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As I Am

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Untitled

As I Am is the third studio album by American R&B/soul singer Alicia Keys, and was released on November 13, 2007. It features appearances by John Mayer, Marsha Ambrosius, Linda Perry, and others.[1]

Background

Production

Keys had been working on the album since late 2005, but focused on it to a greater extent in 2006. She first mentioned the album's name to the E! News reporter Giuliana Rancic on June 26, 2007 at the BET Awards red carpet pre-show. During the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards she confirmed that her album was finished. Earlier Keys said to MTV: "It's coming together incredibly. I am in love with this album. It's very fresh and new".[2]

Promotion and release

File:John Mayer and Alicia Keys MTV spot.jpg
John Mayer and Keys in the final MTV promotional ad for As I Am.

The album was heavily promoted, and special advertising was arranged in collaboration with MTV before and during the week of release. The entire album was streamed on MTV's website, beginning on November 6 2007, a week before the album's North American release date. Additionally, Keys was MTV Artist of the Week for the week beginning November 12, 2007.[3] MTV commissioned Evan Silver to direct series of nine, humorous ads of Keys being harassed by someone in a bunny costume.[4] In the final spot, the bunny is revealed to be John Mayer.[5]

Reception

Critical response to the album was mainly positive. Giving the album three out of five stars, Rolling Stone found the album's prevailing mood "reflectively soulful and the prevailing tempo mid."[6] The New York Times said that "As I Am radiates not just confidence but also experience," and added, "On the whole it's her strongest effort yet."[7] People magazine said that while not "veering too much from the Keys playbook," Keys "continues to scale artistic heights on As I Am" and gave the album three and a half stars.[8] This album was #36 on Rolling Stone's list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007.[9] The song "Teenage Love Affair" was #23 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007.[10] In People Magazine's Best (And Worst!) of 2007 issue, they noted the top ten albums of the year, and As I Am was ranked #1. The album was ranked the #11 biggest selling album of 2007 by UWC, with sales of 3,222,000, in spite of its release less than a month before year figures are compiled.[11] it was also ranked the #4 biggest selling album of 2007 in the United States with sales of 2,543,000 units.[12] As I Am has been certified 3x Platinum by the RIAA as of January 3, 2008[13]

Limited Edition Double LP

A limited number of vinyl records were pressed on double red vinyl at Nashville's historic United Record Pressing.

LP One Track listing

  1. "As I Am (Intro)" (Alicia Keys) – 1:52
  2. "Go Ahead" (Alicia Keys, Kerry Brothers, Mark Batson, Marsha Ambrosius) – 4:35
  3. "Superwoman" (Alicia Keys, Linda Perry, S. Moysten) – 4:34
  4. "No One" (Alicia Keys, Kerry Brothers, George Harry) – 4:13
  5. "Like You'll Never See Me Again" (Alicia Keys, Kerry Brothers) – 5:15
  6. "Lesson Learned" (featuring John Mayer) (Alicia Keys, John Mayer) – 4:13
  7. "Wreckless Love" (Alicia Keys, Harold Lily, Jack Splash) – 3:52

LP Two Track listing

  1. "The Thing About Love" (Alicia Keys, Linda Perry) – 3:49
  2. "Teenage Love Affair" (Alicia Keys, Harold Lily, Jack Splash, Josephine Bridges, Carl Mitchell Hampton, Tom Nixon) – 3:10
  3. "I Need You" (Alicia Keys, Mark Batson, Harold Lily, Paul Green) – 5:09
  4. "Where Do We Go from Here" (Alicia Keys, Kerry Brothers, Harold Lily, Johnnie Frierson, Mary Lou Cross) – 4:10
  5. "Prelude to a Kiss" (Alicia Keys) – 2:07
  6. "Tell You Something (Nana's Reprise)" (Alicia Keys, Kerry Brothers, Paul Green, Novel, S. Moysten) – 4:28
  7. "Sure Looks Good to Me" (Alicia Keys, Linda Perry) – 4:31

Personnel

The following musicians and technicians worked on As I Am:[14]

