Poli & will.i.am3:48
9."Another Weekend" (featuring Esthero) ("Weekend" remix)will.i.am4:11
10."Don't Phunk Around" ("Don't Phunk with My Heart" Chicago House remix)will.i.am3:47
11."Deluxe Edition Bonus disc contains video content if bought from Target"  
Play.com Bonus Tracks
No.TitleProducer(s)Length
16."Let the Beat Rock"" (Boys Noize Megamix featuring 50 Cent)Boys Noize3:29
17."Boom Boom Guetta" (David Guetta's Electro Hop Remix)David Guetta4:01


Points to be noted:

  • In Japan and some other internation markets the standard edition of the album also includes "Mare" as track 16 and "Simple Little Melody" as track 17.
  • Track engineers: Padraic Kerin, will.i.am, Dylan "3-D" Dresdow
  • Mixing engineer: Dylan "3-D" Dresdow [11]

Reception

Critical

Reaction to the album so far has been mixed or average, scoring a 58 out of 100 on Metacritic,[12] higher than their 2005 album Monkey Business but lower than their 2003 breakout Elephunk, with critics agreeing that the album has more of a dance-orientated sound than its predecessors. However it is here that opinions began to differ with Entertainment Weekly describing the album as pure Top 40 Nirvana[13] while PopMatters concludes that after listening to the album and "dancing all night [...] you just may not be able to respect yourself in the morning".[14]

Commercial

The album has begun charting strongly, debuting at one in Australia, two in New Zealand, and three in the United Kingdom. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 and sold 304,000 copies, thus making it the act's largest first week sales in the U.S. to date. In its second week it slipped to #2 behind the Jonas Brothers, Lines, Vines and Trying Times, shipping 148,000 albums, a 51% sales decrease. In its third week The E.N.D. reclaimed the top spot selling another 88,000 copies. In its fourth week on the Billboard 200 it was knocked to #5 with 69,000 copies sold, a 21% sales decrease. The total album sales to date on the Billboard Top 200 are 609,000.

Charts

Chart (2009) Peak
position
Australian ARIA Albums Chart[15] 1
Argentine Albums Chart[16] 10
Belgian Albums Chart[15] 7
Canadian Albums Chart[17] 1
Danish Albums Chart[18] 36
Dutch Albums Chart[19] 8
European Top 100 Albums[20] 2
French Albums Chart[21] 1
Irish Albums Chart[22][15] 8
Italian Albums Chart[23] 19
Japanese Oricon Albums Chart[24] 2
German Albums Chart[25] 2
Mexico Albums Chart[26] 6
New Zealand Albums Chart[15] 2
Polish "OLIS" Albums Chart[27] 46
Portuguese Album Chart[28] 9
Russian Albums Chart[29] 12
Swiss Albums Chart[30] 4
Spanish Albums Chart[15] 19
Swedish Albums Chart[31] 41
UK Albums Chart[15] 3
U.S. Billboard 200[32] 1

Release history

Region Date Label
Japan June 3, 2009 Universal JP
Australia June 5, 2009 Universal AU
Germany Interscope
Ireland
Italy
Switzerland Interscope
Denmark June 8, 2009
France
United Kingdom
Brazil June 9, 2009 Universal
Mexico Interscope
Canada
United States
Netherlands
Argentina June 13, 2009 Universal AR

References

  1. ^ a b c d e . The album has many elements that might be the sound of the popular music in the 2010s."Final Tracklisting for The E.N.D. With Composers". Billboard Discography. 2009-06-09. Retrieved 2009-06-16. Cite error: The named reference "e.n.d.1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ will.i.am (2009-05-20). "imma be". Dipdive. Retrieved 2009-06-03.
  3. ^ "Black Eyed Peas - RSS Archive". TopBlogArea.com. Retrieved 2009-06-03.
  4. ^ Gary Graff (2008-12-05). "Black Eyed Peas Tap Into New 'Energy'". Billboard. Retrieved 2009-05-28.
  5. ^ a b "Imma Be @ Billboard Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved 2009-05-28. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help) Cite error: The named reference "Billboard Hot 100" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  6. ^ http://ariacharts.com.au/pages/chartifacts.htm
  7. ^ a b "Imma Be @ Canadian Hot 100". achart.us. Retrieved 2009-05-28. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help) Cite error: The named reference "achart.us" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  8. ^ Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles
  9. ^ Chart Stats : UK Singles & Albums Chart Archive - The Back Eyed Peas - Alive
  10. ^ Canadian Hot Digital Singles: Meet Me Halfway
  11. ^ http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul09/articles/it_0709.htm. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  12. ^ Metacritic review
  13. ^ Leah Greenblatt (2009-06-02). "The E.N.D. Music Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2009-06-13.
  14. ^ Mike Schiller (2009-06-11). "Black Eyed Peas: The E.N.D. Review". PopMatters. Retrieved 2009-06-13.
  15. ^ a b c d e f Acharts: The E.N.D. Chart Positions
  16. ^ http://allcharts.org/music/argentina/albums.htm
  17. ^ "Nielsen SoundScan Charts". June 14, 2009. Retrieved 18 June, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  18. ^ http://allcharts.org/music/denmark/albums.htm
  19. ^ http://dutchcharts.nl/weekchart.asp?cat=a
  20. ^ "Placebo tops Euro chart".
  21. ^ "Charts In France".
  22. ^ "Irish Charts - Singles, Albums & Compilations". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved 2009-06-13.
  23. ^ http://www.fimi.it/classifiche_artisti.php
  24. ^ "Oricon Albums Chart: CD Search". Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved 2009-06-17.
  25. ^ http://www.media-control.de/placebo-strahlen-von-platz-eins-der-album-charts.html
  26. ^ http://greaves.tv/amprofon3/Top20.pdf
  27. ^ http://olis.onyx.pl/listy/index.asp?lang=pl
  28. ^ http://www.afp.org.pt/top.php?top=topalbuns&qano=2009&sem=25
  29. ^ Russian Albums Chart 24.06.2009
  30. ^ http://allcharts.org/music/switzerland/albums.htm
  31. ^ Swedish Charts
  32. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/black-eyed-peas-e-n-d-up-at-no-1-on-billboard-1003985032.story


Preceded by U.S. Billboard 200 number-one album (first-run)
June 27, 2009 - July 4, 2009 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Lines, Vines and Trying Times by
Jonas Brothers
 U.S. Billboard 200 number-one album (second-run)
July 11, 2009 - July 18, 2009 		Succeeded by
Preceded by U.S. Billboard Billboard Hot R&B/Hip Hop Albums
June 27, 2009 – 		Succeeded by
incumbent
Preceded by Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album
June 15, 2009 – June 21, 2009 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UK R&B Albums Chart number-one album
June 15, 2009 - 		Succeeded by
incumbent
Preceded by Canadian Albums Chart
June 15, 2009 - June 21, 2009 		Succeeded by
Lines, Vines and Trying Times by Jonas Brothers


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_E.N.D.&oldid=301408447"