The Naked and Famous

History

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

2007–2008: Early years

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. 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''

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. The Naked and Famous released their debut studio album, Passive Me, Aggressive You, on 6 September 2010 on their own label, Somewhat Damaged. 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.

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.

2012–2013: ''In Rolling Waves''

The band settled in Los Angeles in mid-2012 after completing touring for Passive Me, Aggressive You. 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.

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.

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

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

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. On 24 August 2016, they released another single titled "Laid Low". The album was recorded at Powers' Echo Park studio and released as per the announcement.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

Name

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".

Band members

Current

• Alisa Xayalith – vocals, keyboards (2008–present)
• Thom Powers – vocals, guitars (2008–present)

Former

• Aaron Short – keyboards (2008–2018)
• Ben Knapp – bass (2008–2009)
• Jordan Clark – drums (2008–2009)
• David Beadle – bass (2009–2020)
• Jesse Wood – drums (2009–2018)
• Luna Shadows - keyboards (2018–2020)

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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

Discography

Main article: The Naked and Famous discography

• Passive Me, Aggressive You (2010)
• In Rolling Waves (2013)
• Simple Forms (2016)
• Recover (2020)

Awards and nominations

References

References

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2. Brody, Caitlin. (27 August 2013). "EXCLUSIVE: The Naked and Famous' New Song, "A Stillness." Listen In!". [[Glamour (magazine).
3. Geslani, Michelle. (7 July 2016). "The Naked and Famous announce new album, Simple Forms, premiere "Higher" — listen". [[Consequence of Sound]].
4. Libman, K.C.. (20 August 2014). "The Naked And Famous Keep The Pressure on Themselves". [[OC Weekly]].
5. (5 April 2016). "The Naked and Famous".
6. Unterberger, Andrew. (5 November 2015). "Review: We've Awaited Kate Boy's Debut 'One' Since the Midnight Sun". [[Spin (magazine).
7. Mejia, Paula. (14 October 2016). "The Naked and Famous Frontwoman Alisa Xayalith Isn't an Asshole, Okay?". [[Elle (magazine).
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18. (2013-07-23). "The Naked And Famous Hottest Record". BBC.
19. Robinson, Michelle. (2014-06-15). "15 minutes ... with The Naked and Famous".
20. (20 November 2014). "The Naked And Famous – "What an honor to win Best Group at the NZVMA's last night. Sorry we couldn't be there New Zealand – very busy working on album #3"". Facebook.
21. Maria, Bong Sta.. (3 March 2016). "Wanderland 2016: The Naked and Famous' Alisa Xayalith on travel, fans, and a new album". [[GMA Network (company).
22. (6 February 2017). "Blink-182 Reveal 2017 U.S. Tour Dates with The Naked and Famous + Waaves". [[Loudwire]].
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34. Leeson, Josh. (11 March 2020). "The Naked and Famous duo move into the recovery phase".
35. The Naked and Famous. (16 January 2020). ""BURY US" IS OUT NOW. Beyond excited to share this with you all.... and our new album "Recover", will be COMING OUT IN MAY. Stay tuned!🍇🍉🍈🔪 http://tnaf.lnk.to/buryus".
36. Sundae, Hugh. (8 September 2010). "The Naked and Famous win APRA Silver Scroll". [[The New Zealand Herald]].
37. (2010). "Winner Found". [[New Zealand Music Awards]].
38. (4 November 2011). "Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards 2011 Winners". New Zealand Music Awards.
39. "Taite Music Prize 2011". IMNZ.
40. "NME Phillip Hall Radar Award 2011". [[Independent Music New Zealand]].
41. "New Zealand Music Award Winners 2014".