For All We Know (Nao album)

Last updated

For All We Know
Nao - For All We Know album cover.jpeg
Studio album by
Nao
Released29 July 2016 (2016-07-29)
Recorded2014–16
Genre
Length53:39
Label
  • RCA
  • Little Tokyo Recordings
Producer
Nao chronology
February 15
(2015)
For All We Know
(2016)
Saturn
(2018)
Singles from For All We Know
  1. "Bad Blood"
    Released: 22 October 2015
  2. "Fool to Love"
    Released: 24 February 2016
  3. "Girlfriend"
    Released: 23 May 2016
  4. "In the Morning"
    Released: 17 February 2017

For All We Know is the debut studio album by British electronic singer-songwriter Nao. It was released on 29 July 2016 by RCA and Little Tokyo Recordings. It has guest features by Abhi//Dijon and A. K. Paul, and received critical acclaim upon release.

Contents

Recording and production

The concept for the album came about when Nao began to feature vocals with other artists, such as Disclosure and Mura Masa. After the collaboration that she did with Disclosure on their song "Superego", it inspired Nao to work further and deeper into that genre of music. She wanted to make an album which was to bring her to fame and, after the collaborations, wanted her fans to have something to look forward to.

The album title, For All We Know was named so after the 1934 jazz song of the same name, as a reference to the artist's background in the genre. [5] She also opened up about the album title in a YouTube trilogy she created to tell her fans about the background of creating the album. She said, "So, for me, that kind of just sums up everything for me. It's just such a lovely message So love me, love me tonight/tomorrow was made for some/tomorrow may never come/for all we know. I just thought that was so beautiful because it just says that tomorrow is not guaranteed so anything that we want to do, we have to make it happen today and I think that just kind of sums up this journey for me". [6] In an interview with Billboard , Nao advanced that the album was "a definite nod" to 1990s music and an attempt at transposing it to actuality. [7]

Part of the production from the album was worked on with British DJ and electronic and R&B musician GRADES. Two of the other albums' producers such as Loxe and Jungle added a funk touch. Nao's music and voice were compared to musicians FKA twigs [8] [9] and Kelela. [4] [9]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic? 7.8/10 [10]
Metacritic 82/100 [11]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [12]
Consequence of Sound B [13]
Exclaim! 9/10 [14]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [15]
The Irish Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [16]
NME 4/5 [2]
The Observer Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Pitchfork 7.9/10 [4]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [17]
Spin 8/10 [1]

Upon release, the album received critical acclaim. Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, For All We Know received an average score of 82 out of 100, based on 14 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". [11]

Writing for Exclaim! , Michael J. Warren hailed the album as "a dynamic listen from start to finish". [14] It was also reported in a number of articles that the record and the style of music that was presented on the record could have been highly influenced on the early work of American musician Prince.

Accolades

PublicationAccoladeYearRankRef.
Ground Decibels2016 Best Albums2016
N/A
The Guardian The Best Albums of 20162016
39
NME NME's Albums of the Year 20162016
30
Rough Trade Albums of the Year2016
70
The Skinny Top 50 Albums of 20162016
18

Track listing

For All We Know
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Intro (Like Velvet)"
0:36
2."Get to Know Ya"
2:56
3."Inhale Exhale"
3:03
4."Voice Memo 161"
  • Joshua
  • Christian Gregory
  • Miles James
  • Nao
0:23
5."Happy"
  • Joshua
  • Gregory
  • James
  • Nao
  • Gregory
  • James
  • GRADES
2:52
6."Voice Memo 162"
  • Joshua
  • Gregory
  • James
  • Nao
0:13
7."Adore You" (featuring Abhi//Dijon)
  • Joshua
  • Abhi Raju
  • Dijon Duenas
  • Leonardo Vianna Bozza
  • Nao
  • LOXE
  • GRADES [a]
3:31
8."In the Morning"
  • Joshua
  • Sam Stubbings
  • John Calvert
  • Nao
  • Calvert
4:06
9."Trophy" (featuring A. K. Paul)3:48
10."Bad Blood"
  • Joshua
  • Traynor
  • Nao
  • GRADES
4:00
11."DYWM"
  • Joshua
  • James Luke Wood
  • Nao
  • GRADES
4:55
12."We Don't Give A"
  • Joshua
  • Traynor
  • Calvert
  • Calvert
  • GRADES
3:20
13."Give Me a Little"
  • Joshua
  • Rowan Perkins
  • Nao
  • LOXE
  • GRADES
3:47
14."Fool to Love"
  • Joshua
  • Traynor
  • Nao
  • GRADES
3:27
15."Voice Memo 4 (Say Yes)"
  • Nao
0:33
16."Blue Wine"
  • Joshua
  • Wood
  • Nao
  • Calvert
3:38
17."Girlfriend"
3:45
18."Feels Like (Perfume)"
  • Joshua
  • Wood
  • Royce Wood Junior
4:46
For All We Know – The Remixes
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."In the Morning" (Mura Masa Remix)
3:36
2."(Feels Like) Perfume" (featuring Stormzy) (LOXE Remix)
  • Royce Wood Junior
  • LOXE [b]
3:34
3."Get to Know Ya" (KAYTRANADA Flip)5:07
4."DYWM" (Sam Gellaitry Remix)
  • Joshua
  • Wood
4:37
5."Bad Blood" (SBTRKT Remix)
  • Nao
  • GRADES
  • SBTRKT [b]
4:50

Notes

Charts

Chart (2016)Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [23] 53
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [24] 76
Irish Albums (IRMA) [25] 91
New Zealand Heatseekers Albums (RMNZ) [26] 3
Scottish Albums (OCC) [27] 63
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [28] 68
UK Albums (OCC) [29] 17
US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard) [30] 3

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