Smile Kid
album by We the Kings
Smile Kid (stylized as Smile Kid シ) is the second studio album by American rock band We the Kings, released through S-Curve Records on December 8, 2009. The album title comes from a lyric in the song "The Story of Your Life".
Background
Travis Clark said "Everything had an anthemic sound to it." The lyrics Clark wrote for Smile Kid "were just so in-depth and meaningful to me personally". Smile Kid was "more experimental [compared to the first album] with piano, horns, strings and even a whistle."
Release
"Heaven Can Wait" was released as a single on October 13, 2009 and charted at number 18 on the Billboard Heatseekers Songs chart and at number 32 on the Pop Songs chart. Actress and singer Demi Lovato was also announced to be contributing guest vocals on album's song "We'll Be a Dream" which is the second single off the album. The band undertook a tour of the United States to support the album. Between mid-October and early December, the band went on a US tour alongside All Time Low, Hey Monday and the Friday Night Boys.
The artwork for the album was released on November 8, 2009. Following the release of a false track listing in October, the official track listing was announced on November 17, 2009. The album was also originally scheduled to be released on November 17, but was corrected to be released on December 8, 2009.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Smile Kid” as album by We the Kings. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as album by We the Kings. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 30, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q2056621. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2009.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Smile Kid”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Smile Kid primary sources, Smile Kid archive and Smile research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Smile Kid”?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Smile Kid” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.