N.E.R.D 2009-present: Nothing and No One Ever Really Dies What is Nothing? In 2010, N.E.R.D announced the release of their fourth studio album entitled Nothing, Who is NERD? Pharrell What is a song off of Nothing? The first single from the album, "Hot-n-Fun" featuring Canadian recording artist Nelly Furtado, Did the song chart? I don't know. What is the music style of the album? produced by electronic music duo Daft Punk.
Is No one ever really dies an album?
Is No one ever really dies an album by N.E.R.D?
In 2010, N.E.R.D announced the release of their fourth studio album entitled Nothing, which had a scheduled release date for September 7, 2010, but was pushed back to November 2, 2010. The first single from the album, "Hot-n-Fun" featuring Canadian recording artist Nelly Furtado, was released on May 18, 2010 on iTunes. It was released in the United Kingdom on August 30, 2010.  On August 20, 2010, a track titled "Party People" leaked onto the internet. It was rumored to be the second single from the album. On September 28, 2010, they premiered another track from the album titled "Hypnotize U" on Late Show with David Letterman, produced by electronic music duo Daft Punk. On September 30, 2010, in an interview with Mark Hoppus on A Different Spin with Mark Hoppus, Pharrell explained the album cover as "a mix of so many things. The feathers represent the peace, and the helmet represents the war. It's like where we are right now. There's a lot of war, that people can't necessarily explain. The economy sucks, girls are still beautiful. We wanted to make music that reflected that. So people can look back twenty years from now, and say 'this is what was going on'". They then announced in the interview that the next two singles would be "I've Seen the Light" and "Hypnotize U". Pharrell described "Hypnotize U" as being "so different from the rest of the album", stating he was "very pleased because it serves a different purpose" in the album.  On October 17, 2010, the standard edition and the deluxe edition of the album became available for pre-order on iTunes. It was later announced that they would support Gorillaz on the North American leg of their 2010 'Escape to Plastic Beach' world tour. In 2013, Pharrell confirmed a N.E.R.D album was in progress, but also mentioned that the album would not be released that year due to the projects he was working on with other artists. He has also said the album will be "nature-based". The group reunited on December 26, 2014, to release the songs "Squeeze Me," "Patrick Star," and "Sandy Squirrel" for the film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.  N.E.R.D's fifth album, No One Ever Really Dies, was released on December 15, 2017 through i am OTHER and Columbia Records. It features guest appearances from Andre 3000, M.I.A., Gucci Mane, Wale, and Ed Sheeran among others. It was preceded by three singles; "Lemon" with Rihanna (on November 1), "1000" with Future (on November 29), and "Don't Don't Do It!" with Kendrick Lamar (on December 13). CANNOTANSWER
N.E.R.D's fifth album, No One Ever Really Dies, was released on December 15, 2017
No One Ever Really Dies (stylized as NO_ONE EVER REALLY DIES) is the fifth studio album by American hip hop and rock band N.E.R.D. The album was released on December 15, 2017 through I Am Other and Columbia Records. It features guest appearances from Rihanna, André 3000, Kendrick Lamar, M.I.A., Gucci Mane, Wale, Future and Ed Sheeran among others. It was preceded by three singles; "Lemon" with Rihanna, "1000" with Future, and "Don't Don't Do It!" with Kendrick Lamar.

No One Ever Really Dies is the group's first full-length album since 2010's Nothing.

Background
On February 6, 2017, during an interview with BBC Radio 1, Pharrell stated that "it's feeling really good, really special" about the group's return.

In October 2017, the album was teased after posters were popping up on the side of streets, and by concertgoers at the 2017 Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival.

The album was debuted with a live listening party during the first day at ComplexCon, thus revealing the tracklist. Pharrell revealed the album's cover art and release date via Instagram and Twitter on November 22, 2017.

Artwork
The album's artwork depicts a tongue with the album's title placed on top and aluminum foil on the teeth to substitute grills.

Critical reception

No One Ever Really Dies received positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 74, based on 17 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

In a four out of five star review for AllMusic, critic Andy Kellman claimed that "Tied together with recurring declarations of "mad ethnic right now," sampled from Retch's 2016 viral clip, the album is all raucous resistance to issues ranging from anti-immigration to police brutality to transgender rights. When Williams barks "You fuckin' with survivors!" like an activist Rockwell, he perfectly summarizes the indignant optimism that dominates the best N.E.R.D album since the original version of In Search of...."

