Passive Me, Aggressive You (stylised as Passive Me • Aggressive You) is the debut studio album by New Zealand indie electronic band the Naked and Famous, released on 6 September 2010 by Somewhat Damaged. The album debuted at number one on the New Zealand Albums Chart. The album spawned four singles: "All of This", "Young Blood", "Punching in a Dream" and "Girls Like You"; with "Young Blood" peaking at number one on the New Zealand Singles Chart.
Composition Passive Me, Aggressive You is a synth-pop and electro-rock album, drawing from the genres of dance-rock, and featuring post-punk influences. "Young Blood" is a synth-pop song, while "Punching in a Dream" is of the dream pop genre. "Spank" is psychedelic rock.
Singles The first single from Passive Me, Aggressive You, "All of This", was released on 16 November 2009, almost a year prior to the album's release.
"Young Blood" was released as the album's second single on 7 July 2010, debuting at number one on the New Zealand Singles Chart and spending two consecutive weeks atop the chart.
"Punching in a Dream" was released as the third single on 23 August 2010, reaching number 11 in New Zealand.
The album's fourth and final single, "Girls Like You", was released on 5 June 2011.
Critical reception
Chris Schulz from Stuff.co.nz awarded Passive Me, Aggressive You five out of five stars, and praised its production and variety of musical styles. AllMusic's Matt Collar praised the songs' catchy choruses and, awarding the album four-and-a-half out of five stars, concluded, "there's nothing passive about how much you could aggressively love this band". Scott Kara of The New Zealand Herald rated Passive Me, Aggressive You a perfect five stars, summarising "Forget the hype. It's real". The Nelson Mail Nick Ward called Passive Me, Aggressive You "Unconvincing, but with flashes of promise". Writing for NME, Mark Baumont described the album as "a glorious melting pot of pop perfection" and added "TN&F’s passive melodicism and aggressive innovation clash in a dazzling blaze of psych/sonic fireworks." The album was nominated for the 2011 Taite Music Prize.
Commercial performance The album debuted at number one on the New Zealand Albums Chart on 13 September 2010, and was knocked off the top spot by Linkin Park's A Thousand Suns the following week.
Track listing
Personnel Credits adapted from the liner notes of Passive Me, Aggressive You.
The Naked and Famous Aaron Short Alisa Xayalith David Beadle Jesse Wood Thom Powers
Technical Thom Powers – production, engineering Aaron Short – production, engineering Olly Harmer – additional engineering Billy Bush – mixing Emily Lazar – mastering Joe LaPorta – mastering
Artwork Special Problems – artwork, design, video
Charts
Weekly charts + 2010 weekly chart performance for Passive Me, Aggressive You Chart (2010) Peakposition
+ 2011 weekly chart performance for Passive Me, Aggressive You Chart (2011) Peakposition
Year-end charts + 2010 year-end chart performance for Passive Me, Aggressive You Chart (2010) Position New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) 39
+ 2011 year-end chart performance for Passive Me, Aggressive You Chart (2011) Position Australian Dance Albums (ARIA) 39
Certifications
Release history + Release dates and formats for Passive Me, Aggressive You Region Date Format Label Catalogue New Zealand 6 September 2010 Somewhat Damaged 81359 Australia Digital download rowspan="3" Canada United States Australia 1 October 2010 CD 2753221 Germany 11 March 2011 Digital download rowspan="2" United Kingdom 14 March 2011 CD 2757442 Picture disc LP 2757444 3-CD deluxe edition 2764039 United States 15 March 2011 CD B0015363-02 LP B0015436-01 Germany 18 March 2011 CD 2757442 Japan 8 June 2011 Universal UICP-1127
See also List of number-one albums in 2010 (New Zealand)
References