Love Story (album)

Love story
Studio album by Yelawolf
Publication (s)	April 21, 2015
admission	2012-2015
Label (s)	Shady Records , Interscope Records , Slumerican
Format (s)	CD , download
Genre (s)	Rap , hip-hop , country- rap, rap-rock
Title (number)	18th
running time	74:44
production	Eminem ( Executive Producer ) WillPower Malay Luis Resto
Studio (s)	Blackbird Studios ( Nashville ) Ferndale
chronology Radioactive (2011) Love story Trial by Fire (2017)
Single releases January 28, 2014 Box Chevy V 16th September 2014 Till it's gone 17th February 2015 Whiskey in a Bottle March 23, 2015 American You April 14, 2015 Best friend

Love Story (dt. Love story ) is the third solo album of American rapper Yelawolf . It was released on April 21, 2015 on the labels Shady Records , Interscope and Slumerican.

History of origin

After his album Radioactive was released in November 2011 , Yelawolf announced the title of his next album in March 2012. He described it as a very personal record, citing his love for Johnny Cash and his girlfriend Fefe Dobson as inspiration. Despite this very early concept, the recordings only started in June 2012. Originally the album was supposed to be released that same year, but the release had to be postponed due to a hospital stay. In retrospect, however, Yelawolf called this a good situation, as the album was therefore not as "rushed" as its predecessor. After releasing the mixtapes Psycho White (with Travis Barker ), Heart of Dixie and Trunk Muzik Returns the following year , Yelawolf concentrated on working on the album from spring 2013. It was almost complete by the end of January 2014, with fine-tuning happening in Detroit in March and April 2014 .

Music style and content

The songs on the album mostly combine the music genres country and rap . Many songs are kept quieter and Yelawolf sings more often instead of rapping. Examples of this are especially Devil in My Veins , Have a Great Flight and Disappear . Rap-heavy pieces, on the other hand, are Outer Space , Box Chevy V and Fiddle Me This . In terms of content, profound topics are mainly dealt with. In Best Friend, Yelawolf raps about his relationship with God and looks back on his past ( Devil in My Veins and Ball and Chain ).

Production and samples

The rapper Eminem was executive producer on Love Story and produced the beat for Heartbreak in collaboration with Mark Batson and Mike Elizondo . He also produced the song Best Friend with WillPower and the track American You with Malay and Luis Resto . WillPower also created the instrumentals for the titles Outer Space , Whiskey in a Bottle , Till It's Gone , Tennessee Love , Box Chevy V , Love Story , Sky's the Limit and Fiddle Me This . Malay produced the tracks Change , Empty Bottles , Have a Great Flight and Disappear . In addition, the music production team Track Bangas is represented with a beat ( Johnny Cash ) and Yelawolf himself produced the songs Ball and Chain (together with WillPower) and Devil in My Veins . The album was recorded at Blackbird Studios in Nashville and Ferndale .

Two songs on the album contain samples of songs by other artists. For example, Whiskey in a Bottle uses elements from Adormeceu from the rock group O Terço, while Johnny Cash contains excerpts from Heaven , written by Jim Reeves , Dean Honer, Dean Manuel and Jarrod Gosling.

Cover design

The album cover is in black and white and shows a stuffed wolf's head with its mouth torn open. The background is completely white. No lettering was used.

Guest Posts

The only rapper who has a guest appearance on the album is Yelawolf's label boss Eminem , who can be heard on Best Friend . The singer Jessy Wilson is also featured on the song Change and the McCrary Sisters support Yelawolf on Devil in My Veins .

Track list

#	title	Guest Posts	producer	length
1	Outer space		WillPower	4:01
2	Change	Jessy Wilson	Malay	3:12
3	American You		Malay, Eminem (Co) and Luis Resto (Add)	3:32
4th	Whiskey in a Bottle		WillPower	4:08
5	Ball and Chain (Interlude)		Yelawolf and WillPower (Co)	1:35
6th	Till it's gone		WillPower	4:35
7th	Devil in My Veins	McCrary Sisters	Yelawolf	3:58
8th	Best friend	Eminem	WillPower and Eminem (Co)	5:14
9	Empty bottles		Malay	4:17
10	Heartbreak		Eminem, Mark Batson (Add) and Mike Elizondo (Add)	4:25
11	Tennessee Love		WillPower	4:54
12	Box Chevy V		WillPower	3:29
13	Love story		WillPower	4:13
14th	Johnny Cash		Track Bangas	4:45
15th	Have a great flight		Malay	5:03
16	Sky's the limit		WillPower	4:28
17th	Disappear		Malay	5:14
18th	Fiddle Me This		WillPower	3:45

