Shontelligence
| Shontelligence | ||||
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| Shontelle studio album | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | SRC Records / Motown Records | |||
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Format (s) |
CD, LP |
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Title (number) |
11 |
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running time |
40:23 |
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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Shontelligence is the debut album of the Barbadian Pop / R & B - singer Shontelle . It was released worldwide on November 18, 2008 and re-released on March 10, 2009.
background
In an interview with the British R & B - songwriter Pete Lewis in February 2009 declared Shontelle , as the title of the debut album came: "We were just in the music studio and gave us bored, suddenly my friend came over and told me his idea - 'Hey Shontelle ! Let's play a word game on your name today! Whoever reaches the longest word with your name wins! '! This is how words like 'Shontel-evator', 'Shontel-evision', 'Shontel-icopter' came about ... Then my producer Al said, all of a sudden, 'Yeah, that's some real Shontelligence there!' ... and I thought 'This is the best album title ! '! So we produced songs afterwards and called the album that. "
reception
Commercial win
The album was released worldwide on November 18, 2008 and sold over 1,000 copies on the first day of release. It debuted at number 115 on the US Billboard 200 . By February 2009 the album had sold over 25,000 units worldwide. Due to low sales, Shontelle's music label SRC released the album again on March 10, 2009. By July 2009, around 50,000 units of the album had been sold in the USA and around 10,000 units in the UK .
criticism
The album was received mixed by music critics.
Ben Ratliff of The New York Times wrote:
"Any pop singer who's been through that mill, ... has something to tell, but it feels as if Shontelle's individuality is being squelched. The first two tracks, T-Shirt and Battle Cry, both produced by Wayne Wilkins, are the singles, and they stand apart from the rest of the album. They're rampagingly sweet R&B songs, one about the solidarity of lust, one about the solidarity of friendship. After that - largely in songs produced by Mr. Sturken and Mr. Rogers - things go sharply downhill. "
"Any pop singer who has gone through this mill ... has something to say, but it seems like Shontelle's individuality has been ground up. The first two tracks, T-Shirt and Battle Cry , produced by Wayne Wilkins, are the single [extracted] and stand out from the rest of the album. They are sweet R&B songs, one about the bond of lust, the other about the bond of friendship. After that - mostly in songs that were produced by Sturken and Rogers - things go steeply downhill. "
Alex Macpherson from The Guardian gave the album 3 out of 5 stars, described the songwriting as well thought out and considers Shontelle to be the female counterpart to Ne-Yo . David Balls from Digital Spy also gave the album 3 out of 5 stars and wrote that the album certainly had the potential for good and contemporary R&B, but that Shontelle made it audibly difficult due to her high standards.
Singles
T-shirt
T-Shirt was released as the first single on the album on July 15, 2008, making it Shontelle's debut single . The song peaked at number 36 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US and became Shontelle's first Top 40 hit in the US. In the UK, the single was released on February 23, 2009. There the song was most successful and reached number 6 in the British single charts , mainly due to the airplay in the British radio stations . The song also reached the top 50 in Canada and Ireland . The song reached number 1 in the UK R&B Charts and the Billboard Hot Dance Club Charts .
Stuck with Each Other
Stuck with Each Other (featuring Akon ) was released as the second single on the album on February 10, 2009. The song was included as a bonus on the re-release of the album and on the soundtrack to the film Confessions of a Shopaholic . It was released as a download in the UK on May 25, 2009 and subsequently peaked at number 23 on the UK charts. The song also reached number 50 in Ireland and number 64 on the US Billboard Pop 100 .
Battle Cry
Battle Cry was released as the third and final single on the album on June 9, 2009. The song was previously released on October 21, 2008 as a promotional single for the election of Barack Obama . That song didn't make it into the US charts . Battle Cry was released in the UK as the third single on August 10, 2009 and reached number 61 in the UK charts.
Track list
| # | title | Producer (s) | length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "T-Shirt" | A Frampton / W Wilkins / S Kotecha | 3:54 |
| 2. | "Battle Cry" | J Jones / J Kugell / W Wilkins / J Pennock / J Omley | 3:33 |
| 3. | "Superwoman" | A Ghost / T Hermansen / M Eriksen / I Dench | 4:20 |
| 4th | "Cold Cold Summer" | C Sturken / S Layne / E Rogers | 3:44 |
| 5. | " Roll It " | S Layne / S Benjamin | 3:31 |
| 6th | "Life Is Not An Easy Road" | D Chin-Quee / S Layne / M Chin | 3:45 |
| 7th | "Focus Pon Me" | S Layne / E Joseph | 3:07 |
| 8th. | "Plastic People" | S Layne / E. Rogers / C. Stubborn | 4:00 |
| 9. | "I Crave You" | S Layne / E. Rogers / C. Stubborn | 3:57 |
| 10. | "Ghetto Lullaby" | F. Odesjo / S Layne / E. Rogers / C. Stubborn | 3:06 |
| 11. | "Flesh and Bone" | S Layne / E. Rogers / C. Stubborn | 3:31 |
- Bonus title
| title | Producer (s) | length |
|---|---|---|
| "Naughty" (ft. Beenie Man ) (UK Bonus Track) | Troyton Rami / Xavier Cordover | 3:21 |
| "Stuck with Each Other" (Re-release Bonus Track) 1 | Diane Warren | 3:20 |
| "Blaze It Up" (ft. Collie Buddz ) (US iTunes Bonus Track) 2 | S Layne / K. Holland / C. Harper | 3:53 |
- 1 Included on the Confessions of a Shopaholic soundtrack
- 2 B-side to T-shirt in the UK
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Sources chart placements: US chart history , accessed on March 21, 2010.
- ↑ Pete Lewis: Shontelle: Star Potential. Blues & Soul, February 2009, accessed March 21, 2010 .
- ↑ Ben Ratliff: Critics' Choice: New CDs: Shontelle. New York Times , November 17, 2008, accessed March 21, 2010 .
- ↑ Alex Macpherson: Shontelle: Shontelligence. The Guardian, March 6, 2009, accessed March 21, 2010 .
Web links
- Shontelligence at Allmusic (English)