Tell Me I'm Pretty is the fourth studio album by American rock band Cage the Elephant. It was released on December 18, 2015, and was announced online on October 5, 2015. The album was recorded in the spring of 2015 at Easy Eye Sound in Nashville, Tennessee.[7] Vocalist Matt Shultz stated: "With this record, we wanted to be more transparent. We wanted to capture the sentiment of each song, and whatever emotional response it provoked, to be really honest to that."
On October 29, 2015, the band released the first single from the album, "Mess Around", accompanied by a music video which was created using footage from the 1902 film A Trip to the Moon and other films by Georges Méliès.[8] Two other songs, "Trouble" and "Too Late to Say Goodbye", were made available for download before the album's release. The second single "Trouble" was sent to alternative radio on April 26, 2016.[9] The album won the award for Best Rock Album at the 59th Grammy Awards.
Recording
Cage the Elephant recruited Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys to produce Tell Me I'm Pretty, with Matt describing him as "reactive" and keeping the band second-guessing themselves, urging scratch vocals and emphasizing first takes.[10]
The band said they "just wanted to experiment with sounds. While you start experimenting with sound and you get out there a little bit, away from the norm, I think people will see that as psychedelic." This album reached farther then their usual work. Most of the songs off the album feature a more vintage 1960s/1970s sound.[11]
The band was praised for their song writing with lyrics being more mature, emotional, and character-driven, showing the band’s growth as songwriters and storytellers.[12]
Composition
The first single, "Mess Around", was initially criticized by some for sounding too similar to material by the Black Keys; however, after the song "Trouble" was released as a preview in November, vocalist Matt Shultz told Alternative Nation, "...the songs have so much diversity in them that I don’t feel like any song is representative of the entire album, kind of like each sound has its own personality." Matt also said that the band found inspiration in David Bowie for his eclectic and ever-changing style.[10]
The woman pictured on the album cover model Rachel Sykes. In an interview, lead singer Matt Shultz said "When I looked at her, she was immediately beautiful to the eye but also there was some sense that she'd lived some real life in a way that I could relate to. She was this girl who was very beautiful but she had this kind of 'touched' look to her.”[13]
Release and Commercial performance
The lead single, “Mess Around,” made its live debut on October 29, 2015, and the band later revealed on social media that its sound drew influence from groups like Outkast and The Black Keys. The song topped the BillboardAlternative Songs chart and broke into the Canadian Hot 100.[14][15] This was followed by the release of the second single, “Trouble” which also topped the Alternative Songs chart.[14] Ahead of the album’s official launch, Cage the Elephant also shared “Too Late to Say Goodbye” as a preview track to build anticipation.[11]
Tell Me I'm Pretty received generally favorable reviews from music critics. According to review aggregator Metacritic, the album has an average critic review score of 73/100, based on 16 reviews.[26] Writing for Exclaim!, Daniel Sylvester said that frontman Matthew Shultz "has hit the mark lyrically and vocally here, inviting listeners into the emotionally charged and honest world that Cage the Elephant inhabit."[19] Dave Simpson writing for The Guardian gave it a 4/5 stating “ The producer’s trademarks – slightly psychedelic 60s garage rock given a postmodern sound – are all over Tell Me I’m Pretty, but the band never abandon their own singular, brattish energy. There are Stonesy and Kinksy riffs and classic themes about worried parents, ruckuses, self-doubt and at least one visit to the doctor “’cause I don’t feel right”. The band are operating in an ever more overcrowded field, but their songwriting has never been sharper.”[12]
Andrew Harrison writing for Drowned in sound stated “Tell Me I’m Pretty sits very much in the same league as Melophobia – a confident, eclectic rock record with heaps of personality and charm. It smacks of a band who, having finally found their identity, are starting to explore new territory with remarkable confidence.”[27]
