What Is Love? (Never Shout Never album)

On May 29, 2009, Never Shout Never signed to Warner Bros. Records.^[5] The album was produced by Butch Walker and was recorded in Los Angeles and at Abbey Road Studios in London.^[6][7] On December 3, 2009, Never Shout Never revealed the release date and track list of the album.^[1] On December 8, a self-titled EP was released, featuring two songs, "Jane Doe" and "What is Love?" as a preview for the upcoming debut album, as well as a B-side titled "She's Got Style" and a live version of "Big City Dreams".^[8]

The 20-minute mini album was written from a "panoramic view of teen angst" about family, politics, drugs, religion, heartbreak.^[9] Explaining his decision on keeping the album relatively short, frontman Christofer Drew stated, "I think it's easier for kids to concentrate that way."^[10]

The first single "What Is Love?" was released on December 15, 2009.^[11] The music video was released in December 2009, directed by Isaac Ravishankara.^[12] "I Love You 5" was released on February 4, 2010, as the second single with the music video being released 2 days prior.^[13] "Can't Stand It" was released on March 4, 2010, as the third and final single along with its music video that same day directed by Isaac Ravishankara.^[14] The video includes visual references of Bob Dylan's, Dont Look Back and The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night.^[14] The song peaked at number 29 on the Billboard Rock Digital Song Sales chart.^[15]

In support of the album, the group performed eight live shows in December 2009.^[16] Christofer Drew also went on a solo acoustic tour in January 2010.^[17] The group headlined the Alternative Press AP Tour in the spring of 2010 with support from Joplin, The Cab, Hey Monday, Every Avenue and The Summer Set.^[18]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	55/100[19]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[6]
Alternative Press	[20]
Rolling Stone	[21]

On Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album gained an average score of 55, based on 4 reviews, indicating "mixed to average reviews". The album was given a 2 star rating from Andrew Leahey of AllMusic. He complimented Drew's ability to write a pop melody however was critical of his vocals stating, "it's too hampered by pinched, nasal vocals to make much of an impression."^[6] Scott Heisel of Alternative Press wrote, "while it is all good in the Never Shout Never camp, it's going to get better, faster than everyone thinks."^[20] Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone gave the album a more negative review stating, "Drew took some bad lessons from emo and his dad's folk records. The vocals are often pained and piercing, and his manner can be gratingly precious – especially on 'Can't Stand It'."^[21]