Hot Thoughts

Hot Thoughts is the ninth studio album by American rock band Spoon. It was released on March 17, 2017, through Matador Records.[3][4] It is also the first Spoon album since 2002's Kill the Moonlight to not feature multi-instrumentalist Eric Harvey, who quietly left the band after finishing a world tour in support of 2014's They Want My Soul.

Hot Thoughts
Studio album by Spoon
Released	March 17, 2017
Recorded	December 2015 – July 2016[1]
Studio	Tarbox Road (Cassadaga, New York) Public Hi-Fi (Austin, Texas) The Catacomb (Los Angeles, California)
Genre	Indie rock alternative dance dance-punk art pop[2]
Length	41:52
Label	Matador
Producer	Dave Fridmann Spoon
Spoon chronology
They Want My Soul (2014) Hot Thoughts (2017)
Singles from Hot Thoughts
"Hot Thoughts" Released: January 17, 2017 "Can I Sit Next to You" Released: February 21, 2017 "Do I Have to Talk You Into It" Released: October 23, 2017

Reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.7/10[5]
Metacritic	82/100[6]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]
Chicago Tribune	[8]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[9]
The Guardian	[10]
NME	[11]
Pitchfork	7.4/10[12]
Q	[13]
Rolling Stone	[14]
The Times	[15]
Uncut	8/10[16]

Hot Thoughts received positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 82, based on 30 reviews.[6]

Jillian Mapes of Pitchfork wrote "Spoon stay in their well-earned lane but tweak the formula just enough on their ninth album, keeping their reliably great songwriting and adding new, electronic textures."[12]

Accolades

Publication	Accolade	Rank	Ref.
ABC News	Top 50 Albums of 2017	3	[17]
Consequence of Sound	Top 50 Albums of 2017	9	[18]
Diffuser.fm	Top 25 Albums of 2017	4	[19]
Double J	Top 50 Albums of 2017	14	[20]
Flood Magazine	Top 25 Albums of 2017	6	[21]
The Ringer	Top 10 Albums of 2017	4	[22]
Spectrum Culture	Top 20 Albums of 2017	11	[23]
Time Out	Top 29 Albums of 2017	14	[24]
Under the Radar	Top 100 Albums of 2017	13	[25]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Hot Thoughts"	Britt Daniel, Sean Dineen	3:49
2.	"WhisperI'lllistentohearit"	Daniel	4:20
3.	"Do I Have to Talk You Into It"	Daniel	4:20
4.	"First Caress"	Daniel, Alex Fischel	2:48
5.	"Pink Up"	Daniel	5:57
6.	"Can I Sit Next to You"	Daniel	3:54
7.	"I Ain't the One"	Daniel	3:47
8.	"Tear It Down"	Daniel, Laura Pergolizzi	4:20
9.	"Shotgun"	Daniel, Dineen	3:38
10.	"Us"	Daniel, Ted Taforo	4:57
Total length:			41:52

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes for Hot Thoughts[26]

Spoon

• Britt Daniel – vocals, guitars, keys, piano, percussion, bass
• Jim Eno – drums, percussion, keys
• Alex Fischel – keyboards, piano, guitars, percussion
• Rob Pope – bass, percussion

  Production

• Spoon – production, recording, mixing
• Dave Fridmann – production, recording, mixing
• Brad Bell – engineering
• Matt Gerhard – engineering
• Mike Fridmann – engineering
• Max Lorenzen – engineering
• Grant Eppley – engineering
• Howie Weinberg – mastering
• Gentry Studer – mastering
• Janet Weiss – song sequencing

Additional musicians

• Sabrina Ellis – vocals (track 8)
• Sara Houser – vocals (tracks 4, 6 and 8)
• Stephen Patterson – extra drums (track 5)
• Blair Robbins – vocals (tracks 4, 6 and 8)
• Brad Shenfeld – darbuka, saz (track 5)
• Ted Taforo – saxophone (track 10)
• Sharon Van Etten – vocals (track 4)

  Artwork

• Christine Messersmith – cover image
• Alan Hynes – design
• Britt Daniel – design