Track listing
Credits adapted from Tidal. All tracks are produced by Pharrell Williams, except where noted.

Notes
  signifies an additional producer.
  signifies an additional vocal producer.
 "Don’t Don’t Do It!" originally featured credited vocals by Frank Ocean.
 "Deep Down Body Thurst" features additional vocals by Mike Larson.
 "1000" features additional vocals by Alex DePersia, Mette Towley, Rhea Dummett and Phi Hollinger.
 "ESP" features additional vocals by Alex DePersia and Mette Towley.
 "Lightning Fire Magic Prayer" features additional vocals by Rocket Williams, Helen Williams, Rhea Dummett and Mike Larson.
 "Kites" features additional vocals by ASAP Rocky, Mary J. Blige, Rhea Dummett, Hana Hollinger, Phi Hollinger and Helen Williams.
 "Secret Life of Tigers" features additional vocals by First Summer Uika and Momose Momo of Billie Idle, and Cara Delevingne.

Personnel
N.E.R.D
 Pharrell Williams – production , executive production
 Chad Hugo – additional production , synthesizers , doorslam , synth FX , programming 
 Shay Haley

Additional musicians

 Kendrick Lamar – performance 
 Rihanna – performance 
 Gucci Mane – performance 
 Wale – performance 
 Future – performance 
 André 3000 – performance 
 M.I.A. – performance 
 Ed Sheeran – performance 
 Thundercat – bass 
 Brent Paschke – electric guitar 
 Rhea Dummett – additional vocals 
 Mike "Miguel Milliones" Larson – additional vocals , programming 
 Alex DePersia – additional vocals 
 Mette Towley – additional vocals 
 Phi Hollinger – additional vocals 
 Helen Williams – additional vocals 
 Rocket Williams – additional vocals 
 ASAP Rocky – additional vocals 
 Mary J. Blige – additional vocals 
 Hana Hollinger – additional vocals 
 First Summer Uika – additional vocals 
 Momose Momo – additional vocals 
 Cara Delevingne – additional vocals 
 Tenley Sage – native youth 
 Red Eagle Perkins – native youth 
 Amiah Fimbres – native youth 
 Precious Bernie – native youth 
 Wacantkiya Eagle – native youth 
 Mahpiya Eagle – native youth 
 Jayde Kelly – native youth 
 Chayla Warren – native youth 
 Winona Gayto – native youth 
 Ku-uipo Mauai – native youth 

Technical

 Mike Larson – recording engineer , native youth vocal production , mixing
 Andrew Coleman – recording engineer 
 James Hunt – recording engineer 
 Matt Schaeffer – recording engineer 
 Marcos Tovar – recording engineer 
 Kori Anders – recording engineer 
 Ken Oriole – recording engineer 
 Kuk Harrell – Rihanna vocal production 
 Rhea Dummett – native youth vocal production 
 Ben "Bengineer" Sedano – 2nd engineer , assistant mix engineer
 Thomas Cullison – 2nd engineer , assistant mix engineer
 Jacob Dennis – 2nd engineer 
 Jordon Silva – 2nd engineer 
 Masayuki Hara – 2nd engineer 
 Madoka Kambe – 2nd engineer 
 Hart Gunther – 2nd engineer 
 Daryl Johnson – 2nd engineer 
 Miguel DaCruz – 2nd engineer 
 Eric Eylands – 2nd engineer 
 Brendan Morawski – 2nd engineer 
 David Kim – 2nd engineer 
 Todd Hurtt – 2nd engineer 
 David Kim – 2nd engineer 
 Ramon Rivas – 2nd engineer 
 Matt Tuggle – 2nd engineer 
 Iain Findlay – 2nd engineer 
 Josh Seflers – 2nd engineer 
 John Muller – 2nd engineer 
 Sean Klein – 2nd engineer 
 David Swenson – 2nd engineer 
 Graham Thomas – 2nd engineer 
 Leslie Brathwaite – mixing
 Jon Sher – assistant mix engineer
 Tony Flores – assistant mix engineer
 Chris Athens – mastering

Release

 Caron Veazey – Pharrell Williams management
 Ron Laffitte – Pharrell Williams management
 Alex DePersia – Pharrell Williams project management
 Todd Tourso – Pharrell Williams creative direction, art direction
 Phi Hollinger – Pharrell Williams creative direction, art direction
 Pres Rodriguez – art direction
 Mike Larson – album A&R and coordination
 Jerry Edouard – album A&R and coordination
 Michelle Dupont – Chad Hugo management
 Jan Fairchild – Chad Hugo engineering
 Erik Ian – photography

