Hyperspace (stylized inJapanese) is the fourteenth studio album by American musicianBeck. It was released through Fonograf Records & a licensing deal withCapitol Records on November 22, 2019.^[3] It followed Beck's divorce from his wifeMarissa Ribisi in February 2019.^[4] The album is a collaborative project with high-profile producerPharrell Williams, who is credited for production and features on several songs.^[5] Recording for the album started in late 2018.^[5]

Hyperspace
Studio album by Beck
Released	November 22, 2019
Genre	Synth-pop R&B dream pop new wave vaporwave
Length	39:16
Label	Fonograf Records/Capitol
Producer	Pharrell Williams Beck Hansen Cole M.G.N. Greg Kurstin Paul Epworth
Beck chronology
Paisley Park Sessions (2019) Hyperspace (2019)
Singles from Hyperspace
"Saw Lightning" Released: April 15, 2019[1] "Uneventful Days" Released: October 17, 2019[2] "Dark Places" Released: November 7, 2019 "Everlasting Nothing" Released: November 14, 2019

Music journalists describe the album assynth-pop andvaporwave aesthetic-inspired, though Beck draws from several genres.^[6][7] The album art reflects this style, featuring Beck in front of an A60Toyota Celica, with the album's title in blocky Japanese script.^[8] Thematically, Hyperspace explores heartbreak, sincerity, solitude and Beck's relation to them.^[9] Guest vocalists for the album includeChris Martin,Sky Ferreira,Pharrell Williams,Terrell Hines,Alex Lilly andRoger Joseph Manning Jr.^[10]

Four singles were released prior to the release of theHyperspace. Following its release Beck did a series of interviews, mainly focused on the album itself, Pharrell's contribution to the record, and Beck's creative process.^[11][5][4] In August 2020 Beck released an accompanyingvisual album titledHyperspace: A.I. Exploration in collaboration withNASA JPL, featuringartificial intelligence generated space imagery and two new songs.^[12][13]

Hyperspace received generally positive reviews from critics, though some commented that the album is occasionally superficial and lacked the complexity of Beck's previous projects.^[14][7]Hyperspace received two nominations at the 2021Grammy Awards forBest Alternative Music Album andBest Engineered Album, Non-Classical. Beck won the latter.^[15]

After concluding the tour forColors in September 2018, Beck "wanted to seize the moment" to collaborate with Pharrell Williams, something he had wanted to do since 2012. Only once they were in the studio did the idea of a full-length album occur, Beck revealing that their collaboration was initially "going to be a single or an EP, but I think we were both surprised when there was a body of work here".^[5]

In February 2019, during the recording onHyperspace, Beck filed for divorce fromMarissa Ribisi, his wife of 15 years, an experience he described as "heartbreaking". Critics expected to see this reflected in the album, though many noted upon release thatHyperspace lacked the somber tone ofSea Change, another album Beck released after a breakup.^[4] This detachment of Beck's personal experiences from his music was intentional, with Beck stating he believes detachment leads to better music.Pitchfork writer Sam Sodomsky agreed with this sentiment, writing "It's been a long time since he successfully integrated his personality and his music".^[7]

Musically, the album has been described as beingsynth-pop,^[16]R&B,^[17][18]dream pop,^[19]new wave,^[20] andvaporwave.^[21] Beck sought to produce a more stripped back sound onHyperspace. He said he wanted the songs "to be simple, and let them breathe",^[22] which is a departure from his historically fuller and maximalist songs. Beck accredits this simplification to Williams, who he has described as a "master minimalist".^[22] In contrast to the upbeat and fast-paced songs on his previous albumColors, Beck says inHyperspace "the songs are a bit slower and have a little bit more of a spell in them; more of a mood".^[23]

Thematically,Hyperspace deals with heartbreak, finding relief in troubled times, uncertainty and doubt.^[7] Beck has said the album is "about finding peace in the moment".^[9] Variety writer A.D. Amorosi described the song "Dark Places" as a "study of epic loneliness", which is complemented by the "proggy bass lines".^[24]Hyperspace rarely directly references Beck's recent divorce, but the theme of disconnection and vast loneliness is consistent throughout.^[7] The stripped back sounds ofHyperspace enhance this, the songs "Chemical" and "Dark Places" being described as "lullabies delivered from a space shuttle with just one person on it".^[7]

Recording sessions forHyperspace began after Beck concluded hisColors tour in September 2018.^[23] The album credits Pharrell Williams, Cole M.G.N., Greg Kurstin, Paul Epworth, David Greenbaum and Beck himself as producers.^[10] Critics primarily focus on Pharrell's influence, who co-wrote or co-produced seven tracks in the album.^[22][7][24] Beck describes Williams's influence on the album as "embrac[ing] this kind of post-digital sound".^[23]

Hyperspace is the first project that Beck and Williams have worked on, though each artist has expressed respect for the other throughout their careers.^[4][11] In early 2018 Williams approached Beck for help on aN.E.R.D. song, and from there they "reconnected" and started to work onHyperspace.^[11][25]

Beck released the titleHyperspace alongside the first single "Saw Lightning" in April 2019. The title is inspired by the 1980s video gameAsteroids.^[26] The 'hyperspace' button in the game allows the player to teleport out of harm's way, saving their life.^[27] Beck has stated that "each song has kind of a different way that different people hyperspace, or deal with the world", tying the title to the theme of the album.^[26]

