Folie à Deux (album)

Background

Fall Out Boy began writing material for a possible successor shortly after the release of the 2007 album, Infinity on High. In March 2008, the band attempted to enter the The Guinness Book of World Records for being the only musical act to perform in all seven continents in nine months, planning to perform in Antarctica for an audience of scientists. However, the group was unable to make the flight from Punta Arenas, Chile to Antarctica due to poor weather. Despite this unsuccessful attempt, the group felt energized from the experience and became inspired to write more music. This led to more material to sift through when the band decided to enter the studio. Fall Out Boy spent time during June 2008 formulating ideas at Avron's home, where "three to four" song ideas were developed. Lead vocalist/guitarist Patrick Stump and bassist/lyricist Pete Wentz began turning these ideas into songs over the following month. Wentz explained that the process was the same as usual: "I'll go over to Patrick's house and he'll kind of just sit there and play songs, and I'll be like, 'Ah, that one's awesome!'"

The band intended to work on new music sooner, but the release of its cover of Michael Jackson's "Beat It" as a single stood in the way. The single "stalled out" the label, who wanted the band to film a music video for further promotion. Stump entered the studio with the intention of being less "self-indulgent", believing he dominated the band's previous record. He wished to focus more on creating a cohesive album in which different sounds come together instead of featuring his vocals at the forefront. With the help of Neal Avron, who produced Fall Out Boy's last two records, the quartet decided to simplify the music on Folie à Deux as opposed to the multi-layered sound of Infinity on High. The band was interviewed about the album constantly before even a single note was recorded, leading to misconceptions about how the record would sound. The album was first rumored to consist of entirely acoustic folk music, while other sources later alleged it would delve into rap-rock.

Recording and production

The band members decided to keep publicity down during the album's recording, as they were taken aback by such press surrounding Infinity on High. Stump entered the studio with music for almost 50 songs. Folie à Deux was intended to be very different from the previous three Fall Out Boy albums, which were all interconnected musically and thematically; Stump described the new songs as "having a lot of freedom [...] it's our first just plain old record in a while." However, the sessions proved to be difficult for the band. Stump called the making of the album "painful", noting that he and Wentz quarreled over many issues, revealing "I threw something across the room over a major-to-minor progression." On previous albums, guitarist Joe Trohman felt that he and drummer Andy Hurley did not have enough musical freedom and that Stump and Wentz exerted too much control over the group: "I felt, 'Man, this isn't my band anymore.' It's no one's fault, and I don't want to make it seem that way. It was more of a complex I developed based off of stuff I was reading. It's hard to hear, 'Joe and Andy are just along for the ride.'" To amend the situation, Trohman sat down with Stump to communicate his concerns, which led to more collaboration on Folie à Deux. "It made me feel like I owned the songs a lot more. It made me really excited about contributing to Fall Out Boy and made me find my role in the band," Trohman recalled. During the recording sessions Wentz used LSD thinking it could influence his songwriting, he later stopped in July 2008 as it was detracting him from writing songs.

The group purposely cut short the amount of time set aside for recording the album, and did not notify its label before beginning work on the record. The members hoped that these steps would bring them back to the days when they were a young, broke band who had to finish an album before the money ran out. "There was something really interesting about that creative process when we were starting out," explained Stump. "The more time you have, the more potential you have for excess." He felt that the process was reminiscent of the making of Take This to Your Grave because both albums were created using a "first-thought, best-thought" mentality: "I think we were trying to find what making a record that way would sound like now, but with four adult Fall Out Boys." Trohman called the recording process "fun because [it] was so collaborative," but difficult because it was rushed.

In September, the band was still finalizing cameos, recording with Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco and Pharrell Williams. The band desired to work with Kanye West, but ran out of time. Pharrell laid down beats and Stump would add vocals and melodies for "w.a.m.s." The collaboration with Elvis Costello in "What a Catch, Donnie" was spontaneous. The band sent Costello the song, and although he had been suffering from bronchitis, he decided to participate. Stump was particularly excited about the collaboration, as Hurley noted that "Elvis is Patrick's favorite person on earth as a musician, singer and songwriter." Wentz felt that cameos were necessary to portray the album's messages, stating "More than anything, they serve the purpose of a character in a musical, where this character's voice makes the most sense...Certain lines need to be conveyed in certain ways."

