Paper Gods

Paper Gods is the fourteenth studio album by English new wave band Duran Duran, released on 11 September 2015 by Warner Bros. Records. The album was produced by Mr Hudson and Joshua Blair, who had worked with the band on All You Need Is Now (2010) and A Diamond in the Mind: Live 2011 (2012); Nile Rodgers, who had previously first worked on the band's "The Reflex", his remixed version reaching number one, "The Wild Boys" single and Notorious album, and Mark Ronson, who produced All You Need Is Now. The first single, "Pressure Off", features vocals from American singer Janelle Monáe. The album was supported by the Paper Gods on Tour.
Release
The album cover, designed by artist Alex Israel, consists of his 2013 painting titled "Sky Backdrop", that features icons that represent the band's history. This includes lips and the eye painted by artist Patrick Nagel for their Rio album; also representing the Rio album is a chauffeur's cap alluding to that record's closing track "The Chauffeur"; a pink telephone, champagne glass and the saxophone representing the single "Rio"; a sumo wrestler representing their controversial video for "Girls on Film"; Duran Duran's teeth are shown to be from "The Wild Boys"; the Eiffel Tower is a reference to the title song from the film A View to a Kill; a rocket from the greatest hits album, Decade; a silhouette of a female representing the single "Skin Trade"; an image of a tiger and a snake nodding to their third album Seven and the Ragged Tiger; a white shoe from the single cover and the music video of "Come Undone"; a stylized ice cream cone taken from their "Perfect Day" single. The deluxe physical copy of the record comes with sixteen stickers of Duran Duran iconography to mirror the album cover.
Promotion
The band announced a tour of the United States and the United Kingdom to coincide with the album's release.
The lead single from the album, "Pressure Off", was released in the United States on 19 June, first via Microsoft's Xbox Music. The song subsequently appeared on Google Music.
Commercial performance
The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number five, becoming the band's ninth top-five album overall and making them one of only a handful of bands who have scored top-five albums in four consecutive decades. In the United States, it entered the Billboard 200 at number 10 and became their first top-10 album since Duran Duran (1993). In its second week, the album fell to number 76, and in its third and final week fell to number 194, though it re-entered the Billboard 200 at number 45 in January 2016. In Italy, the album peaked at number two.
Track listing
Notes
signifies lead vocal production
signifies an additional producer
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of the deluxe edition of Paper Gods.
Duran Duran
Simon Le Bon
Nick Rhodes
John Taylor
Roger Taylor
Additional musicians
Mr Hudson – vocals
David Emery – additional drum programming
Kiesza – vocals
Janelle Monáe – vocals
Nile Rodgers – featured performer
Davide Rossi – string arrangement and performance
Josh Blair – string arrangement
Lindsay Lohan – special guest vocals
John Frusciante – guitars
Hollie Cook – additional vocals
Jonas Bjerre – featured performer
Dom Brown – guitars
Anna Ross – additional vocals
Voce Chamber Choir – additional voices
London Youth Chamber Choir – additional voices
Suzi Digby – conducting, artistic direction
Toby Young – choir arrangement
Steve Jones – guitars
Technical
Duran Duran – production
Mr Hudson – production ; additional production
Josh Blair – production ; lead vocal production ; additional production ; mixing ; engineering
Mark Ronson – production
Nile Rodgers – production ; additional production
Riccardo Damian – Pro Tools operator
Graham Russell – Janelle session engineering
Ghian Wright – Janelle session engineering
Jake Valentine – Janelle session engineering assistance
Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing at Mixsuite and Battersea Park Studios (London)
Geoff Swan – mix engineering assistance
Ted Jensen – mastering at Sterling Sound (New York City)
Wendy Laister – executive production
Artwork
Alex Israel – artwork, art direction
China Chow – creative direction, art direction
Brian Roettinger – art direction, logo
Nick Rhodes – photography
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Notes
References
External links
2015 albums
Albums produced by Mark Ronson
Albums produced by Mr Hudson
Albums produced by Nile Rodgers
Duran Duran albums
Warner Records albums