Passive Me, Aggressive You

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.

Passive Me, Aggressive You
Studio album by the Naked and Famous
Released	6 September 2010 (2010-09-06)
Studio	The Lab (Auckland, New Zealand)
Genre	Synth-pop electro-rock
Length	49:15
Label	Somewhat Damaged
Producer	Thom Powers Aaron Short
The Naked and Famous chronology
No Light (2008) Passive Me, Aggressive You (2010) Passive Me, Aggressive You (Remixes & B-Sides) (2013)
Singles from Passive Me, Aggressive You
"All of This" Released: 16 November 2009 "Young Blood" Released: 7 June 2010 "Punching in a Dream" Released: 23 August 2010 "Girls Like You" Released: 5 June 2011

Composition

Passive Me, Aggressive You is a synth-pop and electro-rock album,^[1][2] drawing from the genres of dance-rock, and featuring post-punk influences.^[3] "Young Blood" is a synth-pop song, while "Punching in a Dream" is of the dream pop genre. "Spank" is psychedelic rock.^[4]

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.^[5]

"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

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	72/100[6]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
BBC Music	Mixed[4]
Consequence of Sound	[7]
The Dominion Post	[8]
The Nelson Mail	[9]
The New Zealand Herald	[10]
NME	8/10[11]
Otago Daily Times	[12]

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.^[13] 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".^[3] Scott Kara of The New Zealand Herald rated Passive Me, Aggressive You a perfect five stars, summarising "Forget the hype. It's real".^[10] The Nelson Mail's Nick Ward called Passive Me, Aggressive You "Unconvincing, but with flashes of promise".^[9] 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."^[11] The album was nominated for the 2011 Taite Music Prize.^[14]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number one on the New Zealand Albums Chart on 13 September 2010,^[15] and was knocked off the top spot by Linkin Park's A Thousand Suns the following week.^[16]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"All of This"	3:55
2.	"Punching in a Dream"	3:58
3.	"Frayed"	3:46
4.	"The Source"	0:48
5.	"The Sun"	3:56
6.	"Eyes"	4:43
7.	"Young Blood"	4:06
8.	"No Way"	5:29
9.	"Spank"	4:10
10.	"Jilted Lovers"	3:15
11.	"A Wolf in Geek's Clothing"	3:14
12.	"The Ends"	1:49
13.	"Girls Like You"	6:04
Total length:		49:15

All tracks are written by Thom Powers, Alisa Xayalith and Aaron Short

iTunes Store bonus track^[17]

No.	Title	Length
14.	"Machinery"	2:35
Total length:		51:50

Physical downloadable bonus track

No.	Title	Length
14.	"Wild"	3:53

Japanese edition bonus tracks^[18]

No.	Title	Length
14.	"Wild"	3:53
15.	"Sow"	4:06
16.	"Bright Lights"	2:36

UK deluxe edition – disc 2 (This Machine EP)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Kill the Littleblackdots"	2:44
2.	"Serenade"	2:43
3.	"Meeting People Sucks" (Powers, Xayalith, Ben Knapp, Jordan Clark)	2:26
4.	"Part 1"	2:10
5.	"Post"	5:39
6.	"Spies Spies Spies"	3:38
Total length:		19:20

All tracks are written by Thom Powers and Alisa Xayalith, except where noted

UK deluxe edition – disc 3 (No Light EP)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Dadada"	3:10
2.	"Birds" (Xayalith, Powers, Ben Knapp, Jordan Clark)	3:21
3.	"Cheek" (Xayalith, Powers, Knapp, Clark)	3:19
4.	"Who Are You Talking To?" (Aaron Short, Xayalith, Powers)	2:48
5.	"Part 2"	2:37
6.	"Bells"	3:52
Total length:		19:04

All tracks are written by Thom Powers and Alisa Xayalith, except where noted

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Passive Me, Aggressive You.^[19]

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) Peak position New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[20] 1 2011 weekly chart performance for Passive Me, Aggressive You Chart (2011) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[21] 25 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[22] 56 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[23] 74 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[24] 31 Irish Albums (IRMA)[25] 38 Scottish Albums (OCC)[26] 28 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[27] 74 UK Albums (OCC)[28] 25 US Billboard 200[29] 91 US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[30] 12 US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[31] 20

Year-end charts 2010 year-end chart performance for Passive Me, Aggressive You Chart (2010) Position New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[32] 39 2011 year-end chart performance for Passive Me, Aggressive You Chart (2011) Position Australian Dance Albums (ARIA)[33] 39

