Brand New - Deja Entendu

The band's second album, Deja Entendu, was released in June 2003 to much acclaim. The album contains slower, deeper songs than those on Your Favorite Weapon, with a more polished sound. The album was produced by Steven Haigler, who was the sound engineer on the Pixies' Trompe le Monde. The title is French, literally translating to "already heard," which is said to be at critics who claimed that the band sounded like every other group in the genre. Jesse Lacey got the name for the album while watching an episode of Jeopardy!. The band has stated that most of the songs were not demoed and were "rushed", and that eleven out of the twelve songs recorded for the album appeared on it - with only "Flying At Tree Level (Version 1.0)" left off, which later appeared on the Beer: The Movie soundtrack. "Play Crack the Sky", whose title refers to Lacey's friend, and former Taking Back Sunday guitarist, John Nolan, yelling out "play Crack the Sky!" during a Mylon LeFevre concert, was a late addition. The album debuted at number 63 on the Billboard 200.

Three singles were released from this album on Eat Sleep Records and Sorepoint Records. The first single released was "The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows", which featured the bonus tracks "Moshi Moshi (Acoustic)", which was recorded in their friend's basement at a party. This track is now available on the bands Street Team, the original version being featured on their Safety in Numbers split EP, the other being the song "Car." Their second single from the album, "Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades," is a shortened version of the common Latin phrase sic transit gloria mundi ("Thus passes the glory of the world") and is a reference to a line from the movie Rushmore. Both of these singles were top 40 hits within the UK, and their videos received relatively heavy rotation on MTV2 and Fuse TV. The band released a third single from this album, "I Will Play My Game Beneath the Spin Light," (the title a reference to a line in the young adult book The Moves Make the Man by Bruce Brooks) solely for radio play.

During 2003, their debut album was also remastered and re-released, followed by its debut in Australia and Japan in early 2004. A limited edition EP, entitled The Holiday EP, was released soon after the album in late 2003, available only to the band's Street Team members. It contained demos from Deja Entendu, album art by artist Brian Ewing, as well as a new song - "O Holy Night." Available for only the price of postage, this EP sold out quickly, and has never been re-released. Consequently, it is extremely rare.

On December 28, 2003, New York Times music critic Kelefa Sanneh ranked Deja Entendu number 5 on his Top 10 albums of the year. Brand New were also named Alternative Press' Artist of the Year in their annual Reader's Poll. Deja Entendu was certified gold in the United States by the RIAA.

Between May 2004 and June 2005, no new material or information was publicly released to fans. During that time, however, the band signed to major label Dreamworks. Interscope Records bought out the label shortly after.