Where We Are is the ninth studio album and tenth album overall by the Irish

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

 boyband Westlife

Westlife

Westlife are an Irish boy band established on 3 July 1998. They are to disband in 2012. The group's line-up was Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, and Brian McFadden . The group are the only act in British and Irish history to have their first seven singles peak at number one...

. It was released on 27 November 2009 in Ireland and 30 November 2009 in the UK through Syco Music. The first and lone single from this album is "What About Now" and was released on 23 October 2009 as a digital download

Music download

A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...

 a day later as a CD single

CD single

A CD single is a music single in the form of a standard size Compact Disc, not to be confused with the 3-inch CD single, which uses a smaller form factor. The format was introduced in the mid-1980s, but did not gain its place in the market until the early 1990s...

.

Background

Before Christmas 2008, they wrote a letter to their website saying that 2009 was going to be the most exciting year yet for Westlife. The recording process of their tenth album started on 1 July 2009. Byrne said that there will be many first-time producers and writers for the upcoming album. He also wanted to have collaboration works with Chris Martin

Chris Martin

Christopher Anthony John "Chris" Martin is an English song-writer, who is the lead vocalist, pianist and rhythm guitarist of the band Coldplay. He is married to actress Gwyneth Paltrow.-Early life:...

 of Coldplay

Coldplay

Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...

 who happens to be a big Westlife fan.

Filan talks about the content of the album and stated:

A different direction might be a bit wrong. I think it's still pop music, but there's a different variation on it. One massive thing is we worked with different producers, who we've never worked with before, and new song writers. There are thirteen songs on the album and twelve of them are originals. There's more tempo, more rocky songs, some more American songs, some darker songs on there with darker lyrics. It's the best production we've had on any other album. The strings, the music is just on another level. Even if you're not a Westlife fan but you're a music fan, you will recognise the quality on this album.

On their new biography posted on their official website, it has been added that the recording sessions began in LA, with a completely fresh team of producers and songwriters. The first song they recorded was the haunting bereavement ballad, "I’ll See You Again". I'll See You Again was recorded by Ross at Metropolis Studios. For their first single "What About Now" Feehily told The Daily Mirror

The Daily Mirror

The Daily Mirror is a British national daily tabloid newspaper which was founded in 1903. Twice in its history, from 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was changed to read simply The Mirror, which is how the paper is often referred to in popular parlance. It had an...

, "We wanted the first single from our new album to be somewhere between the Westlife sound our fans know and love, and the new direction we're heading in. We've been experimenting with a fresh vibe on this record. After 11 years we see this as phase two of the Westlife story." The song "Shadows" which has been confirmed to be included on the album was written by Ryan Tedder

Ryan Tedder

Ryan Benjamin Tedder is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the frontman of the pop rock band, OneRepublic, though he has an independent career as songwriter and producer for various artists such as Beyoncé, Kelly Clarkson, Far East Movement, Jordin Sparks, Leona...

 and AJ McLean

AJ McLean

Alexander James "A.J." McLean is an American musician, singer, dancer, actor, and entertainer. He is a member of the Backstreet Boys.-Early life:...

 for the Backstreet Boys

Backstreet Boys

The Backstreet Boys are an American vocal group, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1993. The band originally consisted of A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson. They rose to fame with their debut international album, Backstreet Boys...

' seventh album This Is Us

This Is Us (Backstreet Boys album)

This Is Us is the seventh studio album from American pop group Backstreet Boys. It is their second album since becoming a four-piece band and was released on September 30, 2009 in Japan through Sony Music Japan, October 5, 2009 in the UK through RCA, and October 6 in the U.S...

but was not selected for inclusion. It was subsequently purchased by record label boss Simon Cowell

Simon Cowell

Simon Phillip Cowell is an English A&R executive, television producer, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is known in the United Kingdom and United States for his role as a talent judge on TV shows such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and American Idol...

 for Leona Lewis

Leona Lewis

Leona Louise Lewis is a British singer and songwriter. Lewis first came to prominence in 2006 when she won the third series of the British television series The X Factor....

's second album Echo

Echo (Leona Lewis album)

Echo is the second studio album by British pop/R&B singer and songwriter Leona Lewis. It was released from 9 November 2009 including 16 November 2009 in the United Kingdom, and 17 November 2009 in the United States. Its worldwide release was through Sony Music.Lewis worked with Ryan Tedder, Justin...

but it was later decided that the song was more suited to a boyband and thus given Westlife to record.

