A Definitive Ranking of EVERY Song from Aly & AJ's Insomniatic Album

  Welcome Back to Disney!👋😊🎉I hope you enjoyed my last post on A Definitive Ranking of EVERY Song from Aly & AJ’s Into the Rush Album, because today we’re continuing with Aly & AJ’s Disney discography and talking all about their THIRD studio album Insomniatic! Yes, I’m skipping talking about Aly and AJ’s second album, just for now. Only because it was their Christmas album, and it’s not Christmastime just yet. But don’t worry, because you’ll definitely be seeing a post about that in December.😉🎄For today, though, it’s all about Insomniatic. Another VERY NOSTALGIC, UNFORGETTABLE, and ICONIC album to come, not only from Hollywood Records, but from Aly & AJ themselves. So, let’s get into it!🎶💿🖤🩶🤍🌑👧👧

Like I briefly mentioned before, Insomniatic is the THIRD studio album by American pop-rock sister duo Alyson “Aly” Michalka and Amanda Joy “AJ” Michalka.👧👧💿🎶The album was recorded between 2006 and 2007, and was released on July 10, 2007 by Hollywood Records.🎉So, 18 years ago last month!?!🥳 Insomniatic features an electronic rock based sound, differing from Aly and AJ’s previous pop-rock and acoustic releases, that was accented with the use of synthesizers, sampling, drum programming and vocal processing effects. The lyrical content of this album is also heavily centered around heartbreak. Which some critics noted for its contrast to the electronic elements presented. 

Speaking of music critics, Insomniatic was actually well received by many of them. As many music critics highly praised the sister duo for the lyrical depth and evolution.👏🏻👏🏻 Of course, there were other "music critics" who found the composition of Insomniatic to be bland and unoriginal.👎🏻To which I totally disagree. But, despite those critics, Insomniatic debuted at #15 on the Billboard 200 with sales of 39,000.👏👏 Two singles were spawned from the album, as well. The FIRST single being the ICONIC and TRULY UNFORGETTABLE, “Potential Breakup Song”, which was released on June 26, 2007.🎉That song charted within the TOP 30 in several countries, including the U.S. where it peaked at #17.👏🏻👏🏻“Potential Breakup Song” was also featured on an episode of MTV’s The Hills.📺In early 2008, “Like Whoa” was released as the second single and charted in the lower regions of the charts. Insomniatic was also Aly & AJ’s FINAL album release with Hollywood Records.😔As they left the label in 2010 before forming their own label 78Violet Music LLC.👏🏻

A little more background about Insomniatic, on July 3, 2007, MTV’s The Leak section posted all 12 songs on the standard edition of the album in their entirety. Interestingly enough, the song “Blush” was excluded from the MTV.com full album stream, as well as from the iTunes edition. Which, I’ll get into when talking about that specific song from this album, but I understand why it was. Not only was the song “Like Whoa” featured in an episode of MTV’s The Hills, but it was also featured in the TV movie Super Sweet 16: The Movie, which also starred Aly and AJ, as well as High School Musical 3: Senior Year. Instrumental versions of all 12 songs are available commercially on the iTunes Store, alongside the standard 12-track album with vocals. 

Something VERY COOL and UNIQUE about this album is that its title is actually not even a word (“insomniac” serves as both a noun and an adjective); the definition of Insomniatic as stated by Aly and AJ is “A state of mind where one becomes addicted to the deprivation of sleep caused by an epic revelation of joy.” So, literally, this album is SO ICONIC because Aly and AJ not only made this album but also made up a new word.👏👏 The Australian release of the album features the same cover art as the deluxe edition, aside from the “Deluxe Edition” tag. It also includes the original version of “Chemicals React” as the first track, with the rest of the standard album following. 

As I briefly mentioned before, Insomniatic is primarily an electronic rock album that focuses instrumentally on the usage of synthesizers, drum programming, synthesized drums, sampling, loops, and vocoders, creating a synthesized sound throughout. The set is enclosed with numerous genres including rock, pop, electronica, new wave, and Europop. Lyrically the album is centered on the themes of heartbreak and loss. For instance, “Potential Breakup Song”, which is the first song on the album, is composed as an electro-pop song that incorporates elements of electro-rock, electronica, and dance in its composition. Lyrically the song describes a situation in which certain instances have led to the dissolution of a union. The title track, “Insomniatic”, is an electro-rock number that consists of instrumentation from “striking” drums and “quick” guitar riffs. The sister duo harmonizes throughout the song, and speak of the feeling derived from insomnia. The song “Silence” features an opening consisting of a soft percussion and the accompaniment of synthesized instruments and piano with the vocals. The song “Like Whoa” differs from the rest of the album in sound. As it runs through an upbeat dance rhythm and electronic beats, similar to those in “Bullseye”, while also incorporating sounds of an amusement park ride and new wave music. “Blush” is a light ballad that features hints of sexual tension and suggestiveness in the lyrics. “Bullseye”, “If I Could Have You Back”, and “Like It or Leave It”, all blend 70’s and 80’s guitar tones with electronic beats. While the song “Closure” is an electro-pop ballad that is composed of synthesizer keyboards and distorted guitars. 

