Where You Want to Be is the second studio album by American rock band Taking Back Sunday. While touring to promote Tell All Your Friends (2002), guitarist John Nolan and bassist Shaun Cooper left the group and were replaced by Fred Mascherino and Matt Rubano, respectively. After a co-headlining tour with Saves the Day in fall 2003, the band began working on Where You Want to Be. Dismissive of several early songs, they wanted to "grow musically with this [new album]." In March 2004 recording of Where You Want to Be began, with Lou Giordano as producer. The band recorded at Mission Sound in Brooklyn, New York for two weeks before moving to Water Music in Hoboken, New Jersey, finishing recording by April.

The first single from Where You Want to Be was "A Decade Under the Influence," which was released to radio in late June 2004. While Taking Back Sunday was on the 2004 Warped Tour, Where You Want to Be was released in late July on Victory Records. After an appearance at the Reading Festival in England, the group toured Europe and began a U.S. fall tour. They worked with Blink-182 member Tom DeLonge to create a music video, "This Photograph Is Proof (I Know You Know)," which was filmed in 48 hours. The band went on a winter tour with Atreyu and Funeral for a Friend, and "This Photograph Is Proof (I Know You Know)" was released to radio in early January 2005. Taking Back Sunday then began a co-headlining tour with Jimmy Eat World.

Where You Want to Be has received mixed-to-positive reviews, selling 163,000 copies in its first week. The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 chart, remaining there for an additional 19 weeks. It topped the Independent Albums chart and remained on that chart for 50 weeks. "A Decade Under the Influence" reached number 16 on the Alternative Songs chart and the UK Top 75 chart. Where You Want to Be is Victory's highest-charting album; in July 2005 it was certified gold in the U.S. for sales of 500,000 copies, and sales have since exceeded 700,000.