Tell Me I'm Pretty | ||||
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Studio album by Cage the Elephant | ||||
Released | December 18, 2015 | |||
Recorded | Spring 2015 | |||
Studio | Easy Eye Sound, Nashville, Tennessee | |||
Genre | Rock,garage rock | |||
Length | 38:11 | |||
Label | RCA | |||
Producer | Dan Auerbach | |||
Cage the Elephant chronology | ||||
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Singles from Tell Me I'm Pretty | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Aggregate scores | |
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 73/100 |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Exclaim! | 8/10 |
The Guardian | |
AllMusic | |
Consequence of Sound | B- |
The Observer | |
The A.V. Club | B |
Rolling Stone | |
Drowned in Sound | 8/10 |
Tell Me I'm Pretty is the fourth studio album by American rock band Cage the Elephant. It was released on December 18, 2015, and was announced online on October 5, 2015. The album was recorded in the spring of 2015 at Easy Eye Sound in Nashville, Tennessee. Vocalist Matt Schultz stated: "With this record, we wanted to be more transparent. We wanted to capture the sentiment of each song, and whatever emotional response it provoked, to be really honest to that."
On October 29, 2015, the band released the first single from the album, "Mess Around", accompanied by a music video which was created using footage from the 1902 film A Trip to the Moon and other films by Georges Méliès. Two other songs, "Trouble" and "Too Late to Say Goodbye", were made available for download before the album's release. The second single "Trouble" was sent to alternative radio on April 26, 2016. The album won the award for Best Rock Album at the 59th Grammy Awards.
Cage the Elephant recruited Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys to produce Tell Me I'm Pretty, with Matt describing him as "reactive" and keeping the band second-guessing themselves, urging scratch vocals and emphasizing first takes. Like their fourth album, this one also features CDVU+ technology that includes more than 30 pages of bonus features with an exclusive video performance, 60 printable photos, complete album lyrics, downloadable graphics, and hidden links. In addition, the packaging of the album is made from 100% recycled materials.
The first single, "Mess Around", was initially criticized by some for sounding too similar to material by the Black Keys; however, after the song "Trouble" was released as a preview in November, vocalist Matt Shultz told Alternative Nation, "...the songs have so much diversity in them that I don’t feel like any song is representative of the entire album, kind of like each sound has its own personality." Matt also said that the band found inspiration in David Bowie for his eclectic and ever-changing style.