In October 2019, a month before the album's release, Beck posted the album cover alongside the words "In hyperspace / electric life is in my brain."^[28] The cover artwork features Beck standing in front of a Toyota Celica, with the title inkatakana,ハイパースペース (Haipāsupēsu).^[29] Beck, who is credited for the design concept, says he chose to have the Celica on the cover due to its humble status as "an everyday kind of car" that "lets us transcend the everyday". The inclusion of the title in Japanese on the cover was Beck's first instinct and "just felt right".^[11] Although not directly stated by Beck himself, critics pick up on the strong influence of the vaporwave aesthetic on the album's artwork.^[7] Features of vaporwave aesthetic include 1980's arcade games, vintage cars and Japanese consumer electronics all of which are prominent in the albums cover artwork.^[30][8] The accompanying artwork in the vinyl version of the album is similar, the inner spread showing the dashboard of the Celica with the title on the steering wheel, and the back cover showing Beck and the car from a different angle.^[31]

In August 2020 Beck released a visual component ofHyperspace in collaboration withNASA JPL calledHyperspace: A.I. Exploration. The collaboration pairs each song in the album with a set of visuals to create an "interstellar journey combining publicly available NASA mission images, curated with assistance from NASA JPL, visualizations, animations and data with revolutionary Artificial Intelligence tech."^[13] The videos are produced by OSK Studios, who specialize in creative applications of artificial intelligence.^[12][32]

Beck also announced a deluxe reissue ofHyperspace to accompany the collaboration. The limited edition vinyl includes two extra songs; a new version of "Dark Places" and an acoustic rendition ofChris Bell's "I Am the Cosmos". The vinyl also features new mixes of four songs, and a 24-page booklet containing the A.I. generated imagery and NASA data.^[33]

Prior to the release of the album, Beck and Capitol Records released four singles. "Saw Lightning", released April 15 was co-written by Beck and Pharrell Williams and also included vocals, drums and keyboard from Williams.^[34] Additionally the titleHyperspace was also revealed, a press release stating that the upcoming album would come out "at an as yet undetermined point in the space time continuum".^[35] The second single "Uneventful Days" was released October 17 alongside a music video directed byDev Hynes. The single was well received, peaking at #1 on Billboard's US Adult Alternative Songs.^[36] On November 7 "Dark Places" was released with a lyric video made by Eddie Obrand.^[37] "Everlasting Nothing", another song featuring Williams's writing and instrumentals, was released 14 November, a week beforeHyperspace's release.^[38]

Beck teased and announced the release ofHyperspace on social media in early October 2019.^[29] The album's release was accompanied by interviews with several publications. This includedNME, a piece byThe New Yorker and NPR.^[39][5][4] These interviews primarily focused on the collaboration onHyperspace with Williams, and Beck's creative process.

Following the release of the album, Beck headlined the Intersect festival in December 2019 along withKacey Musgraves,Anderson .Paak andFoo Fighters.^[40][41] In February 2020 Beck announced a set of UK and European tour dates, taking place in June and July.^[42] In May 2020 these tour dates were cancelled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.^[43] The performances were rescheduled for June and July 2021,^[44] however in May 2021 a statement was released on Beck's Twitter account that the shows had been cancelled "due to continued coronavirus-related restrictions on public gatherings, and in the interest of public safety".^[45] Beck was also meant to perform at several festivals in 2020, including Williams's Something in the Water festival and Netherlands festivalDown the Rabbit Hole.^[46][47] However, all the festivals were cancelled or postponed due to safety concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.^[48]

Hyperspace received mostly positive reviews from music critics. AtMetacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 77 based on 19 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[14] Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? Gave it a 6.8 out of 10, based on their assessment of critic's reviews.^[58]

Musically,Variety writer A.D. Amorosi described the album as "joyfully introspective, minimalistic but sophisticated, contagiously melodic, straight-ahead, analogsynth-pop record with a fleeting few of old school Beck's signature touches".^[24] Sam Sodomsky, writing forPitchfork, felt that "nowadays, it's less rewarding to dig for the substance beneath his aesthetics", suggesting thatHyperspace is less thematically driven than Beck's previous records.^[7] Matthew Perpetua of NPR compared the album to Beck's previous, writing "many of the songs are not far off from the glossy bops of Beck's previous album,Colors".^[59]

Rolling Stone editor David Fricke echoed the idea thatHyperspace is similar to Beck's past work, writing "Beck combines the exuberant studio mischief of 199[9]'sMidnite Vultures with the sumptuous introspection of 2002'sSea Change to eccentric, genuinely compelling effect."^[6] Other critics sawHyperspace as a departure from Beck's previous albums,Pitchfork's Sam Sodomsky insisting that "the smooth, twilight sound ofHyperspace pushes him toward new territory".^[7]

On the collaborative nature of the album, critics mostly welcomed Williams' input. Elizabeth Aubury, writing forNME noting that "the album is at its best where Beck and Pharrell meet in the middle: when their worlds do manage to cosmically align, the songs are at their most memorable and interesting."^[22]Pitchfork writer Sam Sodomsky agreed that Williams and Beck have good chemistry on the album.^[7]

All tracks are written and produced byBeck Hansen andPharrell Williams, except where noted.

Adapted from the album's liner notes.^[62]