Love Life (Tamia album)
Love Life | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by Tamia | ||||
Released | June 9, 2015 | |||
Recorded | 2013–2015 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 43:57 | |||
Label | ||||
Tamia chronology | ||||
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Singles from Love Life | ||||
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Love Life is the sixth studio album by Canadian recording artist Tamia, released on June 9, 2015 by Def Jam Recordings.[1] It marked her first major label release since More (2004).
Background
In 2004, Elektra Records released Tamia's third studio album, More. Her highest-charting release yet, it debuted at number seventeen on the US Billboard 200 and at number four on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, selling 58,000 copies in its first week. More was eventually certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and spawned the top forty single "Officially Missing You".[2] The following year, Tamia split from Elektra and founded her own record label, Plus One Music Group, in order to gain more creative control over future projects.[3] The first record to be released with the company was her fourth studio album Between Friends (2006).[2] Her second album with the rooster, Beautiful Surprise, was released in 2012 after a nearly six-year absence in which she had devoted herself to the education of her two children with retired basketball player Grant Hill.[3] It debuted at number six on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and also garnered two Grammy Award nominations for Best R&B Album and Best R&B Song.[2]
In August 2014, Tamia signed with Def Jam Recordings, marking her return to the major label ranks.[4] Commenting on her transition, Tamia elaborated: “To me [labels], you kind of have to use them like a rich uncle. But they've been really awesome and have let me just do my thing."[5] Musically, she remarked that her new album was "about loving life and about love lives. There are a lot of songs that are love songs, but it's just a happy album. It's not as deep and dark as some of my past albums; it's in a better place.”[5]
Recording
Love Life was completed in ten days.[6] Tamia rented recording studios in Atlanta, where she used two studios to record simultaneously.[6] She booked sessions with several producers such as The Stereotypes, Chuck Harmony, Polow da Don, and Lil Ronnie to work with them in different rooms.[6] Writing of the songs evolved largely spontaneously; the teams would afterwards only record tracks they seriously envisioned for inclusion on the album though.[6] Initially worried about the short recording period, Tamia would later feel confirmed in her decision when her husband reminded her that rapper Jay-Z had used similar methods of collaborating when he produced his critically acclaimed 2001 album The Blueprint "in a weekend”.[6] Recounting on the experience in the production, Tamia later stated in interview: "When it felt like we were finished, I was like 'I think this project is done'. I could have recorded 15 other songs, but this project felt finished to me. It felt weird to say that after ten days."[6]
A departure from her previous independent projects, Tamia worked with a wider range of high-profile producers on Love Life, including Warren Felder and Andrew Wansel from duo Pop & Oak as well as frequent collaborators Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and The-Dream, both of whom co-produced two songs for the album each.[5]
Critical reception
Professional ratings | |
---|---|
Aggregate scores | |
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 79/100[7] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [8] |
Billboard | [9] |
Knoxville News Sentinel | [10] |
Los Angeles Times | [11] |
New York Times | (positive)[12] |
At Metacritic, which assigns a rated mean out of 100 from mainstream critics, the album received a score of 79, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[7] Los Angeles Times reporter Gerrick D. Kennedy declared Love Life as "grown-up, worn-in R&B at its finest". He felt that the album "isn't about reinventing the wheel or even experimenting [...] It’s about comfort. And there’s nothing more comforting than familiar territory."[11] Similarly, in his New York Times review, writer Ben Ratliff found "reinvention isn’t exciting unless there’s something existing to reinvent. A record like this – with grown-up passions and accountable moods, stirring key modulations, gauzy slow jams and hyper-mainstream ballads – maintains the tradition". He added that "there’s a need for albums like Love Life in general, and for albums by Tamia in particular; the understated fullness of her voice returns. But the singer’s persona matters."[12]
