Word of Mouth is the third studio album by English-Irish boy band the Wanted. The album was released worldwide via Island Records on 4 November 2013. The album was preceded by the release of six singles: "Chasing the Sun", "I Found You", "Walks Like Rihanna", "We Own the Night", "Show Me Love (America)" and "Glow in the Dark", the latter of which was released two weeks prior to the album. It was the last studio album to feature singer Tom Parker before his death in March 2022.

The album features production from a wide range of producers and was recorded over the course of two years, from 2011 to 2013. The Wanted toured the album with their first ever world tour, the Word of Mouth Tour, starting in February 2014.

Background and development The Wanted began working on recording new material in November 2011, shortly after the release of their second studio album, Battleground. The band confirmed that they had worked with a number of different producers and collaborators whilst writing the material, in order to make something that would appeal to both American and British audiences. It was initially rumoured that the material that they were recording would be for a repackaged version of Battleground, which would contain a total of seven tracks which failed to make the initial cut, plus two brand new recordings, but this idea was later dismissed by band members Max George and Siva Kaneswaran. It was later revealed that the band had recorded a duet with a "female mega-star", rumoured to be Rihanna and the track, rumoured to be titled "Jealousy" would appear on their next album. Despite this, the band said that after the song had been mixed, tuned and finalised, the final mix "didn't cut it", and as such, the song had been completely scrapped, and was not going to be released.

In March 2012, the Wanted premiered the first track from the recording sessions, a track entitled "Chasing the Sun", written by English singer and rapper Example. Later that month, they premiered another new track, "Satellite", co-written by OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder. Both tracks went on to appear on the band's self-titled debut EP release in the United States. It was soon revealed that they were in fact in the midst of recording their third studio album. In October 2012, shortly after the premiere of their new single, "I Found You", rumours circulated the internet that the album would be titled Third Strike, and a track list and artwork were also "revealed". The track list contained a number of tracks which failed to make the cut of Battleground, several new recordings, plus collaborations with the likes of Chris Brown on "Loverboy", Rita Ora on "Mastermind" and LMFAO on "The Club's on Fire", as well as appearances from Dappy and Pitbull on the deluxe edition. Dappy's collaboration, "Bring It All Home", appears on his debut album Bad Intentions and Pitbull's collaboration, "Have Some Fun", appears on his seventh album Global Warming. However, in one of the band's "Wanted Wednesday" videos, Nathan Sykes revealed that the title and artwork were both fake. The track listing was later revealed to be fake as well, including all the collaborations.

In February 2013, it was announced that the Wanted would star in their own reality series called The Wanted Life, which premiered internationally in June 2013. The show was produced by Ryan Seacrest, as well as the band themselves. In the United States, it premiered on E! on 2 June 2013. The series featured clips of the band recording the album, including snippets of "We Own the Night" and "Show Me Love", two tracks which had not previously been premiered.

On 22 July 2013, after several delays, the album's title was officially announced as Word of Mouth and it was finally announced that it would be released on 16 September 2013, but on 9 September 2013, the band announced that, due to additional recording, the album would again be delayed, with a new release date of 4 November 2013. To compensate, however, the album's artwork and official track list were both revealed that day. Tom Parker explained that the further delay was due to the band adding some final tracks to the album, "It's taken us two years to make this album and now that it's finally finished we are all really proud of the time and effort, not just that we put in to it but all the writers and the label too. We think it's our strongest album to date. We can't wait for our fans to hear it. They've been really patient but hopefully they'll think it's worth the wait!" The band confirmed that tour mate Justin Bieber had written a song for them, but they declined it and told him to keep it for himself.

Tour

The Word of Mouth World Tour was the debut world tour by the band, and named after the album. The band performed a total of 40 shows across Asia, Europe and North America. There were 14 planned shows in Continental Europe; however on 10 December 2013 all 13 shows were cancelled. On the group's official website, scheduling conflicts were given as the reason for the cancellation.

In January 2014, it was announced that the tour would be the group's last for a while, as they want to take time out to pursue solo careers and other interests.

Opening acts The Vamps (UK and Ireland)

Wild Heart Girls On TV Last Night Can We Dance Cecilia

Elyar Fox (UK and Ireland) Midnight Red (U.S. and Canada) Cassio Monroe (U.S. and Canada)

Setlist "Gold Forever" "Glow In the Dark" "In The Middle" "Lightning" "Running Out Of Reasons" "Demons" "Could This Be Love" "Warzone" Medley: "Behind Bars" "Say It On The Radio" "Replace Your Heart" "Lose My Mind" "Everybody Knows" "Heartbreak Story" "Show Me Love (America)" "Heart Vacancy" "Walks Like Rihanna" "Chasing the Sun" "I Found You" "We Own the Night" "All Time Low" Encore "Glad You Came"