Promotion

On 25 October 2009, during the X Factor

The X Factor (UK)

The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. Created by Simon Cowell, it began in September 2004 and is contested by aspiring singers drawn from public auditions. It is the originator of the international X Factor franchise. The seven series of the show to date...

 results show, Westlife performed "What About Now". It was released online the same day. On 26 October they performed on GMTV

GMTV

GMTV was the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc. in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end...

 and were interviewed in addition to hosting a webchat, with a further interview on The One Show on 30 October 2009. They will also perform at BBC Children in Need on 20 November and be interviewed on 26 November and 4 December on Alan Carr's Chatty Man and The Friday Show respectively. They are also doing radio promos in major cities of UK and Ireland from 24 October - November including an interview on BBC Radio One. TV dates were announced later. Following a Swedish promotional tour with performance on Swedish Idol. On 27 November 2009, Westlife performed on infamous UK television shows like Paul O' Grady Show and The Late Late Toy Show

The Late Late Toy Show

The Late Late Toy Show—also known as The Toy Show— is an annual iconic and influential Irish institution, an edition of the world's longest-running chat show, The Late Late Show broadcast on RTÉ One in Ireland each Friday evening. The Toy Show, as it is referred to, is broadcast in late...

.

On 1 February 2010, their official website was revised. They called it as a first phase of 2010 assault. On 10 February 2010, they are invited to Jonathan Ross show for an interview to be televised on 12 February 2010.

First week of February, they embarked on a promotional tour of Germany and guested on the Oliver Pocher Show on the third week of February. They got the chance to perform with Boyzone

Boyzone

Boyzone are an Irish boy band comprising Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Ronan Keating,Shane Lynch, and formerly Stephen Gately. Boyzone have 19 singles in the top 40 UK charts and 21 singles in the Ire charts. The group currently have 6 UK number one singles and 9 number one singles in Ireland with 12...

 for a track on the Stephen Gately

Stephen Gately

Stephen Patrick David Gately was an Irish pop singer–songwriter, actor, dancer, musician and author, who, with Ronan Keating, was one of two lead singers of the pop group Boyzone. All of Boyzone's studio albums hit number one in the United Kingdom, their third being their most successful...

 Show in Ireland. They opened the ceremony on News of the World

News of the World

The News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...

Children's Champion Awards. They are invited to perform on Sun City Super Bowl Show on South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 to be held on 19 March and Fashion Kicks 2010 on 13 April.

Track listing

^A What About Now was not included in Czech Republic and Slovakia track listing

Credits

• Vanessa Addo-Yeboah - Vocals
• Ian Agate - Engineer
• Joel Anderson - Cover Photo
• Steve Anderson - Arranger, Engineer, Mixing, Producer, String Arrangements
• David Angell - Violin
• Jesse Astin - Egg Shaker
• Paul Beard - Piano
• Louis Biancaniello - Composer, Engineer, Guitar, Keyboards, Producer, Programming
• Chris Blade - Arranger, Producer
• Steve Booker - Bass, Composer, Keyboards, Producer, Programming
• Jeff Bova - String Arrangements, Strings
• Chris Braide - Composer, Producer
• Karl Brazil - Drums
• John Catchings - Cello
• Nikolaj Juel Christiansen - Guitar
• Bryan Christopher - Composer
• Bryn Christopher - Producer
• Scott Cutler - Composer, Egg Shaker, Guitar, Producer, Programming
• David Davidson - Orchestration, String Transcription, Violin
• Sophie Delila - Composer, Piano, Producer
• Alessandro Destefanis - Assistant
• Althea Edwards - Vocals
• Carl Falk - Composer, Producer
• Mark Feehily - Composer, Producer, Vocals
• Richard Flack - Engineer
• John Garrison - Bass
• Dyre Gormsen - Engineer
• Simon Hale - Arranger, Strings
• Joshua Hartzler - Composer
• Heard But Not Seen Choir - Choir, Chorus
• Andy Hill - Additional Production, Producer
• Iain Hill - Engineer
• David Hodges - Composer
• Christian Howes - Strings
• Henrik Janson - String Arrangements
• Candace Johnson - Vocals
• Lawrence Johnson - Vocal Arrangement
• Bryon Jones - Vocals
• Priscilla Jones - Vocals
• Jim Jonsin - Keyboards, Producer, Programming
• Jon Kelly - Engineer
• Brian Kennedy - Guitar, Producer, Programming
• Emanuel Kiriakou - Composer, Engineer, Instrumentation, Producer, Programming
• Savan Kotecha - Composer, Producer
• Larossi - Additional Production, Engineer
• Josef Larossi - Instrumentation, Programming
• Damien Lewis - Engineer
• Shaznay Lewis - Composer, Producer
• Peter Ljung - Piano
• The London Session Orchestra - Strings
• The Love Sponge Strings - Strings