Chart successes and singles

Love Story entered the German album charts at number 51, which is the first chart success for Yelawolf in this country. The following week, it was ranked 83rd before exiting the top 100. With over 58,000 units sold in the first week, the album reached number 3 in the United States and stayed in the top 200 for twelve weeks.

Chart overview

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2015	Love story	DE51 (2 weeks) DE	AT39 (1 week) AT	CH13 (3 weeks) CH	UK25 (2 weeks) UK	US3 (12 weeks) US	First published: April 21, 2015

The first single box Chevy V was released on January 28, 2014. The song Till It's Gone was released on September 16, 2014 , before the piece Whiskey in a Bottle was released on February 17, 2015 . The fourth single American You was released on March 23rd and on April 14th 2015 followed the fifth single with Best Friend . All songs were only available for download . On May 28 and September 16, 2015 videos for the songs Johnny Cash and Devil in My Veins were also released. Singles Till It's Gone and Best Friend received gold records in 2018 for each more than 500,000 units sold in the United States .

Sales figures and awards

In June 2018, Love Story was awarded a gold record for more than 500,000 units sold in the United States .

reception

Professional reviews
Average rating
source	rating
Metacritic	64%
More reviews
source	rating
laut.de
Backspin
Rolling Stone
allmusic
XXL
rapreviews.com

Love Story received mostly average to positive ratings from critics. The side Metacritic calculated from ten reviews of English-language media is a section of 64%.

The online magazine laut.de described Love Story as a successful "symbiosis of country and rap " and gave the album four out of five possible points:

To simply label "Love Story" as country rap, however, does not do justice to the productions or Yela's lecture even in the slightest. Even the gentle southern rock tune "American You" has a lot more to offer than a kitschy Nelly sound and by the way stands for an impression that continues on the rest of the album: You almost prefer to hear Yelawolf sing rather than rap. […] Nevertheless, Yelawolf ultimately remains a rapper and is "still ridin 'dirty with 8 Ball, M, J and G", which is why label boss Eminem tinkered him with a classic boom-bap with a catchy piano loop for "Heart Break". [...] But he does not steal the show from his protégé on album length. Yela's rhymes, his flow, his way of conveying stories and feelings are too strong. Whether an ode to his wife ("Tennessee Love"), the stage fright that has become text in "Johnny Cash" or the continuation of the "Box Chevy" series in "Box Chevy V": almost every line is always oscillating between rap and singing Perfect."

- Excerpt from the review by laut.de.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Neil Martinez: Yelawolf Reveals Name of Sophomore LP. In: xxlmag.com. March 29, 2012, accessed April 21, 2015 . 
2. ↑ Yelawolf Explains Pushing Back Release Date of His Sophomore Album 'Love Story'. (No longer available online.) July 31, 2013, archived from the original on February 7, 2015 ; Retrieved April 21, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ^ Audio - Yelawolf on Sway in the Morning. Shady Records, January 18, 2014, accessed April 21, 2015 . 
4. ↑ Yelawolf Talks Eminem's Role in 'Love Story' Album, Explains Title. March 19, 2014, accessed April 21, 2015 . 
5. ↑ album cover
6. ↑ Chart tracking Love Story on officialcharts.de
7. ↑ Love Story - US: # 3
8. ↑ Till It's Gone & Best Friend - US: Gold
9. ↑ Love Story - US: Gold
10. ↑ Rating: metacritic.com
11. ↑ Rating: laut.de
12. ↑ Rating: backspin.de
13. ↑ Rating: Rolling Stone
14. ↑ Rating: allmusic.com
15. ↑ Rating: XXL
16. ↑ Review: rapreviews.com
17. ↑ laut.de: Review of the sound carrier