Dates Date City Country Venue Europe14 March 2014LiverpoolEnglandEcho Arena Liverpool15 March 2014AberdeenScotlandGE Oil and Gas Arena16 March 2014GlasgowSSE Hydro18 March 2014ManchesterEnglandPhones 4u Arena20 March 2014BirminghamLG Arena21 March 2014SheffieldMotorpoint Arena Sheffield22 March 2014NewcastleMetro Radio Arena24 March 2014DublinIrelandThe O225 March 2014BelfastNorthern IrelandOdyssey Arena27 March 2014LondonEnglandThe O2 Arena28 March 2014CardiffWalesMotorpoint Arena Cardiff29 March 2014BrightonEnglandBrighton Centre31 March 2014BournemouthWindsor Hall1 April 2014NottinghamCapital FM Arena Nottingham North America8 April 2014HuntingtonUnited StatesParamount Theater9 April 2014Silver SpringThe Fillmore Silver Spring11 April 2014New York CityBeacon Theatre12 April 2014Upper Darby TownshipTower Theatre14 April 2014BostonHouse of Blues15 April 2014MontrealCanadaMétropolis17 April 2014TorontoSound Academy18 April 2014DetroitUnited StatesThe Fillmore Detroit19 April 2014ChicagoHouse of Blues21 April 2014MinneapolisState Theatre23 April 2014DenverOgden Theatre25 April 2014VancouverCanadaOrpheum Theatre26 April 2014SeattleUnited StatesShowbox SoDo28 April 2014San FranciscoWarfield Theatre29 April 2014AnaheimHouse of Blues1 May 2014Los AngelesWiltern Theatre2 May 2014PhoenixComerica Theatre4 May 2014DallasHouse of Blues5 May 2014HoustonHouse Of Blues 7 May 2014AtlantaThe Tabernacle9 May 2014Miami BeachThe Fillmore Miami Beach10 May 2014OrlandoUniversal Music Plaza Stage11 May 2014St. PetersburgMahaffey Theater14 May 2014ColumbusLifestyle Communities Pavilion15 May 2014IndianapolisEgyptian Room16 May 2014Kansas CityUptown Theater17 May 2014ShawneeFirelake Arena North America (Second Leg)5 December 2014MonterreyMexicoAuditorio Banamex6 December 2014Mexico CityPepsi Center WTC7 December 2014GuadalajaraTelmex Auditorium

Festivals and other miscellaneous performances Dubai International Jazz Festival Universal Orlando Mardi Gras

Promotion and release On 7 May 2012, the Wanted performed "Chasing the Sun" on the second live results show of the sixth series of Britain's Got Talent. On 27 October 2013, they performed "Show Me Love (America)" live on the third live results show of the tenth series of The X Factor.

In the United States, the band performed a full live set on Good Morning America on 23 August 2013. To further promote the album, they did a series of performances on other TV shows on 4 November, the day before the album's U.S. release. They appeared on Live! with Kelly & Michael, The Late Show with David Letterman and Watch What Happens: Live, before another show at the MLB Fan Cave the following night. In 2014, they will embark on their first ever world tour, the Word of Mouth Tour, with shows in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, the U.S. and Canada.

The album was released in three different editions: standard CD and digital download (14 tracks), deluxe CD and digital download (19 tracks – CD comes in deluxe gatefold digipack, with signed copies available from the band's official store), and MP3 badge edition (19 tracks in the form of a clip on MP3 player with the Wanted's logo on it, supplied with a set of headphones).

Critical reception

The album has received mixed reviews from music critics. Carl Smith of Sugarscape gave it 7.5/10 and said: "Word of Mouth could probably have gone from Good Boyband Album territory to Great Boyband Album status if it was a bit shorter. There are some amazing tracks on there that we're gonna be going back to a *lot*, but there's a bit of filler too. It's definitely worth the wait, though...and we're never really ones to turn down a boyband, let's be honest." In his review for AllMusic, Matt Collar gave the album 3.5/5 and wrote: "The Wanted have always seemed somewhat older and more mature than many of their contemporaries. That, combined with the band's broader musical palette (especially for a boy band) that touches upon a bit of passionate rock balladry ("Love Sewn"), some very Daft Punk-esque electronica ("Glow in the Dark"), and more than a few post-U2 anthems ("Could This Be Love"), they often seem more in line with bands like Maroon 5 and OneRepublic than other teen pop acts. Of course, there are enough fun, dance club-ready cuts on Word of Mouth—with songs like "Walks Like Rihanna" and the '70s falsetto-heavy disco-house standout "I Found You"—to ensure that the band's many younger, mainstream pop fans will have something to enjoy. Ultimately, if the Wanted's plan is to build upon the higher profile they've gained since their reality series, then Word of Mouth is certainly something to shout about."

Brian Mansfield of USA Today was more negative and said, "English-Irish band the Wanted has a more continental sensibility than One Direction. Its third full-length album is its first stateside, after a string of singles with diminishing returns. So while "Show Me Love (America)" isn't a plea, it might as well be." He gave the album 2.5 stars out of 5. Similarly, Ian Gittins of Virgin Media gave the album two stars and called it "pop for pre-teens, for the easily impressed, and for those who are too credulous to know any better. The bland leading the bland.", but admitted that "it will do incredibly well." In another two-stars-out-of-five review, Digital Spy's Lewis Corner wrote, "aside from the singles, Word of Mouth has little else to offer. 'In the Middle' is an inoffensive air-grabbing mid-tempo and 'Demons' offers a marginally harder tone with its guitar-backed chorus. But elsewhere, 'Summer Alive' is throwaway boyband EDM, while the sway of 'Love Sewn' is more limp than the soggy bottom of a fruit tart."

Chart performance On 8 November 2013, the album debuted at number ten on the Irish Singles Chart. Three days later, it charted at number nine on the UK Albums Chart. The album also debuted and peaked at number 17 in the United States.

Singles