Musicians

Crew

Charts

Chart Provider(s) Peak
position
Certification Sales/shipments
Argentinian Album Chart[15] CAPIF 9
Australian Albums Chart[16] ARIA 3 Platinum 70,000[17]
Australian Urban Album Chart 3
Austrian Albums Chart[16] Media Control Europe 9
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[18] IFPI/Ultratop 47
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[19]
Canadian Album Chart[20] CRIA 2
Danish Album Chart[21] IFPI/Nielsen Music Control 22
Estonian Album Chart[22] Pedrobeat 96
European Top 100 Albums[23] IFPI 3
Finnish Album Chart[16] IFPI 24
France Album Chart[24] IFPI 5 150,000[citation needed]
German Albums Chart[16] Media Control 6 Gold 100,000+
Greek Albums Chart[25] IFPI
Greek International Albums Chart[26] 21
Irish Albums Chart[16] IRMA 15
Italian Album Chart[16] FIMI 3
Japan Oricon Album Chart[16] Oricon 4 138,092[27]
Netherlands Album Chart[16] Megacharts/NVPI 2 Gold[28] 35,000
New Zealand Album Chart[16] RIANZ 5 Gold 7,500+
Norwegian Album Chart[16] IFPI 20
Polish Albums Chart[29] OLiS 7
Portuguese Albums Chart[16] AFP/Nielsen 7 Gold 10.000+
Spanish Album Chart[30] PROMUSICAE 12 Gold 40,000+
Swedish Album Chart[16] GLF 15
Swiss Albums Chart[16] Media Control 1 Platinum 30,000
UK Albums Chart[16] BPI/OCC 14 Gold 170,000
U.S. Billboard 200[16] Billboard 1 3x Platinum 2,846,200[31]
U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums[23] 1
United World Chart Media Traffic 1 2x Platinium 4,154,000
Preceded by Billboard 200 number-one album (first run)
December 1 2007 - December 8 2007
Succeeded by
Preceded by United World Chart number-one album (first run)
December 1 2007 - December 15 2007
Succeeded by
Preceded by United World Chart number-one album (second run)
January 12 2008 - January 19 2008
Succeeded by
Preceded by Billboard 200 number-one album (second run)
January 26 2008 - February 2 2008
Succeeded by
Preceded by United World Chart number-one album (third run)
February 9 2008
Succeeded by
incumbent

References

  1. ^ "Alicia Keys Links With Linda Perry & John Mayer For New CD, Eyes October Release". SOHH Soulful. July 11 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "Alicia Keys Kills — Literally — In Film Debut, 'Smokin' Aces'". MTV Movie News. January 2 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ MTV The Leak MTV.com Retrieved 2007-11-15
  4. ^ Silver, Evan (October 10, 2007). "Alicia Keys video shoot in Harlem" Evan Silver's blog. Retrieved 2007-11-15
  5. ^ "The Big Reveal" MTV.com Retrieved 2007-11-15
  6. ^ Christgau, Robert (2007-11-15), "As I Am". Rolling Stone. (1039):192. Retrieved November 14, 2007
  7. ^ Chinen, Nate (2007-11-12) "Vintage Sounds, Yet Little Nostalgia". New York Times. 157 (54126):B1-B7
  8. ^ Arnold, Chuck (2007-11-19), "As I Am". People. 68 (21):53
  9. ^ Robert Christgau, David Fricke, Christian Hoard, Rob Sheffield (December 17, 2007). Fox News' unrated review declared that "Keys still hasn't produced a classic -but, oh, she's so tantalizingly close. Once again,[Keys] comes up with some brilliant music. But what's more important is that even the songs that fail to live up to that standard are, for the most part, pretty memorable on their own, resulting in a near-great, cohesive record." [4] "The Top 50 Albums of 2007" Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-12-20
  10. ^ No byline (December 11, 2007). "The 100 Best Songs of 2007" Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-12-21
  11. ^ United World Chart - Top Albums 2007
  12. ^ Nielsen Soundscan Year In Music 2007
  13. ^ [1]
  14. ^ As I Am CDUniverse.com Retrieved 2001-11-15
  15. ^ [2]
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Alicia Keys - As I Am worldwide chart positions and trajectories". aCharts.us. Retrieved November 20 2007.
  17. ^ [3]
  18. ^ Belgium Wallonia Album Chart
  19. ^ Belgium Flanders Album Chart
  20. ^ Canada Album Chart
  21. ^ Denmark Album Chart
  22. ^ Estonian Album Chart
  23. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference US Charts was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  24. ^ [4]
  25. ^ http://www.ifpi.gr/chart04.htm Greek Albums Chart]
  26. ^ Greece International Albums Chart
  27. ^ Japanese Sales. Oricon. Retrieved on December 7, 2007
  28. ^ [5]
  29. ^ OLiS - Offical Retail Sales Chart. olis.onyx.pl. Retrieved November 19 2007.
  30. ^ [6]. promusicae.org. Retrieved November 20 2007.
  31. ^ http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.6302/title.hip-hop-album-sales-week-ending-1-27-08