The Naked and Famous

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The Naked and Famous
The Naked and Famous performing in November 2016
The Naked and Famous performing in November 2016
Background information
OriginAuckland, New Zealand
Genres
Years active2007–present
Labels
Members
Past members
  • Ben Knapp
  • Jordan Clark
  • Aaron Short
  • Jesse Wood
  • David Beadle
  • Luna Shadows
Websitethenakedandfamous.com

The Naked and Famous are a New Zealand indie electronic band from Auckland, formed in 2007. The band currently consists of Alisa Xayalith (vocals, keyboards) and Thom Powers (vocals, guitars).[7]

The band has released four studio albums: Passive Me, Aggressive You (2010), In Rolling Waves (2013), Simple Forms (2016) and Recover (2020). Since 2012, the band has been based in Los Angeles, California.

History

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Xayalith (born 1986 in Auckland) is the daughter of Laotian refugees and was raised together with a younger brother.[8] Her father introduced her to his native folk music and, at the age of 13, she taught herself guitar.[9] Powers had been playing in local bands from an early age after he had been taught to play guitar by his father.[10]

2007–2008: Early years

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The band formed in 2007 when Powers and Xayalith were working on what became two extended plays—This Machine and No Light—that they recorded with engineer Aaron Short, a fellow student at Auckland's Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand.[11][1] The EPs were subsequently released on local independent label Round Trip Mars. Powers and Xayalith began performing live with Ben Knapp and Jordan Clark on bass and drums respectively, while Aaron Short became a performing member of the group. Knapp and Clark left the group in 2009 and were subsequently replaced with Jesse Wood and David Beadle.

2009–2011: Passive Me, Aggressive You

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File:The Naked and Famous 2011.jpg
The Naked and Famous at the South by Southwest festival in 2011

After recording "All of This", the group then set about recording the single "Young Blood" and their debut album, recording mostly at home and at Auckland studio The Lab. "Young Blood" debuted on the New Zealand chart at number one on 14 June 2010—the first New Zealand artist in three years to do so.[12] The Naked and Famous released their debut studio album, Passive Me, Aggressive You, on 6 September 2010 on their own label,[13] Somewhat Damaged.[14] The album was produced by Thom Powers and Aaron Short, and mixed by Billy Bush.

On 6 December 2010, the BBC announced that The Naked and Famous had been nominated for BBC's Sound of 2011 poll.[15]

In 2011, the band garnered six nominations at the New Zealand Music Awards for Album of the Year, Single of the Year, Best Group, Breakthrough Artist of the Year, Best Alternative Album and the People's Choice Award. They were also nominated for the NZ On Air Best Music Video and won the MAINZ Best Engineer Award and its Best Producer Award.[16]

2012–2013: In Rolling Waves

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The band settled in Los Angeles in mid-2012 after completing touring for Passive Me, Aggressive You.[17] They had performed over 200 shows in 24 countries between 2010 and 2012. Sharing a home over the back of Laurel Canyon, they began work on writing and demoing their second album. They intended to record an album that could be played live, not relying on backing tracks—something the group had always eschewed.

On 28 February 2013, the band announced One Temporary Escape, a concert film recorded at The Warfield in San Francisco in 2012. It was released for free download on 18 March 2013.[18]

Entering Los Angeles' Sunset Sound studio in March 2013 with engineer Billy Bush (who had mixed the previous album), they began the process of recording In Rolling Waves. The album sessions were completed in a month and then in June 2013, The Naked and Famous headed for London where Alan Moulder spent a month mixing the album at his Willesden studio, Assault and Battery. The album was mastered at Sterling Sound in New York by Joe LaPorta, who had also mastered Passive Me, Aggressive You, and was produced by Thom Powers with Aaron Short. Justin Meldal-Johnsen co-produced two tracks with Powers.

