Live Life Living

Background and development

Gleave signed to Epic Records in 2013, leaving Ministry of Sound who had released his past three albums. On 15 April 2013, he stated on Facebook that he was in Los Angeles working on his fifth studio album. Five album tracks were written and produced in Los Angeles with Stuart Price, and the album will consist entirely of productions by Gleave, Price, Fraser T Smith and Alf "Critikal" Bamford. Bamford is responsible for additional production on every track. The lead single from the album, titled "All the Wrong Places", was debuted at his Auckland concert in New Zealand on 24 April. He appeared at the 2013 Glastonbury Festival. Example announced via Twitter that album tracks "All the Wrong Places" and "Only Human" were to be played at all festival gigs in the summer. "All the Wrong Places" made its radio debut on 15 July on BBC Radio 1 and was released on 8 September. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number 13. "Only Human" was first performed live at a pre-festival warm-up show at the O2 Academy Bristol on 6 June 2013. At festivals during the summer, Gleave also performed the album track "Take Me as I Am". It was premiered at Global Gathering 2013.

Gleave stated that the album would be released on 30 June 2014. He also revealed that the new album will feature no rapping, however Gleave did state on Twitter that a rap verse may have been added to the upcoming single "One More Day (Stay with Me)", as well as four other tracks on the album. He has also stated that he won't appear on any collaborations until the end of the album project. Gleave cites The Prodigy, Faithless, Underworld and The Chemical Brothers as influences for the new album, which will include elements of acid house, hardstyle, big beat and 90s rave. The album's second single, "Kids Again", premiered alongside its remixes in January 2014 and will be released on 16 March. It was produced by Gleave and Fraser T Smith, and co-produced by Critikal.

On 11 March during an interview with Capital FM Example confirmed "One More Day" as the album's third single. Example stated that "One More Day (Stay with Me)" would be closer to some 2014 dance songs such as Gorgon City's "Ready for Your Love" and Clean Bandit's "Rather Be". The song is produced by Alex Smith, Example and Critikal, and it premiered on 19 April on Danny Howard's BBC Radio 1 show. In an interview with UKF, Elliot described the album as "quite dark and tough and twisted" aside from the singles.

In April 2014, Example stated that after the release of the album, he plans to release two more singles.

Example has collaborated with Klaxons' Jamie Reynolds on the track "Innocent Minds" which appears on the deluxe version of the album.

On 7 May, Example tweeted saying that the album has been approved and mastered and that audio previews for the tracks would be available to on iTunes the following week. The audio previews for the standard edition of the album were made available on 23 May. The audio previews for the deluxe edition were made available on 28 May.

Example told a fan on Twitter that "Seen You" would be the fourth single from the album. He later confirmed that "10 Million People" would be the fourth single instead and it will be released on 5 October 2014.

Singles

"All the Wrong Places" is the album's lead single. It was produced by Critikal, Steve Hill and Example, and was released on 6 September 2013. The single debuted at number 13 on the UK Singles Chart and at number 4 on the UK Dance charts.

The album's second single "Kids Again" was produced by Fraser T Smith, Critikal and Example. It was released on 16 March 2014 and also peaked at number 13 in the UK charts and number 6 on the UK Dance charts.

The album's third single "One More Day" was produced by Critikal, Alex Smith and Example and was released on 20 June 2014. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number 4, making it Gleave's most successful single since "Say Nothing" (2012).

The album's fourth single "10 Million People" was released on 5 October 2014. A remix by Kove premiered through UKF Drum & Bass on 16 August 2014.

Other songs

"Only Human" was released for exclusive iTunes download upon pre-order of the album, on 26 March 2014. The opening track, "Next Year" was premiered on 30 June. The album's eighth track and also title track, "Live Life Living" was premiered on 1 July. "Seen You" premiered through Capital on 3 July. A music video for "Take Me as I Am" was released on 7 July 2014 to promote the album release.

In the week before the album's release, Amazon released an album minimix for free.

On 7 July 2014, Example released a video for "Take Me as I Am ".

Tours

On 31 January, Gleave announced a mini-tour, named The Ultimate Weekender, would take place from 13–15 March. The tour took places at smaller venues in three different cities across the United Kingdom (London, Manchester and Glasgow), with an after-party to follow each gig, giving a total of six gigs. Tickets for the tour were in limited supply and were obtained through application forms on his official website.

Example went on a 26-date tour, starting on 19 October and finishing on 27 November 2014.

Critical reception

Upon release, the album has received mixed reviews from critics.

Praises went to the variety in style and experimentation between each track. Ben Cardew from NME stated: "This fifth album, his first for a major-label, marks another change – whereas before he’d sing and rap over EDM-tinged tracks, here he decides to largely can the rapping that made his name, spitting barely a handful of verses, and delivers a record of relentless club bangers featuring choice ’90s dance influences ... This willingness to experiment should be applauded, and it’s fun (at first) to play spot the influences."

In terms of criticisms, Cardew states again: "But while the style may vary, the tone rarely does. Bar a moody-ish late-album spell, everything is designed for maximum rave uplift, displaying not so much light and dark, as light, more light and Day-Glo. The lyrics, too, tend towards the ear-rinsingly bland (as showcased on the single ‘One More Day (Stay With Me)’ “another lesson learned, another page is turned” etc.) as if Example wants to hide behind disco platitudes. And on the few occasions here he does resort to rap, there is a palpable feel of grudging ‘will-this-do’? ... there’s a sense that Example’s fifth album could have been something quite unique. Instead, ‘Live Life Living’ is as hard to stomach as its tongue twister title is to pronounce." whilst Killian Fox from The Observer stated: "This album, the London rapper-turned-singer's fifth, has moments of self-effacement ("I'm so, so far from perfect, will you take me as I am?"), but in general it lacks conviction or a driving force. The cliches in the lyrics ("Like a rabbit in the headlights") extend to the formulaic production, which pays homage to 90s dance culture without bringing anything very interesting to the party."

Track listing