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)