''Don't Know What's Cool Anymore'' is the fourth and final studio album by Danish band

Alphabeat Alphabeat were a Danish pop band from Silkeborg, fronted by singers Stine Bramsen and Anders Stig Gehrt Nielsen. Their single " Fascination" was a major hit in Denmark during the summer of 2007, as well as the United Kingdom in 2008. Follow-up ...

, their first since 2012's ''

Express Non-Stop ''Express Non-Stop'' is the third studio album by Danish band Alphabeat. It was released on 24 September 2012 by Copenhagen Records. Unlike their two previous albums '' This is Alphabeat'' and '' The Spell'', it was released solely in their native ...

''. It was released on 1 November 2019 by Warner Music Denmark and is distributed by Absolute Label Services in the UK and

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

in the US.

Background and promotion

Singles

After a 6-year hiatus, Alphabeat announced their return on 1 March 2019 with the single "

Shadows A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, o ...

". At the same time, they announced plans for a fourth studio album, citing a release window of October 2019. In Denmark, "Shadows" reached number 19 on the

singles chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include rec ...

and was

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Gold. An EP of "Shadows"

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

es was released on 24 May, containing reworkings by Alphalove, F9, Until Dawn and Country Club Martini Crew. An acoustic recording of the track was released 14 June, followed by a UK

radio edit In music, a radio edit or radio mix is a modification, typically truncated or censored, intended to make a song more suitable for airplay, whether it be adjusted for length, profanity, subject matter, instrumentation, or form. Radio edits may als ...

of the single on 10 September, mixed by "

Fascination Fascination may refer to: Music *"Fascination", a stride piano composition by James P. Johnson recorded in 1917 (as a piano roll) and 1939 (acoustic) *''Fascination!'', a 1983 album by The Human League **"(Keep Feeling) Fascination", a 1983 song ...

" and "

10,000 Nights "10.000 Nights of Thunder" is the second single by Danish pop band Alphabeat. It was released in the UK as "10,000 Nights" in anticipation of '' This Is Alphabeat'', the international version of their debut album. It topped the chart in Alphabeat ...

" producer Jeremy Wheatley. On 16 October, the UK edit was added to the

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

playlist. On 30 August 2019, the band released the album's second single, "I Don't Know What's Cool Anymore". Alongside this, they announced the album itself with an expected release date of 1 November 2019. On 25 October, a second remix EP was released for the single "I Don't Know What's Cool Anymore", containing tracks by Faustix, Alphalove and Initial Talk. On 26 June 2020, Alphabeat released a reworking of the album track "Sometimes". Titled "Sometimes 2020", this version is produced by Dutch DJ Justus Schipper. Schipper later released his own re-working of the track, the "Justus Remix", on 30 July.

Music videos

Alphabeat released three music videos to accompany the release of ''Don't Know What's Cool Anymore''. The first, a clip for lead single "Shadows", was released 1 March 2019. A second, accompanying the band's second single "I Don't Know What's Cool Anymore", followed on 24 September. A third, for the album track "Sing A Song" premiered 16 November, however the track itself was not released as a single. All three of these videos were filmed, directed and edited by band members Anders Reinholdt and Rasmus Nagel.

Media appearances

In promotion of the album, and its respective singles, Alphabeat have appeared on various radio and television programmes, including performing "Shadows" on both the Danish version of reality TV series ''

X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

'' and British late-night talk show ''

The Graham Norton Show ''The Graham Norton Show'' is a British comedy chat show presented by Graham Norton. It was initially broadcast on BBC Two, from 22 February 2007, before moving to BBC One in October 2009. It currently airs on Friday evenings, with Norton s ...

''. The group have also performed "I Don't Know What's Cool Anymore" on both the

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

and

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

versions of dance competition series ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

''. In the week leading up to the album's release, Bramsen and SG, alongside guitarist Anders Bønlokke, appeared on both

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scottish radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same name from 23 November 197 ...

and

, the latter of which saw them performing acoustic versions of both "Shadows" and "Fascination". The trio also appeared on album review

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

''Track by Track'', discussing each song from the release with hosts Dan Bull and Will Warren. All six band members also featured on the cover of

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magazine '' QX'' and Scandinavian lifestyle magazine ''Scan''. On 2 November, Alphabeat played a medley of their hits as part of the 2019

Crown Prince Couple's Awards The Crown Prince Couple's Awards ( da, Kronprinspaarets Priser) are a set of culture and social prizes awarded annually by Crown Prince Frederik and Princess Mary of Denmark. The awards were established in 2004 as a gift from the Bikuben Foundatio ...

ceremony, aired live on Danish television. The group performed "I Don't Know What's Cool Anymore" and "

", alongside classic hits "

", and "

", Following the album's release, on 3 November Danish radio station

DR P7 Mix DR P7 Mix was one of DR's digital radio stations in Denmark. It launched on 6 June 2011 as the third of five new digital-only stations. As of September 2019, it has been slated for closure. History In November 2010, DR announced it would signif ...

dedicated a whole day of programming to the band. The broadcast totaled seven hours and culminated in a live performance of "Don't Know What's Cool Anymore" in full, followed by hits " DJ", " The Spell" and "

". On 17 December 2019, the group appeared on TV 2's ''De Største Øjeblikke 2019'' (English: ''The Greatest Moments 2019''), performing album track "Back of My Bike" and single "Shadows".

