Social Cues Explained

Social Cues
Type:	studio
Artist:	Cage the Elephant
Cover:	Cage the Elephant Social Cues.jpg
Alt:	A photo of a man in a white cowboy hat and red rubber shirt with a bronze-colored face and a yellow streak going down the side of his face, stood in front of a blue tile wall.
Released:	April 19, 2019
Recorded:	2018
Studio:	Battle Tapes Recording, Blackbird Studio and Sound Emporium in Nashville, Tennessee Village Recording Studio in Los Angeles, California^[1]
Length:	44:35
Label:	RCA
Producer:	John Hill
Prev Title:	Unpeeled
Prev Year:	2017
Next Title:	Neon Pill
Next Year:	2024

Social Cues is the fifth studio album by American rock band Cage the Elephant. Announced on January 31, 2019, the album was released on April 19, 2019.^[2] Social Cues won the award for Best Rock Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, making it the band's second album to win the award after Tell Me I'm Pretty.

Background

On November 26, 2018, the band announced on Twitter that their new album was "Done. Mixed. Mastered."^[3] On January 31, 2019, the band officially released "Ready to Let Go", the first single from Social Cues. On March 8, 2019, "House of Glass", the second advance track from the album was released. A collaboration with Beck, "Night Running" was released on March 28, 2019. The final song released in advance of the album was "Goodbye", released on April 8, 2019. Many of the songs (Such as "Goodbye", "Ready to Let Go", and "Love's the Only Way") were based on the divorce that Matt Shultz went through with his ex-wife, Juliette Buchs.

Reception

Social Cues received generally positive reviews upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating of reviews from mainstream publications, it received a 75 out of 100 - indicating "generally favorable reviews". Social Cues has an average rating of 6.7 on AnyDecentMusic?.

Personnel

Cage the Elephant

• Nick Bockrath – lead guitar, pedal steel guitar, lap steel guitar, keyboards, celeste, cello
• Jared Champion – drums, percussion
• Matthan Minster – piano, keyboards, rhythm guitar, vibraphone, backing vocals
• Brad Shultz – rhythm guitar, keyboards
• Matt Shultz – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
• Daniel Tichenor – bass

Additional musicians

• Elliot Bergman – horn
• Jacob Braun – cello
• Charlie Bisharat – violin
• David Campbell – string arrangements, conductor
• Matt Combs – cello, violin, viola
• Gina Corso – violin
• Kyle Davis – percussion
• Mario Deleon – violin
• Lisa Dodlinger – violin
• Andrew Duckles – viola
• Beck – vocals
• John Hill – keyboards
• Leah Katz – viola
• Ginger Murphy – cello
• Sara Parkins – violin
• Kerenza Peacock – violin
• Katie Schecter – backing vocals
• Dave Stone – bass
• Steve Trudell – string contractor
• The W. Crimm Singers – backing vocals

Production

• Rob Cohen – engineering
• Tom Elmhirst – mixing
• Jeremy Ferguson – engineer
• David Greenbaum – engineer
• John Hill – production
• Randy Merrill – mastering

Charts

Chart (2019)! scope="col"

Peak position
Australia Albums (ARIA)^[4]	77
Lithuanian Albums (AGATA)^[5]	36

Notes and References

1. Web site: Cage the Elephant Announce Social Cues Album, Release "Ready to Let Go" Video . Loudwire . January 31, 2019 . January 31, 2019 . Childers, Chad.
2. Web site: Cage The Elephant Announced 'Social Cues' With 'Ready To Let Go'. January 31, 2019. Uproxx.
3. Web site: Record done. Mixed. Mastered.. Cage the Elephant. November 26, 2018. Twitter.
4. Web site: ARIA Report: Issue 1521. https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20190501010735/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/23790/20190501-0000/issue1521.pdf. dead. May 1, 2019. ARIA. November 17, 2023.
5. Web site: Savaitės klausomiausi (TOP 100). Lithuanian. AGATA. April 26, 2019. December 3, 2019.