Forever Your Girl
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   link |
| Robert Christgau | C[1] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [2] |
Forever Your Girl is the debut studio album by American singer Paula Abdul. It was released on June 13, 1988 through Virgin Records.
Release and reception
Released on June 13, 1988, 64 weeks later it hit number one on the Billboard 200 album sales chart, the longest an album has been on the market before hitting number one.[3] The album was eventually certified seven times Platinum in the US and sold 12 million copies worldwide.[4] It also included four number one Billboard Hot 100 singles: "Straight Up", "Forever Your Girl", "Cold Hearted", and "Opposites Attract",[4] which ties Forever Your Girl for second most #1 songs from a single album, and ties it for the most number ones in a debut album. She was the first female artist to have four number one singles from a debut album. "The Way That You Love Me" reached #3, and "Knocked Out" reached #41.
The album also reached #4 on the R&B album chart, while "Straight Up," "Opposites Attract," "Knocked Out," and "(It's Just) The Way That You Love Me" all reached the top 10 of the R&B tracks chart.
After a slow start, the album's third single "Straight Up" helped the album breakout in spring/summer 1989 after its initial summer 1988 release. Forever Your Girl hit number one for the first time on October 7, 1989. After the release of the single "Opposites Attract", the album shot to number one again on February 3, 1990 and stayed there for nine consecutive weeks. At one point, Forever Your Girl reportedly sold 191,000 copies in a single day.[5]
Abdul co-wrote one song on the album, "One or the Other".
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Way That You Love Me" | Oliver Leiber | Leiber | 5:22 |
| 2. | "Knocked Out" | Babyface • Daryl Simmons • L.A. Reid | Reid • Babyface | 3:52 |
| 3. | "Opposites Attract" (with The Wild Pair) | Leiber | Leiber | 4:24 |
| 4. | "State of Attraction" | Glen Ballard • Siedah Garrett | Ballard | 4:07 |
| 5. | "I Need You" | Jesse Johnson • Ta Mara | Johnson | 5:01 |
| 6. | "Forever Your Girl" | Leiber | Leiber | 4:58 |
| 7. | "Straight Up" | Elliot Wolff | Wolff | 4:11 |
| 8. | "Next to You" | Curtis Williams • Kendall Stubbs • Sandra Williams | C. Williams | 4:26 |
| 9. | "Cold Hearted" | Wolff | Wolff | 3:51 |
| 10. | "One or the Other" | Paula Abdul • C. Williams • Duncan Pain | C. Williams | 4:10 |
Personnel
Adapted from AllMusic.[6]
- Paula Abdul – lead vocals, backing vocals
- Peter Arata – mixing assistant
- Babyface – keyboards, producer, backing vocals
- Glen Ballard – drums, producer, programming
- Russ Bracher – engineer
- Pattie Brooks – backing vocals
- Wally Buck – engineer
- Francis Buckley – engineer, mixing
- Annette Cisneros – assistant engineer
- Dave Cochran – guitar, backing vocals
- Keith "KC" Cohen – mixing, producer
- Delisa Davis – backing vocals
- Tami Day – backing vocals
- Jimmy Demers – backing vocals
- Eddie M. – saxophone
- Al Fleming – assistant engineer
- Basil Fung – guitar
- Jon Gass – engineer, mixing
- Bobby Gonzales – guitar
- Danny Grigsby – assistant engineer
- Evelyn Halus – backing vocals
- Dann Huff – guitar
- Tim Jaquette – engineer, mixing
- Jesse Johnson – drums, keyboards, producer
- Cliff Jones – assistant engineer, engineer
- Kayo – synthesizer, synthesizer bass
- Oliver Leiber – arranger, drum programming, guitar, keyboards, producer, programming
- Jeff Lorber – drum programming, engineer, guest artist, keyboards, producer
- Yvette Marine – backing vocals
- Pat McDougal – assistant engineer
- Lucia Newell – backing vocals
- Ricky P. – keyboards
- Pebbles – guest artist, backing vocals
- L.A. Reid – drums, guest artist, percussion programming, producer
- Angel Rogers – backing vocals
- Josh Schneider – assistant engineer
- Daryl Simmons – backing vocals
- Bob Somma – guitar
- St. Paul – arranger, bass, keyboards, Organ, vocoder
- Kendal Stubbs – engineer
- Randy Weber – programming, synthesizer
- Steve Weise – engineer
- Wild Pair – vocals, backing vocals
Charts
Chart positions
|
End of decade charts
|
Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[19] | Platinum | 70,000^ |
| Canada (Music Canada)[20] | 7× Platinum | 700,000^ |
| Hong Kong (IFPI Hong Kong)[21] | Gold | 10,000* |
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[22] | Platinum | 15,000^ |
| Sweden (GLF)[23] | Gold | 50,000^ |
| Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[24] | Gold | 25,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[25] | Platinum | 300,000^ |
| United States (RIAA)[26] | 7× Platinum | 7,000,000^ |
|
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
References
- ^ Christgau, Robert. "Forever Your Girl". Robert Christgau.
- ^ Brackett, Nathan; Christian Hoard (2004). The Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York City, New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 2. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- ^ "Paula Abdul - Biography, Photos, News, Videos, Movie Reviews". Contactmusic.com. Retrieved 2012-02-16.
- ^ a b "Paula Abdul". People.com. Time Inc. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
her debut album, Forever Your Girl, which sold 12 million copies and generated four No. 1 singles
- ^ "Forever Your Girl". Paula-Abdul.net. Retrieved 2012-02-16.
- ^ "Forever Your Girl - Paula Abdul | Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
- ^ "Australiancharts.com – Paula Abdul – Forever Your Girl". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
- ^ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 9072". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved July 28, 2013.
- ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Paula Abdul – Forever Your Girl" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
- ^ "Spellbound – Oricon", Oricon (in Japanese), retrieved February 21, 2009[dead link]
- ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Paula Abdul – Forever Your Girl" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
- ^ "Charts.nz – Paula Abdul – Forever Your Girl". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
- ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Paula Abdul – Forever Your Girl". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
- ^ "Swisscharts.com – Paula Abdul – Forever Your Girl". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
- ^ "Paula Abdul | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
- ^ "Paula Abdul Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
- ^ "Paula Abdul Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
- ^ Mayfield, Geoff (December 25, 1999). 1999 The Year in Music Totally '90s: Diary of a Decade - The listing of Top Pop Albums of the '90s & Hot 100 Singles of the '90s. Billboard. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
{{cite book}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988-2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
- ^ "Canadian album certifications – Paul Abdul – Forever Your Girl". Music Canada. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
- ^ "IFPIHK Gold Disc Award − 1990". IFPI Hong Kong. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
- ^ "New Zealand album certifications". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
- ^ "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 1987−1998" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-17. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
- ^ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards ('Forever Your Girl')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
- ^ "British album certifications – Paul Abdul – Forever Your Girl". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved August 2, 2016. Select albums in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type Forever Your Girl in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
- ^ "American album certifications – Paul Abdul – Forever Your Girl". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
External links
| Studio albums | |
|---|---|
| Remix albums | |
| Compilations | |
| Singles |
|
| Concert tours | |
| Television | |
