OK Orchestra

''OK Orchestra'' (stylized in all caps) is the fourth studio album by American pop band AJR. It was released on March 26, 2021, by the band's own label AJR Productions. The album was produced by group member Ryan Met. The album features the Blue Man Group, making ''OK Orchestra'' AJR's second album to feature another artist.

Promotion and release

In February 2020, AJR released the album's first single, " Bang!", which became one of the trio's biggest hits. The single was originally intended as a track for a deluxe version of '' Neotheater'', however this never came to fruition, and the song eventually became the lead single for the forthcoming album. On August 31, 2020 they released the album's second single, "Bummerland", a song about the band sarcastically expressing their feelings on the COVID-19 pandemic. On December 20, 2020, they announced that ''OK Orchestra'' would be the name of their upcoming album, while also releasing the third single from the album, "My Play". It was put up for pre-order on iTunes/Apple Music and showed that the album contained 13 tracks. AJR released the album's fourth single "Way Less Sad" and its music video on February 17, 2021, On March 21, 2021, AJR launched OKO World, an interactive experience playable on their official website. AJR released a music video for "OK Overture" and "World's Smallest Violin" the same day the album was released. On June 23, almost three months later, they released a music video for "3 O'Clock Things". Two months afterwards on August 12, a music video for "Christmas in June" was released which featured footage filmed at the Wonderstruck Festival in Cleveland. On February 9, 2022, AJR released a music video for "Ordinaryish People feat. Blue Man Group".

Critical reception

A.D. Amorosi of '' Variety'' described the album as "harmonically vocalized, hyper-memoir-centric, atmospheric mélange of pop, hip-hop, and doo-wop with quirky rhythms and a salting of smart-assed They Might Be Giants for tart taste". In a review for AllMusic, Matt Collar wrote that "''OK Orchestra'' isn't just full of hit-worthy pop hooks, it's stage-worthy, ambitious, and full of insights driven by AJR's personal experience", rating the album 4/5. Thomas Stremfel of ''Spectrum Culture'' received the album less positively, rating the album 1.25/5 and stating that "hearing the terrible production and cringe-inducing songwriting of ''OK Orchestra'' without warning makes for an undeniably engaging listen... Year-end album lists should be filing restraining orders against this album, but that doesn't mean you can't listen to it for a cheap laugh."

Accolades

The album was nominated for Top Rock Album at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards alongside other bands Twenty One Pilots, Coldplay, and Imagine Dragons.

Commercial performance

''OK Orchestra'' debuted at number 10 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 dated April 10, 2021, becoming AJR's second top-10 album. It earned 32,000 album-equivalent units, including 13,000 pure album sales. Although ''OK Orchestra'' placed at number 55 on the midweek UK Albums Chart dated March 29, 2021, it did not place in the final listing on April 2. Much of the albums popularity has been contributed to the singles "Bang!", "Way Less Sad", and "World's Smallest Violin".

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal.

AJR
* Jack Met – lead vocals, instruments
* Adam Met – vocals, instruments
* Ryan Met – vocals, production , instruments , programming

Additional personnel

* Alba Avoricani – additional vocals
* Arnetta Johnson - Trumpets
* Emelia Suljic - violin
* Ruth Kornblatt-Stier - cello
* Danny Ferenbach – violin , trumpet
* JJ Kirkpatrick - trumpet
* Bas Janssen – trumpet engineer
* Blue Man Group – ensemble
* Chris Gehringer – mastering
* Joe Zook – mixing
* Kamila Stankiewicz – artwork
* Chris Cerrato – design
* Jader Souza – design
* Kenny Urban - Beatbox

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

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2021 albums
AJR (band) albums
Orchestral pop albums
Albums impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic