Latest news with #PinkElephant
Forbes
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
What Happened To Arcade Fire's New Album?
Arcade Fire's Pink Elephant misses the Billboard 200, marking the band's first full-length album not ... More to chart, despite strong pure sales. MIJAS, SPAIN - AUGUST 31: Singer Win Butler from Arcade Fire performs at Cala Mijas Fest on August 31, 2023 in Mijas, Spain. (Photo by Pablo Gallardo/Redferns) A little over a decade ago, Arcade Fire made history at the Grammys by winning Album of the Year for The Suburbs. The Canadian rock band became one of the few independent acts to come out on top in what is often considered the most prestigious category during music's biggest night. The rockers had already found great commercial success and critical acclaim and were on top of the world for a while. Now, with a new album out, it's clear that public interest in the United States has waned significantly, and that the former Grammy champions are now struggling even to reach the charts. Pink Elephant arrives on a number of music rankings in the U.S. this frame. While it performs fairly well on a handful of tallies, it is notably absent from one major ranking: the Billboard 200. The 200-spot ranking of the most consumed full-lengths and EPs in America does not include Pink Elephant, which is quite shocking, as Arcade Fire has never before seen one of its proper full-lengths fail to reach the tally. Previously, the group's debut effort, Funeral, stood as its lowest-charting success, and even that managed to rise to No. 123 more than 20 years ago. Since then, every one of Arcade Fire's projects has cracked the top 10 on the Billboard 200. Three of them — The Suburbs, Reflektor, and Everything Now — hit No. 1. It's only been three years since Arcade Fire last debuted a full-length on the Billboard 200. The simply-named We arrived in May 2022 and peaked at No. 6. Now, just a relatively short time later, Pink Elephant doesn't even mark a new low, as it can't reach the Billboard 200 at all. Pink Elephant does crack the top 10 on one other Billboard list this frame. It starts at No. 10 on the Top Album Sales chart with a little less than 6,200 pure purchases, according to Luminate. That sum, entirely in pure purchases, is enough to make it one of the bestselling releases in the country — but not quite large enough to bring it to the Billboard 200. The lowest-ranking title on that tally, Future's DS2, shifted 8,600 equivalent units in the past tracking frame. It seems that streaming activity didn't make much of an impact on Pink Elephant's performance. Pink Elephant also manages to appear on two other Billboard rankings after its first full tracking frame finished. It opens at No. 12 on the Vinyl Albums list, and it barely manages to reach the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart, coming in at No. 49 on that 50-spot ranking. In mid-2022, months after the release of We, frontman and lead singer Win Butler was accused of sexual misconduct by several women in articles published by Pitchfork. While the musician denied any wrongdoing – and has been supported by his wife Régine Chassagne (also a member of Arcade Fire) – the claims seem to have hurt the band's commercial appeal.
Times
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Arcade Fire review — an uneasy blend of knees-up and damage limitation
Bringing maximalist showmanship to London, Arcade Fire's marathon Royal Albert Hall concert was an uneasy blend of rowdy celebration and damage limitation. Performing their newly released seventh album Pink Elephantin full, followed by a career-spanning second set, the Canadian-American indie-rock titans played for almost three hours beneath saturated hot-pink lights, artificial clouds and a revolving stained-glass heart. A Barbie band in a Barbie world. They also made inspired use of this venerable venue, with singer and multi-instrumentalist Régine Chassagne playing the Hall's magnificent pipe organ during several numbers, while her frontman husband Win Butler embarked on multiple extended walkabouts through the crowd. These theatrical flourishes were highly effective, but at times it felt as if Arcade Fire were dancing around the giant (pink) elephant
CBC
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Are fans ready for Arcade Fire's big return?
Last Friday, Arcade Fire released Pink Elephant, their first album since bandleader Win Butler was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple people in 2022. Today on Commotion, host Elamin Abdelmahmoud speaks with music journalist Maura Johnston and Montreal Gazette reporter T'Cha Dunlevy about how their relationship with the band's music has changed after the allegations, and how the band's new record is being received by fans and media. We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player. WATCH | Today's episode on YouTube: Elamin: Maura, what's your impression of this record? Maura: There definitely feels like there's a black cloud hovering over it, even in those moments where the old Arcade Fire bravado breaks through. There are parts where it sounds somewhat tentative and sounds almost like licking wounds. But I think that the moments that I really liked are the ones where they get back into the groove mode that they had with Reflektor and with other songs. They're really good at riding that groove and they have been since their earliest records. But I do think that there is this free-floating malaise that's hanging over. I don't know if that's my projection onto it or if it's just the listening. But that's the thing about music, right? It's like, you're going to have those personal feelings, especially for any artist that you had a personal admiration for, those are going to shine through when you listen to their new material. Elamin: Yeah, I had a hard time with the same thing that you're talking about. On the one hand, you have Arcade Fire, obviously having taken this reputational hit. You're not going to find a single piece of writing that's talking about this album that's not talking about that story also. On the other hand, they were on SNL, they were reviewed by every major music publication, radio stations that have previously pulled their music, they're back to playing them. That includes the CBC, by the way. For a brief period of time after those accusations, CBC Music stopped playing Arcade Fire and then they resumed playing them. Toronto's Indie88 is playing them again. T'cha, what does the future of Arcade Fire look like? T'cha: Well, judging by what we've seen so far with this album rollout and what's happened since the allegations, I think the future of Arcade Fire looks like what we've seen, in terms of the band keeping a much lower profile in the media. I think they're going to do less interviews, I think maybe they've decided it's about the music now, maybe Win and Régine [Chassagne, also in Arcade Fire] are focused on repairing their relationship — it seems like it. In the shows, they're smiling, they're letting loose, they're having fun, you can see they're trying to just do them, do the music, and focus on that. I think it seems to me that's what they're trying to do and will continue to do. They may do one or two very select bigger interviews at some point. Maybe they will even address the allegations. I think if they do, it might point towards a different future. I don't expect that though, at least not in a huge way. I think the band — it's 20 years in — has found a way forward and that's to just focus on the music. They have a fan base that they can rely on that will come out for these shows and they want to turn the conversation elsewhere.
