Brave (Jennifer Lopez album)
Brave is the sixth studio album by American singer and actress Jennifer Lopez. It was released on October 5, 2007, by Epic Records. Inspired by her marriage with Marc Anthony and taking influences by Jamiroquai and Sade, Brave features prominently samples from 1970s songs, and R&B music. Brave sees Lopez working with new collaborators, such as Ryan Tedder, Midi Mafia, J.R. Rotem, Bloodshy, Lynn & Wade LLP, The Clutch and others, while also working with long-time collaborator Cory Rooney throughout the album.
Brave
October 4, 2007
2006–2007
47:53
- Michelle Lynn Bell
- Bloodshy & Avant
- Bigg D
- Chuck Brody
- The Clutch
- Dirty Swift
- Oak Felder
- Hit-Boy
- Peter Wade Keusch
- The Platinum Brothers
- Julio Reyes Copello
- Johnny Rodeo
- Jonathan "J.R." Rotem
- Ryan "Alias" Tedder
- Bruce Wayyne
The album received a mixed reception from critics, with some complimenting its production, calling the album one of her strongest albums to date, while many called it a formulaic and bland album. The album underperformed commercially, becoming her first album to miss the top ten on the Billboard 200 chart, while also missing the top twenty in the UK, Australia, and other markets. It has sold only 650,000 copies worldwide.
The album spawned two worldwide singles: "Do It Well" and "Hold It Don't Drop It". The first received generally favorable reviews, but peaked modesty on the charts, reaching the top-twenty in some countries, but only peaking at number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, while the latter also received positive reaction, but did not make any significant impact on the charts. Therefore, subsequent singles were cancelled due to the low-impact of previous singles on the charts. Lopez promoted the album with a series of live performances, while also embarking on a co-headlining tour with Marc Anthony.
Background and development[edit]
After releasing her fourth studio album, Rebirth (2005), which received mixed reviews from critics, spawned the worldwide hit "Get Right" and became a moderate success on the charts,[1] Jennifer Lopez announced in 2006 that she was going to record her first Spanish album. According to the album's producer Estéfano, the album "will prove critics wrong" from its "big songs that require a voice".[1] Como Ama una Mujer was released in March 2007, opening to a mixed reception,[2] but with moderately high sales and a hit single, "Qué Hiciste".[3][4]
In a MTV News interview while on the music video set for "Me Haces Falta", the album's second single, Lopez announced she was working on the follow-up to "Como Ama una Mujer" and her first English-language album since Rebirth. According to Jayson Rodriguez of MTV News, the album would see Lopez returning into the pop, R&B, and hip hop world.[5] Lopez stated, "My Spanish album was kind of an opportunity to get away from what I do on my English [albums], to kind of express a different side of myself. This [next] album is more of what people and my fans are used to — you know, just kind of a dance, funk, R&B, hip-hop, all that stuff, all mixed up together to make some great pop music. Basically it's just danceable music," she said.[5]
Production and music[edit]
While on early stages, it was announced that Lopez was working once again with music producer Cory Rooney, who worked on most of her albums, and also Swizz Beatz.[5] "I think I got her at a good time, she’s focused," Swizz said. "She got Marc [Anthony] by her side, he’s serious with the singing as well. And the energy is good, so I’m here to help make history."[5] In July 2007, Yahoo! announced Timbaland, Jermaine Dupri, newcomers Lynn & Wade LLP (Michelle Bell and Peter Wade) and J.R. Rotem as the other producers.[6] A month later, Billboard added Ryan Tedder, Midi Mafia and Bloodshy as further collaborators.[7] She described Brave as "a little Jamiroquai, a little Sade. It's real feel-good music and not what everyone's expecting."[6]
Brave is a pop,[9] dance-pop,[10] and R&B[11] album. The opening track "Stay Together", co-written and produced by J.R. Rotem, is an anthem of monogamy where she declares that heartbreak and dating are so passé, that toughing it out is the new trend.[8] "Heartbreaks are overrated, stay together, that's the new trend,"[12] insists Lopez on the dance song[13] filled with breakbeats and synth fills.[14] Second track "Forever" was described as "harem R&B",[15] having a "gut-bucket dirge rhythms",[16] in a song about making sure she is with her significant other for the rest of her life.[17] "Hold It Don't Drop It" references the chugging bass line from "It Only Takes a Minute", the 1975 disco-funk song by Tavares.[14] Fourth track and lead-single "Do It Well" was considered a "classic dance floor J-Lo with its hip-hop beat and disco sirens at the bridge."[17] It samples the breakdown from Eddie Kendricks' 1973 smash "Keep on Truckin'."[14] Ryan Tedder co-wrote and produced the song, stating: "I love that song. It's a lot of fun. I'd never done a song like it at that point. I took it as a challenge. I just looked at some of the top pop female artists at the time: JLo, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Britney before she went off the reservation. I thought, `I know I can write just as well as (their songwriters).' She heard it, flipped out, and it became the first single."[18]
"Gotta Be There" samples the intro of Michael Jackson's 1971 Motown hit "I Wanna Be Where You Are"[14] and references hip-hop dancefloor burner "Puerto Rico",[15] while "Never Gonna Give Up" begins with almost two minutes of her voice weaving in and out of a string orchestra,[19] with lyrics discussing about finding closure after a difficult breakup, which was alleged to be about her ex-fiancée Ben Affleck, especially the lyrics, "Forgiving him was the first thing I had to do in order to move on/Forgetting him was not as easy to do."[20] The rock-etched "Mile in These Shoes" features spare verses, which seem to emerge from a "dank, empty warehouse", according to Slant Magazine's Eric Henderson, before the chorus opens up with a hip-hop/rock barrage of drums.[16] Lyrically, the song thrusts a middle finger at the haters,[9] with J.LO singing about they can't truly understand what it's like to be her until they walk a mile in her shoes.[16] The midtempo synth-overloaded "The Way It Is" follows,[12] with lively drums and string flourishes building toward a wall of synths,[17] while midtempo "Be Mine" has "make-it-up-as-you-go-along" lyrics, including "Looking through a coffee table book at a small café on Broadway."[16] In "I Need Love," Lopez convinces herself it's time to quit partying and settle down[12] over zippy strings and percussion lifted from Bill Withers' "Use Me."[14] The piano-spiked ballad "Wrong When You’re Gone"[13] has softly clapping production,[19] while the title track "Brave" finds Lopez singing about a newfound fearlessness, set to a steady beat and triumphant strings.[15] The album closes with a remix of "Do It Well" featuring Ludacris.[13]
Commercial performance[edit]
Brave was generally viewed as a commercial disappointment.[40] It debuted at number twelve on the US Billboard 200 with 52,600 copies sold in its first week, making it her first studio effort to miss the chart's top ten.[41] In its second week, the album suffered a big fall to number 38 (dropping 65%).[42] It has sold 173,000 copies in the United States to date, making it Lopez's lowest-selling and lowest-charting album of her career until This Is Me... Now in 2024.[43] The album also performed poorly internationally; only reaching as high as six on the Japanese Albums Chart and Swiss Albums Chart.[44][45] In Italy, "Brave" charted within the top-ten,[46] while in the UK, it missed the top-twenty, debuting at number 24,[47] remaining on the charts for only two weeks.[48] In Australia, "Brave" only spent one week on the charts, debuting and peaking at number 46.[49] Brave has sold 650,000 copies worldwide as of 2013.[50] Critic Anna Barbarella suggested that the album "performed catastrophically on the charts because [Lopez] embraces a hardness which alienated the public."[51]
Notes