I Remember Me (album)
Encyclopedia
I Remember Me is the second studio album
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by American recording artist Jennifer Hudson
Jennifer Hudson
Jennifer Kate Hudson is an American recording artist, actress and spokesperson. She came to prominence in 2004 as one of the finalists on the third season of American Idol coming in seventh place...

, released March 22, 2011, on Arista Records
Arista Records
Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...

. Hudson worked with a variety of producers and writers on the album, including Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys
Alicia Augello Cook , better known by her stage name Alicia Keys, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and occasional actress. She was raised by a single mother in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City. At age seven, Keys began playing the piano...

, Rich Harrison
Rich Harrison
Rich Harrison is a Grammy Award-winning record producer and songwriter from Washington, D.C.. He is primarily an R&B/Hip-Hop producer...

, Ne-Yo
Ne-Yo
Shaffer Chimere Smith, Jr. , better known by his stage name Ne-Yo, is an American pop and R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer and actor. Beginning his career as a songwriter, Ne-Yo penned the hit "Let Me Love You" for singer Mario...

, R.Kelly, Harvey Mason, Jr.
Harvey Mason, Jr.
Harvey Mason, Jr. is a songwriter, record producer and movie producer. He has written and produced songs for some of the biggest legends in the music industry including Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Whitney Houston, and Luther Vandross as well as today’s superstars like Britney Spears, Jordin...

, Ryan Tedder
Ryan Tedder
Ryan Benjamin Tedder is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the frontman of the pop rock band, OneRepublic, though he has an independent career as songwriter and producer for various artists such as Beyoncé, Kelly Clarkson, Far East Movement, Jordin Sparks, Leona...

, Diane Warren
Diane Warren
Diane Eve Warren , is a US songwriter. Her songs have received six Academy Award nominations, five Golden Globe nominations, including one win and seven Grammy Award nominations, including one win. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001...

, among others. The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

, selling 165,000 copies in its first week. It received mixed to positive reviews from music critics.

Background

Hudson herself announced on Twitter in September 2009 that she would begin the process of her second studio album. Hudson mentioned to Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

that she wanted her second album to be more personal than her debut and expressed that she wanted to become more hands on with the project. Hudson told InStyle magazine that she wanted this album to be a "feel good" album. She quoted "I wanted to take it to the next level in every way-from the image to the music to the subjects of the songs".

I Remember Me was recorded at various recording studios, namely Maximedia Recording Studio in Dallas, Instrument Zoo in Miami, Chicago Recording Company and The Chocolate Factory in Chicago, Germano Studios, Oven Studios, and Roc The Mic Studios in New York City, Mason Sound and Vanilla Sky Studios in North Hollywood, No Excuses Studios in Santa Monica, and Patriot Studios in Denver. Songwriter Diane Warren
Diane Warren
Diane Eve Warren , is a US songwriter. Her songs have received six Academy Award nominations, five Golden Globe nominations, including one win and seven Grammy Award nominations, including one win. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001...

 revealed to E!
E!
E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of...

 in January 2011 that she penned a new song for Hudson titled "Still Here".

Singles

On January 24, 2011 Hudson premiered the album's lead single "Where You At
Where You At
"Where You At" is a song recorded by R&B singer and actress Jennifer Hudson. It was written by R. Kelly and produced by Harvey Mason, Jr.. It is the lead single from her second album I Remember Me. It debuted on January 24, 2011 and was released on February 8, 2011...

". It was written by R.Kelly and produced by Harvey Mason, Jr.
Harvey Mason, Jr.
Harvey Mason, Jr. is a songwriter, record producer and movie producer. He has written and produced songs for some of the biggest legends in the music industry including Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Whitney Houston, and Luther Vandross as well as today’s superstars like Britney Spears, Jordin...

 The song went for radio adds that same week. On February 3, 2011 due to radio adds the single made its debut on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at number 53, having so far reached a peak of number 10. The music video premiered on BET
Black Entertainment Television
Black Entertainment Television is an American, Viacom-owned cable network based in Washington, D.C.. Currently viewed in more than 90 million homes worldwide, it is the most prominent television network targeting young Black-American audiences. The network was launched on January 25, 1980, by its...

's 106 & Park
106 & Park
106 & Park is a Top Ten Hip-Hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that airs weekdays at 6:00 PM on BET . Since its inception, it was the network's #1 rated show...

and through Vevo
Vevo
Vevo is a music video website. It is a joint venture among Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Abu Dhabi Media with EMI licensing its content to the group without taking an ownership stake. The service was launched officially on December 8, 2009...

 on February 24, 2011.

The title track was released as the album's lead single in the United Kingdom on April 3, 2011. It has peaked at number eighty-nine on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

. "No One Gonna Love You" impacted on Urban adult contemporary
Urban Adult Contemporary
Urban adult contemporary is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have rap music on their playlists. The format was designed by Barry Mayo when he, Lee S. Simonson and Bill Pearson organized Broadcast...

 radio in the United States on May 24, 2011. A remix bundle titled "No One Gonna Love You-The Remixes" was released as a digital download in the US and the UK on July 13, 2011. The song has reached number 23 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...

