Love Letter (R. Kelly album)
Love Letter is the tenth studio album by American R&B recording artist R. Kelly. It was released on December 14, 2010, by Jive Records. It was written and produced entirely by Kelly. A departure from his previous work's contemporary sound and sexually explicit themes, Love Letter incorporates classic 1950s/1960s soul music influences and features chivalrous lyrics concerning love and forgiveness.
Love Letter
The album debuted at number 6 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 154,000 copies in its first week. It produced two singles that attained respectable charting on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Upon its release, Love Letter received positive reviews from most music critics, who complimented its classically minded style and praised Kelly for his singing and songwriting. As of June 2022, It has sold over one million copies in the United States and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Composition[edit]
Love Letter is an homage to the classic soul music of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.[1][2] Kelly was heavily inspired by such soul artists as Marvin Gaye, Jackie Wilson, Donny Hathaway, Sam Cooke, Michael Jackson, and Stevie Wonder.[3] Kelly further pays tribute to Jackson, who died in 2009, with his own version of "You Are Not Alone" (a song he had written for Jackson), featured on Love Letter as a hidden bonus track.
Release and promotion[edit]
Prior to its physical CD release on December 14, Love Letter was released as a digital download on December 10, 2010, to the iTunes Store, which included the album with the iTunes LP format feature.[4] The album's first single "When a Woman Loves" peaked at number 16 and spent seven weeks on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[5] It charted at number 93 on the Billboard Hot 100.[6] The second single "Love Letter" also spent seven weeks and peaked at number 13 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs.[5] A three-part video documentary was released in promotion of the album, featuring footage of R. Kelly discussing the album and its conception.[3] The third single "Number One Hit" reached number 83 and has spent four weeks on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs.[7]
Commercial performance[edit]
The album debuted at number 6 on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 154,000 copies in the United States.[25] It serves as Kelly's thirteenth US top-10 charting album.[25] It also entered at number 2 on the Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and at number 3 on the Digital Albums chart.[26][27] On March 1, 2011, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for shipments of 500,000 copies in the United States.[28] On March 30, 2011, Love Letter has sold 496,600 copies in the United States.[29] In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number 39 on the Top 40 R&B Albums chart.[30] It charted at number 26 in the Netherlands.[31]