Maureen is the third studio album by German recording artist Joy Denalane. It was released by Nesola Records and Four Music on May 20, 2011, in German-speaking Europe. Her first German-language studio album since Mamani (2002), it takes its title from Denalane's middle name. Incorporating neo soul, R&B and hip hop styles, it features production and songwriting credits from Steve McKie, Anthony Bell, Kahedi, Paul "Gooch" Cantor, Bilal and Denalane's husband Max Herre.
Upon its release, Maureen earned a mixed response from critics who complimented its production but found that the album lacked depth. On the charts, it debuted number eight on the German Albums Chart. Elsewhere, the album peaked at number thirty-six in Austria and number eleven on the Swiss Albums Chart. Spawning four singles, including lead single "Niemand (Was wir nicht tun)," an English language version of Maureen was released in March 2012.
Maureen earned generally mixed reviews from music critics. Laut.de editor Mara Wecker rated the album three stars out of five and noted that Maureen was "a bit more pop" than Denalane's previous albums. She concluded that "even if there is objectively nothing wrong with this record, the spark in the overall package doesn't really jump over. The rawness and rawness that made Joy Denalane so stunning from the start only comes through in certain places."[1] Frank Lähnemann from the German edition of Rolling Stone praised the album's technical as well as Denalane's vocal performance on Maureen but noted that the album left him "unemotional," writing: "Here I only feel cold and strangeness, as if I were leafing through the advice pages of Cosmopolitan."[3]Plattentests.de called the album a "logical consequence of her two previous albums: The modernity of classic soul."[2]
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