Certifications

Certifications for Passive Me, Aggressive You

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
New Zealand (RMNZ)[34]	Gold	7,500^
United Kingdom (BPI)[35]	Silver	60,000‡
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Release dates and formats for Passive Me, Aggressive You

Region	Date	Format	Label	Catalogue
New Zealand[17]	6 September 2010	CD digital download	Somewhat Damaged	81359
Australia[36]		Digital download		—
Canada[37]
United States[38]
Australia[39]	1 October 2010	CD		2753221
Germany[40]	11 March 2011	Digital download		—
United Kingdom[41][42][43]	14 March 2011
		CD	Fiction Somewhat Damaged	2757442
		Picture disc LP		2757444
		3-CD deluxe edition		2764039
United States[44][45]	15 March 2011	CD	Universal Republic Somewhat Damaged	B0015363-02
		LP		B0015436-01
Germany[46]	18 March 2011	CD	Fiction Somewhat Damaged	2757442
Japan[18][47]	8 June 2011	CD digital download	Universal	UICP-1127

See also

• List of number-one albums in 2010 (New Zealand)

References

1. Mathieson, Craig (25 April 2014). "Still Naked and Famous, just no more 'woahs'". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
2. James, Matt (30 September 2013). "The Naked and Famous: In Rolling Waves". PopMatters. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
3. Collar, Matt. "Passive Me Aggressive You – The Naked and Famous". AllMusic. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
4. Harley, Kevin (3 March 2011). "The Naked and Famous Passive Me, Aggressive You Review". BBC Music. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
5. Young Blood – charts.nz
6. "Passive Me Aggressive You – The Naked and Famous". Metacritic. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
7. Larson, Jeremy (29 March 2011). "Album Review: The Naked and Famous – Passive Me, Aggressive You". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
8. Cardy, Tom (16 September 2010). "CD Review The Naked and Famous – Passive Me Aggressive You". The Dominion Post. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
9. Ward, Nick (23 September 2010). "CD Reviews". The Nelson Mail. p. 12.
10. Kara, Scott (9 September 2010). "Album Review: The Naked and Famous Passive Me, Aggressive You". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
11. Beaumont, Mark (9 March 2011). "Album Review: The Naked and Famous – Passive Me, Aggressive You (Fiction)". NME. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
12. Harford, Jeff (25 September 2010). "CD Reviews". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
13. Schulz, Chris (8 September 2010). "CD review: Passive Me, Aggressive You – The Naked and Famous". Stuff.co.nz. Archived from the original on 10 September 2010. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
14. "Taite Music Prize 2011". IMNZ. Archived from the original on 13 May 2011. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
15. "The Naked and Famous – Passive Me, Aggressive You". charts.nz. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
16. "Album Top 40". charts.nz. 20 September 2010. Retrieved 21 September 2010.
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19. Passive Me, Aggressive You (liner notes). The Naked and Famous. Somewhat Damaged. 2010. 2753221.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
20. "Charts.nz – The Naked and Famous – Passive Me - Aggressive You". Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
21. "Australiancharts.com – The Naked and Famous – Passive Me - Aggressive You". Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
22. "Austriancharts.at – The Naked and Famous – Passive Me - Aggressive You" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
23. "Dutchcharts.nl – The Naked and Famous – Passive Me - Aggressive You" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
24. "Offiziellecharts.de – The Naked and Famous – Passive Me - Aggressive You" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
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27. "Swisscharts.com – The Naked and Famous – Passive Me - Aggressive You". Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
28. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
29. "The Naked and Famous Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
30. "The Naked and Famous Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
31. "The Naked and Famous Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
32. "Top Selling Albums of 2010". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
33. "ARIA Top 50 Dance Albums Chart 2011". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
34. "Latest Gold / Platinum Albums". Radioscope. 17 July 2011. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
35. "British album certifications – The Naked and Famous – Passive Me, Aggressive You". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
36. "Passive Me Aggressive You". iTunes Store. Australia. January 2010. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
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39. "Passive Me Aggressive You – Naked and Famous, The". JB Hi-Fi. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
40. "Passive Me, Aggressive You". iTunes Store. Germany. January 2011. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
41. "Passive Me, Aggressive You". iTunes Store. United Kingdom. January 2011. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
42. "Passive Me, Aggressive You [CD]". Amazon. United Kingdom. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
43. "Passive Me, Aggressive You [VINYL]". Amazon. United Kingdom. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
44. "Passive Me, Aggressive You". Amazon. United States. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
45. "Passive Me, Aggressive You". Amazon. United States. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
46. "Passive Me, Aggressive You". Amazon. Germany. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
47. "Passive Me, Aggressive You". iTunes Store. Japan. Retrieved 12 September 2013.