• Record Label: Capitol
  • Release Date: Aug 29, 2011
Metascore
56

Mixed or average reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 17
  2. Negative: 3 out of 17
  1. With four-on-the-floor dance music the nearest the actually popular pop world came to mindless rocking out in 2011, I only wish it had a few "I Gotta Feeling"s.
  2. Sep 1, 2011
    70
    Overall the album is a triumph of collective will and creativity, but not every track fits every performer perfectly.
  3. Aug 29, 2011
    70
    The mastermind behind many hits, including Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling,'' doesn't break new ground on his fourth album. Instead, he brings together many of today's pop superstars and offers a platform as swooshes, squiggles, and propulsive beats elevate them to club heaven.
  4. Aug 19, 2011
    70
    Whether you could go so far as to call Guetta an auteur might be pushing it, but it's a cohesive effort, if not quite a work of art.
  5. Aug 18, 2011
    70
    Guetta can't match the inexhaustible bliss of his Kelly Rowland–aided 2009 disco smash "When Love Takes Over," but he can make 50 Cent seem like an edgy Daft Punk fanboy, which is not an insubstantial trick.
  6. 67
    Those are rare flashes of heart, though, on an album that 
 ultimately feels colder than its sweat factor suggests. Those are rare flashes of heart, though, on an album that 
ultimately feels colder than its sweat factor suggests.
  7. Q Magazine
    Sep 21, 2011
    60
    It's undeniably infectious, maddeningly so at times. [Oct 2011, p.120]
  8. Aug 30, 2011
    60
    Like One Love, Nothing But the Beat is about what gets people moving on the dance floor.
  9. Aug 30, 2011
    60
    If Guetta's fifth album doesn't convince you that he's the Bono of the four-on-the-floor beat, it does show how good he is at making Eurohouse's thumping trounce and jet-engine synth whoosh feel like natural elements in the hip-hop, R&B and even rock continuum.
  10. Aug 30, 2011
    60
    Without that soulful kind of anchor, Nothing But the Beat offers the same experience as one of Guetta's numerous remix sets, which is a compliment if you're a dancefloor and a caution if you're a pair of headphones.
  11. Aug 26, 2011
    60
    As packed and punchy as Black Eyed Peas on steroids, this is the sound of the overground.
  12. Sep 6, 2011
    42
    Nothing But The Beat is obsessed with the sex, swagger, and sensation of club culture, and taken individually, its songs are well-made, euphoric paeans to the dance-floor gods; but a deficiency of texture and emotional build causes them to blend into a predictable, exhausting murk of smoke and lasers.
  13. Sep 27, 2011
    40
    Nothing But the Beat is in many ways a showcase of everything that is bad about pop music in 2011: derivative, novelty, shallow, rushed, Auto-Tuned to the ends of the earth and thoroughly uninteresting.
  14. Aug 26, 2011
    40
    Nothing But the Beat may sound like a one-man hit parade, but it also takes its title far too literally.
  15. Magnet
    Nov 11, 2011
    20
    It's fine that none of this is the least bit subtle. Memorable, or anything other than baseline catchy, is another thing entirely. [#81, p. 56]
  16. Aug 29, 2011
    20
    Guetta might be one of the only people given partial credit for creating a sea change in pop music who's also unquestionably the least compelling example of that style.
  17. Aug 29, 2011
    20
    Guetta's trademark union of stadium trance and American R&B is represented in a glittering array of bling-encrusted collaborations (Snoop Dogg, Akon, Chris Brown) but they struggle to impose any distinctive personality on the overall mood of relentless rictus-grin-inducing euphoria.
User Score
6.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 100 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 61 out of 100
  2. Negative: 19 out of 100
  1. Aug 29, 2011
    5
    Despite the catchy singles, David Guetta made an awful job on this follow-up to 'One Love'. He is becoming a dance-pop version of previousDespite the catchy singles, David Guetta made an awful job on this follow-up to 'One Love'. He is becoming a dance-pop version of previous hitmaker, Timbaland. Only Titanium is a really good surprise in the album, with the Afrojack-helped song. (I did not listen to the instrumental CD) Full Review »
  2. Aug 29, 2011
    9
    I have heard the entire album and assessing it is generally good, there are many styles of music, and many potential hits. I think he has doneI have heard the entire album and assessing it is generally good, there are many styles of music, and many potential hits. I think he has done a good job for me is a great CD but must be heard to appreciate it. Full Review »
  3. Dec 16, 2014
    7
    Best Album David Guetta undoubtedly miss that time, I hope the album is more pro'ximo Nothing But The Beat and less Listen
    Highlights:
    Best Album David Guetta undoubtedly miss that time, I hope the album is more pro'ximo Nothing But The Beat and less Listen
    Highlights: Titanium and Turn Me On
    Lows: Sunshine and Night Of Your Life
    Full Review »