Simple Plan is the self-titled third studio album by Canadian rock band Simple Plan, released on February 12, 2008. The album was a large musical departure from the band's previous albums, as its theme was more love-based than teen angst. It reached No. 2 on the Canadian album charts, No. 14 on the US Billboard 200 and charted in the top 10 worldwide in countries including Australia, Austria, Brazil, Sweden and Switzerland. It is the only Simple Plan album to receive a Parental Advisory sticker.
Background and recording
Having finished most touring in support of Still Not Getting Any... in March 2006, Simple Plan took some time off and then began work on writing new material with Arnold Lanni, who had produced their first album. On July 1, 2007, they went to the studio and began tracking. They started with drum tracking in Los Angeles after pre-production, then went back to Montreal to finish the rest of the recording process. They also hired David Campbell to arrange and conduct strings for the songs "The End", "What If", "I Can Wait Forever" and "No Love". During September 2007, the band had finished recording and went back to L.A. to mix the album with Chris Lord-Alge. After mixing, the band went to New York to master the album, thus finishing the building of the album. The album took more of an alternative rock sound than their previous albums, which usually feature a pop punk style. However pop punk influences are present in the tracks, "When I'm Gone", "Take My Hand", "Generation" and "Time to Say Goodbye".
Release
The album was announced on October 21. The CD was originally set for release on January 29, 2008. The first single was "When I'm Gone", released on October 29 via iTunes. On November 29, 2007, the band announced a two weeks' delay due to production difficulties, and the need to re-record some lyrics from the song "Generation". The released version of "Generation" would be considerably different from that distributed on the review copies of the CD, with the latter beginning "This world's so sad and lonely/Won't you come and spend some time with me?" An album cover was released in early December 2007. Soon afterwards, in his MySpace blog, band frontman Pierre Bouvier responded to fan concerns about the cover, defending the artwork. On December 11, a music video was released for "When I'm Gone". On December 12, 2007, the band released a second proposed album cover, and invited fan views by email about each, indicating that they were fine with either cover. On December 14, the alternative cover depicted above was announced as selected over the original one depicted below. In April 2008, the rejected artwork was released as a limited-edition CD cover in Australia. "Your Love Is a Lie" was first publicly performed at a taping for YouTube on December 18, 2007. All the songs on the CD, except "Holding On" were played at a small show in Montreal on January 11, 2008. Simple Plan was released on February 12. "Your Love Is a Lie" was released as a single in February. In early May, the band appeared at the 2008 edition of the Bamboozle festival. "Save You" was released as a single on August 14. Lead singer Pierre Bouvier has stated in interviews that "Save You" deals with his brother's battle with cancer. To promote awareness of this issue, the music video featured many famous cancer survivors including Sharon Osbourne and Bif Naked. Even without being released as a single, in August 2008, "I Can Wait Forever" was chosen as the title track for Animax's original feature-length anime "LaMB". Animax Asia made an animated video for "I Can Wait Forever", released in December 2008.
Commercial performance
"When I'm Gone" peaked at No. 11 on the Canadian Hot 100 and No. 26 on the UK Singles Chart. "Your Love Is a Lie" reached No. 16 on the Canadian Hot 100 and No.8 on the US BillboardBubbling Under Hot 100 Singles. "Save You" peaked at No. 18 on the Canadian Hot 100. "No Love", entered the Canadian Hot 100 in the issue of March 12, 2009, peaking at No. 77. "Generation" managed to peak at No. 90 on the Canadian Hot 100 in the issue of June 18. The album would also be nominated for the 2008 Juno Awards in the Best Album category, but lost to Nickelback's Dark Horse.
