The E.N.D. (an abbreviation of, and subtitled The Energy Never Dies) is the fifth studio album by American group Black Eyed Peas, released on June 3, 2009. Critics described the album as containing more anthemic and inspirational songs in the group's bid to appeal to a new generation of music listeners.
Three promotional singles, "Imma Be", "Alive" and "Meet Me Halfway", were released through the iTunes Store in the three weeks running up to the album's release. The album gave the group their first, second, and third US number one hits with "Boom Boom Pow", "I Gotta Feeling", and "Imma Be" which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 12, 14, and 2 weeks respectively. "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling" led the Hot 100 back to back, putting the band at number 1 on the chart for a record-breaking 26 consecutive weeks (half a year). The third single, "Meet Me Halfway", along with the first two, topped several charts around the world including the United Kingdom and Australia. As of June 2011, the album has sold over 11 million copies worldwide, making it one of the biggest commercial successes for the music industry in recent years.[2]
The album name was thought about since 2006, around the time Fergie released The Dutchess. The album was originally titled Evolution, but that was also the name for what would become Ciara's 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]
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] Will.i.am remarked that the album had been inspired by a trip to Australia, specifically the sound of the Presets' "My People". "The energy on the Presets' small little stage was crazy energy. That song 'My People' (he sings the chorus) - that . . . is wild," will.i.am said, "That's the reason why this record sounds the way it does - my three months in Australia."[5] The track "Party All the Time" was involved in a plagiarism dispute that was settled out of court.[6]
"Boom Boom Pow" was released as the lead single on March 10, 2009.[citation needed] It reached the top spot on the US BillboardHot 100, making it the group's first number-one song in there. It stayed at the top spot for twelve consecutive weeks, making it the second longest-running single to stay atop the chart in 2009. Also, it reached number one in Australia and the UK Singles Chart. The video for the song won the award for Best Short Form Music Video at the 52nd Grammy Awards; the song itself was nominated for Best Dance Recording, but lost to Lady Gaga's "Poker Face".[7][8] The song was named "Song of the Year" on Billboard's Hot 100 Year-End Chart for 2009.[9]
"I Gotta Feeling" was released as the second single released on May 21, 2009.[citation needed] It replaced "Boom Boom Pow" as the number-one song in America making them only the fourth group to replace themselves at number-one in the chart's history.[10] "I Gotta Feeling" remained at the top spot for fourteen consecutive weeks. The song also reached number one in Australia and the UK. The song won Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 52nd Grammy Awards.[11]
"Meet Me Halfway" was released as the third single on September 22, 2009.[citation needed] It was originally released as the third and last digital promotional single for The E.N.D. on June 2. The song is their third consecutive number one in Australia and UK. It also peaked at seven on the US Billboard Hot 100, making it the group's third top ten single from The E.N.D..
"Imma Be" was released on December 15, 2009 as the fourth US single.[citation needed] The song reached number one on the US Hot 100, becoming the fourth top 10 single from the album and the third US number one single from the album and as a group. The song reached the top five in Canada, due to a significant increase in digital downloads after the group performed it at the 52nd Grammy Awards,[12] as well as radio airplay.[13][14]
"Rock That Body" is the fifth single from the album and the fourth international single. The song was sent to US radio stations on May 11, 2010.[15] As of July 2010, the digital tracks from the album have sold a combined total of more than 18 million units in United States.[16]
"Missing You" began to have heavy airplay in France[17] and in Australia.[18] The song reached number ten on the official French Airplay Chart[19] and nineteen on the French Digital Chart.[20] On March 30, 2010, the performance of "Missing You" in Los Angeles was recorded and became the official video for the single in France.[21] The song also received moderate promotion in Brazil, having the same live music video as its official.
Promotional singles
"Alive" was the second promo single from the album as part of "The Countdown to The E.N.D., the first being "Imma Be" and the third being "Meet Me Halfway" which were later commercial singles.[22]
"Electric City" was used as part of the soundtrack of the MTV show Popland.
"One Tribe" was used for Pepsi Commercials in 2009/2010, and was also included as a track on the album Songs for Japan, released in support of the victims of the 2011 Japan earthquake.