. The third U.S. single will be "I Got This".

Non-single track "Don't Look Down" reached number 70 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...

 chart.

Commercial performance

I Remember Me debuted at number two on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

 chart, with first-week sales of 165,000 copies in the United States. In its second week, the album sold 56,000 copies and dropped to number seven on the Billboard 200. On April 25, 2011, the album was certified gold by the RIAA, for shipping over 500,000 copies in the US. As of July 13, 2011, the album has sold 370,000 copies in the United States.

In Germany, the album debuted at No. 84, making it Hudson's first studio album to chart in that country.

Critical response

I Remember Me received mixed to positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...

 rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...

 score of 68, based on 15 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Simon Price of The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

stated "while she unquestionably has a voice, the material's nothing you'll want to remember". Genevieve Koski of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...

wrote that the album "can occasionally get a touch exhausting in its relentless emoting", but complimented its "empowered (and empowering) anthems that inevitably climax with Hudson’s vocal fireworks", but viewed that most of its songs "deserve such bravado" in "cranking her performance to 11 regardless of whether any given song warrants it". Despite writing that "Hudson is still searching for songs to do right by her voice", Allison Stewart of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...

found its "pretty-good assortment of R&B songs" an improvement over her previous album and wrote that Hudson "dispatches even the most technically difficult tracks as if she were swatting away flies, her unblinking confidence reminiscent of Adele
Adele (singer)
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins , known professionally as Adele, is an English singer-songwriter. She was the first recipient of the Brit Awards Critics' Choice and was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2008 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2008...

". Elysa Gardner of USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

gave the album three-and-a-half out of four stars and stated "Even when the material [...] flirts with the banal, Hudson's unmannered strength and class shine through, as surely as the technical prowess she wields with confidence and discretion".

Allmusic editor Andy Kellman gave it four-and-a-half out of five stars and praised Hudson's performance and her collaborators' contributions, writing that they both "provide the kind of mature R&B that is not felt merely in the mind, throat, chest, or hips but the entire body". Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

s Mikael Wood gave I Remember Me a B+ rating and complimented its "a lighter vibe". Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...

writer Thomas Conner noted its songs as "mid-tempo" and complimented their "deft and delicate rhythmic elements". Ken Capobianco of The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...

found its songs "stronger, and Hudson sounds more poised" than on her debut album. Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

writer Jody Rosen
Jody Rosen
Jody Rosen is an American journalist and author. He is the music critic for the online magazine Slate, and the author of White Christmas: The Story of an American Song....

 gave the album three out of five stars and commented that "Sonically, the record is up-to-the-minute; in spirit it's a throwback to the adult-oriented R&B of Anita Baker
Anita Baker
Anita Baker is an American R&B/soul jazz singer-songwriter. To date, Baker has won eight Grammy Awards, and has four platinum albums and two gold albums to her credit....

, Toni Braxton
Toni Braxton
Toni Michelle Braxton is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Braxton has won six Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, and five Billboard Music Awards and has sold over 60 million records worldwide...

 and Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...

". Giving the album four out of five stars, New York Daily News writer Jim Farber praised her singing's focus and commented that "If the material at hand doesn't always provide that style with its ideal vehicle, Hudson's voice makes up for that with an ideal balance of feeling and force".

However, Kevin Ritchie of NOW
NOW (magazine)
Now is a free weekly newspaper in Toronto, Canada. It was first printed on September 10, 1981 by Michael Hollett and Alice Klein. Now is an alternative weekly mixing arts and entertainment news with political coverage....

commented that "Hudson’s stratospheric voice [...] overflows with emotion, and subtlety’s in short supply". Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...

's Matthew Cole viewed that its material as unoriginal and stated "most of the album's hooks contain gratuitous overdubs, and when Hudson is allowed to take the spotlight, she's liable to overcook the vocal melodies in the pandering, applause-line style that every American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...

competitor learns to live by". Noting "filler songs" as "frequent", Natalie Shaw of MusicOMH
MusicOMH
musicOMH is a United Kingdom-based website which publishes independent reviews, featues and interviews from across all musical genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B.-History:...

 gave the album three out of five stars and commented that Hudson's singing "merits something different to many of the by-numbers songs", adding that "subtlety in places would have made for a more rounded album than the blustering, galeforce power that overwhelms most of I Remember Mes arrangements". Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...

gave the album two out of five stars and stated "She's simply not being fed the right material, or getting to work with a sympathetic producer. Hudson is a soul singer not a modern R'n'B one". Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

writer Evelyn McDonnell commented that her "big, warm, church-trained R&B diva voice [...] has never seemed comfortable among the bright shiny toys of a pop studio". Carolie Sullivan of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

wrote that "the album ends with overblown ballads", but concluded that "the first three-quarters are heartlifting indeed".

