OK Orchestra

OK Orchestra (stylized in all uppercase) is the fourth studio album by American pop band AJR. It was released on March 26, 2021,^[1][2][3] by the band's own label AJR Productions. The album was produced by group member Ryan Met. The album features the Blue Man Group, making OK Orchestra AJR's second album to feature another artist.

Ok Orchestra
Studio album by AJR
Released	March 26, 2021 (2021-03-26)
Recorded	2019–2021
Length	45:48
Label	AJR BMG
Producer	Ryan Met Jack Met
AJR chronology
Neotheater (2019) Ok Orchestra (2021)
Singles from Ok Orchestra
"Bang!" Released: February 12, 2020 "Bummerland" Released: August 31, 2020 "My Play" Released: December 22, 2020 "Way Less Sad" Released: February 17, 2021 "World's Smallest Violin" Released: March 26, 2021

Promotion and release

In February 2020, AJR released the album's first single, "Bang!", which became one of the trio's biggest hits. The single was originally intended as a track for a deluxe version of Neotheater, however this never came to fruition, and the song eventually became the lead single for the forthcoming album.^[4] On August 31, 2020 they released the album's second single, "Bummerland", a song about the band sarcastically expressing their feelings on the COVID-19 pandemic. On December 20, 2020, they announced that OK Orchestra would be the name of their upcoming album, while also releasing the third single from the album, "My Play". It was put up for pre-order on iTunes/Apple Music^[5] and showed that the album contained 13 tracks.^[3] AJR released the album's fourth single "Way Less Sad" and its music video on February 17, 2021,^[6][7] On March 21, 2021, AJR launched OKO World, an interactive experience playable on their official website.^[8] AJR released a music video for "OK Overture" and "World's Smallest Violin" the same day the album was released. On June 23, almost three months later, they released a music video for "3 O'Clock Things". Two months afterwards on August 12, a music video for "Christmas in June" was released which featured footage filmed at the Wonderstruck Festival in Cleveland. On February 9, 2022, AJR released a music video for "Ordinaryish People feat. Blue Man Group".