Music

On Folie à Deux, Fall Out Boy continued its pattern of musical experimentation that began on the band's previous album, Infinity on High. Singer/guitarist Patrick Stump was once again the primary composer, and attempted to create compositions that echoed the themes discussed in Wentz's lyrics. As the lyrical content shifted in new directions from the group's previous works, the musical style employed by the other band members evolved as well. On this topic, Trohman commented "It's not like we said, 'We want to push the envelope,' It's not that at all. We just wanted to try cooler things. The album still sounds like Fall Out Boy. It has big choruses. But you can't do the same thing every record."

The record contains more instruments not present in the band's previous work, including synthesizers, sequenced drums, and strings. Critics noted similarities between the album and 1980s arena rock. Joey Rosen of Rolling Stone commented that "They further explore their funky side here: Stump is emerging as one of the world's most unlikely blue-eyed-soul stars, breathing life into classic R&B chord progressions and flaunting his agile voice." Trohman drew influence from Queen while creating guitar harmonies to match Stump's vocals on the record, while his other styles were inspired by Metallica, Prince, and The Rolling Stones. He also employs a jazz guitar interlude on "w.a.m.s." which has been likened to Steely Dan.

The pregap hidden track "Lullabye" is an acoustic ballad influenced by Bob Dylan, written with the intention of helping Wentz' son, Bronx Mowgli, fall asleep. Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly categorized the album's opener, "Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes", as a "towering guitar anthem built on wedding-march organs, thundering drums, and singer Patrick Stump's limber vocals." "Coffee's for Closers" is similarly percussive and features drummer Andy Hurley drawing influence from marching band drumwork. The first single "I Don't Care" has been described as "disco rockabilly", and contains a repeating blues riff throughout the song; Stump's vocal performance on the track has been compared to John Lee Hooker.

"Headfirst Slide into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet" is an example of the album's theme of contrasting moods, and "struts in on a massive drum line and crunching, processed guitars, gets amplified by a four-piece horn section, then falls away to a simple, somber piano line" according to James Montgomery of MTV. The Elton John-influenced "What a Catch, Donnie" is a piano-driven ballad which features a string section in the background. As the song closes, it features Brendon Urie, Alexander DeLeon, Travie McCoy, Gabe Saporta, Elvis Costello and William Beckett singing parts of previous Fall Out Boy songs. According to Stump, the song contains lyrics that were important to the band and "gives us the chance for this record to come full circle". The backing vocals in "America's Suitehearts" have been compared to groups such as The Beatles.

Lyrics

Pete Wentz was once again the primary lyricist of the band during the production of the album. Stump said that Wentz "totally outdid himself on this record. He doesn't even know how good his lyrics are here." Wentz, despite many recent personal developments (marriage to Ashlee Simpson, birth of his son, Bronx), desired to shift the focus away from himself and turn it outward onto the world. For the first time on a Fall Out Boy album, Folie is rarely autobiographical, as the band believed the format was "losing its luster" because "everyone was doing it." The songs on the album explore decaying relationships, moral dilemmas, and societal shortcomings, as well as concepts such as trust, infidelity, responsibility, and commitment. Stump tagged Folie à Deux as a "message record" that takes aim at "the materialistic dance between any two parties obsessed with each other, whether it's teenage girls and handbag makers, politicians and lobbyists or tabloids and stars." Folie à Deux also dissects how self-motivated American culture is, and many of the lyrics are intended to be satirical. While the album does contain political overtones, the band wanted to avoid being overt about these themes, leaving many lyrics open to interpretation for listeners.

