''No One Ever Really Dies'' (stylized as ''NO_ONE EVER REALLY DIES'') is the fifth studio album by American hip hop and

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band N.E.R.D. The album was released on December 15, 2017 through

I Am Other I Am Other (stylized as i am OTHER) is a multi-media creative collective created by Pharrell Williams that serves as an umbrella for all of his endeavors, including Billionaire Boys Club and ICECREAM apparel, textile company Bionic Yarn and a de ...

and Columbia Records. It features

guest appearance In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other ...

s from Rihanna,

André 3000 André Lauren Benjamin (born May 27, 1975), better known as André 3000, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is best known for being a part of southern hip hop duo Outkast alongside fellow rapper Big Boi. ...

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper and songwriter. Known for his progressive musical styles and socially conscious songwriting, he is often considered one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generat ...

, M.I.A.,

Gucci Mane Radric Delantic Davis (born February 12, 1980), known professionally as Gucci Mane, is an American rapper and record executive. He helped pioneer the hip hop subgenre of trap music alongside fellow Atlanta-based rappers T.I. and Young Jeezy, ...

, Wale, Future and

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

among others. It was preceded by three singles; "

Lemon The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...

" 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 ''

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''.

Background

On February 6, 2017, during an interview with

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

, 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 Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival, formerly known as the Odd Future, OFWGKTA Carnival or Odd Future carnival, is an annual American music festival and carnival curated by Tyler, the Creator and has been held annually since its inception in the fall of 2012. ...

. 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 Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

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 Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, 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 AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, 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

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. 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 Christopher Francis "Frank" Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987), is an American singer, songwriter, and rapper. His works are noted by music critics for featuring avant-garde styles and introspective, elliptical lyrics. 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 Rakim Athelaston Mayers (born October 3, 1988), known professionally as ASAP Rocky ( ; stylized as A$AP Rocky), is an American rapper, music producer and record executive. Born and raised in Harlem, he embarked on his musical career as a membe ...

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the " Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and " Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Award ...

, 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 Billie Idle (stylized as BILLIE IDLE®) was a Japanese alternative idol girl group founded in 2015. They debuted on April 1, 2015, with the album, ''Idle Gossip''. They disbanded at the end of 2019. History On Juy 8, 2014, during the disbandm ...

, and

Cara Delevingne Cara Jocelyn Delevingne ( ; born 12 August 1992) is an English model and actress. She signed with Storm Management after leaving school in 2009. Delevingne won Model of the Year at the British Fashion Awards in 2012 and 2014. Delevingne sta ...

Personnel

N.E.R.D * Pharrell Williams – production , executive production *

Chad Hugo Charles Edward Hugo (born February 24, 1974) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter. With close friend Pharrell Williams, he formed the production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he has prod ...

– additional production , synthesizers , doorslam , synth FX , programming *

Shay Haley Sheldon "Shay" Haley (born December 18, 1975), also known as Shade, is an American drummer, rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is a member of the funk rock band N*E*R*D, alongside fellow Virginia musicians Pharrell Williams and ...

Additional musicians *

– performance * Rihanna – performance *

– performance * Wale – performance * Future – performance *

– performance * M.I.A. – performance *

– 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 *

– additional vocals *

– additional vocals * Hana Hollinger – additional vocals * First Summer Uika – additional vocals * Momose Momo – additional vocals *

– 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 Thaddis Laphonia "Kuk" Harrell ( ) is an American songwriter, vocal producer, arranger and engineer. He was a member of a songwriting–production team composed of himself, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and Terius "The-Dream" Nash. In 2011, Kuk ...

– 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

{{Authority control 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 New wave albums by American artists