Walls (Kings of Leon album)

Walls (stylized as WALLS, an acronym for We Are Like Love Songs) is the seventh studio album by American rock band Kings of Leon, released on October 14, 2016, through RCA Records.[4][5][6]

Walls
Studio album by
Kings of Leon
ReleasedOctober 14, 2016
Recorded2015–2016
StudioHenson (Hollywood)
GenreIndie rock[1]
Length42:42
LabelRCA
ProducerMarkus Dravs
Kings of Leon chronology
Mechanical Bull
(2013)		 Walls
(2016)		 When You See Yourself
(2021)
Singles from Walls
  1. "Waste a Moment"
    Released: September 9, 2016
  2. "Reverend"
    Released: February 7, 2017[2]
  3. "Around the World"
    Released: September 19, 2017[3]

Background

Following a New Year's Eve show in Nashville, Nathan Followill said the band was aiming to release album seven in 2016: "We've already started pre-production in our studio for the next record, but the main thing on the calendar for 2016 is getting the record finished. And then the whole press machine kicks up and doing press for the record." Caleb Followill added, "We enjoy this part of the process. Obviously there's a lot of work that goes into it and it can get stressful at times, but we're all in a good place and we're having fun with it and we're all excited to do something new." The album was recorded at Henson Studios in Los Angeles, with Caleb saying the band was looking for inspiration: "We might just try to get a little change of scenery. Our first two albums we recorded in L.A., so we're going to try to go back and see if it inspires us," he said. "If it doesn't, we always have a studio at home, so we can always come back."

In August, the band announced that album title would be We Are Like Love Songs (aka WALLS), and that it would be released on October 14, 2016.[7]

Promotion

On September 10, 2016, Kings of Leon headlined at the Saturday evening Lollapalooza Europe music festival, in Berlin, Germany, which featured songs from all their albums, plus the new "Waste a Moment". Kings of Leon performed "Waste a Moment" on Today and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on October 14, 2016.[8]

The Walls Tour began on January 12, 2017.[9]

On January 18, 2017, Kings of Leon performed "Reverend" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[10]

Singles

The album's lead single, "Waste a Moment", was released on September 9, 2016. The song peaked at number one on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart, their first chart topper since 2010.

"Walls" was released as a single on September 23, 2016.[11]

Kings of Leon released an official video for the track "Find Me" in December 2016 which acted as a companion clip to their video for single ‘Waste a Moment'. [12]

The second official single, "Reverend", was sent to alternative radio on February 7, 2017. It was previously released as the album's third promotional single on October 6, 2016.

The third official single, "Around the World", was sent to alternative radio on September 19, 2017. It was previously released as the album's second promotional single on September 29, 2016.

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?5.4/10[13]
Metacritic62/100[14]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[15]
The Daily Telegraph[16]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[17]
The Guardian[18]
The Independent[19]
NME[20]
The Observer[21]
Pitchfork4.5/10[22]
Q[23]
Rolling Stone[24]

Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 62 out of 100 based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[14] Dave Simpson of The Guardian said that with the album, the band returned to its sound from eight years ago.[18] Rolling Stone's Will Hermes admired producer Markus Dravs's "job of translating Followill's signature sound slurred delivery and the band's muscular jangle into thicker arrangements, though the rest feel generic."[24]

Accolades
Publication Accolade Rank Ref.
NME NME's Albums of the Year 2016
32
[25]

Commercial performance

Walls debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 77,000 album-equivalent units, of which 68,000 were traditional album sales.[26] The next week, the album fell from number one to 20, making it the 10th largest drop from number one on the Billboard 200 as of December 2016. It was the biggest drop of the year until Bon Jovi released This House Is Not for Sale in November 2016. It is Kings of Leon's first number one album in the US, besting the number two peak of Mechanical Bull and Come Around Sundown.[26] It also debuted at number one in Ireland,[27] New Zealand,[28] and the UK.[29]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Caleb Followill, Nathan Followill, Jared Followill and Matthew Followill