Charts

Chart (2017)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[27]	21
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[28]	31
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[29]	48
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[30]	194
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[31]	39
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[32]	27
French Albums (SNEP)[33]	192
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[34]	40
New Zealand Heatseekers Albums (RMNZ)[35]	8
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[36]	28
Scottish Albums (OCC)[37]	62
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[38]	100
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[39]	33
UK Albums (OCC)[40]	76
US Billboard 200[41]	17
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[42]	2
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[43]	2
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[44]	2
US Vinyl Albums (Billboard)[45]	1

References

1. Fridmann, Dave. "Dave Fridmann/Tarbox News". davefridmann.com. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
2. "Spoon - Hot Thoughts". Record Collector. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
3. "Matador Reveals Release Date, Tracklist for Spoon's New Album". Spin. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
4. "Spoon Shares New Song, Will Return to Matador Records for March 2017 Album". Billboard. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
5. "Hot Thoughts by Spoon reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
6. "Reviews and Tracks for Hot Thoughts by Spoon". Metacritic. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
7. Phares, Heather. "Hot Thoughts – Spoon". AllMusic. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
8. Kot, Greg (March 24, 2017). "Spoon dances in the shadows with 'Hot Thoughts'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
9. Bernstein, Jonathan (March 16, 2017). "Spoon's Hot Thoughts: EW review". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on May 23, 2017. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
10. Dennis, Jon (March 16, 2017). "Spoon: Hot Thoughts review – indie experimenters dance the night away". The Guardian. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
11. Milton, Jamie (March 16, 2017). "Spoon – 'Hot Thoughts' Review". NME. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
12. Mapes, Jillian (March 16, 2017). "Spoon: Hot Thoughts". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
13. Doyle, Tom (May 2017). "The Big Scoop". Q (371): 101.
14. Hermes, Will (March 16, 2017). "Review: Spoon Doubles Down on Beat Science on 'Hot Thoughts'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
15. Hodgkinson, Will (March 17, 2017). "Pop: Spoon: Hot Thoughts". The Times. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
16. Scoppa, Bud (April 4, 2017). "Spoon – Hot Thoughts". Uncut. Archived from the original on July 6, 2017. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
17. Raible, Allan (December 27, 2017). "50 Best Albums of 2017". ABCnews.go.com. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
18. "Top 50 Albums of 2017". Consequenceofsound.com. December 26, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
19. Wawzenek, Bryan (December 15, 2017). "Diffuser's Top 25 Albums of 2017". Diffuser.fm. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
20. "The 50 Best Albums of 2017". Abc.net.au. December 4, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
21. "The Best Albums of 2017". Floodmagazine.com. December 13, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
22. Harvilla, Rob (December 6, 2017). "The Best Albums of 2017". Theringer.com. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
23. "Top 20 Albums of 2017". Spectrumculture.com. December 19, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
24. "29 Best Albums of 2017". Timeout.com. December 11, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
25. "Under the Radar's Top 100 Albums of 2017". Undertheradarmag.com. December 30, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
26. Hot Thoughts (Media notes). Spoon. Matador Records. 2017.CS1 maint: others (link)
27. "Australiancharts.com – Spoon – Hot Thoughts". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
28. "Austriancharts.at – Spoon – Hot Thoughts" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
29. "Ultratop.be – Spoon – Hot Thoughts" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
30. "Ultratop.be – Spoon – Hot Thoughts" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
31. "Spoon Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
32. "Dutchcharts.nl – Spoon – Hot Thoughts" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
33. "Le Top de la semaine : Top Albums – SNEP (Week 12, 2017)". Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
34. "Offiziellecharts.de – Spoon – Hot Thoughts" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
35. "NZ Heatseekers Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. April 24, 2017. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
36. "Portuguesecharts.com – Spoon – Hot Thoughts". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
37. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
38. "TOP 100 ALBUMES — SEMANA 12: del 17.03.2017 al 23.03.2017" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
39. "Swisscharts.com – Spoon – Hot Thoughts". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
40. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
41. "Spoon Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
42. "Spoon Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
43. "Spoon Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
44. "Spoon Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
45. "Spoon Chart History (Vinyl Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 27, 2019.