On 23 July 2013, the band revealed their new single "Hearts Like Ours" along with the release date for their second studio album In Rolling Waves, on 16 September 2013 in the UK.[19]

2014–present: Simple Forms, Recover and Xayalith solo career

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The Naked and Famous performed at Coachella in 2014.[20] On 20 November 2014, the band announced that they had begun working on a third album.[21] The band began tracking for the album in September 2015. In March 2016, they performed at the Wanderland Music and Arts Festival in Manila.[22]

On 3 July 2016, the band announced their new single "Higher" would be released on 7 July. Upon the single's release, the band revealed that their third studio album, Simple Forms, was set to be released on 14 October 2016 via their label Somewhat Damaged in conjunction with Kobalt Label Services.[3] On 24 August 2016, they released another single titled "Laid Low".[3] The album was recorded at Powers' Echo Park studio and released as per the announcement.[3]

In February 2017, it was announced that the band would perform as opening acts, alongside Wavves, in Blink-182's 2017 spring tour which would visit mostly the southern United States.[23]

Arron Short founded a new project called Space Above and released the album Still with them on February 17 2017. The project was described as "Darker" and without the pop structures of Naked and Famous.[24]

The band released an acoustic compilation album titled A Still Heart on 9 March 2018,[25][26][27] at which time they indicated that they were working on their fourth studio album.[28] That same month, it was announced that Jesse Wood and founding member Aaron Short had departed the band.[7] Following their departure, Luna Shadows joined the band on piano.[29] The group released A Still Heart (Live) on 8 June 2018.[30]

Sometime before March 2020, the group parted ways with Beadle and Shadows.[31]

In April 2020, the band announced that Recover, their fourth studio album, would be released on 24 July 2020.[32]

In October 2025, the band performed together for the first time in over five years, at the 2025 Singapore Grand Prix.[33]


Name

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The Naked and Famous took their name from English musician Tricky's song "Tricky Kid", which expressed ambivalence about the notion of celebrity. In the song, Tricky quotes the line "everybody wants to be naked and famous", from The Presidents of the United States of America's song "Naked and Famous".[34]

Band members

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Timeline <timeline> ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:22 PlotArea = left:80 bottom:75 top:05 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/2008 till:25/05/2026 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3 ScaleMajor = increment:1 start:01/01/2008 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:01/01/2008

Colors = 

id:vocals  value:red      legend:Vocals
id:guitar  value:green    legend:Guitar
id:keys    value:purple   legend:Keyboards
id:bass    value:blue     legend:Bass
id:drums   value:orange   legend:Drums
id:lines   value:black    legend:Studio_album

LineData = 

at:06/09/2010 color:lines layer:back
at:13/09/2013 color:lines layer:back
at:14/10/2016 color:lines layer:back
at:24/07/2020 color:lines layer:back

BarData = 

bar:Xayalith  text:"Alisa Xayalith"
bar:Powers  text:"Thom Powers"
bar:Short text:"Aaron Short"
bar:Shadows text:"Luna Shadows"
bar:Knapp     text:"Ben Knapp"
bar:Beadle   text:"David Beadle"
bar:Clark text:"Jordan Clark"
bar:Wood text:"Jesse Wood".

PlotData= 

width:11
bar:Xayalith  from:01/01/2008 till:end        color:vocals
bar:Xayalith  from:01/01/2008 till:end        color:keys width:3
bar:Powers  from:01/01/2008 till:end        color:guitar
bar:Powers  from:01/01/2008 till:end        color:vocals width:3
bar:Short     from:01/01/2008 till:08/03/2018        color:keys
bar:Shadows     from:30/05/2018 till:24/07/2020        color:keys
bar:Beadle from:01/08/2009 till:08/03/2020        color:bass
bar:Wood from:01/08/2009 till:08/03/2018 color:drums
bar:Knapp from:01/01/2008 till:31/07/2009 color:bass
bar:Clark   from:01/01/2008 till:31/07/2009 color:drums

</timeline>

Discography

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Main article: The Naked and Famous discography

Awards and nominations

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Year Organisation Nominated work Award Result
2010 APRA Silver Scroll "Young Blood" Won[36]
New Zealand Music Awards[37][38] Passive Me, Aggressive You Critics' Choice Prize Nominated
2011 Passive Me, Aggressive You MAINZ Best Producers Won
Passive Me, Aggressive You MAINZ Best Engineers Won
Passive Me, Aggressive You Album of the Year Won
Passive Me, Aggressive You Best Alternative Album Won
"Young Blood" Single of the Year Won
The Naked and Famous Best Group Won
The Naked and Famous Breakthrough Artist Won
The Naked and Famous People's Choice Award Nominated
Taite Music Prize Passive Me, Aggressive You Nominated[39]
NME The Naked & Famous Phillip Hall Radar Award Won[40]
2014 New Zealand Music Awards - - -
- - -
- - -
The Naked & Famous Best Group Won[41]

References

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