Grand Romantic Nate Ruess

• 1Grand Romantic00:42
• 2AhHa04:23
• 3Nothing Without Love03:56
• 4Take It Back04:23
• 5You Light My Fire03:13
• 6What This World Is Coming To (feat. Beck)04:02
• 7Great Big Storm00:00
• 8Moment04:12
• 9It Only Gets Much Worse04:17
• 10Grand Romantic03:36
• 11Harsh Light04:50
• 12Brightside04:34
• Total Runtime42:08

Info for Grand Romantic

Grand Romantic, as the album title suggests, is a collection of songs inspired by “new love”, as the press release reads. The LP is produced by longtime collaborators Jeff Bhasker and Emile Haynie, and it features contributions from Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer and Lykke Li, both of whom guest on ‘Nothing Without Love.’

Track ‘Take It Back’ features a guitar solo from Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, which Ruess called “the greatest gift of my life.”

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Ruess discussed why there is no new fun. album in the works, saying: "People were expecting a lot out of the next fun. album. Everybody wanted to squeeze every last drop out of it, but those things are hard to duplicate. The smartest way to look at things is to know they're never going to happen again. People thought I was fucking nuts, but I'm not out to chase something. I'm out to be happy."

Nate Ruess knew he wanted to call his album Grand Romantic long before he finished writing its songs. The singer-songwriter says he’s always been a romantic, even if he’s also always been the cynical kind.

Last summer, as he began writing and demoing tracks for his solo debut, his awareness of these dueling qualities was especially pronounced. Ruess was in the early days of a new relationship, with all of its anxiety and excitement. Standing in the shower one day, he started singing the melody and lyric to “Nothing Without Love,” Grand Romantic’s linchpin tune. “At first, when I sang ‘I’m nothing without love,’ I thought, ‘Well, that’s cheesy,’” he says, with a laugh. “But then I realized it’s actually just a simple but very meaningful phrase.” Ruess says he felt inspired to make “an album that had more falling-in-love songs than falling-out-of-love songs, because they don’t exist enough these days.”

Nate Ruess
Raised on a farm in rural Arizona, singer/songwriter Nate Ruess made his breakthrough with indie pop outfit the Format, but is better known as the frontman of Grammy Award-winning trio Fun.. After he graduated high school Ruess decided to pursue music full-time, and in 2001 the Format was conceived with his best friend and multi-instrumentalist Sam Means. The band enjoyed relative success and released two records, the second of which — Dog Problems (2007) — was highly acclaimed by the music press. They broke up in 2008, yet Ruess was undeterred in his ambition following the split and went straight to work setting up Fun. later that year. After a lukewarm reaction to their 2009 debut, Aim and Ignite, Fun.'s brand of indie pop and uplifting, harmonized melodies took off with their second release Some Nights three years later. Ruess brought the creative spark and personal lyrics to the band, with themes of loneliness and self-worth set to the joyous and anthemic hooks that typified their sound. His success with Fun. was crowned with the 2013 Grammy for Best Song, as well as winning the Best New Artist category. Outside of Fun. he co-wrote Ke$ha's single "Warrior" and also appeared on P!nk's hit single "Just Give Me a Reason." In 2015, Ruess released his debut solo album, Grand Romantic. Showcasing an exuberant pop sound reminiscent of his work with Fun., Ruess' Grand Romantic featured production from Jeff Bhasker (Kanye West, Bruno Mars) and Emile Haynie (Lana Del Rey, Kid Cudi) and included the singles "Nothing Without Love" and "AhHa."

This album contains no booklet.