Walls (Kings of Leon album)

Walls (stylized as WALLS) is the seventh studio album by American rock band Kings of Leon. It was released on October 14, 2016, by RCA Records. The album title is an acronym for We Are Like Love Songs, which continues the band's unwritten rule of having five-syllable album titles.[3][4][5]

Walls
Studio album by Kings of Leon
Released	October 14, 2016
Recorded	2015–2016
Genre	Alternative rock indie rock
Length	42:42
Label	RCA
Producer	Markus Dravs
Kings of Leon chronology
Mechanical Bull (2013) Walls (2016) When You See Yourself (2021)
Singles from Walls
"Waste a Moment" Released: September 9, 2016 "Reverend" Released: February 7, 2017[1] "Around the World" Released: September 19, 2017[2]

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.[6]

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.[7]

The Walls Tour began on January 12, 2017.[8]

On January 18, 2017, Kings of Leon performed "Reverend" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[9]

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.[10]

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'. [11]

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
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	5.4/10[12]
Metacritic	62/100[13]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[14]
The Daily Telegraph	[15]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[16]
The Guardian	[17]
The Independent	[18]
NME	[19]
The Observer	[20]
Pitchfork	4.5/10[21]
Q	[22]
Rolling Stone	[23]

Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 62 out of 100 based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[13] Dave Simpson of The Guardian said that with the album, the band returned to its sound from eight years ago.[17] 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."[23]

Accolades

Publication	Accolade	Rank	Ref.
NME	NME's Albums of the Year 2016	32	[24]

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.[25] 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.[25] It also debuted at number one in Ireland,[26] New Zealand,[27] and the UK.[28]

Track listing

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

No.	Title	Length
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

• Caleb Followill – lead and backing vocals, guitar, percussion
• Matthew Followill – backing vocals, guitar, percussion
• Jared Followill – backing vocals, bass guitar, percussion
• Nathan Followill – backing vocals, drums, percussion

Additional musicians

• Liam O'Neil – background vocals, Clavinet, Jupiter-8, Mellotron, Minimoog, percussion, piano, prophet synthesizer, synthesizer, Wurlitzer

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

Weekly charts Chart (2016) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[29] 3 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[30] 1 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[31] 2 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[32] 8 Canadian Albums (Billboard)[33] 1 Croatian International Albums (HDU)[34] 5 Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[35] 9 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[36] 2 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[37] 22 French Albums (SNEP)[38] 38 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[39] 2 Greek Albums (IFPI)[40] 32 Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[41] 33 Irish Albums (IRMA)[26] 1 Italian Albums (FIMI)[42] 14 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[27] 1 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[43] 8 Polish Albums (ZPAV)[44] 4 Scottish Albums (OCC)[45] 1 Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[46] 9 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[47] 3 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[48] 2 UK Albums (OCC)[28] 1 US Billboard 200[49] 1 US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[50] 1

Year-end charts Chart (2016) Position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[51] 60 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[52] 151 Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[53] 79 UK Albums (OCC)[54] 36 US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[55] 32 Chart (2017) Position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[56] 132 US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[57] 80

Certifications and sales

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[58]	Gold	40,000
Poland (ZPAV)[59]	Gold	10,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[60]	Gold	100,000
sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

