Nothing but the Beat is the fifth studio album by French disc jockey (DJ) and record producer David Guetta, released through EMI Music France (EMI) and Virgin Records (EMI) from August 26, 2011. Released as a double album, the first disc features collaborations with artists from the R&B, hip hop and pop world such as Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Usher, Jennifer Hudson, Jessie J and Sia Furler. Also making appearances are will.i.am and Akon, both of whom previously collaborated with Guetta on his fourth album, One Love. In comparison, the second disc features purely instrumental tracks.[1][2] The album is also Guetta's first album that does not feature long-time collaborator Chris Willis on vocals. Critical reviews of the album were mixed.
The album has thus far spawned three singles which attained success on the US Hot 100 - "Where Them Girls At", "Without You" and "Turn Me On" - becoming his third, fourth and fifth top 20 singles respectively. On November 30, 2011, the album received a nomination for Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronica Album at the 54th Grammy Awards. As of May 2012, the album has sold 304,000 copies in the US,[3] and has received platinum certification by the IFPI for sales exceeding 1,000,000 copies throughout Europe. On March 26, 2012, the electronic album was released as a standalone package, via the iTunes Store. This version was previously released through Beatport.
Singles
"Where Them Girls At", featuring American rappers Flo Rida and Nicki Minaj, was released as the lead single on May 2, 2011. It debuted at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming Guetta's third top 20 hit in the United States.[4][5] The song charted within the top 10 in 18 countries, and peaked at number one on the Official Scottish Charts & the UK Dance Chart.
The album's second single, "Little Bad Girl" features Taio Cruz and Ludacris was released on June 27, 2011. The music video was released on July 18, 2011.
The third single is "Without You", featuring Usher, with the music video being filmed in the end of July 2011, and released October 14, 2011.[6][7] It was sent to mainstream radio in the US on September 27, 2011.[8][9]
"Titanium" featuring Sia, was released as the fourth international single on December 9, 2011. Titanium was initially released as a promotional single from the album and successfully charting worldwide. It has also been covered widely across YouTube, for example by Guetta's label mate 15 Minutes Before The Dive.[10] It will be released as the fifth single in the US, impacting U.S. Top 40/Mainstream and Rhythmic radio on April 24, 2012.[11][12]
"Turn Me On" featuring Nicki Minaj was released as the fourth US single in December 2011. It was later released as the fifth international single in January 2012.[13] The music video was filmed in November 2011 by director Sanji.[14] It impacted U.S. Top 40/Mainstream and Rhythmic radio on December 13, 2011.[15][16]
Nothing but the Beat received mixed or average reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 56, based on 17 reviews, which indicates "mixed or average reviews.[17] David Jeffries wrote for Allmusic that "Nothing But the Beat offers the same experience as one of Guetta’s numerous remix sets, but declared that "something’s missing, something along the lines of When Love Takes Over."[28] In the same vein, Al Fox wrote for BBC Music that "Whether you could go so far as to call Guetta an auteur might be pushing it, but it's a cohesive effort, if not quite a work of art."[20]Entertainment Weekly's Mikael Wood praised the tracks "Night of Your Life" and "Titanium" but felt that "the album feels colder than its sweat factor suggests."[22] In an almost neutral review, Jon Dolan wrote for Rolling Stone that the album "shows how good he is at making Eurohouse's thumping trounce and jet-engine synth whoosh feel like natural elements in the hip-hop, R&B and even rock continuum.[25]
Ally Carnwath wrote a negative review for The Observer, rating it 1 out of 5 stars, writing that the album's collaborations "struggle to impose any distinctive personality on the overall mood of relentless rictus-grin-inducing euphoria."[24] Tom Ewing from The Guardian criticized Guetta for making "tiring dancefloor fillers" and concluded that "Nothing But the Beat may sound like a one-man hit parade, but it also takes its title far too literally."[23] Eric Henderson wrote negatively for Slant Magazine that (...) "His sound may be the most influential force in pop music today, but he's paradoxically been artistically overshadowed by imitators and innovators alike, all of whom demonstrate a better understanding of power pop's legacy (Lady Gaga's "The Edge of Glory"), dance-floor dynamics (Rihanna's "S&M"), and ridiculous self-awareness (LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem").[29]
Nothing but the Beat, The Movie
Nothing but the Beat, The Movie is a full-length hour-and-six-minute documentary-style film chronicling Guetta's life, career and meteoric rise from underground house DJ to global superstar. It was made available via iTunes for free on March 23, 2012.
