Into the Rush is the debut studio album by American teen pop rock duoAly & AJ. The album was released on August 16, 2005 by Disney-owned label Hollywood Records. The album features 14 tracks, including the singles "Rush" and "Do You Believe in Magic". A deluxe edition of the album was released on August 8, 2006, featuring three all new songs, two new mixes of previous songs and a bonus DVD.
The album generally received positive reviews from critics and became a commercial success. Into the Rush had sold over 839,000 copies as of June 2013, and was certified Gold for sales over 500,000 copies on March 20, 2006.[2][3] The album sold 1,000,000 copies worldwide.[4] The album, combined with the sales of the Deluxe Edition, became one of the top best-selling albums in the United States in 2006; Into the Rush ranked at number 112 on the Billboard 200 Albums end-of-year charts of 2006.[5]
Chart performance
Into the Rush debuted at number thirty six, selling 25,000 copies in its first week. The album spent 40 weeks on the US Billboard 200. The album's last position was 123 before falling off the next week. The album was selling more than 25,000 copies a week for nearly 30 weeks. The album sold 839,000 copies in the United States[2] and 1,000,000 worldwide.[4]
Singles
"No One" was also a Radio Disney single with a music video. The music video features scenes from the film Ice Princess, along with the girls in a house, looking through the window, going through letters and playing the guitar.
"Rush" is the first official mainstream-released single from the duo. The song was first released to Disney radios in October 2005, but got real success when it got a full release in February 2006. Therefore, the song has two music videos, one for Disney and one for main television, which was directed by Marc Webb. The song finally reached #59 on the BillboardHot 100.
"Chemicals React" is the second main single, and the first serving and promoting the Deluxe Edition of Into the Rush. Its music video was directed by Chris Applebaum and features Aly & AJ performing the song on a set-up stage. The song became their second Hot 100 entry, reaching #50. Its moderate success in the US led to an international (European) release, but failed to generate success there.
Promotional singles
"Do You Believe in Magic" was the first single, prior to the release of "Rush", their first mainstream single. It is a cover version of the original, which was sung by The Lovin' Spoonful in 1965. The song was sent to Radio Disney stations first, and to iTunes soon afterwards to become a digital single. A music video was also shot for the song; the girls are shown entering a room and covering the song using their guitars with additional scenes of them playing around.
"Walking on Sunshine", a cover of the Katrina and the Waves song, was the third and final Radio Disney single prior to the release of "Rush". The song also has a music video containing a 1:31 edit of the song, showing the duo arriving at a set and performing the song in front of the shooting crew.
"On the Ride" was their fourth promotional single. Its music video incorporates scenes from the Disney Channel Original MovieCow Belles, which Aly & AJ starred in.
The album received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Fran Grauman from about.com gave the album a 4 star rating, praising Aly and AJ's "ton of talent" and "experience."[11]AllMusic gave the album a mixed review, saying it "doesn't venture further than offering a few empowering ballads", to hand them 2.5 stars after. AMG does praise them for having a real singing ability, citing "Aly & AJ can actually sing — their vocals have more way personality than prefab Disney hopefuls like Hayden Panettiere or Caleigh Peters — and the arrangements are slick without resorting to flashily empty pap". The review finishes with "Into the Rush is listenable, likeable, and more about being memorable than being Disney product."[12]
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