Tour Dates

Date	City	Country	Venue
North America
April 28, 2022	Dallas	United States	Toyota Music Factory
April 29, 2022	Austin		Circuit of the Americas
April 30, 2022	Houston		Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
May 3, 2022	Orlando		Additional Financial Arena
May 4, 2022	Tampa		MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre
May 6, 2022	Atlanta		Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
May 7, 2022	Raleigh		Red Hat Amphitheater
May 8, 2022	Charlotte		PNC Music Pavilion
May 11, 2022	Cleveland		Wolstein Center
May 12, 2022	Columbus		KEMBA Live!
May 13, 2022			Value City Arena
May 14, 2022	Washington, D.C.		Merriweather Post Pavilion
May 15, 2022	Philadelphia		TD Pavilion at the Mann
May 17, 2022	Cincinnati		Riverbend Music Center
May 18, 2022	Pittsburgh		Petersen Events Center
May 20, 2022	Mansfield		Xfinity Center
May 21, 2022	Queens		Forest Hills
May 27, 2022	Clarkston		Pine Knob Music Theatre
May 28, 2022	Noblesville		Ruoff Music Center
May 29, 2022	Nashville		Ascend Amphitheater
May 31, 2022	Maryland Heights		Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
June 1, 2022	Kansas City		Starlight Theatre
June 3, 2022	Tinley Park		Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
June 4, 2022	Milwaukee		American Family Insurance Amphitheater
June 5, 2022	Minneapolis		Minneapolis Armory
June 7, 2022	Oklahoma City		Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden
June 8, 2022	Omaha		Baxter Arena
June 10, 2022	Greenwood Village		Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre
June 11, 2022	West Valley City		USANA Amphitheatre
June 12, 2022	Nampa		Ford Idaho Center
June 14, 2022	Auburn		White River Amphitheatre
June 15, 2022	Portland		RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater
June 17, 2022	Concord		Concord Pavilion
June 19, 2022	Irvine		FivePoint Amphitheatre
June 21, 2022	Phoenix		Ak-Chin Pavilion
June 22, 2022	San Diego		Petco Park
June 24, 2022	Las Vegas		Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas
June 26, 2022	Honolulu		Neal S. Blaisdell Center
July 7, 2022	Montreal	Canada	Festival d'été de Québec
Oceania
August 19, 2022	Melbourne	Australia	Palais Theatre
August 21, 2022	Brisbane		Fortitude Music Hall
August 23, 2022	Sydney		Hordern Pavilion
August 27, 2022	Auckland	New Zealand	Spark Arena
August 28, 2022	Wellington		Michael Fowler Centre
Europe
September 25, 2022	Dublin	Ireland	Olympia Theatre, Dublin
September 26, 2022
September 28, 2022	Glasgow	Scotland	O2 Academy Glasgow
September 29, 2022	Manchester	England	O2 Apollo Manchester
October 1, 2022	London		Brixton Academy
October 2, 2022	Birmingham		O2 Academy Birmingham
October 4, 2022	Leeds		O2 Academy Leeds
October 5, 2022	Nottingham		Rock City
October 7, 2022	Southampton		Southampton Guildhall
October 9, 2022	Paris	France	Le Trianon
October 11, 2022	Brussels	Belgium	Ancienne Belgique
October 12, 2022	Cologne	Germany	E-Werk
October 13, 2022	Tilburg	Netherlands	013
October 14, 2022	Munich	Germany	Neue Theaterfabrik
October 16, 2022	Zürich	Switzerland	X-Tra
October 17, 2022	Milan	Italy	Alcatraz
October 19, 2022	Berlin	Germany	Huxley's Neue Welt
October 20, 2022	Warsaw	Poland	Progresja
Total

Critical reception

A.D. Amorosi of Variety described the album as "harmonically vocalized, hyper-memoir-centric, atmospheric mélange of pop, hip-hop, and doo-wop with quirky rhythms and a salting of smart-assed They Might Be Giants for tart taste".^[2] In a review for AllMusic, Matt Collar wrote that "OK Orchestra isn't just full of hit-worthy pop hooks, it's stage-worthy, ambitious, and full of insights driven by AJR's personal experience", rating the album 4/5.^[9] Thomas Stremfel of Spectrum Culture received the album less positively, rating the album 1.25/5 and stating that "hearing the terrible production and cringe-inducing songwriting of OK Orchestra without warning makes for an undeniably engaging listen... Year-end album lists should be filing restraining orders against this album, but that doesn't mean you can't listen to it for a cheap laugh."^[10]

Accolades

The album was nominated for Top Rock Album at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards alongside other bands Twenty One Pilots, Coldplay, and Imagine Dragons.

Commercial performance

OK Orchestra debuted at number 10 on the US Billboard 200 dated April 10, 2021, becoming AJR's second top-10 album. It earned 32,000 album-equivalent units, including 13,000 pure album sales.^[11] Although OK Orchestra placed at number 55 on the midweek UK Albums Chart dated March 29, 2021,^[12] it did not place in the final listing on April 2.^[13] Much of the albums popularity has been contributed to the singles "Bang!", "Way Less Sad", and "World's Smallest Violin".

Track listing

All tracks are written by Adam Met, Jack Met, and Ryan Met.