Andy Kellman of Allmusic rated Love Life four out of five stars. He felt that "Tamia sounds fully invested without doing any overselling. [She] does not to attempt to hit those high notes that Deniece Williams and few others have been able to reach, but she gets the feeling across. It's a fine finish to her best album yet."[8] Clover Hope from Billboard magazine wrote that on Love Life is "at its best when the beats settle like soft caresses and Tamia's vocals float into breathy exhales [...] Extra spice like that preserves the freshness when lagging, predictable ballads threaten the mood. As an ode to nuptial bliss, the album is both convincing and surprisingly coquettish."[9] In his review for Knoxville News Sentinel, author Chuck Campbell remarked that Love Life "isn’t especially ambitious. It’s an even-keeled adult (though not vulgar) album steeped in bliss and sensuality." He compared the album to Janet Jackson’s "That's the Way Love Goes” period (1993) but felt that its "consistent tone works for and against Love Life. It works in that the illusion never shatters, but it fails in that if a listener questions the sincerity, the release quickly sounds tedious and absurd".[10]
Commercial performance
Love Life debuted at number 24 on the US Billboard 200, selling 16,000 copies in the week ending June 14, 2015.[13] It also debuted on top of Billboard's Top R&B Albums chart and at number two on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, becoming Tamia's highest-charting album ever on both charts.[13] According to Nielsen Music, sales increased 22 percent compared to the first week sales from previous album Beautiful Surprise.[13]
Track listing
Standard edition | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
1. | "Love Falls Over Me" |
| 3:31 | |
2. | "Chaise Lounge" |
|
|
3:44 |
3. | "Sandwich and a Soda" |
|
|
3:14 |
4. | "Nowhere" |
|
3:50 | |
5. | "Lipstick" |
| 4:57 | |
6. | "Special" |
|
|
4:49 |
7. | "Like You Do" |
|
|
4:12 |
8. | "Stuck with Me" |
| Polow da Don | 4:46 |
9. | "No Lie" |
| 3:37 | |
10. | "Day One" |
|
|
3:49 |
11. | "Black Butterfly" |
|
4:11 | |
Total length: |
43:47 |
Target deluxe edition | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
12. | "You Give Me Something" |
|
|
3:08 |
13. | "Rise" |
|
|
3:27 |
Personnel
Performance credits
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Technical and production
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Charts
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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References
- ↑ "Love Life". ITunes.Apple.com. 2015-06-09. Retrieved 2015-05-11.
- 1 2 3 Mitchell, Gail (2014-08-22). "Tamia Signs With Def Jam Ahead of New Album". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2015-05-11.
- 1 2 "That Grape Juice Interviews Tamia". ThatGrapeJuice.net. Townsquare Music. 2012-08-31. Retrieved 2015-05-11.
|first1=
missing|last1=
in Authors list (help) - ↑ Mitchell, Gail (2015-02-24). "Tamia's 'LoveLife' To Be Revealed In June". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2015-05-11.
- 1 2 3 Diep, Eric (2015-05-07). "Tamia Talks About 'Love Life,' Being a Basketball Wife and Adapting to Today's Sound". BET.com. Retrieved 2015-05-11.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Interview: Tamia Talks New Album "Love Life", Recording it in 10 Days, Keeping Her Music Classy". YouKnowIGotSoul.com. 2015-06-17. Retrieved 2015-05-11.
- 1 2 "Love Life Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
- 1 2 Kellman, Andy. "Love Life – Tamia". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Review. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
- 1 2 Hope, Clover (2015-06-12). "Tamia Makes Stability Seductive on 'Love Life': Album Review". Billboard. Retrieved 2015-06-13.
- 1 2 Campbell, Chuck (2015-06-16). "'Tuned In' review: Tamia simply lives for love". Knoxville News Sentinel. Journal Media Group. Retrieved 2015-06-18.
- 1 2 Kennedy, Gerrick D. (2015-06-11). "Tamia's 'Love Life' is grown-up, worn-in R&B at its finest". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2015-06-13.
- 1 2 Ratliff, Ben (2015-06-08). "Review: In 'Love Life,' Tamia Enacts Seduction and Conservatism". New York Times. Retrieved 2015-06-13.
- 1 2 3 Mendizabal, Amaya (2015-06-18). "Tamia Scores Her Highest-Charting Album Ever With 'Love Life'". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2015-05-21.
- ↑ "iTunes Metadata". https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/love-life/id991391791. Apple. Retrieved 2015-07-09. External link in
|website=
(help) - ↑ "Tamia – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Tamia. Retrieved May 17, 2015.
- ↑ "Tamia – Chart history" Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums for Tamia. Retrieved May 17, 2015.
- ↑ "R&B/Hip-Hop Albums: Year End 2015". Billboard. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
External links
- TamiaWorld.com — official site