Wentz referred to "I Don't Care" as a "narcissist's anthem" that addresses the current generation's short attention span. Wentz further explored the subjects of narcissism and apathy in "(Coffee's for Closers)", as Stump explained, "The past decade has been totally about 'me.' It's totally about 'Oh, I'm sad. I want this. I know somebody who knows this person. Me me me me me,' so that's what that song is about." Additionally, "America's Suitehearts" discusses society's fixation with celebrities and the desire to let them do no wrong. "27" explores the hedonistic lifestyles common in rock and roll music. The title is a reference to the 27 Club, a group of influential musicians, including Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, and Jim Morrison, who all died at the age of 27. Wentz felt that he was living a similarly dangerous lifestyle, and was "stoked" to make it to his 28th birthday. Stump added "There was a countdown clock and everything. I remember, our manager called me up on Pete's 28th birthday and screamed, 'We made it!'"

Title and artwork

Folie à deux is a rare psychiatric syndrome in which symptoms of a delusional belief are transmitted from one individual to another. The same syndrome shared by more than two people may be called folie à trois, folie à quatre, folie en famille or even folie à plusieurs ("madness of many"). Recent psychiatric classifications refer to the syndrome as dependency psychotic disorder or induced delusional disorder, although the research literature largely uses the original name. The disorder was first conceptualized in 19th century French psychiatry. In keeping with the record's socially aware nature, the band felt that the term was relevant to the candidates in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Stump further clarified the title's meaning: "The irony is that people will probably mistake the title as something about romantic relationships in some way. And it's our only record where that theme is not touched upon."

On September 13, 2008, the album artwork was revealed on the band's website. The cover of the album was painted by artist Luke Chueh. Wentz contacted Chueh and asked him to create the piece, to which the artist agreed. Chueh recalled of the situation, "They were great to work with, having given me full creative control over both the artwork and the final design of the [sic] cover." Chueh used the title and underlying themes of the album as inspiration for the artwork. "The title of the album is Folie à Deux, and when considering this with the band's popularity, I chose to focus on the idea of fandom, and how some people are willing to take their love/infatuation to levels that are obviously unhealthy." Wentz currently owns the original painting. The disc's liner notes contain pictures of the band members with blank pages next to them; the group allowed fans to submit pictures they had drawn in the spaces and posted them to the band's website.

Promotion and release

As the release of the new album approached, the band and its management found that they would have to navigate changes in the music industry, which Hurley described as "a completely different place." Facing declining record sales, the lack of a proper outlet for exhibition of music videos, and the economic crisis, Hurley commented that "people are buying things they need to survive rather than records and concert tickets." The group's 2007 album Infinity on High sold one million copies, which was considered a disappointment compared to From Under the Cork Tree's sales of three million. Trohman attributed this to "the same reason that nobody's records are selling that well: there's so much turmoil in the music industry, so much downsizing, and people are finding different ways to get their music more and more all the time. There's very little we can do about that as a band. All we can do is try to make great music and hope it connects with people."

Singles

Three singles were released from the album: "I Don't Care", "America's Suitehearts" and "What a Catch, Donnie". As part of a new marketing ploy, Fall Out Boy released several songs on iTunes before the release of Folie à Deux. When purchased, the songs would go towards purchasing the entire album as part of the "Complete My Album" feature. The lead single, "I Don't Care" was released on September 8, 2008, reaching a peak at number twenty-one on the Billboard Hot 100. It was certified Platinum by the RIAA for shipments of one million copies. In Australia, the song peaked at number twenty on the ARIA singles chart, being certified Gold by the ARIA, denoting shipments of 35,000 units. The music video for the single was released on the internet on September 25, but was pulled from iTunes and YouTube shortly after. Wentz wrote angrily on his blog, finding the video was full of product placement shots for Nokia phones.

"I Don't Care" was followed by the digital release of "Headfirst Slide into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet" on October 7, 2008. It debuted and peaked at number 74 on the Hot 100 and on the Digital Songs chart at number 40. It also reached the Canadian charts at number 64. Contrary to popular misconception, the song was not an actual single, rather it was just a song posted online. The second digital song, "What a Catch, Donnie", was released a short time later on October 15, 2008, charting at number 94 on the Hot 100, number fifty-three on Digital Songs and number ninety-five in Canada week of November 1. The release was followed by the Suave Suarez remix of "I Don't Care" on November 4. The third digital song, "America's Suitehearts" (later becoming the second radio single) was also released digitally to iTunes on December 2, 2008.

"Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet", "What a Catch, Donnie" and "America's Suitehearts" were digitally released before the album as part of iTunes' "Complete My Album" feature. "America's Suitehearts" was then commissioned as the album's second single on January 12, 2009. As a single it reached number 78 on the Hot 100, number 71 on Digital Songs week ending May 16, 2009, as well as peaking at number 30 on the Pop Songs chart on April 25. In Australia, the song hit number 26 and logged in at number ninety-seven in the UK. "Headfirst Slide into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet" impacted United States modern rock radio on June 15, 2009, while "What a Catch, Donnie" was later issued as Folie à Deux's third and last single. However, neither re-entered any charts. Music videos were created for each.

Citizens for Our Betterment and Welcome to the New Administration

A viral campaign was launched by Pete Wentz on August 18, 2008, to promote the album. It was inspired by George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), and the autocratic, overbearing Big Brother organization. The campaign started when the website for Wentz's Decaydance Records label was supposedly "hacked" by an organization called "Citizens for Our Betterment" (CFOB). Clues were left in links and images on the website, and Wentz left clues on his personal blog. On August 19, Wentz' wife Ashlee Simpson was seen carrying a pamphlet for the organization, raising suspicion and sparking many rumors online. In the days that followed, new posts appeared on the Citizens For Our Betterment website and Wentz continued to blog, at times referring to November 4, the same day as the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Meanwhile, another band, Copeland, launched its own viral campaign. As part of it, Copeland launched a similarly named site, CitizensFourOurBetterment.com, and spread links through various Fall Out Boy fan blogs to attract more people to the new website.

While this mixing of campaigns was done without the knowledge of the members of Fall Out Boy, Wentz did post an acknowledgement on August 22, when CFOB again "hijacked" Decaydance Records website. Decaydance act The Cab began performing with "Citizens for Our Betterment" written on the group's instruments. Finally, on August 26, a blog post of a press release was made on the band's FriendsOrEnemies.com page; it announced Folie à Deux as the title of the upcoming album, due for release on November 4. Wentz said of the endeavor "To me, this is not a marketing campaign. It is a way to cause excitement about your art and have people earn it and understand it...I don't believe the full campaign has begun, and I also believe people are taking over the ship in a truly viral way. It doesn't hurt anyone, and hopefully it tells the story of the project better and makes it more appreciated."

It also revealed that a mixtape, titled Welcome to the New Administration, was available for download for free on the FriendsOrEnemies website. The mixtape contained several snippets of new Fall Out Boy tracks, as well as new music from other bands such as Gym Class Heroes, Cobra Starship, and Panic! at the Disco. However none of the titles were confirmed for Folie à Deux. It also featured a song titled "America's Sweethearts" which was eventually confirmed for the album but with an alternate spelling, "America's Suitehearts". The band confirmed that it intended to release the mixtape in conjunction with the "Citizens" campaign, and felt that it was relevant to not only the themes of the album, but the 2008 election as well. Wentz explained "The whole campaign is part of the record and people can call it whatever they want, but the mixtape was part of that campaign, and we'll see what happens from here...In creating this autocratic organization, we created a democratic campaign, because people have made it go the direction they wanted it to go."

Release date change

Initially, the album's release date was reported to be November 4, 2008—meaning that it would coincide with the 2008 presidential election. Fall Out Boy later announced on October 13, 2008, that the early November date was in doubt, citing concerns over the planned election day tie-in. The band stressed out and worked very hard on a tight deadline to get the album out on November 4. While on a promotional tour in Spain, the band realized that things were "spinning out of control", and, in a rushed-out statement, explained:

Six months ago we thought it would be a fun idea to release our album on election day but this is not the election to be cute. We felt as though rather than making a commentary we were only riding the wave of the election. This seemed less and less like what we intended to do and more of a gimmick. It is now in the hands of our label to give us a new release date. It is our intent to get our record out this year and as soon as possible -- as we made sure to have it done in time for its original release.