Charts

References

2017 albums
N.E.R.D. albums
Albums produced by Pharrell Williams
Albums produced by Kuk Harrell
Albums produced by Chad Hugo
Columbia Records albums "What It's Like" is a song by American musician Everlast. It was released in July 1998 as the lead single from his second studio album, Whitey Ford Sings the Blues (1998). The song is typical of the style Everlast embraced after leaving hip hop trio House of Pain, being a combination of rock, hip-hop and blues incorporating characterization and empathy towards impoverished protagonists.

The song went to number one on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock chart for one week and number one on the Modern Rock Tracks chart for nine weeks. It also peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the singer's only solo top 40 hit on the US chart to date. Outside the United States, the song reached number four in Iceland, number six in Canada and the top 30 in Australia, Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

Song structure

Structurally, the song consists of three verses, a chorus, and a bridge. The last line of the chorus varies in accordance with the particular situation faced by the character in the preceding verse. Each character is presented in a sympathetic light as a victim of circumstance and as being an object of derision. Each verse ends with the line God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in his/her shoes (in the third verse, "...you ever had to wake up to hear the news") and Cause then you really might know what it's like to, with the action varying depending on what the character has to do ("sing the blues," "have to choose," and "have to lose," respectively).

The characters are:
 A beggar (the man at the liquor store beggin' for your change); when asking for change from a man he's turned down rudely (Get a job, you fuckin' slob)
 Mary, a pregnant girl who decides to have an abortion (Mary got pregnant from a kid named Tom who said he was in love); when she goes through the door of the clinic, she gets called a "killer," a "sinner," and a "whore."
 A drug dealer named Max, a man with violent friends and an alcohol problem (He liked to hang out late, he liked to get shit-faced and keep the pace with thugs) who dies a violent death (He pulled out his chrome .45 talked some shit and wound up dead'').

The speaker attempts to build sympathy for each character's struggle through the phrase "God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in his/her shoes, 'cause then you really might know what it's like".  The third verse changes the angle slightly to focus on the family left behind: "Now his wife and his kids are caught in the midst of all of his pain ... God forbid you ever had to wake up to hear the news, 'cause then you really might know what it's like to have to lose".

Music video
The music video was directed by Frank Sacramento in Los Angeles. Everlast is shown singing underwater while the three characters depicted in his song drown. Later they are crowded around a window (possibly dead) behind which an idyllic family is enjoying dinner, oblivious to the less fortunate who are outside.

Track listings

US promo CD
 "What It's Like" (no curses, no drugs, no guns, time edit with scratches) – 4:35
 "What It's Like" (no curses, no drugs, no guns, time edit with drop outs) – 4:35
 "What It's Like" (no curses, time edit with scratches) – 4:35
 "What It's Like" (no curses, time edit with drop outs) – 4:35
 "What It's Like" (no curses, no drugs, no guns, album length with scratches) – 5:03
 "What It's Like" (no curses, no drugs, no guns, album length with drop outs) – 5:06
 "What It's Like" (album version) – 5:03

UK 7-inch single
A. "What It's Like" (original album version) – 5:03
B. "7 Years" – 4:04

UK CD and cassette single
 "What It's Like" (radio edit) – 3:49
 "What It's Like" (original album version) – 5:03

European and Australian CD single
 "What It's Like" (radio edit) – 3:49
 "What It's Like" (original album version) – 5:03
 "7 Years" – 4:04

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

1998 singles
1998 songs
Everlast (musician) songs
Mushroom Records singles
Songs about abortion
Tommy Boy Records singles Talons is the first solo EP recorded by Josh Dies.  The album was released under DIES. The EP contains "re-imaginings" of two Showbread songs: "Never An Oceanographer" and "Age of Insects".  A cover of the Sullivan song, "Dig Me Up" is also present on the EP.

Track listing
 "Brundle Fly" 0:44
 "You're So Stupid" 3:05
 "Dig Me Up" 4:04
 "Never An Oceanographer" 4:09
 "Talons" 4:33
 "Age of Insects" 4:02
 "24 Hours" 2:27

Production mistakes

On the track listing, "Never An Oceanographer" is misprinted as "Never An Oceangrpaher."

References

Josh Dies albums
2009 EPs