Touring

The band have also supported the album through various

live shows Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music *Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of albums ...

, including performing at

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

in March 2019 and touring Denmark as part of

Grøn Koncert Grøn Koncert (literally "Green Concert") is an annually recurring series of Danish one-day music festivals. Taking place in July, the concerts are performed by a selection of bands who tour around Denmark for about ten days. The concerts have bee ...

during July 2019. Throughout February 2020, the group were due to play a series of headline shows in their native country, with a tour of the United Kingdom following in April 2020. In June 2020, the group were also due to play ''Fredagsrock,'' the Friday-night concert event at

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

Tivoli, and the

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music festival A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or h ...

''Mighty Hoopla.'' Owing to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, however, several of the band's 2020 dates were either cancelled or rescheduled. In place of these cancelations, the group performed "the only Alphabeat gig this Summer", a

live-streamed Livestreaming is streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time over the internet. It is often referred to simply as streaming. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but no ...

concert atop the

Radisson Collection Hotel, Royal Copenhagen The Radisson Collection Hotel, Royal Copenhagen is a historic hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark. History The hotel was designed by Danish architect and designer Arne Jacobsen for the airline Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS). It was opened on July 1, ...

on 26 June.

Critical reception

Initial reception to the album was mostly positive, with

celebrity culture Celebrity culture is a high-volume exposure to celebrities' personal lives on a global scale. It is inherently tied to consumer interests where celebrities transform their fame to become product brands. Whereas a culture can usually be physically ...

website ''CelebMix'' calling the record "a non-stop, popular musical masterpiece packed full of intelligent, well-crafted and well-produced perfect pop hits". Music and entertainment website ''Essentially Pop'' too praised the record, naming it "a welcome breath of positivity in a worried world", whilst citing opening track "Shadows" as "high energy, fun, and effusive". ''

OK! ''OK!'' is a British weekly magazine that primarily specialises in royal and celebrity news. Originally launched as a monthly magazine, its first issue was published in April 1997. In September 2004, ''OK''! launched in Australia as a monthly ...

'' gave the album 4/5 stars, claiming the listener "won't be able to help hitting the dancefloor and throwing some old school shapes", whilst ''

New! ''New!'' is a British weekly magazine, specialising in celebrity news and is published by Reach plc, which also oversees ''OK!'' magazine, the ''Daily Mirror'', ''Daily Express'' and ''Daily Star (United Kingdom), Daily Star''. Profile ''New! ...

'' gave a similarly positive review, claiming the album was "all killer, no filler". Review website ''Stereoboard'' too praised the record, noting that the album "heralds a return to the more organic aesthetic of... '' This Is Alphabeat''" and calling it a "nine track gem"; the website gave the release a 4/5 star rating. Music magazine ''

Classic Pop Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards ...

'' was more critical, however, rating the album 4 stars. The publication praised the band's "timeless radio-friendly euphoria" but panned the short length of the album and the track "Sing a Song".

Nordic music Nordic folk music includes a number of traditions of Nordic countries, especially Scandinavian. The Nordic countries are Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. The many regions of the Nordic countries share certain traditions, many of whic ...

fansite ''Scandipop'' praised "Sing a Song", however, calling it "brutally honest but tongue-in-cheek", whilst commending the record as a whole for being "wall-to-wall, heart-on-its-sleeve, brilliant, unabashed pop".

Track listing

Personnel

Alphabeat * Anders Bønløkke – guitar, backing vocals, writing, production * Stine Bramsen – vocals, cowbell, writing * Troels Møller – drums, backing vocals * Rasmus Nagel – keyboards, backing vocals * Anders Reinholdt – bass, backing vocals * Anders SG – vocals,

tamborim A ''tamborim'' ( or ) is a small, round Brazilian frame drum of Portuguese and African origin. The frame is 6" in width and may be made of metal, plastic, or wood. The head is typically made of nylon and is normally very tightly tuned in order ...

, writing, production Additional personnel * Emil Sebastian Albæk Falk – production, writing, backing vocals, additional instrumentation * Daniela Binyamin – writing, backing vocals * Elisabeth Eibye – photography * Tom McKenzie – photography * Henrik Siegel – cover design * Mads Nilsson – mixing

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2019 albums Alphabeat albums Warner Music Group albums Atlantic Records albums