CBC
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Are fans ready for Arcade Fire's big return, and the Golden Globes honour podcasting
Last Friday. Montreal indie-rock collective Arcade Fire released 'Pink Elephant,' their first album since bandleader Win Butler was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women in 2022. Music journalist Maura Johnston and Montreal Gazette reporter T'Cha Dunlevy discuss how their relationship with the band's music has changed in recent years, and how the band's new record is being received by fans and media. Plus, Nicholas Quah shares his thoughts on the new Golden Globes category, Best Podcast, which will be introduced in 2026.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Arcade Fire Keep Moving Forward Together
Over the years, few bands have been able to do quotidian grandeur as well as Arcade Fire. A relatability factor propels even their feistiest odes, from 2007's incantatory 'No Cars Go' to 2013's resplendent 'Awful Sound (Oh Eurydice),' and that quality has helped them manage the art-commerce quandary about as well as anyone this side of Radiohead. Can a restive dirge (2004's erratic fist-raiser 'Wake Up') sell a Spike Jonze movie about a wolf-suited lad to shit-tons of Super Bowl viewers? Why, yes, say these earnest Canadians, who proved their heart was in the right place by distributing the loot they got from that payday to Haitian earthquake victims. Recently, though, that sense of relatability has taken a serious hit. The band's last album, 2022's We, which reached Number Six on the Billboard 200 chart, got them on SNL, where frontman Win Butler mentioned 'a woman's right to choose' months before multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct. Their new freebie offering, 'Cars and Telephones,' which the group shared on its Circle of Friends app in April, is the first 'new' material from Arcade Fire since those squirmy accusations. While 'Cars and Telephones' isn't even on their new album, Pink Elephant (the song is a decades-old demo, repurposed for the social media age), it's a conspicuous harbinger, giving the impression of a tenacious band looking to recenter itself around core principles. On Pink Elephant's lead single, 'Year of the Snake,' Butler and wife/co-leader Régine Chassagne — twee and homey on the tight chorus — sing about a 'season of change.' The album itself offers quaint harmonies and big beats, á la We, set atop the bossy stomp of 2013's Reflektor. While Pink Elephant's 10 songs don't come close to Reflektor's magisterial range, it's often sweet, enticing, and direct — a cathartic manifesto in miniature. More from Rolling Stone Bad Bunny to Close Out 'SNL' Season 50 as Musical Guest Willie Nelson's 2025 Luck Reunion Was Like No Place on Earth Lord Huron, Arcade Fire, Counting Crows Among Headliners for High Water Fest 'So do what is true/Don't do what you should,' quivers Butler on 'Year of the Snake.' His cow-town warble settles into something like a bark over Jeremy Gara's raucous drums, giving the Texas-born singer's ideas about maturing amicably the heft of an edict. Co-producer Daniel Lanois' close-knit sound lends the record an intimate atmosphere — leaner and more quietly urgent than other Arcade Fire LPs. That soft-focus oomph imbues Chassagne's rejoinder, 'It's the time of the season/When you think about leaving,' with a serene sense of selflessness. Similarly trained on matters of the heart, the title cut is brutal and haunting, expressing a sincere 'alone together' ambiance: 'You're always nervous with the real thing/Mind is changing like a mood ring,' Butler groans in a line could serve as a thesis statement for the LP. 'Circle of Trust,' with its penetrating Euro-bounce, paints a calm picture of a couple dancing the night away while 'the archangel Michael' watches from afar with intentions to 'die for your love/Write your name in the fire in the sky for your love.' The pulsing bass line and modish Pet Shop Boys intonation — enriched by Chassagne's pert coo — make this Arcade Fire's most hypnotic dance ditty since 2017's slept-on 'Electric Blue.' Not every musical turn is successful. Despite its propulsive sonics (think Nine Inch Nails meets the Bomb Squad), the industrial missive, 'Alien Nation,' is a letdown, tortured by lyrics that come off at once vague and dogmatic (something about laser beams and weird vibrations). Ditto for 'Stuck in My Head,' whose heart-thrashing chords are all but vitiated by a sad-sack, repetitive refrain that fails to embellish the grief Butler sings about. But the gorgeous 'Ride or Die' registers more than enough emotive force, with pastoral guitars recalling early AF classics like 'Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles).' It makes way for the moving 'I Love Her Shadow,' where Butler, over insatiable percussion, proclaims his love for someone who 'broke me with the hammer.' Mapping regrets and linking desires, Pink Elephant is a striking image of togetherness.
