When the World Comes Down is the third studio album by American rock band The All-American Rejects, released on December 16, 2008, by Interscope Records.

[1] Following on from touring and promoting for their previous album Move Along (2005), the band began writing for their follow-up in late 2006 with producer Eric Valentine.

The All-American Rejects began writing material for their third studio album in late December 2006 after wrapping up their Tournado tour, and continued through into the new year.

This was also the first time lyricists Nick Wheeler and Tyson Ritter tried new methods of writing by "escaping" to various regional areas in North America to conceive new lyrics so that the songs could sound "honest".

The sessions were overseen by studio manager Trevor Whatever; Matt Radosevich and Brad Cook served as assistant engineers.

Additional vocals were recorded at Avatar Events Group in Atlanta, Georgia by Kenny Cresswell, and at Wheeler's and Ritter's houses in Florida.

While "I Wanna" was written over a six-month period, with Ritter making constant refinements, the following songs "Gives You Hell" and "Another Heart Calls" were all written during a road trip to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with "Fallin' Apart" and "Mona Lisa" getting scored in Rabun County, Georgia, the latter of which was recorded live in one take.

During production of the album, The All-American Rejects broadcast live to fans online to provide a direct insight into the "record-making" process.

They later released the demo version of the track "Mona Lisa (When the World Come Down)" and "Sierra's Song" as free downloads, the latter of which never featured on the album and appears on the soundtrack to the American television show 90210.

[14] Upon When the World Comes Down's release, ten percent of profits made from the album's sales were donated to the charity Feed the Children.

[25] The Boston Herald gave it a B− and stated, "there are tracks that showcase their amalgam of bubblegum-pop and hair metal, as well as their penchant for corn-fed power ballads.

"[39] Rock Sound gave it a score of seven out of ten and called it "A-class power-pop of the standard so many other bands reach for but can never attain.

"[25] Billboard gave it an average review and said that the album "doesn't evince much growth, proffering more of the same hooky pop/rock centered around adolescent love and heartache.

"[25] However, Blender gave it two-and-a-half stars out of five and said, "Anything involving a string section is disastrous, but a couple of choruses are suitable for both raucous fist-pumping and rampant pouting.