We Are King is the debut album by R&B trio King (currently named We Are King), released on February 5, 2016. The album was nominated for Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 59th Grammy Awards, making them the first independent artists to be nominated in that category. Upon its release, We Are King appeared 6 times in the Billboard charts for 1st week sales: #1 on the Heatseekers Chart, #7 for Independent Albums, #8 for R&B, #20 for Top Hip-Hop/R&B, #78 for Top Album Sales, and #158 in the Top 200.
Background We Are King is the debut full-length album from King, following their 2011 release of The Story EP. The independently recorded and produced album contains 12 tracks, including extended mixes of the three songs from The Story EP; "The Story", "Supernatural", and "Hey". We Are King was recorded between 2011 and 2015 at King Creative, the Strother sisters' home studio in Los Angeles, California. The album was written by the three members, and features production and instrumentation by Paris Strother, with additional instrumentation by Kyle Bolden (guitar), Thomas Lea (strings), and The Regiment Horns (brass & woodwinds). The album was engineered and recorded by Paris Strother, with additional engineering by Morris Hayes (lead vocals on "Supernatural") and Nathaniel Alford (lead vocals on "Hey"). We Are King was mixed by Neal Pogue and mastered by Brian "Big Bass" Gardner at Bernie Grundman Mastering. The album cover design was a collaboration between visual artist Geoff Kim and Paris Strother, with photography by Alex King.
Critical reception
We Are King and the single "The Greatest" were included on numerous mid-year and year-end lists.
Accolades PublicationRankingListRefBandcamp#1Best 100 Albums of 2016Billboard#810 Best R&B Albums of 2016The Guardian#16Best Albums of 2016Newsday#22Best Albums of 2016 So FarNoiseyN/A26 Extremely Dope Overlooked Albums of 2016 (So Far)NPRN/A100 Favorite Songs of 2016 So Far ["The Greatest"]Observer#1010 Best R&B Albums of 2016Pitchfork#3750 Best Albums of 2016Pitchfork#66100 Best Songs of 2016 ["The Greatest"]PitchforkN/ABest 20 Pop and R&B Albums of 2016Pop Magazine#24Best Albums of 2016Rolling Stone#720 Best R&B Albums of 2016Spin#18101 Best Songs of 2016 ["The Greatest"]Spin#21Best Albums of 2016Stereogum#4550 Best Albums of 2016 So FarTime#5Here Are The Best Albums of 2016 (So Far)Uproxx#14Best Albums of 2016
Track listing All songs written and composed by Paris Strother, Amber Strother and Anita Bias.
Personnel Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.
King Paris Strother – producer, composer, instrumentalist, engineer, background vocals (all tracks) Amber Strother – composer, vocals, background vocals (all tracks) Anita Bias – composer, vocals, background vocals (all tracks)
Additional personnel Kyle Bolden – guitar (tracks 1, 3, 7, 9 & 10) Thomas Lea – strings (tracks 3, 4, & 6) The Regiment Horns – brass & woodwinds (Tracks 4, 9, & 10) Morris Hayes – engineer (track 4) Nathaniel Alford – engineer (track 9) Neal Pogue – mix engineer (all tracks) Brian "Big Bass" Gardner – mastering engineer (all tracks)
Cover art personnel Alex King – photo Geoff Kim – cover design Paris Strother – cover design
References