Win Butler suggests negative Arcade Fire reviews were down to ‘cut and paste’ journalism

Musician said he was happy for band’s last album to ‘take the hit and be maligned’

Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler has claimed that the media undersold the critical reception to the band’s last album to make their new record seem more impressive.

In 2017, the Canadian rock band released their fifth studio album Everything Now to a generally mixed critical reception.

The Guardian called it a “flawed” record, while The New York Times said it was a “slighter” album than its predecessors.

Speaking to NME, Butler discussed the negative responses to the album, claiming that he had no “insecurity” about Everything Now.

“I think a lot of journalism has become very ‘cut and paste’ and there needs to be some sort of storyline in interviews, so I’m happy for Everything Now to take the hit and be maligned,” he said.

“Like, I know there needs to be a cliché and story and [new album We] is, like, ‘the comeback’. So, OK, cool – it works.”

Butler continued: “The important thing for me is to not worry about any kind of judgement people are going to have about what I do as an artist because it’s the opposite spirit of what music is. You have to be fearless to say something sincere.”

Last week, the band headlined a show for the reopening of Koko in Camden. You can read The Independent’s five-star review here.