倾城传说 (2008)

When the World Comes Down is the third studio album by American rock band the All-American Rejects, released on December 16, 2008, by Interscope Records. Following on from touring and promoting for their previous album Move Along (2005), the band began writing for their follow-up in late 2006 with producer Eric Valentine. The album was recorded in 2008 at Barefoot Studios in Los Angeles, California.

Production

The All-American Rejects began writing material for their third studio album in late December 2006 after wrapping up their Tournado tour, and continued through into the new year. But due to further touring and promotion for their second album Move Along, the band did not enter the studio until nearly a year later. This was also the first time lyricists Nick Wheeler and Tyson Ritter tried new methods of writing by "escaping" to various regional areas in North America to conceive new lyrics so that the songs could sound "honest".

The All-American Rejects began recording for When the World Comes Down at Skywalker Ranch in San Rafael, California with assistant engineer Dann Thompson, and later at Barefoot Studios in Los Angeles, California, with producer Eric Valentine. The sessions were overseen by studio manager Trevor Whatever; Matt Radosevich and Brad Cook served as assistant engineers. The band rented additional instruments from Hollywood Studio Rentals, and other equipment from Stephen Jarvis Rentals. Additional vocals were recorded at Avatar Events Group in Atlanta, Georgia by Kenny Cresswell, and at Wheeler's and Ritter's houses in Florida.

An orchestra was recorded at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, California on the Eastwood Scoring Stage. The recordings were mixed by Valentine at Barefoot, and the Village in Santa Monica, California. Bernie Grundman mastered the album at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Hollywood, California. Despite the album being initially planned for release in mid-September 2008, recording was not completed until September 18.

Composition

In an interview with She Knows Entertainment, Ritter commented "I think When the World Comes Down has been a journey. I was 23 when I started writing this record. I'm 24 now... people say when you graduate college you figure out who you are. If I had graduated college, this would be that moment – now. I think I was most questioning life when I was getting off the road with Move Along and this record was therapy for me. It's everything I needed it to be for me."

The first songs to be written that made it onto the album were "I Wanna", "Back to Me", and "Breakin'". While "I Wanna" was written over six months, with Ritter making constant refinements, the following songs "Gives You Hell" and "Another Heart Calls" were all written during a road trip to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with "Fallin' Apart" and "Mona Lisa" getting scored in Rabun County, Georgia, the latter of which was recorded live in one take. The album was later named When the World Comes Down as Ritter saw the title track as "a perfect, simple work of art".

Release

During production of the album, The All-American Rejects broadcast live to fans online to provide a direct insight into the "record-making" process. They later released the demo version of the track "Mona Lisa (When the World Come Down)" and "Sierra's Song" as free downloads, the latter of which never featured on the album and appears on the soundtrack to the American television show 90210.

In April 2008, the band appeared at the Bamboozle Left festival. In June, the band performed on the 2008 edition of Warped Tour. On June 30, 2008, the band announced that their next album would be released in three months' time. In August and September, the band embarked on a Canadian tour with Simple Plan and Faber Drive. On September 18, the day that recording for the album was completed, the album's release was changed from mid-September to November 18. On September 22, "Gives You Hell" was made available for streaming through imeem. It was released as the album's lead single on September 30. On October 11, it was announced that the album's release date had again been pushed back, this time to mid-December. In October and November 2008, the band went on a US tour, which included an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. A music video for "Gives You Hell" followed on November 6, 2008, with an alternative version premiering in January 2009. "Mona Lisa" was released November 18, 2008 along with its music video as a promotional single prior to the album's release. When the World Comes Down was made available for streaming through Myspace on December 15, 2008, before being released a day later. Upon When the World Comes Down's release, ten percent of profits made from the album's sales were donated to the charity Feed the Children.