No.TitleLength
1."Waste a Moment"3:03
2."Reverend"3:54
3."Around the World"3:34
4."Find Me"4:05
5."Over"6:10
6."Muchacho"3:09
7."Conversation Piece"4:59
8."Eyes on You"4:40
9."Wild"3:39
10."Walls"5:29
Total length:42:42

Personnel

Kings of Leon

Additional musicians

Production

  • Robin Baynton – engineer
  • Anthony Cairns – assistant
  • Markus Dravs – producer
  • Nicolas Essig – assistant engineer
  • Christopher Followill – assistant
  • Michael Freeman – mixing assistant
  • Britti Himelfarb – assistant
  • Ted Jensen – mastering
  • Dylan Nelson – assistant engineer
  • Brent Rawlings – assistant
  • Mitch Salle – assistant
  • Jay Schleusener – assistant
  • Spike Stent – mixing
  • Geoff Swan – mixing assistant
  • Jessica Windsor – assistant

Charts

Certifications
Certifications for Walls
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[59] Gold 40,000‡
Mexico (AMPROFON)[60] Gold 30,000‡
Poland (ZPAV)[61] Gold 10,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[62] Gold 100,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. "WALLS review by Kings of Leon". Ultimate Guitar. October 14, 2016. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
  2. "Future Releases on Alternative Radio Stations". AllAccess. Archived from the original on January 19, 2017. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  3. "Alternative Future Releases". All Access. AllAccess. Archived from the original on September 2, 2017. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  4. Winograd, Jeremy (28 September 2016). "Kings of Leon: Walls". Slant Magazine. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
  5. Hooton, Christopher (26 August 2016). "Kings of Leon new album Walls: Band break their five-syllable album title tradition for the first time". The Independent.
  6. Earls, John (24 August 2016). "Kings Of Leon's new album includes songs about addiction and Caleb Followill's supermodel wife". NME. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
  7. Ringen, Jonathan (August 25, 2016). "Kings of Leon on Renewing Their Family Ties, Survival Tips From Eddie Vedder & New Album 'Walls'". Billboard. Retrieved October 7, 2016.
  8. Dawn, Randee (October 14, 2016). "The Kings of Leon get a royal reception on TODAY". Today.
  9. Leight (October 14, 2016). "Kings of Leon Announce First Leg of 'Walls' Tour". Rolling Stone.
  10. Blistein, Jon (January 19, 2017). "Watch Kings of Leon Invoke Epic Reverend On Fallon". Rolling Stone.
  11. "Walls by Kings of Leon - RYM/Sonemic".
  12. "Kings of Leon release video for 'Find Me'". NME. 16 December 2016.
  13. "Walls by Kings Of Leon reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  14. "Reviews for Walls by Kings of Leon". Metacritic. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  15. Collar, Matt. "WALLS – Kings of Leon". AllMusic. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  16. McCormick, Neil (October 18, 2016). "Kings of Leon are stuck between rock and a hard place on their seventh album – review". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved October 18, 2016.
  17. O'Donnell, Kevin (October 13, 2016). "Kings of Leon's 'WALLS': EW Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  18. Simpson, Dave (October 13, 2016). "Kings of Leon: Walls review – packed with arena-sized choruses". The Guardian. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  19. Gill, Andy (October 12, 2016). "Album reviews: Kings of Leon – WALLS, Katie Melua – In Winter, Tom Chaplin – The Wave, and more". The Independent. Archived from the original on October 13, 2016. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  20. MacBain, Hamish (October 12, 2016). "Kings Of Leon – 'Walls' Review". NME. Archived from the original on October 21, 2016. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  21. Empire, Kitty (October 16, 2016). "Kings of Leon: WALLS review – it should be utterly horrendous". The Observer. Retrieved October 16, 2016.
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  23. Mason, Matt (December 2016). "Kings of the Mild Frontier". Q (366): 111.
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  59. "Canadian album certifications – Kings of Leon – Walls". Music Canada. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  60. "Certificaciones" (in Spanish). Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas. Retrieved February 6, 2023. Type Kings of Leon in the box under the ARTISTA column heading and Walls in the box under the TÍTULO column heading.
  61. "Wyróżnienia – Złote płyty CD - Archiwum - Przyznane w 2017 roku" (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
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