# XO (Elliott Smith album)
**XO** is the fourth studio album by the American singer-songwriter [Elliott Smith](https://www.edgepedia.org/elliott-smith), released on August 25, 1998 (August 18 for vinyl) by DreamWorks Records as his major-label debut.[1](https://www.elliottsmithdiscography.com/xo.html) It followed his Oscar-nominated song "Miss Misery" from [Gus Van Sant](https://www.edgepedia.org/gus-van-sant)'s film *Good Will Hunting*, and it marked a deliberate expansion of his quiet, home-recorded indie sound toward fuller studio arrangements.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/album/xo-mw0000039329) • [3](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/elliott-smith-xo/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | August 25, 1998 (August 18, 1998 for vinyl), DreamWorks Records[1](https://www.elliottsmithdiscography.com/xo.html) |
| Length | 44:45, 14 tracks from "Sweet Adeline" to "I Didn't Understand"[2](https://www.allmusic.com/album/xo-mw0000039329) • [1](https://www.elliottsmithdiscography.com/xo.html) |
| Production | Produced, recorded, and mixed by Tom Rothrock, Rob Schnapf, and Elliott Smith[1](https://www.elliottsmithdiscography.com/xo.html) |
| Studios | Sunset Sound, Sound Factory, and Sonora in Los Angeles; "Baby Britain" and "Amity" recorded by Larry Crane at Jackpot!, Portland, Oregon[1](https://www.elliottsmithdiscography.com/xo.html) |
| Chart peak | Number 104 on the US Billboard 200[4](https://www.loudersound.com/features/xo-elliott-smith) |
| Context | First release after "Miss Misery" from *Good Will Hunting* earned an Academy Award nomination[2](https://www.allmusic.com/album/xo-mw0000039329) |
| Later edition | XO (Deluxe Edition) with 23 songs[5](https://music.apple.com/us/album/xo/1440760785) |
## Background
Before XO, Smith was known for low-key, acoustic indie records made largely at home: his 1993 debut *[Roman Candle](https://www.edgepedia.org/roman-candle-album)* was recorded in then-girlfriend JJ Gonson's basement, with his guitar strings pressed against a low-quality microphone.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/album/xo-mw0000039329) • [3](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/elliott-smith-xo/) That record caught the attention of Luke Wood, DreamWorks' A&R executive, and Smith had also co-fronted the alternative rock band Heatmiser before his solo career took off.[3](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/elliott-smith-xo/)
The Oscar nomination for "Miss Misery" changed his circumstances. The song, written for *Good Will Hunting*, was nominated for an Academy Award, and the film went on to gross $138 million. Smith was suddenly fielding calls from *People Magazine* reporters between recording sessions, yet he did not refuse a contract with DreamWorks.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/album/xo-mw0000039329) • [3](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/elliott-smith-xo/)
At a lunch with Lenny Waronker, co-CEO of DreamWorks, the painfully shy Smith hardly spoke for 40 minutes until Waronker asked about the orchestration primer Smith was clutching; Smith then described his plan to use an orchestra on his next record.[3](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/elliott-smith-xo/)
## Recording and production
Smith produced, recorded, and mixed the album with Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf, the producer who had also worked with him on 1997's *[Either/Or](https://www.edgepedia.org/either-or-album)*. Sessions took place at Sunset Sound, Sound Factory, and Sonora in Los Angeles, with "Baby Britain" and "Amity" recorded by Larry Crane at Jackpot! in [Portland, Oregon](https://www.edgepedia.org/portland-oregon). Stephen Marcussen mastered the album at Precision Mastering in Los Angeles.[1](https://www.elliottsmithdiscography.com/xo.html) Schnapf recalled that songs "would just come up" during the process, and that on *Either/Or* "we could have blown it up more, but he wasn't ready to do it just yet."[3](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/elliott-smith-xo/)
The Apple Music editorial notes describe Smith playing most parts himself, with a small band handling the few parts he chose not to perform, and the album cover showing him at work while Schnapf smiles from behind the sound booth glass.[5](https://music.apple.com/us/album/xo/1440760785)
## Songs
The 14-track sequence runs: "Sweet Adeline," "Tomorrow Tomorrow," "Waltz #2 (XO)," "Baby Britain," "Pitseleh," "Independence Day," "Bled White," "Waltz #1," "Amity," "Oh Well, Okay," "Bottle Up and Explode!", "A Question Mark," "Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands," and "I Didn't Understand."[1](https://www.elliottsmithdiscography.com/xo.html)
The arrangements brought in sounds Smith had previously held back: a [Mellotron](https://www.edgepedia.org/mellotron) turning the chorus of "Bottle Up and Explode!", piano and drums entering halfway through "Sweet Adeline," a saxophone inside "A Question Mark," and an ornate a cappella arrangement on "I Didn't Understand."[3](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/elliott-smith-xo/) • [5](https://music.apple.com/us/album/xo/1440760785) Lyrically the album stays on the fraught emotional terrain of his earlier records: "Waltz #2 (XO)" is a portrait of family disaster, "Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands" is a bitter response to friends worried about his drug use, and "Pitseleh" turns the hurt he had caused others inward. "Sweet Adeline" draws on Smith's recollections of his grandmother singing in a club when he was a child.[5](https://music.apple.com/us/album/xo/1440760785) • [4](https://www.loudersound.com/features/xo-elliott-smith)
## Release and reception
The album did not set the charts alight, reaching number 104 on the US Billboard 200, and contemporary critical reaction was mixed; Rolling Stone's three-star review said Smith "started out as just another muffled folkie, choking on his own self-pity, but he's lightened up."[4](https://www.loudersound.com/features/xo-elliott-smith) AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine, reviewing the record, praised the contrast between intensely introspective songs and lush, Beatlesque production, writing that XO "proves that not only can Elliott Smith craft a song, but he knows how to make an alluring pop record as well."[2](https://www.allmusic.com/album/xo-mw0000039329) The Los Angeles Times called it "superbly soft, with a nicely gritty edge."[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-aug-24-ca-15975-story.html)
Retrospective assessment has been warmer. Pitchfork's 2023 Sunday Review by Jayson Greene called XO "both a transformational landmark and a logical next step for the restless composer," and quoted DreamWorks' Luke Wood on Smith's songwriting: "The clarity and continuity of [his] thought is amazing. He can take a metaphor...and sing about it for three minutes and never leave."[3](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/elliott-smith-xo/) A 2004 [University of Delaware](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-delaware) student paper described *Either/Or* and XO as records that "became raconteurs for the bleary-eyed, isolated youths of the '90s."[7](https://udspace.udel.edu/bitstream/handle/19716/14288/udr_131_16.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1)
## Legacy
XO and its 2000 follow-up *Figure 8* are generally grouped together as Smith's major-label, fully produced records, in contrast to the spare settings of his first three albums; the Independent described them as his "comparatively sophisticated later works."[8](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-elliot-smith-9225100.html) A 2024 deluxe edition expanded the album to 23 songs, and a 2024 Interscope Vinyl Collective pressing added outtakes and alternate versions including "Our Thing," "How to Take a Fall," "The Enemy is You," and demo and remix versions of album tracks.[5](https://music.apple.com/us/album/xo/1440760785) • [1](https://www.elliottsmithdiscography.com/xo.html) The album's songs have continued to circulate widely: "Waltz #2" remains one of his best-known recordings, and jazz pianist [Brad Mehldau](https://www.edgepedia.org/brad-mehldau) recorded a "Sweet Adeline Fantasy" on a 2025 album of Smith-inspired pieces.[9](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2025/09/04/l-hommage-solaire-de-brad-mehldau-a-la-melancolie-d-elliott-smith_6638843_3246.html)
## References
1. [XO – Elliott Smith Discography](https://www.elliottsmithdiscography.com/xo.html)
2. [Elliott Smith: XO Tracks & Reviews, AllMusic (Stephen Thomas Erlewine)](https://www.allmusic.com/album/xo-mw0000039329)
3. [Elliott Smith: XO Album Review, Pitchfork (Jayson Greene, July 30, 2023)](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/elliott-smith-xo/)
4. [Why XO is the most perfect representation of Elliott Smith's brooding, beautiful genius, Louder](https://www.loudersound.com/features/xo-elliott-smith)
5. [XO – Album by Elliott Smith, Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/xo/1440760785)
6. ['XO' Is Superbly Soft, With a Nicely Gritty Edge, Los Angeles Times (August 24, 1998)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-aug-24-ca-15975-story.html)
7. [Elliott Smith's bittersweet goodbye, The Review (University of Delaware), October 26, 2004](https://udspace.udel.edu/bitstream/handle/19716/14288/udr_131_16.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1)
8. [Album: Elliott Smith, The Independent (January 3, 2002)](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-elliot-smith-9225100.html)
9. [L'hommage solaire de Brad Mehldau à la mélancolie d'Elliott Smith, Le Monde (September 4, 2025)](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2025/09/04/l-hommage-solaire-de-brad-mehldau-a-la-melancolie-d-elliott-smith_6638843_3246.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Albums and recorded releases › Studio albums › Indie and alternative albums › Studio albums of the 1990s › American and Canadian albums*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license