''No One Ever Really Dies'' (stylized as ''NO_ONE EVER REALLY DIES'') is the fifth and final studio album by American

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

and rock band N.E.R.D., released on December 15, 2017, by I Am Other and

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. It is the group's first full-length album in 7 years, following 2010's ''

Nothing Nothing, no-thing, or no thing is the complete absence of ''anything'', as the opposite of ''something'' and an antithesis of everything. The concept of nothing has been a matter of philosophical debate since at least the 5th century BCE. Ea ...

'', and features

guest appearance The term guest appearance generally denotes the appearance of a guest in an artistic or pop-culture setting. The guests themselves (referred to as guest artists, featured artists, guest stars, or guest fighters, depending on context), are disting ...

s from

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman, and actress. One of the List of music artists by net worth, wealthiest musicians in the world, List of awards and nominations received by Rihanna, her vario ...

, André 3000,

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, becoming the first music ...

, M.I.A.,

Gucci Mane Radric Delantic Davis (born February 12, 1980), known professionally as Gucci Mane, is an American rapper. He is credited, along with fellow Atlanta-based rappers T.I. and Jeezy, with pioneering the hip hop subgenre trap music for mainstream a ...

, Wale,

Future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ex ...

and

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran ( ; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

among others, and was preceded by three singles; "

Lemon The lemon (''Citrus'' × ''limon'') is a species of small evergreen tree in the ''Citrus'' genus of the flowering plant family Rutaceae. A true lemon is a hybrid of the citron and the bitter orange. Its origins are uncertain, but some ...

" with Rihanna, "1000" with Future, and "Don't Don't Do It!" with Kendrick Lamar.

Background

On February 6, 2017, during an interview with

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

, Pharrell stated that "it's feeling really good, really special" about the group's return. In October 2017, the album was teased after posters were popping up on the side of streets, and by concertgoers at the 2017 Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival. The album was debuted with a live listening party during the first day at ComplexCon, thus revealing the tracklist. Pharrell revealed the album's cover art and release date via

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and

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on November 22, 2017.

Artwork

The album's artwork depicts a tongue with the album's title placed on top and aluminum foil on the teeth to substitute grills.

Critical reception

''No One Ever Really Dies'' received positive reviews from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 74, based on 17 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Greg Kot Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...

of the

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

, in a 3.5 out of 4 star review, praised the album saying "No One Ever Really Dies” (Columbia), the band's first album in seven years, is a typically diverse, trippy ride from the group." In a four out of five star review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, critic Andy Kellman claimed that "Tied together with recurring declarations of "mad ethnic right now," sampled from Retch's 2016 viral clip, the album is all raucous resistance to issues ranging from anti-immigration to police brutality to transgender rights. When Williams barks "You fuckin' with survivors!" like an activist Rockwell, he perfectly summarizes the indignant optimism that dominates the best N.E.R.D album since the original version of '' In Search of....''." With an 8/10 rating, A Harmony of ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'' declared "We're approaching 2018, but N.E.R.D. are centuries ahead of the rest of us. No_One Ever Really Dies is the group's most futuristic and experimental effort to date; it's gutsy and more than a little weird, but there's a slick tidiness underpinning the chaos from start to finish." Giving a 4.1 out of 5 grade, Kyle Eustice of

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of Hip hop music, hip hop music criticism and news. ''HipHopDX'' has over 3.5M monthly readers, the website encompassing hip hop news, interviews, music, and reviews. The website's founder and CEO is Sharath C ...

opined "True to form, the 11-track effort is more like a collection of fiery mini-symphonies that effortlessly swing from genre to genre. Every track has multiple intricate parts that make each one feel like its own wild musical journey. Much like the trio’s 2002 debut In Search Of…, it’s impossible to classify the record as merely “Hip Hop” when it's a cornucopia of layered, eclectic sounds, including pop, R&B, trap, rock, fast-paced electronica, reggae and calypso."

Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. History ''Consequence of Sound'' was founded in Septem ...

's Dan Weiss gave a B saying "With NO_ONE EVER REALLY DIES, the trio have delivered the party-at-the-end-of-the-world record that only their Rolodex could truly dream to life." Kitty Empire of

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

, in a 4 out of 5 star review, found "This is a brash, busy party record with its eyes wide open, in which the NERD brand is thoroughly refreshed."

Track listing

Credits adapted from Tidal. All tracks are produced by Pharrell Williams, except where noted. Notes * signifies an additional producer. * signifies an additional vocal producer. * "Don’t Don’t Do It!" originally featured credited vocals by

Frank Ocean Frank Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987) is an American singer and songwriter. He has been credited by several music journalism, music critics as a pioneer of the alternative R&B genre. Ocean has won two Grammy Awards and a B ...

