In a new interview with Spain’s Metal Circus, WITHIN TEMPTATION‘s Sharon Den Adel was asked if last year’s standalone singles “The Purge” and “Entertain You” are an indication of how the band plans to make its music available going forward. The singer responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “This is the first time that we’re actually releasing singles without having released the album — with an album already finished. Because, of course, when we finished an album in the past, we would release one or two singles, and then the album would be released. But we don’t have an album, actually [laughs] — so we have released two singles, but we don’t have a full-length album recorded, [and] not even written yet. So we are releasing [songs] along the way. And that’s something totally new for us.”
She continued: “The advantage of that is that when you feel a certain song because you feel the need to address certain subjects or you have a song that has a certain kind of vibe that really fits in that moment instead of releasing it in two years, [which is] what normally would happen, and then already it would already feel outdated with the way the production is or something, then it’s really nice to really release it now in the moment.”
According to Sharon, periodically releasing singles instead of being silent for three years and then dropping an album is a way for fans get a steady stream of new music, especially during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. “In other styles of music, they’ve done this for a longer period — like dance music — and there are more [artists in other] music genres who are already doing this,” she said. “But for rock and metal, it’s a little bit different, because we have a very dedicated fanbase still, where I think some music genres have a different dedication of fans, probably — a different way of dedication, I guess. And the fanbase of metal and rock is still dedicated to buying an album — a full-length album; physical product [is still popular]. And so that’s different. So that’s why we’re a little bit behind in that way of releasing songs. But I think because of the streaming platforms, and also because of this pandemic, I guess it came to a fast-forward kind of feeling. A lot of people are actually doing the same thing as we are doing now — releasing [singles] without an album. Because they’re stuck at home, they can write, and everybody has a home studio nowadays, so it becomes also a little bit more easy.”
“Entertain You” kicked off of a series of digital single releases and was No. 1 most added on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Indicator chart, with airplay on at least 40 radio stations, including Music Choice, SiriusXM Octane, WZOR and KQXR, No. 5 in the Contraband Metal chart, and at No. 18 in the Billboard Mainstream Rock Indicator chart in USA.
WITHIN TEMPTATION released the official music video for “Entertain You” last May. The song was a surprisingly quick follow-up to WITHIN TEMPTATION‘s seventh studio album, “Resist”, which came out in February 2019.
“Resist” debuted in several Top 10 charts worldwide and was the first WITHIN TEMPTATION album to ever reach a No. 1 position on the official German chart.
“Entertain You” arrived one week after the last show of the “Worlds Collide” tour was supposed to happen. The co-headline trek with American rock band EVANESCENCE was originally planned for April 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has now been postponed to September 2021. The trek, for which an impressive 150,000 tickets were sold in eight countries, is slated to take place across venues such as the O2 Arena in London, AccorHotels Arena in Paris, Velodrom in Berlin, and Palais 12 in Brussels.