A deluxe edition of Insomniatic was originally scheduled to be released in North America on November 6, 2007, and then on March 4, 2008, and finally on March 18 only to eventually be cancelled. The six-song extended CD includes acoustic performances at the Abbey Road Studios in the UK and a remix, along with a bonus DVD that contains music videos for Aly and AJ’s main singles. Early reports stated that the DVD would include Aly and AJ’s "My Super Sweet 16/18 Birthday Party" episode, a review featurette of the episode, the Aly & AJ: Sister Act MTV Special, and the Aly & AJ episode of MTV Cribs, but those were not included. The deluxe edition was also only released on March 5, 2008 in Japan. 

As briefly mentioned before, Insomniatic debuted at #15 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, selling over 39,000 copies in its first week.👏👏 Therefore, becoming Aly and AJ’s highest debut to date.👏 The album remained on the charts for 18 weeks in total, dropping out after the fourteenth week, only to re-enter again six weeks later.👏👏 It also peaked at #66 on the Scottish Albums Chart, at #72 on the UK Albums Chart, and at #90 on the Japanese Albums Chart.👏👏👏 Insomniatic has sold 700,000 copies domestically and more than 2 million copies worldwide.👏👏 

When it came to critical reception of this album, Kathi Kamen Goldmark of Common Sense Media gave Insomniatic four out of five stars, praising the duo’s vocals and the “gentle undertone of self-esteem and standing up for yourself in relationships” as “refreshing”.👏 She further commented that Insomniatic was “better written than their first album” and that “the highs of flirtation, the confusion that comes with being caught in the undertow of sexual attraction while taking care of yourself and setting limits, and the sadness and disappointment of breaking up” were “all described in well-constructed songs containing G-rated imagery.” Sari N. Kent of TheCelebrityCafe also wrote positively about Insomniatic, writing in her review that the album “will make listeners jump up and take notice of this harmonic twosome. Their active beats will infect listeners’ ears and make them want to dance whether they want to or not.”👏 

Logan Leasure of Jesus Freak Hideout wrote that Insomniatic “offers some positive content through brokenness, but this is not an album worth presenting to someone looking for Christ.”👎🏻Okay, as a believer myself, I disagree with his last statement. Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian rated Insomniatic an A, praising “the effect of which is to leave the listener suspended between hyped-up delight and despair at the micro-produced perfection of it all” and the songwriting/production team for crafting “lush, assertive little symphonies with massive hook lines that make the most of the sisters’ Britneyish breathiness.”👏 T2 of Tommy2.Net gave the album a three out of four star rating, praising the evolution of lyrics and sound present by the Michalka sisters.👏Chuck Eddy of Billboard in a positive review of Insomniatic described the album as “an endlessly ambitious yet endlessly effervescent confessional pop-rock breakup album that deserves to carry them far beyond their teen pop base.”👏

USA Today stated, “for Insomniatic, the sisters had a hand in writing every song. The single “Potential Breakup Song” sounds somewhat like Del Shannon’s “Runaway” run through a processor, but there’s a lot more going musically than on your average teen-pop album.” Fraser McAlpine of BBC Radio stated that “Aly and AJ’s previous album was rock-pop; some of it light and bubbly, some of it bordering on heaviness. Staccato, often angry pop, but still definitely pop. Their second offering, Insomniatic with this as the lead single seems to have kept the staccato and the venom but added more layers of pop, to create something that sounds like My Chemical Romance going through a blender with some soft-hearted Angry Girl Music.” McAlpine also described “Potential Breakup Song” as having “the most danceable mental breakdown I’ve heard in quite some time.” Accurate.😂👏

Insomniatic was released on July 10, 2007 in the U.S., and with a new cover art on October 22, 2007 in the U.K. and Italy, and in Singapore in April 2008. As mentioned briefly before, on March 5, 2008, an enhanced Deluxe Edition was released in Japan. And on March 15, 2008, the cover of the Deluxe Edition (aside from the “deluxe edition” tag) was used for an Australian release. All other regions used the standard edition cover, featuring the two sisters with a full moon behind them. 

