Battle Studies (album)
Battle Studies is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter John Mayer, released on November 17, 2009, by Columbia Records. Production took place from February to August 2009 at Battle Studies recording studio in Calabasas, California, Capitol Studios in Hollywood, and The Village in West Los Angeles, California, and was handled by Mayer and Steve Jordan.
Battle Studies
November 17, 2009
February–August 2009
- Battle Studies (Calabasas, California)
- Capitol (Hollywood)
- The Village (Los Angeles)
46:39
- John Mayer
- Steve Jordan
The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling over 286,000 copies in its first week of sales. It achieved successful sales in several other countries and produced two singles that attained chart success. Battle Studies received positive reviews from critics, and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, having sold over 880,000 copies in the United States.
Background[edit]
After the overwhelming success of Continuum, Mayer confessed to being intimidated about starting on a new album; however, he did not want too much time to pass without making new music. Speaking on his motivation to move on, he said, "I think it got a lot easier when I realised that no matter what I do, it's not going to be Continuum, good or bad. And then that became really liberating."[2] On October 1, 2009, Mayer posted via Twitter: "Track listing on Battle Studies is complete! Very interesting order... 11 songs. 45 minutes. Hit 'em hard and get out."[3]
The album was leaked just hours before Mayer was scheduled to perform an official "radio leak" on 103.7 Sophie in San Diego.[4] However, Mayer gave his listeners permission to download the leak, as long as they "registered" their copies by ordering the album.[5]
Mayer's Battle Studies World Tour began on November 5, 2009, in Sydney, Australia at the Metro Theatre, and ended on October 1, 2010, in Manila, Philippines, at SM Mall of Asia.
Singles[edit]
According to Mayer's official Twitter profile, "Who Says" was the first single from the album and[6] was released for preview on September 25, 2009, at www.johnmayer.com. The official release for the single was on October 13, 2009.
The second single was "Heartbreak Warfare", which was previewed on October 19, 2009. The first ever augmented reality video accompanied the second single, which was released on Mayer's website.
The third single was "Half of My Heart", which was released for radio airplay on June 21, 2010.
The fourth single was "Perfectly Lonely", which was released on November 13, 2010.
Commercial performance[edit]
The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart and sold 286,000 copies in its first week.[27] In its second week, it sold an additional 93,000 copies and fell to number 13 on the Billboard chart.[28]As of April 2010, the album has sold 880,000 copies in the United States.[29] On July 29, 2010, Battle Studies was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, for shipments of one million copies in the US.[30]
Additional personnel