• Will Malone - Keyboards, Programming, String Arrangements, Synthesizer
• Rob Marks - Engineer
• Subrina McCalla - Vocals
• Kevin McDaid - Photography
• Alexander McLean - Composer, Producer
• Vlado Meller - Mastering
• Millennia Strings - Strings
• Candice Mimi-Appiah - Vocals
• Ben Moody - Composer
• Esbjörn Öhrwall - Guitar
• Steven Lee Olsen - Composer, Producer
• Andreas Olsson - Keyboards, Programming
• Ross 'Dights' Parkin - Engineer
• John Parricelli - Guitar
• Doug Petty - Bass, Drum Programming, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Keyboards, *Percussion, Piano
• Simon Petty - Composer, Guitar (Acoustic), Producer
• Ian Pitter - Vocals
• Shelley Poole - Producer
• Luke Potashnick - Guitar
• Anne Preven - Composer, Producer
• Quiz - Engineer, Mixing
• Quiz - Additional Production
• Zac Rae - Guitar, Programming
• Conner Reeves - Composer, Producer
• John Reid - Composer
• Jon Reid - Producer
• Carol Riley - Vocals
• Lindy Robbins - Composer, Producer
• Steve Robson - Producer
• Andreas "Quiz" Romdhane - Instrumentation, Programming
• Jeff Rothschild - Mixing
• Mark Santangelo - Assistant
• James Scheffer - Composer, Producer
• Brian Kennedy Seals - Composer
• Edward Shearmur - Strings
• Bobby Shin - Strings
• Jonathan Shorten - Composer, Producer
• Kristoffer Sonne - Drums
• Steve Stacey - Design
• Xavier Stephenson - Assistant
• Stockholm Session Strings - Strings
• Phil Tan - Mixing
• Ryan Tedder - Arranger, Composer, Engineer, Guitar, Piano, Producer, Programming, Strings
• Martin Terefe - Bass, Producer
• Pat Thrall - Editing
• Nikolaj Torplarsen - Arranger, Keyboards, Piano
• Luke Tozour - Engineer
• Neil Tucker - Engineer
• Sam Watters - Composer, Engineer, Producer
• Greg Wells - Instrumentation, Producer
• Jeremy Wheatley - Mixing, String Arrangements
• Wayne Wilkins - Composer, Keyboards, Producer, Programming
• Kris Wilkinson - Viola, Violin
• Neal Wilkinson - Drums
• Noel Zancanella - Engineer

Source: Allmusic.com

Chart performance

Country	Peak position	Certificates
United Kingdom	2	2xPlatinum
Ireland	2	3xPlatinum
South Korea	3
Sweden	8	Gold
Greece	9
New Zealand	13	Gold
Switzerland	25
Germany	42
Austria	53
Mexico	71

Year-end charts

Chart (2009)	Peak position
Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically...	8
UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...	28

Release history

Country / Region	Date	Format	Label	Catalogue
Ireland Ireland Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...	27 November 2009	CD, Digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...	RCA Records RCA Records RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...	88697611272
Philippines Philippines The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...	28 November 2009		Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment ' is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation....
New Zealand New Zealand New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...	30 November 2009
Norway Norway Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
South Africa South Africa The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...			S/Syco Music
Hong Kong Hong Kong Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...			Sony Music Entertainment
South Korea South Korea The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...	1 December 2009
Europe Europe Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...	2 December 2009
Finland Finland Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
Malaysia
Sweden Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
Netherlands Netherlands The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...	3 December 2009		Sony Music
Taiwan Taiwan Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...	4 December 2009
France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...	8 December 2009			B002RHP88S
Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...	23 December 2009		Sony Music Japan	SICP2509
Thailand Thailand Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...	21 January 2010		Sony Music	88697611272
Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...	22 January 2010
China China Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...	25 January 2010
Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...	5 February 2010
Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
Mexico Mexico The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...	15 March 2010			886976112721
Czech Republic Czech Republic The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....	5 April 2010			289173
Slovakia Slovakia The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...