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

Alphabeat Alphabeat are 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 2006, as well as the United Kingdom in 2008. Their 2007 ...

, 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

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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 on a surface where light from a light source is blocked by an object. In contrast, shade occupies the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross-section of a shadow is a two-dimensiona ...

". 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 re ...

and was

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Gold. An EP of "Shadows"

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, 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, poem, or photograph ca ...

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

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of the single on 10 September, mixed by " Fascination" and " 10,000 Nights" 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 List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

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 ''

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'' and British late-night talk show ''

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

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versions of dance competition series ''

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

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and

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

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''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

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

", alongside classic hits " 10,000 Nights", and " Fascination", 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, she has been slated for closure. History In November 2010, DR announced it would sign ...

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 " Fascination". 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, including performing at

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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 be ...

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 ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

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Tivoli, and the

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

''Mighty Hoopla.'' Owing to the

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, 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

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concert atop the

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on 26 June.

Critical reception

Initial reception to the album was mostly positive, with

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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 1993. 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''. Profile ''New!'' was first published in Ma ...

'' 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 vocal pop or 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,

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, 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