What It Takes to Move Forward

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}

{{Infobox album

| name = What It Takes to Move Forward

| type = studio

| artist = Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate)

| cover = File:Empire! Empire! - What It Takes to Move Forward.jpg

| released = {{Start date|2009|9|29}}

| genre = Emo, indie rock

| length = {{Duration|m=55|s=39}}

| label = Count Your Lucky Stars Records

|next_year=2014

| next_title = You Will Eventually Be Forgotten

}}

What It Takes to Move Forward is the debut studio album by American emo band, Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate), released in 2009 on Count Your Lucky Stars Records.{{cite web|title=What It Takes to Move Forward by Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate)|url=https://empireempire.bandcamp.com/album/what-it-takes-to-move-forward}}

Vulture.com listed "Keep What You Have Built Up Here" as number 87 of the 100 greatest emo songs.{{cite web |url=https://www.vulture.com/article/best-emo-songs.html |title=The 100 Greatest Emo Songs of All Time |website=Vulture.com |publisher=Vox Media |author1=Ian Cohen |author2=David Anthony |author3=Nina Corcoran |author4=Emma Garland |author5=Brad Nelson |date=February 13, 2020 |accessdate=February 15, 2020}} Spin ranked the album number 13 out of the 30 best emo revival albums, writing that the album had "garnered a mythical cult status" after its release.{{cite web |title=30 Best Emo Revival Albums, Ranked |url=https://www.spin.com/2017/06/best-emo-revival-albums-ranked/ |website=SPIN |access-date=24 April 2022 |date=14 June 2017}}

Track listing

  1. "How to Make Love Stay" – 4:24
  2. "Keep What You Have Built Up Here" – 5:09
  3. "What Safe Means" – 4:01
  4. "It Happened Because You Left" – 8:09
  5. "Rally the Troops! Poke Holes In Their Defenses! Line Our Coffers with Their Coffins!" – 4:23
  6. "It's a Plague, and You're Invited" – 4:11
  7. "Everything Is Connected and Everything Matters (A Temporary Solution to a Permanent Problem)" – 4:01
  8. "The Next Step to Regaining Control" – 6:08
  9. "With Your Greatest Fears Realized, You Will Not Be Comforted" – 3:07
  10. "I Am a Snail, and You Are a Pace I Cannot Match" – 5:14
  11. "An Idea Is a Greater Monument Than a Cathedral" – 6:52

References