Tour
The Black Eyed Peas performing on October 7, 2009
The E.N.D. World Tour was the third concert tour by the group, in support of their fifth studio album, The E.N.D. The tour began in Japan on September 15, 2009, with shows also performed in Australia and New Zealand in 2009. The group toured in North America starting in February 2010, with dates also planned for Europe starting in Dublin, Ireland in May. The group performed 2 shows in Las Vegas at the end of 2009 as a warm up to their extensive North American tour. The tour was also expected to reach South America and more parts of Asia during 2010. It was the group's biggest tour production-wise, with the group's female vocalist Fergie stating that they were "trying to up [their] game" and the shows would "utilize a lot of the technology that's out there".[24] The E.N.D. World Tour was backed by presenting sponsor BlackBerry, and Bacardi as the official spirit of the tour.[25] The tour had a total of 115 shows.
The E.N.D. received mixed to positive reviews from music critics. According to review aggregator Metacritic, The E.N.D. received an average of 60 out of 100 indicating mixed to lukewarm reviews from music critics, based on 15 reviews,[27] 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-oriented sound than its predecessors. Entertainment Weekly described the album as "pure Top 40 nirvana",[29] while PopMatters concluded that after listening to the album and "dancing all night [...] you just may not be able to respect yourself in the morning".[34] The album received six nominations at the 2010 Grammy Awards and won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album on January 31, 2010.[38] The album was also nominated for Album of the Year, but lost to Taylor Swift's Fearless.
Other critic reactions were comparatively mixed, with John Bush of AllMusic commenting on the Black Eyed Peas' move from hip hop to pop music, making note of what that entails by saying; "The Black Eyed Peas make effective pop/crossover music, but with all the limitations of the form -- vapid lyrics, clumsy delivery, vocals smoothed over by Auto-Tune, and songwriting that strains for (and reaches) the lowest common denominator."[28] Another review written by Eric Henderson for Slant Magazine also commented on the Black Eyed Peas' change in musical direction, saying; "On the one hand, you have the pre-Fergie band, which delighted the college rock intelligentsia with its bite-sized, pre-chewed imitation of legitimate alternative hip-hop a la A Tribe Called Quest and the Roots... On the other hand, you have the post-Fergie clown troupe, which has traded any and all available credibility in pursuit of becoming (successfully) the most flagrantly commercial pop supergroup since Destiny's Child."[39]
Commercial performance
The album debuted at number one in Australia, number two in New Zealand and three in the United Kingdom. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart selling 304,000 copies in its first week.[40] The album has spent 38 weeks within the top 10 of the Billboard 200. The E.N.D. was the 7th best-selling album of 2009 in the U.S.[41] As of March 2011, the album has sold over 3,000,000 copies in the US alone.[42]
The album experienced a strong run in the UK Album Charts, peaking at number three for eight non-consecutive weeks. In Australia, the album was number 84 on the decade-end chart. The decade-end chart also revealed the album to be the third most successful album of 2009.[43]
In France, the album proved to be very successful. It spent 55 weeks inside of the top 10 with 11 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1.
In the week of June 25, 2011, the album climbed from No. 62 to No. 18 as The Beginning re-reached No. 1.
This increase made it The E.N.D.'s highest charting position since September 2010 there.[44]
Digital versions of the album eliminate will.i.am's minute-long album intro on track 1, "Boom Boom Pow", which in turn is replaced by the single version of the latter song.
The E.N.D. Summer 2010 Canadian Invasion Tour: Remix Collection is a remix album by the Black Eyed Peas.[117] It was released on iTunes in Canada only, during the Canadian leg of The E.N.D. World Tour. It mostly features remixes of the singles taken from their fifth studio album The E.N.D., most of which appeared on their "Invasion of..." series. It also features a remix of "Let's Get It Started" taken from their third studio album Elephunk; the remix was also a bonus track on the deluxe edition of The E.N.D.
The image on the cover is a still from the "Imma Be" music video.[118] It is the first cover in 5 years to feature a physical appearance of the group, the last one being on the single cover for "Don't Lie", although they did later appear in cartoon form on the single cover for their following single "My Humps".
[28]
