Something Else (Robin Thicke album)

Infobox Album
Name = Something Else
Type = studio
Artist = Robin Thicke


Released = September 30, 2008
Recorded = 2007 — 2008
Length = 50:21
Genre = Soul, R&B
Label = Star Trak, Interscope
Producer = Robin Thicke, Pro J
Reviews =
*Allmusic rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:dpfrxzqkldae 2008]
*"Billboard" (favorable) [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/content_display/reviews/albums/e3i29d155e77cad05e83e131846eb119910 2008]
*"Blender" Rating|2.5|5 [http://www.blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?id=5308 2008]
*"The Boston Globe" (favorable) [http://www.boston.com/ae/music/cd_reviews/articles/2008/09/23/another_pick_up_line_youve_already_heard/ 2008]
*"Entertainment Weekly" (B+) [http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20228275,00.html 2008]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|3|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/23066988/review/23087638/something_else 2008]
*Slant Magazine Rating|3|5 [http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/music_review.asp?ID=1528 2008]
*"USA Today" Rating|3|4 [http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/reviews/2008-09-29-robin-thicke-something-else_N.htm 2008]
*"Vibe" (favorable) [http://www.vibe.com/music/revolutions/2008/10/robin_thicke_something_else/ 2008]
Last album = "The Evolution of Robin Thicke"
(2006)
This album = "Something Else" (2008)
Misc = Singles
Name = Something Else
Type = studio
Single 1 = Magic
Single 1 date = May 20, 2008
Single 2 = The Sweetest Love
Single 2 date = September 9, 2008

"Something Else" is the third studio album by American R&B singer Robin Thicke, released on September 30, 2008. It is a follow up to Thicke's highly successful second album "The Evolution of Robin Thicke" and features a guest appearance by Lil Wayne.

Background

After Robin Thicke finished up his tour for the "The Evolution of Robin Thicke" album he immediately got into the studio to start recording the album. [ [http://blogs.sohh.com/on-the-scene/2008/04/in_the_studio_with_michelle_wi.html In The Studio With Michelle Williams And Robin Thicke | Sohh On The Scene | Sohh Blog ] ] The album features production from Thicke and Pro J. Thicke conducted a listening party in Los Angeles on April 14, 2008, where he described the album as "wine and bubbly" type music.

Critical Reception

The album received positive reviews from the critics and compare his voice and style to Marvin Gaye.

"AllMusic gave the album 4 of 5 stars" and says:

Something Else's sleeve design would be much more indicative if it grafted a bunch of little Robin Thicke heads onto each dancing and playing body in Ernie Barnes' Back to Sugar Shack, the painting used for Marvin Gaye's I Want You. Not only would it be apt, it would play to Thicke's predilection for populating his covers with several images of himself. But it would obviously cause some problems. While a few songs do modernize the sound and feel of Gaye's steamy 1976 classic — filled as they are with serene sexual energy and lush, impeccably layered arrangements built on rolling bongos, liquid basslines, and Thicke's acutely Gaye-indebted upper register.Following The Evolution of Robin Thicke, Something Else features improvements in every aspect. From the tropical serenade opener to the album's quietly dazzling true close (the somber Lil Wayne collaboration "Tie My Hands" is really a bonus cut, having already appeared on Tha Carter III), Thicke has shed his affectations to the point where it's much easier to detect the sincerity he once obscured with hubristic tendencies. No longer a show-off, he sounds much more sure of himself; he would not have been able to pull off a socially conscious Southern-styled ballad like "Dreamworld," whether from a writing or singing standpoint, in 2003. Though his sources remain numerous, this is his most focused, least scattered, and least dilettantish set, and it benefits greatly from its brevity relative to The Evolution. That means everything has a deeper resonance — especially the ballads, of which there are several. The man does know his audience. [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:dpfrxzqkldae]

"Mikael Wood from Billboard Magazine gave a favorable review from the album":

"Something Else" picks up right where Thicke left off with the last album's hit single, "Lost Without U." Given his weakness for bongos and syrupy strings, the new set isn't without a whiff of schmaltz; more than once you'll think he's about to cover "Take My Breath Away." Fortunately, Thicke's strong singing—and a few winning uptempo numbers, including the infectious "Magic" and the R. Kelly-ish "Sidestep"—right the ship. [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/content_display/reviews/albums/e3i29d155e77cad05e83e131846eb119910]

"Rolling Stone magazine gave the album 3 of 5 stars".

At a time when most R&B Casanovas, taking their cues from rappers, are thuggish egomaniacs — or, in the case of R. Kelly, just plain freaky — Robin Thicke offers a vanilla alternative. (No pun intended.) His largely self-produced third album picks up where his big 2007 hit "Lost Without U" left off, with Thicke cooing in an airy falsetto that holds promises of honesty, fidelity and long nights in the boudoir focused solely on Her Pleasure. The music is a lush, louche swirl of strings, congas and Fender Rhodes that flaunts its debts to Marvin Gaye ("You're My Baby"), classic disco ("Something Else") and Philly soul ("Magic"). As a utilitarian background soundtrack, it'll do nicely — lots of babies will be made to ballads like "Cry No More." But Thicke's songwriting teeters into self-parody, and his mixed metaphors — "We're just spaceships in the night/Ripping the clothes off of the past/Making a new path" — could break the mood of the randiest couples. [http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/23066988/review/23087638/something_else]

Chart Perfomance and Sales

The album debuted #3 on the Billboard 200 selling 136,944 copies the first week.

Chart Positions

Track listing

#"You're My Baby" – 4:16
#"Sidestep" – 4:11
#"Magic" – 3:53
#"Ms. Harmony" – 4:47
#"Dreamworld" – 4:39
#"Loverman" – 4:42
#"Hard On My Love" – 3:36
#"The Sweetest Love" – 3:55
#"Something Else" – 3:16
#"Shadow of Doubt" – 3:27
#"Cry No More" – 4:18
#"Tie My Hands" (featuring Lil Wayne) – 5:21
#"Everybody's a Star" (iTunes Deluxe Edition Bonus Track) - 2:55
#"Ebb and Flow" (iTunes Deluxe Editon Bonus Track) - 4:20
#"I'm Coming Home" (iTunes Deluxe Editon Bonus Track) - 2:55
#"Magic Touch (Moto Blanco Remix)" [featuring Mary J. Blige] {iTunes Deluxe Editon Bonus Track} - 7:32

ingles

1.Magic: "Released = May 20" Best Peak: U.S. Hot 100: 59 U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs: 6

2.The Sweetest Love : "Released = September 09" Best Peak: U.S. Hot 100: U.S. R&B/Hip-Hop Songs:

References