Track listing

Personnel

Credits for I Remember Me adapted from Allmusic.
  • Jonathan Aarons – horn section
  • Yuri Agranovsky – strings
  • Matt Alanian – engineer
  • Eric Archibald – stylist
  • Hernst Bellevue – keyboards, programming
  • Kamaljit Bhamra – Watson strings
  • Tim Blacksmith – management
  • Mike Boris – producer
  • David Boyd – assistant
  • Val Brathwaite – assistant
  • Teddy Campbell – drums
  • Chops Horns – horn section
  • Johan Van Der Coiff – assistant
  • Stephen Coleman – string arrangements
  • Michael Daley – assistant
  • Danny D. – management
  • Clive Davis – producer
  • Gleyder "Gee" Disla – engineer
  • Nathan East – bass
  • Rodney East – keyboards
  • La Mar 'Mars' Edwards – organ
  • Sharon Ehrlich – creation
  • Mikkel S. Eriksen – engineer, instrumentation
  • Damien "Dammo" Farmer – bass
  • Marina Fleyshman – strings
  • Abel Garibaldi – engineer
  • Onree Gill – string arrangements
  • Yaacov Gluzman – strings
  • Angela N. Golightly – production coordination
  • Eduard Gulkarov – strings
  • Chuck Harmony – instrumentation, producer
  • Rich Harrison – instrumentation, producer
  • Dabling Harward – engineer, vocal engineer
  • Freddie Hendrix – horn section
  • Vincent Henry – guitar, horn
  • Tor Erik Hermansen – instrumentation
  • Andrew Hey – assistant, engineer, guitar, vocal engineer
  • Hit Boy – producer
  • Matt Huber – assistant
  • Ken Ifill – mixing
  • Tavia Ivey – vocals (background)
  • Larry Jackson – producer
  • Jeff Gitelman – guitar (electric)
  • Cristyle Johnson – vocals (background)
  • Mike "TrakGuru" Johnson – engineer
  • R. Kelly – arranger, mixing, producer
  • Alicia Keys – keyboards, piano, producer, programming, vocal arrangement, vocal producer

  • Danielle Korn – licensing
  • Dave Kutch – mastering
  • Lake View Terrace Voices of Praise – choir, chorus
  • Lance Tolbert – bass
  • Damien Lewis – assistant
  • Kathy Love – creation
  • Donnie Lyle – guitar
  • Anthony Mandler – photography
  • Robert Marks – mixing
  • Harvey Mason, Jr. – keyboards, mixing, producer, vocal producer
  • Kenny Mason – director
  • Kay Ta Matsuno – guitar
  • Ian Mereness – engineer
  • Justin Merrill – assistant
  • Ann Mincieli – engineer
  • Steve Mostyn – guitar (bass)
  • Alexsandr Nazaryan – strings
  • Ne-Yo – producer
  • Shannon Pezzetta – make-up
  • Polow da Don – producer
  • Bruce Purse – bass, trumpet
  • Kevin Randolph – piano
  • Salaam Remi – bass, drum programming, drums, guitar (bass), keyboards, producer
  • Ramon Rivas – assistant
  • Daniel Rodriguez – creation
  • Salaamremi.com – producer
  • Dana Salant – production coordination
  • Francisco Salazar – strings
  • Mats Lie Skåre – instrumentation
  • Len Sluetsky – strings
  • David Small – assistant
  • Damien Smith – management
  • Nikolov Stanislav – strings
  • Stargate – producer
  • Jeremy Stevenson – engineer
  • Sum-Mei Luk – licensing
  • Swizz Beatz – drum programming, drums, producer
  • Phil Tan – mixing
  • Ryan Tedder – drum programming, drums, piano, producer, synthesizer
  • Sabina Torosjan – strings
  • Denise Trotman – design
  • Miles Walker – engineer
  • Dave Watson – horn section
  • Steve Wolf – drums
  • Kiyah Wright – hair stylist
  • Noel Zancanella – additional production, drum programming, engineer


Charts

Chart (2011) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...

26
Australian Urban Albums Chart
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...

8
German Albums Chart 84
Irish Albums Chart
Irish Albums Chart
The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically...

86
Japanese Albums Chart 20
Swiss Albums Chart 57
Scottish Albums Chart 37
UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

20
UK R&B Albums Chart
UK R&B Chart
The Official UK R&B Chart is a forty-position R&B/Hip-Hop chart compiled by The Official UK Charts Company. Although the chart does not receive any airplay, its compilation is viewed on BBC Radio 1's website and publications such as ChartsPlus and Music Week...

4
US Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

2
US Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999...

2

Release history

Country Date Label
United States March 22, 2011 Arista Records
Arista Records
Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...

Germany April 22, 2011
France
United Kingdom

External links

  • I Remember Me at Metacritic
    Metacritic
    Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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