Studio Album · No. 5
Social Cues Songwriting Credits by Cage the Elephant
Produced by John Hill · Engineered by Rob Cohen, Jeremy Ferguson, David Greenbaum, Randy Merrill
Holds writing credit on 13 of 13 tracks
Authorship Breakdown 13 / 13 documented
Scored across the 13 tracks with documented writers, by whether Cage the Elephant carries a lyricist or composer credit.
Share of the 13 tracks where a band member is credited, by role.
By the Numbers
Social Cues keeps the band's standing six-way writing credit as its default: Brad Shultz, Daniel Tichenor, Jared Champion, Matt Shultz, Matthan Minster, and Nick Bockrath share every song unless a track notes otherwise. Producer John Hill steps into the writing room on 'Broken Boy,' 'Social Cues,' and 'Dance Dance,' reflecting how heavily he shaped the album's synth-driven arrangements. The one true outside collaboration is 'Night Running,' co-written and sung by Beck alongside Wild Belle's Natalie Bergman. John Hill produced the entire record himself, without a co-producer credit, a departure from the multi-producer approach of earlier Cage the Elephant albums.
Social Cues is the fifth studio album by Cage the Elephant, released April 19, 2019 on RCA Records. Written largely during and after Matt Shultz's divorce from Juliette Buchs, the record trades the band's earlier garage-rock snarl for a colder, more cinematic sound built with producer John Hill, layered with analog synths, string arrangements from David Campbell, and backing vocals from the W. Crimm Singers. Beck co-writes and sings on 'Night Running,' one of several tracks where the band opened its usual six-way writing credit to outside collaborators. Lead single 'Ready to Let Go,' inspired by a trip to Pompeii with his then-wife, and the title track 'Social Cues' both topped Billboard's Alternative Songs chart, while 'House of Glass' became an MTV-charting favorite without a formal single release. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, the band's second win in that category after Tell Me I'm Pretty.