OK Orchestra track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"OK Overture"	4:32
2.	"Bummerland"	3:09
3.	"3 O'Clock Things"	3:47
4.	"My Play"	3:10
5.	"Joe"	3:33
6.	"Adventure Is Out There"	3:32
7.	"Bang!"	2:51
8.	"The Trick"	2:51
9.	"Ordinaryish People" (featuring Blue Man Group)	3:40
10.	"Humpty Dumpty"	3:38
11.	"World's Smallest Violin"	3:01
12.	"Way Less Sad"	3:28
13.	"Christmas in June"	4:40
Total length:		45:49

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal.^[14]

AJR

• Jack Met – lead vocals, instruments
• Adam Met – vocals, instruments
• Ryan Met – vocals, production (all tracks), instruments (2, 7), programming (2, 4, 12)

Additional personnel

• Alba Avoricani – additional vocals (1, 3–13)
• Arnetta Johnson - Trumpets
• Emelia Suljic - violin (1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10)
• Ruth Kornblatt-Stier - cello (1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10)
• Danny Ferenbach – violin (1, 3–6, 8–13), trumpet (12)
• JJ Kirkpatrick - trumpet (7)
• Bas Janssen – trumpet engineer (3)
• Blue Man Group – ensemble (9)
• Chris Gehringer – mastering
• Joe Zook – mixing
• Kamila Stankiewicz – artwork
• Chris Cerrato – design
• Jader Souza – design
• Kenny Urban - Beatbox

Charts

Weekly charts Weekly chart performance for OK Orchestra Chart (2021) Peak position Canadian Albums (Billboard)^[15] 27 US Billboard 200^[16] 10 US Independent Albums (Billboard)^[17] 3 US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)^[18] 1 US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)^[19] 1

Year-end charts Year-end chart performance for OK Orchestra Chart (2021) Position US Billboard 200^[20] 199 US Independent Albums (Billboard)^[21] 34 US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)^[22] 19 US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)^[23] 37

Certifications

Certifications for OK Orchestra

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)^[24]	Gold	500,000
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

1. Uitti, Jacob (March 22, 2021). "AJR Hits Its Stride on New Album 'OK ORCHESTRA'". American Songwriter. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
2. Amorosi, A. D. (March 26, 2021). "Indie-Pop Brother Band AJR Is A-OK With the Lustrously Theatrical 'OK Orchestra': Album Review". Variety. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
3. AJR (March 26, 2021). "AJR knew exactly what they needed to say on 'OK Orchestra'". Alternative Press (Interview). Interviewed by Marianne Eloise. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
4. Pettican, Luke (May 14, 2020). "AJR". EUPHORIA. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
5. "OK Orchestra by AJR". Apple Music. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
6. Fields, Taylor. "AJR Share New Song 'Way Less Sad' From Upcoming New Album 'OK Orchestra'". iHeartRadio. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
7. "AJR Releases New Single And Video "Way Less Sad"" (Press release). February 17, 2021. Retrieved February 20, 2021 – via Volatile Weekly.
8. AJR [@AJRBrothers] (March 21, 2021). "OKO World has arrived. Go to ajrbrothers.com to take your first tour and see when each door will open. Best experienced on a computer to explore the world" (Tweet). Retrieved March 30, 2021 – via Twitter.
9. Collar, Matt. "OK Orchestra Review by Matt Collar". AllMusic. Retrieved September 24, 2022.
10. Stremfel, Thomas (May 11, 2021). "AJR: OK Orchestra". Spectrum Culture. Retrieved September 24, 2022.
11. Caulfield, Keith (April 4, 2021). "Rod Wave Earns First No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart With 'SoulFly'". Billboard. Retrieved April 5, 2021.
12. "Official Albums Chart Update Top 100: 29 March 2021 – 04 April 2021". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
13. "Official Albums Chart Top 100: 2 April 2021 – 8 April 2021". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 3, 2021.
14. "Credits / OK ORCHESTRA / AJR". Tidal. March 26, 2021. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
15. "AJR Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
16. "AJR Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
17. "AJR Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
18. "AJR Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
19. "AJR Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
20. "Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2021". Billboard. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
21. "Independent Albums – Year-End 2021". Billboard. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
22. "Top Alternative Albums – Year-End 2021". Billboard. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
23. "Top Rock Albums – Year-End 2021". Billboard. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
24. "American album certifications – AJR – OK Orchestra". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved December 12, 2022.