When it came to promotion for Insomniatic, Aly and AJ sang an edit of the lead single from the album, “Potential Breakup Song”, on Live with Regis & Kelly on July 4, 2007, and again on The View on September 3, 2007. Both sisters were on The Early Show, on July 9, 2007, where they did a short interview. On August 1, 2007, Aly & AJ were on MTV’s Total Request Live (aka TRL) to take viewers backstage at one of their concert stops. And during the week of August 26, 2007, Aly and AJ hosted and co-hosted the show (TRL) again. The music video for “Potential Breakup Song” premiered on Disney Channel in August 2007, as well.🎉Aly and AJ also performed songs from the album as the supporting act replacing the Jonas Brothers during the Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Tour. Soon after, Aly and AJ were replaced on that tour by Everlife because of AJ’s busy schedule. As she was filming her first solo role in The Lovely Bones. The sister duo also promoted the album with two tours of their own in 2008: the Insomniatic Tour and Mini Summer Tour. 

In October 2007, Aly and AJ performed “Potential Breakup Song” near the London Eye to promote the UK release. On October 3, 2007, the sister duo also performed “Potential Breakup Song” on a British morning show called This Morning. Aly and AJ performed with UK band McFly in London as a supporting act on the tour. The girls were also featured on a Saturday morning TV show called TMi on BBC Television. 

On May 24, 2007, “Potential Breakup Song” was released as the lead single from Insomniatic in Canada, and on June 26, 2007 in the U.S., as well as on October 8, 2007 in the U.K. . The song peaked at #17 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, also peaking at #72 in Canada and at #22 in the U.K. .👏👏👏On March 18, 2008, “Like Whoa” was released as the second and final single from Insomniatic in the U.S. .🎉 Although its UK release was cancelled, it peaked at #63 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, at #66 in Canada, and at #92 in Australia.👏👏👏

But again, as I’ve mentioned many times before when talking about these albums from Disney Channel stars, the numbers, and all that chart stuff really means nothing to me, but they were wins for Aly and AJ, and therefore something I thought was still worth mentioning here. But those statistics or reviews did not make me enjoy this album any more or any less than I did before doing this relisten. Nor did they affect my thoughts and opinions about the album back then, either, when I was a kid listening to these songs for the first time, because I also never looked at that stuff back then. I’ve always just LOVED a lot of the songs from this album for what they are and because I LOVED them not because of anyone else loving or not loving them, and that’s why I am SO EXCITED to finally get to talk about ALL of the songs from this album and share my ranking of them here with you.😊🤍🩶🖤

But first, before we really get into the songs from this album and my ranking of them, as always, I want to just give my brief history and memories associated with Insomniatic.😊 So, just like with Aly & AJ’s FIRST album, Into the Rush, I was introduced to a lot of the songs from Insomniatic through Disney Channel. From watching Disney Channel. I remember the ICONIC song and music video of “Potential Breakup Song” playing the most during commercials breaks on Disney Channel. So, that was definitely probably the first song from this album that I heard. But as I also mentioned before in my last post when talking about Aly and AJ’s first album, I do have a fond, vivid, special memory of the day my older sister (Ariel) got/bought the CD of Insomniatic when we were kids right around the time that it first came out. Definitely the same year Insomniatic was released, but probably not the exact day. I just remember her buying it from our local Walmart or something and us then listening to it in the car with our younger sister and mom as we were on our way to some other place. So, every time I see this album or hear one song from it, it always instantly takes me back to that time of when my sister first bought the CD of the album and played it in the car. I’ll never forget it. So, I didn’t own this album myself at the time, but my older sister did. Therefore, I heard the songs from whenever she would play it around the house and stuff. Besides that and seeing whatever music videos from Insomniatic Disney Channel would play, I also just heard a lot of the songs from this album from hearing them on whatever Disney movie they would be featured on that I watched, like High School Musical 3: Senior Year and Minutemen, or even the non-Disney movie Bring It On: In It To Win It (Which, used to be my favorite movie from the Bring It On franchise. But not anymore. I wouldn't recommend that movie to anyone. Just sayin.😊)

