55 (album)

Background

Work for the album began to show in August 2015, when the single "Classic", released for their So Classic EP, was re-mastered and released as a 2015 re-release, adding new feature vocals from Fetty Wap along with POWERS. Afterwards, the duo went on to uploading a brand new music video for their collaboration with Alex Newell, entitled "Collect My Love" and was classed as the second re-release from their So Classic EP. Both songs from the EP were considered to be a part of the new album at the time.

In the late months of 2015, The Knocks released a new single which was the first song outside of the So Classic EP and other projects that they had previously work on, which sparked much interest about whether or not the duo was working on a new project. It was titled "I Wish (My Taylor Swift)" and was collaborated with Matthew Koma. It was eventually released in September 2015. The trailer for their debut album was released on their YouTube channel in November 2015, announcing it under the title 55. This teased the release of another single, entitled "New York City", featuring vocals from Cam'ron, and was released the following month. Also in the same month, they re-released their official video for their 2013 single "Comfortable", featuring vocals from X Ambassadors, which was originally released under their 2013 Comfortable EP, and was classed as being another 2015 re-release.

Just before the release of their collaboration with Wyclef Jean, they announced further that the duo were made executive producers for Jean's 2016 album. Their first single of the year, entitled "Kiss The Sky", featuring vocals from Wyclef Jean, was released in January 2016. During the premiere of the track, it was reported afterwards that the release date for the debut album 55 was confirmed to be 4 March 2016. This was followed on by the track listings from the album being released with single "Comfortable", featuring X Ambassadors, confirmed to also be on the album. This was also among all tracks from the "So Classic" EP being confirmed as songs on the album, as well as the collaborations with Matthew, Cam'ron and Wyclef.

During their touring period in late January, the duo were interviewed by The Daily Nebraskan, stating news about the album 55. B-Roc, who makes up one half of the duo, stated, "I think the new album is similar to our "So Classic" EP. That’s a good representation of what the album will be like." He also added that, "We didn’t get to meet Fetty Wap, but Carly Rae was cool. Every artist we featured we previously had worked with or knew someone who knew them. The label didn’t put them on our record; we wanted them on there." After the tour in February, they announced that the duo is hoping to arrange some shows in Europe, but details of that are yet to be revealed.

In mid-February 2016, the duo then released their first promotional song from 55, entitled "Best for Last", which features vocals from Walk the Moon. In just under a week after that song was released, the song "Love Me Like That", which features vocals from Carly Rae Jepsen, was made the next promotional song from the album. The day after it was released, one of Jepsen's labels known as "SB Projects", which was run by Scooter Braun, signed the duo under their label to which afterwards they stated that they are "looking forward to this new chapter in our career."

Starting in the turn of the month, the duo launched a video series called "New York Knocks", which features the passers by reactions with songs off of the album 55. The episodes also revealed snippets or teasers of songs from the album.

55 was eventually released on March 4, 2016. On the day of its release, the duo uploaded every remaining unreleased song from the album onto their digital streaming profiles on SoundCloud, Spotify and YouTube. These songs were "The Key", "Dancing With Myself", which is a 2016 re-release of the 2015 version, "Tied To You", featuring vocals from Justin Tranter, "Cinderella", featuring vocals from Magic Man, and "Purple Eyes", featuring vocals from Phoebe Ryan.

55.5 (The Knocks VIP Mix)

55.5 (The Knocks VIP Mix) is set to be the fourth extended play produced by New York City based electronic music duo The Knocks, which was released on 8 July 2016. The extended play is set as a remixed spin-off to the duo's debut album 55, containing remixes of five songs from the album.

Background

The background for the extended play starts at around the time when the duo began their American tour. They began to record the remixed versions of the songs whilst on the tour and began teasing their first remix and lead remix off of the extended play, which was of their hit single "Classic", featuring vocals from alt-pop duo POWERS.

The duo said that the extended play was going to be released on 29 April 2016, but was pushed back to a later date. The lead single was, instead, released on that date.

The second single from the extended play, which was of the song "Love Me Like That", featuring vocals from Carly Rae Jepsen, was released 26 May 2016, during the duo's tour with Justin Bieber and Ellie Goulding.

The third single, which was of the song "Tied To You", featuring vocals from pop songwriter Justin Tranter, was released on 6 June 2016.

Whilst the duo were embarking on another American tour serving as guest performers for The 1975, the fourth single, which was of the song "Best for Last", featuring vocals from American electronic band Walk the Moon, was released on 24 June 2016.

On 7 July 2016, The Knocks announced that the extended play was to be released on 8 July 2016 and was to include the official release of their last remix from the EP of the song "Time".

Track listing

Notes