Deciding to postpone the album release in a season in which artists Kanye West (808s & Heartbreak), Britney Spears (Circus) and Guns N' Roses (Chinese Democracy) had already set release dates, the only one available was six weeks later than expected. It was soon announced that a new release date for Folie was December 16, 2008. Although December 16 was not an ideal date according to demographic marketing analysis, Stump said "we put our eight feet down [and] told our label it must come out this year."

Critical reception

The album received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 73, based on 21 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Dan Martin of NME gave the record a very positive review, calling a "defining statement" with the band's "most stylistically hatstand-but-indisputably-best songs yet." He wrote, "We're not saying it's as good as genre watermarks American Idiot or The Black Parade. We're just saying it comes close," closing with calling it a "staggering achievement." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic rated the album four out of five stars and compared it to labelmate Panic! at the Disco's effort earlier in the year, Pretty. Odd. He wrote that "Fall Out Boy capture the Zeitgeist of the latter half of the 2000s better than any band: there's so much going on in Folie à Deux, you either choose to take it all seriously or take none of it. Fall Out Boy make as much sense when heard either way." Scott Heisel wrote for Alternative Press, commending the band for its "creativity, ingenuity and willingness to try just about anything." He compared the meaning of the term folie à deux ("a madness shared by two") to the two very distinct feelings expressed in the different sides of the record, calling the album a good representation of the band's career.

Many critics commented on the album's musical experimentation. Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone, in his review, stated that "the musical mix on Folie à Deux suggests a band with an advanced case of ADD, ricocheting between genres and eras, tempos and time signatures, often several times in a given song." Spin's David Marchese complimented the album's forays into strange territories, calling tracks such as "I Don't Care" and "What a Catch, Donnie" impressive. Rock Sound's Faye Lewis also enjoyed the variety, calling the album "a non-stop exotic cabaret for the ears, delivering a far-reaching selection of songs that leap between a blend of catchy pop punk." However, some critics felt that the band was excessive in its attempts to create a diverse work. Margaret Wappler of the Los Angeles Times believed that "Folie à Deux imagines itself in the stadium. [...] It's not that FOB can't have grandiosity, but every stadium needs open air." She called the album's sounds a "pleasure bot of right-now pop, adroitly programmed with crunchy '80s melodies, emo's dark prowess and symphonies à la Sgt. Pepper's," while stating "For all the steps forward, Folie a Deux also seems to contain a microchip for its own destruction."

Q called the album "a barrelling, hugely confident record that should see Fall Out Boy swiftly elevated into mainstream rock's premier league," and Blender called it "the brightest, breeziest, giddiest record Fall Out Boy have ever made." Blender ranked Folie at number 10 on its 33 best albums of the year list. Jaimie Hodgson of The Observer complimented producer Neal Avron's "squeaky clean" production. In a more negative review of the album, Jesse Cataldo of Slant Magazine wrote that "the band's songs are catchy at heart, enjoyable in a trifling but substantial way, until they're smeared with layer after layer of smarm, nullifying any chance of their music being consumed as a simple, empty pleasure." Cataldo also expressed displeasure with Lil Wayne's performance as well as production from Pharrell Williams, which he deemed a "promising concept [...] quickly discarded", summarizing that, "Folie à Deux seems to prove, if nothing else, that Fall Out Boy is good at masking their best qualities and pushing forward their most annoying ones."