References

1. "Future Releases on Alternative Radio Stations". AllAccess. Archived from the original on January 19, 2017. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
2. "Alternative Future Releases". AllAccess. Archived from the original on September 2, 2017. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
3. Winograd, Jeremy. "Kings of Leon: Walls". Slant Magazine. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
4. Hooton, Christopher. "Kings of Leon new album Walls: Band break their five-syllable album title tradition for the first time". The Independent.
5. Earls, John. "Kings Of Leon's new album includes songs about addiction and Caleb Followill's supermodel wife". NME. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
6. 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.
7. Dawn, Randee (October 14, 2016). "The Kings of Leon get a royal reception on TODAY". Today.
8. Leight (October 14, 2016). "Kings of Leon Announce First Leg of 'Walls' Tour". Rolling Stones.
9. Blistein, Jon (January 19, 2017). "Watch Kings of Leon Invoke Epic Reverend On Fallon". Rolling Stone.
10. https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/kings-of-leon/walls/
11. https://www.nme.com/news/music/kings-of-leon-find-me-video-1916104
12. "Walls by Kings Of Leon reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
13. "Reviews for Walls by Kings of Leon". Metacritic. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
14. Collar, Matt. "WALLS – Kings of Leon". AllMusic. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
15. 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.
16. O'Donnell, Kevin (October 13, 2016). "Kings of Leon's 'WALLS': EW Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
17. Simpson, Dave (October 13, 2016). "Kings of Leon: Walls review – packed with arena-sized choruses". The Guardian. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
18. 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.
19. MacBain, Hamish (October 12, 2016). "Kings Of Leon – 'Walls' Review". NME. Archived from the original on October 21, 2016. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
20. Empire, Kitty (October 16, 2016). "Kings of Leon: WALLS review – it should be utterly horrendous". The Observer. Retrieved October 16, 2016.
21. Leas, Ryan (October 20, 2016). "Kings of Leon: WALLS". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
22. Mason, Matt (December 2016). "Kings of the Mild Frontier". Q (366): 111.
23. Hermes, Will (October 14, 2016). "Review: Kings of Leon Grapple With Contemporary Mainstream on 'Walls'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
24. "NME's Albums of the Year 2016". NME. November 24, 2016. Retrieved November 24, 2016.
25. Caulfield, Keith (October 23, 2016). "Kings of Leon Score Their First No. 1 Album on the Billboard 200 Chart". Billboard. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
26. "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 42, 2016". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
27. "Charts.nz – Kings of Leon – Walls". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
28. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
29. "Australiancharts.com – Kings of Leon – Walls". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
30. "Austriancharts.at – Kings of Leon – Walls" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
31. "Ultratop.be – Kings of Leon – Walls" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
32. "Ultratop.be – Kings of Leon – Walls" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
33. "Kings of Leon Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
34. "Top Stranih - Tjedan 45. 2016" (in Croatian). hdu-toplista.com. Retrieved May 6, 2017.
35. "Danishcharts.dk – Kings of Leon – Walls". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
36. "Dutchcharts.nl – Kings of Leon – Walls" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
37. "Kings of Leon: Walls" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
38. "Lescharts.com – Kings of Leon – Walls". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
39. "Offiziellecharts.de – Kings of Leon – Walls" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
40. "Official IFPI Charts - Top-75 Albums Sales Chart - Week: 42/2016". IFPI Greece. Archived from the original on November 2, 2016. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
41. "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2016. 41. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
42. "Italiancharts.com – Kings of Leon – Walls". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
43. "Norwegiancharts.com – Kings of Leon – Walls". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
44. "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLiS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
45. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
46. "Top 100 Albumes — Semana 42: del 14.10.2016 al 20.10.2016" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
47. "Swedishcharts.com – Kings of Leon – Walls". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
48. "Swisscharts.com – Kings of Leon – Walls". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
49. "Kings of Leon Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
50. "Kings of Leon Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
51. "Jaaroverzichten 2016 Albums". Hung Medien. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
52. "Rapports Annuels 2016 Albums". Hung Medien. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
53. "Jaaroverzichten - Album 2016". Hung Medien. Retrieved December 26, 2016.
54. White, Jack (December 30, 2016). "The Official Top 40 Biggest Albums of 2016". Official Charts Company. Retrieved December 31, 2016.
55. "Top Rock Albums – Year-End 2016". Billboard. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
56. "Jaaroverzichten 2017". Ultratop. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
57. "Top Rock Albums – Year-End 2017". Billboard. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
58. "Canadian album certifications – Kings of Leon – Walls". Music Canada. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
59. "Polish album certifications – Kings of Leon – Walls" (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
60. "British album certifications – Kings of Leon – Walls". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved November 25, 2016. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Walls in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.

External links

• Ultimate Guitar review