Other than that, I don’t have a ton of memories or much history when it comes to this album. Just that I did definitely know about it as a kid when it came out, and I remember it being a CD played during birthday parties that my sisters and I had at the time, and during car rides, and even just during times that my sisters, cousins, and I would make up dances and stuff for fun. So, this album is definitely very NOSTALGIC to me. And unlike Aly and AJ’s first album, this wasn’t the first time I had ever listened to this whole album from beginning to end, but it had been a very long time since I had listened to this whole album before doing so again for this post. In fact, I would say the last time I listened to this album was probably sometime in my early 20’s when I went back to listen to Insomniatc and Into the Rush. But even then I don’t think I listened to every song all the way through like I just did recently for this post. So, I was of course really excited to relisten to this album now that I’m even older, and to find out if the songs I loved as a kid/tween/teen from it were/are still the same. Which, I can say, they pretty much are. But after listening to this whole album again from beginning to end and even some of the deluxe edition songs, I came to LOVE and APPRECIATE even other songs that I maybe never really cared for before. Overall, this is a must-listen-to album, and that’s why I can’t wait any longer to finally talk about each song from it. So, what are we waiting for? Let’s get into A Definitive Ranking of EVERY Song from Aly & AJ’s Insomniatic Album!💿🎶🖤🩶🤍🌑

Just a brief note before we begin: The original release of Insomniatic only included 13 songs. But I couldn't NOT include some of the songs added on the deluxe edition of the album. So, I did include ONLY the THREE new songs that were added to the Deluxe Edition of Insomniatic. There were technically eight bonus tracks included on the Deluxe Edition of Insomniatic, but since five of them were basically nothing too new or different from their original versions, I didn’t include those. I hope that makes sense. If not, you'll understand more once you see my ranking and I get to talking more about each song. So, for real this time, let's get into A Definitive of Every Song from Aly & AJ’s Insomniatic Album!🎉💿🎶🖤🩶🤍🌑

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(from LEAST to MOST FAVORITE)...

#16 "Blush"

#15 "Insomniatic"

#14 "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" (Abbey Road Sessions) (KT Tunstall Cover)

#13 "Like It or Leave It"

#12 "Tears"

#11 "Silence"

#10 "I'm Here"

#9 "Careful With Words" 

#8 "If I Could Have You Back"

#7 "Bullseye"

#6 "Like Whoa"

#5 "Flattery"

#4 "Closure"

#3 "Division (➗)"

#2 "Chemicals React" (Remix)

#1 "Potential Breakup Song"

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   Well, that concludes A Definitive Ranking of EVERY Song from Aly & AJ’s Insomniatic Album!🎉🎶💿🤍🩶🖤I really enjoyed getting to go back and listen to these songs and reminisce about the memories I have of them, and to discover a few new favorites from the deluxe edition that I had never even heard  before doing this. And I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did creating it, and that it also brought back some FUN, NOSTALGIC memories for you, too. Or maybe even just introduced you to some GREAT NEW-OLD MUSIC, as well.😊

Insomniatic, although (I will admit) not as GREAT as Aly and AJ’s FIRST album, is still a GOOD album that I would highly suggest anyone who hasn’t already heard it to listen to it at least once. It’s also still just VERY NOSTALGIC. Just the cover art alone is SO NOSTALGIC, ICONIC, and UNFORGETTABLE. It wasn't surprising to me that the songs that I listened to the most as a kid and loved the most as a kid, made it to the top of my list even now as an adult. A few of them just arranged a little differently than maybe I would have ranked them when I was younger. Majority of the songs on this album are great though. There are just a few not as great. But overall it’s still a stand-out, solid, unique album. 

This album definitely showed a little more growth from Aly and AJ, musically, and I guess personally too, from what you can tell from what they sing about in the songs. Although, there are more slow songs on this album, and this album definitely kind of gives off a little more depressing, solemn vibes. Which I never really realized before when listening to it. But there’s still some great upbeat songs, as well.

Overall, I would listen to this album again. And I will say this album continued to show how great of lyricists, singers, and just real musicians Aly & AJ are, because their lyrics are great, the music is great, and every song is different. Even in a few of the songs where the beat isn't the best, the lyrics are still good. Having said that, it was really hard to rank my TOP 7 songs from this album, because those songs in my TOP 7 are the really, REALLY good ones from this album. I mean, I knew my #1 favorite immediately before even having to relisten to this album. That was a no-brainer. But the others in my TOP 7 were a little more harder to rank. However, I feel good about where I ranked all of these songs.👍😊 

Again, I will definitely be listening to this album again, and I would highly suggest everyone to do the same. Especially all the girlies and sisters reading this, and really just anyone who LOVES great music. And, well, I can’t believe this was the last album Aly and AJ released with Disney (aka Hollywood Records). Which means, that’s also the end of Aly and AJ’s Disney discography posts. Until December, of course, when I will be talking about their ICONIC and UNFORGETTABLE Christmas album.💿🎶 So, make sure you hit that follow button to get notified when that post goes up, comment down below what your favorite song(s) is/are from Insomniatic, and come Back to Disney soon for more FUN, NOSTALGIA, and just GREAT MUSIC! 👋🤍🩶🖤🎉🎶💿✌️HAPPY 18 YEARS TO INSOMNIATIC!🥳