Commercial performance

Folie à Deux has sold 449,000 copies in the US to date February 2013, but did not perform as well commercially as its predecessor, Infinity on High. It debuted at number eight on the US Billboard 200 chart with first week sales of 149,000 copies during a highly competitive week with other big debuts, becoming Fall Out Boy's third consecutive top ten album. This is in contrast to the band's more successful previous effort which shifted 260,000 copies in its opening week to debut at number one the chart. Folie spent two weeks within the top 20 out of its 22 chart weeks. It also entered Billboard's Rock Albums and Alternative Albums charts at number three. With 39,000 digital downloads as part of its sales totals in its debut week, the record opened at number one on Billboard Digital Albums chart, the band's second number one album on that chart. Fall Out Boy was bested in the group's chart debut by R&B singers Keyshia Cole—whose A Different Me landed at number two on sales of more than 321,000—and Jamie Foxx, whose Intuition logged 265,000 for a number three debut. Taylor Swift's Fearless reigned at number one during that week. Within two months of its release, Folie à Deux was certified Gold in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments of 500,000 copies.

Outside the United States, the album was also less widely successful than Infinity on High but managed to reach the top 10 in Australia where it received a Platinum certification from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments of 70,000 units. On the Australian chart, the record debuted and peaked at number nine and spent its first seven weeks within the top 20 out of its fifteen weeks in the top 40. In the United Kingdom, the album spent six weeks on the UK Albums Chart and was later certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for the shipments of 60,000 units. Folie logged 12 weeks on the New Zealand Albums Chart with a peak of 26. The album also peaked at number twenty-one on the Top Canadian Albums chart.

Tours and performances

The day before Folie à Deux arrived in stores (December 15), Fall Out Boy had planned on staging an impromptu concert in New York City's Washington Square Park. However, the band did not obtain a permit to do so. Taking inspiration from Bob Dylan and similar folk singers from the 1960s, the group wanted to do something free and spontaneous as a gift to fans. The band and its management argued with the NYPD about allowing the show to go on. In the end, they were told that picking up any instruments would earn them a trip to jail, so the band instead led the audience in a sing-along. Stump sang while Wentz and Trohman played air guitar and Hurley drummed on his knees. Stump later commented in an interview that "Those cops back there—and I have no problem with the cops, trust me—but those cops were like the Grinch. They just took all the presents."

On January 20, 2009, Fall Out Boy performed at the 'Be the Change' Youth Ball, which celebrated the inauguration of President Barack Obama. The group was invited to perform by Washington, D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty, who was also a fan of the band. At the ball, the band jokingly dedicated a performance of "Thnks fr th Mmrs" to former president George W. Bush. Upon meeting Obama, Wentz remarked "It's mind-blowing. It's one of those things where it's such an amazing experience—just being in his presence is amazing."

To promote the album, Fall Out Boy embarked on the Believers Never Die Tour Part Deux, which included dates in the United States and Canada. The name of the tour was based on the band's 2004 Believers Never Die Tour. In keeping with the political themes of Folie à Deux, the tour featured symbolic commentary on the current state of corporate America. The group began the sets with a "corporate retreat" in which the group performed in dress suits with policemen in riot gear playing drums by the side of the stage. Afterwards, the band would change to casual attire for the rest of the set. Wentz noted that the purpose of the formal dress was to demonstrate "how the rich rob the poor", and encouraged fans to direct attention to poverty-stricken nations such as Sri Lanka and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The supporting acts on the tour were Cobra Starship, All Time Low, Metro Station and Hey Monday. For five dates on the tour, Fall Out Boy brought along rapper 50 Cent. Wentz explained, "We've been fans of [him] since we heard 'Wanksta' in 8 Mile. We've wanted to do something with him for awhile [sic], and having him out on the tour is gonna take the show to a whole new level. It's exciting to bring two different genres together and give the fans a new experience". The rapper had similar feelings about the situation: "This will be a major moment in music history. Joining forces with Fall Out Boy, one of the most dynamic rock bands in the industry, will be an exciting and historic event for rock and hip-hop." Due to the conflicting fan opinion regarding the album, concertgoers would "boo the band for performing numbers from the record in concert", leaving Stump to describe touring in support of Folie as like "being the last act at the vaudeville show: We were rotten vegetable targets in Clandestine hoods." "Some of us were miserable onstage," said Trohman. "Others were just drunk."

Track listing

All lyrics written by Pete Wentz; all music composed by Fall Out Boy.