. * "Deep Down Body Thurst" features additional vocals by Mike Larson. * "1000" features additional vocals by Alex DePersia, Mette Towley, Rhea Dummett and Phi Hollinger. * "ESP" features additional vocals by Alex DePersia and Mette Towley. * "Lightning Fire Magic Prayer" features additional vocals by Rocket Williams, Helen Williams, Rhea Dummett and Mike Larson. * "Kites" features additional vocals by

ASAP Rocky Rakim Athelaston Mayers (born October 3, 1988), known professionally as ASAP Rocky ( ; stylized as A$AP Rocky), is an American rapper. Born and raised in Harlem, he embarked on his musical career as a member of the hip hop music, hip hop coll ...

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actress, and entrepreneur. Often referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Qu ...

, Rhea Dummett, Hana Hollinger, Phi Hollinger and Helen Williams. * "Secret Life of Tigers" features additional vocals by First Summer Uika and Momose Momo of Billie Idle, and

Cara Delevingne Cara Jocelyn Delevingne ( ; born 12 August 1992) is an English model and actress. She signed with Storm Management after leaving school in 2009. Delevingne won Model of the Year at the British Fashion Awards in 2012 and 2014, and List of award ...

Personnel

N.E.R.D *

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973), also known mononymously as Pharrell, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and fashion designer. He first became known as one half of the music production duo ...

– production , executive production *

Chad Hugo Charles Edward Hugo (born February 24, 1974) is an American musician and record producer. Alongside childhood friend Pharrell Williams, he formed the production duo the Neptunes in 1992, with whom he has produced numerous hit records for variou ...

– additional production , synthesizers , doorslam , synth FX , programming *

Shay Haley Sheldon "Shay" Haley (born December 18, 1975), also known as Shade, is an American musician. He is a member of the rock and hip-hop band N.E.R.D., alongside Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo. His role in the band is often questioned, but in a 20 ...

Additional musicians *

– performance *

– performance * Wale – performance *

– performance * André 3000 – performance * M.I.A. – performance *

– performance * Thundercat – bass * Brent Paschke – electric guitar * Rhea Dummett – additional vocals * Mike "Miguel Milliones" Larson – additional vocals , programming * Alex DePersia – additional vocals * Mette Towley – additional vocals * Phi Hollinger – additional vocals * Helen Williams – additional vocals * Rocket Williams – additional vocals *

– additional vocals *

– additional vocals * Hana Hollinger – additional vocals * First Summer Uika – additional vocals * Momose Momo – additional vocals *

– additional vocals * Tenley Sage – native youth * Red Eagle Perkins – native youth * Amiah Fimbres – native youth * Precious Bernie – native youth * Wacantkiya Eagle – native youth * Mahpiya Eagle – native youth * Jayde Kelly – native youth * Chayla Warren – native youth * Winona Gayto – native youth * Ku-uipo Mauai – native youth Technical * Mike Larson – recording engineer , native youth vocal production , mixing * Andrew Coleman – recording engineer * James Hunt – recording engineer * Matt Schaeffer – recording engineer * Marcos Tovar – recording engineer * Kori Anders – recording engineer * Ken Oriole – recording engineer * Kuk Harrell – Rihanna vocal production * Rhea Dummett – native youth vocal production * Ben "Bengineer" Sedano – 2nd engineer , assistant mix engineer * Thomas Cullison – 2nd engineer , assistant mix engineer * Jacob Dennis – 2nd engineer * Jordon Silva – 2nd engineer * Masayuki Hara – 2nd engineer * Madoka Kambe – 2nd engineer * Hart Gunther – 2nd engineer * Daryl Johnson – 2nd engineer * Miguel DaCruz – 2nd engineer * Eric Eylands – 2nd engineer * Brendan Morawski – 2nd engineer * David Kim – 2nd engineer * Todd Hurtt – 2nd engineer * David Kim – 2nd engineer * Ramon Rivas – 2nd engineer * Matt Tuggle – 2nd engineer * Iain Findlay – 2nd engineer * Josh Seflers – 2nd engineer * John Muller – 2nd engineer * Sean Klein – 2nd engineer * David Swenson – 2nd engineer * Graham Thomas – 2nd engineer * Leslie Brathwaite – mixing * Jon Sher – assistant mix engineer * Tony Flores – assistant mix engineer * Chris Athens – mastering Release * Caron Veazey – Pharrell Williams management * Ron Laffitte – Pharrell Williams management * Alex DePersia – Pharrell Williams project management * Todd Tourso – Pharrell Williams creative direction, art direction * Phi Hollinger – Pharrell Williams creative direction, art direction * Pres Rodriguez – art direction * Mike Larson – album A&R and coordination * Jerry Edouard – album A&R and coordination * Michelle Dupont – Chad Hugo management * Jan Fairchild – Chad Hugo engineering * Erik Ian – photography

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2017 albums N.E.R.D. albums Albums produced by Pharrell Williams Albums produced by Kuk Harrell Albums produced by Chad Hugo Columbia Records albums New wave albums by American artists